AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Receivers, Amps, and Processors › Replacing receiver, fronts, and center
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Replacing receiver, fronts, and center

post #1 of 5
8/20/09 at 11:06am
Thread Starter 
Hi all,
First: If you start reading and realize there are quick answers in other threads, please point me there. I'm poking around the entire forum, and I'm sure I'm missing plenty.

People seem to be pretty high on the Onkyo 807. I have about $1500 to upgrade my receiver, two front speakers, and my center speaker. MSRP for the 807 is around $1100, so I'm wary about giving > two-thirds of my budget over to the receiver. Am I leaving enough for the speakers, or should I downgrade to a lower receiver (Onkyo or Denon from the threads I've seen)? Should I give myself more headroom and also throw in a new sub? The room is not big, and the cheap sub I have now seems to provide plenty of bass.

Goals:
Shift existing, cheap fronts to rears, converting 5.1 to 7.1.
Have a receiver that can process all commonly-used audio formats.
Have a receiver that accepts (and up-res-es when necessary) various inputs via HDMI and component.

Current config:
Speakers and sub: standard Polk Audio RM6750 set that many use for their starter set
Receiver: Onkyo 304
TV: Sony KDF-46E2000 (720p RP LCD)
DVD / BluRay through PS3 HDMI
DVD / HD-DVD through Xbox360 HDMI
Also will be connecting Wii and PS2 via component.
May throw in an HDMI HTPC in a year or so.

Room: Basement. Couch is about nine feet from TV, TV is on center of wall, and room is about 18x18.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 5
8/20/09 at 12:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by spdiscus View Post

Hi all,
First: If you start reading and realize there are quick answers in other threads, please point me there. I'm poking around the entire forum, and I'm sure I'm missing plenty.

People seem to be pretty high on the Onkyo 807. I have about $1500 to upgrade my receiver, two front speakers, and my center speaker. MSRP for the 807 is around $1100, so I'm wary about giving > two-thirds of my budget over to the receiver. Am I leaving enough for the speakers, or should I downgrade to a lower receiver (Onkyo or Denon from the threads I've seen)? Should I give myself more headroom and also throw in a new sub? The room is not big, and the cheap sub I have no seems to provide plenty of bass.

Goals:
Shift existing, cheap fronts to rears, converting 5.1 to 7.1.
Have a receiver that can process all commonly-used audio formats.
Have a receiver that accepts (and up-res-es when necessary) various inputs via HDMI and component.

Current config:
Speakers and sub: standard Polk Audio RM6750 set that many use for their starter set
Receiver: Onkyo 304
TV: Sony KDF-46E2000 (720p RP LCD)
DVD / BluRay through PS3 HDMI
DVD / HD-DVD through Xbox360 HDMI
Also will be connecting Wii and PS2 via component.
May throw in an HDMI HTPC in a year or so.

Room: Basement. Couch is about nine feet from TV, TV is on center of wall, and room is about 18x18.

Since you ask the question, I will give you my opinon/answer. Spend the bulk of your money on speakers. Unless you have to have a specific functionality that only comes in a higher end/pricer receiver, get the lower end model. There are many 350-450 receivers on the market that APPEAR to do what you want. I am not an Onkyo fan, but many people are. Look into the lower end yamaha's and denon's. That would give you about $1,100 for speakers.

When buying speakers match the front L/C/R within the same series. It is ideal to match all of them 5.1 and 7.1, but many people run into the situation you are in. You already have some speakers and moving them to the rear (where not as important) is definately a viable option.

One option, that I recommend is buying used speakers. You can get some great deals on great speakers that way. The only issue with doing that is spending the time demoing them and figuring out what you like, then finding them used. Be honest with retailer. Heck... buy the reciever from them and buy the speakers used.

A good source for used speakers in www.audiogon.com

Best of luck.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 5
8/20/09 at 12:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stepmback View Post

Since you ask the question, I will give you my opinon/answer. Spend the bulk of your money on speakers. Unless you have to have a specific functionality that only comes in a higher end/pricer receiver, get the lower end model.

Seconded.

Good speakers will last for decades. Good AVRs are obsolete in 3-5 yrs.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 5
8/20/09 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks!
I've started investigating the Denon 790. The price is right around $500. $400 at HD Dreams, but I've never heard of them and would have to do some checking up if going that route.

Not sure about speakers, though, so I'll probably spend an hour or so at American (West Madison, WI) seeing what they have.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 5
8/20/09 at 8:01pm
Thread Starter 
Currently looking at Denon 790(500), Ascend Acoustics 170 Fronts/Center/Side (800).

The last 200 could go for nice stands or Ascend rears.

Babbling now. I'll spend a few hours this weekend sampling setups around town.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Receivers, Amps, and Processors

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Receivers, Amps, and Processors › Replacing receiver, fronts, and center