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Budget stereo receiver recommendations

post #1 of 17
7/18/07 at 6:42am
Thread Starter 
Well I have done some searching around but I have a pretty specific scenario I am trying to get more info on.

I listen to A LOT of music. I wouldn't say I am an audiophile but I demand a certain level of performance from my system. I don't have much of a budget however. Currently I have a Pioneer VSX-305 receiver, an Onkyo DX-390 CD player hooked up to some Sony floor speakers. I cannot recall the model number of them but they are 3-way with 6 woofers. I believe they are 150 watts. The receiver powers the speakers better than any surround receiver I have hooked up to them. My only issue is the sound adjustability is very primitive, some tiny bass/treble/balance knobs. It has a Super Bass button however I want the bass level somewhere in between and the bass knob doesn't pull it off.

So what am I asking? Basically I want to replace my receiver with something new and better performing for as cheap as possible. This is used for stereo music only. I know the speakers probably limit me, those will be replaced at a later time. I just want a receiver powerful enough to power my speakers, would be nice to utilize the optical output of the CD player as well.

I like Onkyo and was eying the TX-8522 but I am pretty clueless when it comes to specs but am not dumb enough to buy the first thing I see. So please, make some recommendations for a receiver <$500 that best meets what I am looking for. Thanks!
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post #2 of 17
7/18/07 at 8:11am
Your choice of the of the 100 watt per channel Onkyo at $220 is excellent but I would prefer Harman Kardon 3485 with 120 watts per channel which is on sale at J & R for $300--the regular price is $400. The specs on both are excellent.
Richard
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post #3 of 17
7/18/07 at 8:17am
What good will an optical input do for you, given you 2-channel needs? Unless the receiver has a better DAC than the CD player, who cares?
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post #4 of 17
7/18/07 at 9:45am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by doxytuner View Post

Your choice of the of the 100 watt per channel Onkyo at $220 is excellent but I would prefer Harman Kardon 3485 with 120 watts per channel which is on sale at J & R for $300--the regular price is $400. The specs on both are excellent.
Richard

That HK unit looks pretty good, and I found a refurbished one available for $184 shipped!

Any others worth looking at?
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post #5 of 17
7/18/07 at 10:04am
The HK at J & R is also free shipping. I would not buy a refurbished unit(USED) and would pay the extra 116 for a new HK. What they will usually tell you is that it only has some blemishes on the exterior but don't believe them. Also that it's up to factory specs-don't believe that either. If any repairs are done, it will be minimal necessary to get rid of it. Also ignore the factory warranty-who wants to spend time sending it back and forth. Also you'll never know it's defective and not up to specs without expensive test instruments. The 184 price tells it all.
Richard
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post #6 of 17
7/18/07 at 1:17pm
I got a HK 3480 at JR for $200, incl. shipping. I only saw this offered at 10 pm on a Sunday night several weeks ago. I'm happy with it.
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post #7 of 17
7/18/07 at 9:30pm
Thread Starter 
What is the difference between the Harman Kardon 3480 and the 3485? The specs seem identicle.
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post #8 of 17
7/18/07 at 9:32pm
Well i'm not sure of your budget. best bang for buck the hk3480. If you wanna save a few dollars and minus 40wpc. Not much of a difference 3380. Now if you dont mind spending a few dollars extra look at the Nad 720 you can also find some used or demo. Now if you dont mind spending more look at the outlaw 2250 or the Musichall Mavern. The later you may see a few turn up on Audiogon once an a while. Becareful buying the 3380 of J&R, I bought mine off amazon roughly 200 buck incl shipping to miami. However to my suprise the unit was not new as advertised, looked refurbished had some scratches and marks on the face only. They want me to return the unit but after paying about 70+ to get it here in the caribbean, plus likely double that to send it back I didnot bother just settle on a minor discount. But they were most helpful. Anyway just becareful with those hk's and J&R's
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post #9 of 17
7/23/07 at 4:30pm
Something to keep in mind on the two channel HK's: the sub out is a full range L+R. There is no crossover on the mains or the sub out.
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post #10 of 17
7/23/07 at 5:41pm
Even though it's an AVR, I find the Pansonic digital receivers to have decent sound, decent power, and are relatively inexpensive. Also allows you to convert over to HT if you ever desire to.

Some German rag tested them to put out ~90wpc @ 8 ohms and ~170wpc @ 4 ohms when in the stereo mode.

Plus, it has optical and coaxial digital inputs and some adjustability for crossover if you would ever decide to add a sub.

