my pioneer elite vsx 30 died today so i got a denon 2808ci

hey now.

i unplugged my elite vsx30, plugged it back in 3 hours later and i had the dreaded red blinking mcacc light. since i bought it at best buy i had 30 days to bring it back if it was messed up (open box item).

so i brought it back, saw the guys who work in magnolia. they may not know everything about every single brand they dont carry, and they may not always be the most knowledgeable about diy speakers (if you notice im listing things they aren't supposed to know because thats not what they deal with, yet so many people say "they dont know crap" because of it ) but damn are they helpful. they always go out of their way to check the back for me, everytime im in there they open up drawers behind the counter and show me cool things, include them with purchases i make.

so i go in, tell them what happened with the pioneer and the guy laughs and says "you-ah pioneeah ewite bwoke?" then tells me "i got something in the back i think youll like" and walks out with a denon 2808 box, but no receiver....turns out someone else set it up for out door speakers.

so i wrapped it and took it home. it has a pretty damn cool remote. ill get to try it out tomorrow. anything i should know about with the receiver? any "watch out for...?"

2 years old audyssey is ok for me. i need to be careful how i spend my money. spending $250 to get a denon 2808ci is going to get me further, way further than spending $250 on a 1612, anything from pioneer and yamaha (minus what i really wanted but im not getting into that)

the fact that it has phono in means i can hook up my tt, and save up for a realllllllly good pre amp, as opposed to having to get a tt and stare at it because my old pre-amp is shot.

if i need an eq, which thats a big if, but if i do, its gonna be something from rane or behringer. ill just run the pre outs to the eq, sub out to another eq and then bing bang boom get 5ch or 7ch amp and be done with it. its not that i think audyssey is bad, its not that i think audyssey is any less accurate, if anything its probably more accurate than rane or dbx or any other eq, its just something im used to. im used to using them. its a personal thing. but my point is, that if i need that much of an eq for this then thats the route i should be going because of my preferences

im gonna have an audio fidelity or cambridge dac for my apple airport and cd player. im gonna have a blu ray going with the 5ch or 7ch inputs, most likely oppo. im gonna have a bellari or audio fidelity phono stage. to be honest i have no need for surround sound but my fiance really wants it. im slowly warming up to it. but music is most important.

ok after sleeping on it, its going back. im gonna get my mom a receiver and last night on ebay i picked up a fully restored marantz 1530.

yayyy