2010 2011 best entry level receiver: onkyo pioneer sony yamaha

Yamaha, because I have had good luck with them. I would get the 667 over the 567 as I feel it's a better unit.

In the up to $450 category the Onkyo RC180 is a decent pick.

Does the $450 count for the Pioneer 1120 when it was on sale? If so, then it's easily the winner... hands down.

Could not say about better rated ( as I don't know what you mean,) or popular (though you could be right.)

They all go belly up eventually. But if your's died too young, it's quite reasonable to look elsewhere. But I just can't conclude that picking an Onkyo over a Yamaha is going to give you more reliability

Best of luck with whatever you buy. There don't seem to be many outright lemons in the AV receiver market. If Konichiwa Electronics company tries to break into the massively competitive market, they would probably lose money - customers want to buy a recognized name. None of the receiver makers wants to get a bad rep selling junk ('cept maybe Sony I kid, I am sure Sony's quality is ok, but their emphasis is mainly on the ultra budget models - they don't seem to innovate or generate much interest in the mid range receiver market.

I am having the same question.
I have cut down my selection to Onkyo 608, Yamaha 667, and Pioneer 920K.
My budget cap is around $400.
I've also considered Sony, but I have received advice from more than one source saying I shouldn't buy from a general electronics brand if I want good sound quality. So that eliminates Sony/Samsung/Toshiba. My friend said Pioneer is an exception, and Onkyo and Yamaha both have professional grade audio product lines for decades.

I'd go with the yamaha based on my own experiance though i'm sure the others are probably just as good. I'm on my 3rd even now my first (over 15 years heavy use) is still going strong.

I'd go with the Onkyo hands down. All the features most will need, over 80 watts a channel when used in a 5 channel home theatre arrangement vs 50 for the Yamaha and 30 for the Pioneer. Depending on the speakers used that might be a consideration. As the owner of one I am very impressed with feautures at this price point. And with the current price at Amazon it's one heck of a deal!

Confused. The Pioneer is 7 x 110 watts and the Onkyo is 7 x 100 watts. Wouldn't they both provide the same power in a 5 speaker setup rather than the pioneer only doing 30 a channel and the onkyo 80?

Those are manufacture rated specs which are usually pretty optimistic and rated per 2 channels. When doing research it's best to look at third party measurements to get the real story. The following link is one example

http://www.hometheater.com/equipment-reviews

Which Pioneer are you referring to?

keep it going im intrested.... im leaning toward the pioneer 1020k

The Yamaha 667 has a discete amp for all channels, better, cleaner power than the 567, bigger power supply 400W vs 270W, 6 HDMI vs 4. Also has 7.1 preamp outputs if you ever want to add an external amp. Also 7.1 multichannel inputs for SACD or DVD-A. GUI overlay over HD sources which some people consider very valuable especially if you keep the receiver in a cabinet and cant see the display.

The 667 clearly has a better feature set and more power than the 567. At least to me.

How does it compare to the Onkyo 608 or Pioneer 920/1020?

Onkyo 608 is actually pretty powerful. Its is THX Select 2 Plus certified and the power supply was increased over last year's 607. It now has the same power as the 708.

920/1020 both have the same 245W power supply. No way it reaches its advertised power ratings. The pioneers dont get bigger power supplies (400W) until you step up to the 1120 which also has a better feature set.

The 1120 is a full 6-7 lbs heavier than the 920/1020.

I would actually look at the new Onkyo RC270 instead the 608 or Yammy 667. It is more like the 708 with better Audyssey MultiEQ calibration, multichannel inputs and preamp outputs. Plus network port for Pandora and internet radio and a USB port on front. It was on sale for $399 on New Years Eve but price has gone up now.

http://onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=HT-R...s=Receiver&p=i

RC270 is currently selling for around $500, a tad above my budget.
The RC260 going for around $350 seems to be more in line, although I am not sure what is sacrificed.
And the fact that the price for the 260 is lower than 608 keeps me wondering.

The 270 has been on sale twice in the past two weeks, once for $424 and once for $399. I'd say that is a trend. Wait a week or two for the sale to happen again.

I'd go w/ the Onkyo TX-SR608. Has good power, OSD that overlays over the picture, and standby passthru. It has gotten good reviews pretty much everywhere.

I purchased the harman kardon avr 1600 in may 2010, found out that it wasnt 3d compatible and upgraded to the samsung hwc-700 (cause it matched my 3d setup)- had multiple issues with that, returned it and purchased the onkyo 608.

I could not be happier with my ONKYO 608! I had the past 10 days off of work and spent several hours playing with it. Easy to setup, does everything I want with video and audio, instructions are clear and is a great addition to my home theater setup.

There is also an onkyo 608 owners thread on this forum that persuaded me to purchase it. I picked it up for about $370 shipped before the holidays.

Just my $0.02.