Cheap AVR?

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/ONKHTRC330/Onkyo-HT-RC330-5.1-CHANNEL-HOME-THEATER-RECEIVER/1.html

Refurb 120 + shipping.

That receiver doesn't run Audyssey MultEQ, and that is absolutely a bell and/or whistle worth owning.

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/DENAVR1612/DENON-AVR-1612-5.1-Channel-A/V-Home-Theater-Receiver/1.html

Spend the extra $80. Buying a modern receiver without room correction is buying the wrong receiver.

if you ever plan on using headphones for late-night gaming I would recommend a yamaha AVR. their headphone surround is awesome.

One of the best deals out there recently has been the Denon 1712 if you can find one (might be tougher now), BB/Mag was clearing them out for $199 and some were getting them for even less.



Best of luck,
Jason

That receipt is from early November. Good luck finding stock on that deeply discounted receiver two and a half months later. Best Buy's discount schedule would put that at around $80-100 now that it's January, meaning any stock still sitting in a store is a boomerang. Broken, but not so obviously that they can RMA it.

Nothing like a $120 receiver to match up to your $1000 graphics card.

I was really just poking fun

In my opinion more expensive AVR's do sound better. Like all things returns are diminishing and I can't imagine spending 2k on a receiver. That Denon is easily worth the price difference.

Personally I would upgrade my main AVR and move the old one over but any of the refurb units should be a good option for you.

Edit: I have a 7-year old refurbished Onkyo that has been completely trouble free. Good luck.

"My HT Sony upstairs has it."

Your Sony has nothing remotely close to MultEQ, and busting out the tape measure will only get you 25% of the way to what MultEQ does. No amount of user fiddling will give you the software room correction that you'll get out of any flavor of MultEQ (not to be mistaken with the basic 2EQ version!).

Trust me, good room correction is the most important thing to happen to receivers since we got Dolby Digital decoders in them. Your Sony has auto-setup, which is a partial step on the way to room correction.

What this guys says. Look for a receiver with either Dolby Headphones or a Yamaha with the "Silent Cinema" DSP setting. If you go this route you are gonna have to buy a decent set of headphones to use these settings. I can't tell you how many times that I have to keep it down for the wife or relatives because I am on a night schedule working night shifts. Still haven't bought one yet, but I see Yamahas with the Silent Cinema DSP on sale all the time at Newegg.

http://www.dolby.com/us/en/consumer/technology/home-theater/dolby-headphone.html

Which is why I stated what I did but that does not mean they are not out there. I have seen three within the last 30-45 days sitting on shelves at BB/Mag and Fry's (two were new @ $200/$230 and one was open box at BB/Mag that was not $80-$100, it was $169 2 weeks ago, at under $100 I would have bought it as a back-up ).

Heck I bought a 1712 for $228 6-8 months ago for my gaming room. Just wish it would pass 720p@120Hz via HDMI for my 3D ready LED DLP projector.

As dlj stated Audyssey MultiEQ is definitely something to look for, which was why I suggested the 1712 as it uses a more advanced version of MultiEQ, the XT version (as well as being 7.1 vs 5.1). I also have a Denon 4311ci with MultiEQ XT32 and it has taken my HT system to new levels even though I had MultiEQ + BFD EQ prior to the XT32.

But... as stated YMMV and best of luck.

Jason

The 1612 would be a huge upgrade

Here is a Yamaha with Silent Cinema DSP and it has YPAO for $199. The YPAO is probably inferior to the MultiEQ though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-TechBargains&cm_mmc=AFC-TechBargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16882115373


My Onkyo SR receiver has Multi 2EQ, not the improved Multi EQ. It would never work right for me. Everytime I ran it it would set all my Ascend speakers to "large". If left at this setting, during high bass moments these speakers would bass overload and distort.

YPAO is vastly inferior to MultEQ. It's basic auto-setup like his Sony, with minimal speaker EQ. Worst of all there is no sub EQ, just like 2EQ. The sub is of course the speaker that needs room correction the most with it's wide sound waves.

Also, just set your speakers to Small after you run 2EQ and raise the crossover point to 80-100hz. The rest of the 2EQ auto-setup remains valid and is better than just running the speakers in their native state.