Looks like you can pick up last years model, the SA-XR55, NIB for $180 at J&R Music. Weighing only about 10lbs, shipping is cheap too!!
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post #11 of 17
8/1/07 at 4:43pm
i got a HK refurb from harman direct and the CD input was kaputt. worse than that, the lifeless sound quality couldn't match the SQ of my little Onkyo mini receiver with about 1/4th power of the HK !!!. I returned it and got a refund. Their customer service was very nice, though.
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post #12 of 17
8/2/07 at 9:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeattleSuburbia View Post

Something to keep in mind on the two channel HK's: the sub out is a full range L+R. There is no crossover on the mains or the sub out.

What exactly does this mean? I have the 3480. Is there anything I should be considering before I buy some new speakers for it? I was planning on getting a pair of the onix x-ls bookshelves and an x-sub. Should I reconsider that plan based upon the lack of a crossover on the HK?
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post #13 of 17
8/2/07 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ooop View Post

What exactly does this mean? I have the 3480. Is there anything I should be considering before I buy some new speakers for it? I was planning on getting a pair of the onix x-ls bookshelves and an x-sub. Should I reconsider that plan based upon the lack of a crossover on the HK?

That means unless the sub has high-level crossover and you use that, or add some type of external high-level crossover, the speakers connected to the receiver will always be running full range.
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post #14 of 17
8/2/07 at 1:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ooop View Post

What exactly does this mean? I have the 3480. Is there anything I should be considering before I buy some new speakers for it? I was planning on getting a pair of the onix x-ls bookshelves and an x-sub. Should I reconsider that plan based upon the lack of a crossover on the HK?

Quote:
Originally Posted by whoar99 View Post

That means unless the sub has high-level crossover and you use that, or add some type of external high-level crossover, the speakers connected to the receiver will always be running full range.



Just to clarify, it means that the subwoofer out signal from the receiver is a full-range signal. The receiver doesn't have any crossover capabilities like an AVR. If you use the receiver's sub out, you'll need a sub with an internal, adjustable crossover (it's really an adjustable low-pass filter) of it's own or else some sort of external, line level low-pass filter (may be fixed or adjustable). Any speakers connected directly to the receiver's speaker outputs will ALWAYS receive a full-range signal.

The X-sub has both a single, line-level LFE connection which bypasses the sub's internal crossover, and dual R/L line-level inputs which do NOT bypass the sub's internal crossover. So, if you connect the sub to the receiver's full-range sub out, you'll be just fine, as you WILL have a way to adjust and apply the sub's "crossover", (adjustable low-pass filter) to the receiver's full-range signal.

If you were interested in "crossing-over" the speakers with the sub's built-in speaker-level high-pass filter, you would connect the receiver's speaker-level outputs to the subwoofer's speaker level inputs, then attach your speakers to the sub's speaker-level outputs.
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post #15 of 17
8/2/07 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post



Just to clarify, it means that the subwoofer out signal from the receiver is a full-range signal. The receiver doesn't have any crossover capabilities like an AVR. If you use the receiver's sub out, you'll need a sub with an internal, adjustable crossover (it's really an adjustable low-pass filter) of it's own or else some sort of external, line level low-pass filter (may be fixed or adjustable). Any speakers connected directly to the receiver's speaker outputs will ALWAYS receive a full-range signal.

The X-sub has both a single, line-level LFE connection which bypasses the sub's internal crossover, and dual R/L line-level inputs which do NOT bypass the sub's internal crossover. So, if you connect the sub to the receiver's full-range sub out, you'll be just fine, as you WILL have a way to adjust and apply the sub's "crossover", (adjustable low-pass filter) to the receiver's full-range signal.

If you were interested in "crossing-over" the speakers with the sub's built-in speaker-level high-pass filter, you would connect the receiver's speaker-level outputs to the subwoofer's speaker level inputs, then attach your speakers to the sub's speaker-level outputs.

Yes, basically meaning the speaker will run full range unless you make other provisions for crossover/high-pass filter. Isn't that what I said?

I specifically didn't cover the possibility of the subwoofer not having an internal low-pass/crossover because it's fairly uncommon not to, unless you're talking separate non-subwoofer-specific power amps and passive sub arrangements.
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post #16 of 17
8/2/07 at 4:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by whoaru99 View Post

Yes, basically meaning the speaker will run full range unless you make other provisions for crossover/high-pass filter. Isn't that what I said?

Yeah, but I thought the original poster was more concerned about the implications of the receiver's sub out not being filtered.




Quote:
Originally Posted by whoaru99 View Post

I specifically didn't cover the possibility of the subwoofer not having an internal low-pass/crossover because it's fairly uncommon not to, unless you're talking separate non-subwoofer-specific power amps and passive sub arrangements.

SVS PB-10s have no internal "crossover" nor high-level inputs/outputs. Being a "budget sub" also, I wasn't sure about the X-sub's "crossover" capabilities or it's provisions for high-level connections.
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post #17 of 17
8/3/07 at 5:19am
I would look for an older Creek model 4140, 4330R. Maybe a demo 5350SE. Easily one of the best values in two channel audio.
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