[Lason]

Hey guys, Im finally gettign around to building my home theater and need to get some ideas on a AVR. I have pretty much settled on a set of AV123 X-series 5.1 setup with a HSU sub. Now I need to make up my mind on the AVR but I have some questions. My budget is still to be determined but should be around $2k for a AVR.


First off, are Denon's as hard to use as I keep hearing? Everyone I have talked to said unless I want to sit down and learn every bit of the things it has to offer then find something else.


Second, I heard there are issues with the Onkyo's as far as dots on the screen and such when trying to upconvert to 1080P untill you get into the 806 and 906 model recievers. Right now Im swaying towards a 906 if it will work out pretty well.


Last question is regarding the Pioneer SC-09TX flagship reciever. I know its twice my budget but the looks of it really got me looking but is it me, or is it missing some basic features that are found in recievers in that price range? The biggie off the top of my head is Wifi or any kind of networking capabilities.

 

[phantom52]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Lason /forum/post/16876776


Hey guys, Im finally gettign around to building my home theater and need to get some ideas on a AVR. I have pretty much settled on a set of AV123 X-series 5.1 setup with a HSU sub. Now I need to make up my mind on the AVR but I have some questions. My budget is still to be determined but should be around $2k for a AVR.


First off, are Denon's as hard to use as I keep hearing? Everyone I have talked to said unless I want to sit down and learn every bit of the things it has to offer then find something else.


Second, I heard there are issues with the Onkyo's as far as dots on the screen and such when trying to upconvert to 1080P untill you get into the 806 and 906 model recievers. Right now Im swaying towards a 906 if it will work out pretty well.


Last question is regarding the Pioneer SC-09TX flagship reciever. I know its twice my budget but the looks of it really got me looking but is it me, or is it missing some basic features that are found in recievers in that price range? The biggie off the top of my head is Wifi or any kind of networking capabilities.

A lot of todays receivers in your price range are network-able. The only one I can think of right off that is Wi-Fi is the Denon 4308CI. There may be others but I haven't seen them. Denons supposedly are a little harder to set-up, but seem to be worth the effort. The newer Denon's have very good video processors in them also. The Onkyo's tend to run warm to hot but shouldn't be an issue. The Pioneer Elite SC05/07 are also very good AVR's that are well within your budget and are also network receivers. Denon,Onkyo, and Marantz use Audessey EQ programs of different ranges. Pioneer's use MCACC as their EQ program. Different strokes for different folks. Both have their fans and both work well. Yamaha uses YPAO, their new version is a six position setup I believe(not sure) There are many very good AVR's in the 1K to 2K price range. You have your work cut out choosing one. My suggestion would be to find a couple of models from the any of these and then read the dedicated threads for your chosen models. Really hard to go wrong with any of them. Just depends on the bells and whistles that get your attention.Good luck and enjoy the hunt.