Receiver Help for 7.1

Is the receiver strictly for movies, tv, gaming...any music. Size of room...do you care about audyssey and other calibration methods? What are you connecting to the receiver? Do you need networking? Do you need more zones? What speakers have you been looking at? It would be easier if you told us what you wanted in a receiver feature wise and gave a price range. Then we can make suggestions and you can compare them and see which will work best for you.

imo/ime, it would be better to resolve this first, then decide on electronics...

what's your "total budget" for everything?

x2 it would be good to know that you might want to buy some 4ohm speakers or speakers which require and external amp first

Additionally spend 1/3 on receiver and 2/3 on speakers

yup... although in reality, in the average home setting*, there's not too many speakers out there that can't be driven with a run of the mill avr... seems to me that the great majority of people who post never go past -20db on the avr... even with 4 ohm speakers, that wouldn't be a problem for anything that's not a total pos...

at least 2/3rds on speakers... there's a lot of really decent 500 dollar avr's out there in today's world... given that he was prepared to spend 2k on the avr, that's 1500 that could go to the speaker/sub budget...

*note that "average home setting" doesn't describe some avs members...

Speakers should be your first priority and you should spend the most on them. The technology really has not changed much and what sounds good today will continue to sound good In 5 years.

I would look qt floor standard for your main speakers,

Look at focal, paradigm, def tech, b&w. For your subs look at some Internet direct companies like hsu and svs. They offer the best bang for buck. Start with 1 And move up to dials. In a room that size your probably going to need duals.

For your original question...go to www.audyssey.com and look at the audyssey products and check the boxes with multeq xt and multeq xt 32. This should give you plenty of options in your price range from a large group of manufacturers all with the latest calibration software. Almost every receiver with those two functions will be 7.1 or 7.2 ready if not 9.2.

fwiw, id speaker manufacturers offer the best bang for the buck as well, that's not unique to subs...

edit: and without knowing his listening levels, it's hard to make any speaker recommendations at all... if he falls into the aforementioned "-20db" category, that's one thing... however, if he's trying to push to reference in a room that size, he's going to be looking at completely different speakers...

Speakers are something that I like to hear in person before I buy. I have no doubt that ID speakers are great but it's hard to push the button w/out hearing. I also like to be able to demo the speakers in my room which both my local stores allow me to do with no questions.

ID speakers are different that subwoofers in my opinion

And many ID companies like Aperion to name one have a 30day in home trial period. Cause hearing speakers in a sound test room of the hi-fi store is different than hearing the speakers in your own room

No you don't need a x.2 receiver as you can get a splitter and just use that

Have you gone to an audio store yet and listened to different speakers?

Generally you can get a better deal online but its better not to puchase speakers with "blind" ears. Subwoofers on the other hand are a different story

You can easily use a Y cable to split the subwoofer pre-out. However, any receiver that's going to fill your theatre, with something left over for headroom, will probably already have .2 on the subs.

You're already considering two subs. That tells me you have a preconceived notion of the sound levels you want, and the levels are not that lightweight. Take a look at the Denon 4311 AVR, the Onkyo TX-NR5008 and the Yamaha RX-A3000. And start auditioning speakers. Your ear will know what it likes.

Welcome to the addiction, ah, I mean, welcome to the hobby of home theatre.


Edit: All three of the receivers listed above have pre-outs available for all channels. So....if you decide you want more juice later, just add an amp or 2. Or 3. Or...

good man! and yes, it sure will...


your understanding is correct...

you have a nice budget to work with... you should be able to get yourself something that will work very well...

now you just have to figure out what "that something" is...

haunt the speaker sub forum for awhile... try and get out and listen to some speakers... if you want to hear some ID speakers, post in the owner's thread, you can usually find someone who is more than willing to demo theirs for you....

and have fun with it...

Two subs, properly located and eq'd, is a huge step up from a single sub. Absolutely the way to go. Just keep in mind that that's a fairly large room. An AVR will be just fine, if you don't go too light. The AVRs I mentioned before should be $1500-1700 depending on the deal you get.

Don't let a salesman push you into separates, just so he can earn a larger commission. They'll hear the phrase "home theater", and the dollar signs will light up their eyes.

Trust your gut. Put the rest of the money into speakers. They dictate the sound more than anything else.

Oh, and, run conduit for your cables, so you can snake replacements in later. You won't regret it.

Find a dealer that sells Integra. No, I am not "recommending an Integra"...but any mom/pop shop that sells Integra will know what they are doing.

Most shops that sell Integra also sell (in variation) Marantz/Elite/Denon/Yamaha.

2nd the Integra idea