shopping for a reciever, need advice...

thefranklin said:

Go with Yamaha for the best value. If you can afford to pay more, damn well better do it. Right now BB has a sale on the 5930, which is a quality receiver. It also has rca inputs for surround, which is what you will want to use if you connect your computer to it.

I would advise against using optical to connect up to your computer because right now no games support it, you will only get two channels. So make sure you get something with rca inputs for 5.1 surround.

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No games support it, but very few soundcards support Dolby Digital or DTS via digital out. Only the Auzentech cards, and the Turtle Beach Montego Bay.

Also, not sure what you meant by you get alot less features for the price, my base line AVR135 has all the features of any other $400-$500 receiver.

Korndog said:

speaking from the experiance i have from car audio amps, the difference in sound is inaudible (psycoacoustics are an exception ) between a decent cheap amp like that onkyo that was recommended and that 1000+ HK. but as far as quality, how long it'll last, features, ect.

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Wow, I can't believe what I am reading hear, this is the sound systems section right? I never considered myself a psychoacoustic, but I can tell a massive difference between the $1000 H/k systems and the $200 ones. The difference between wattages however, is easily explained. Different brands and use different standards for rating the wattages. For example, a cheapo 1000watt car amp might use 10%THD, a sony speaker system might use 1%THD, an onkyo could use 0.1% and an H/K uses 0.8%. Now, the cheapo 1000 watt car amp, may very well hit 0.1% THD at 110watts.

Another very important thing to consider here is which receivers use high current amplifiers. the brands that use these are...

Onkyo
Yamaha
Harmon Kardon
Denon
Sherwood
(there may be more but I can't think of any)

I am 99% sure that the following do NOT use high current amps

Pioneer
Sony
KLH
Panasonic
RCA
Toshiba
Samsung
JVC
Zenith

Pretty much any of the HC are well worth the investment, just about anything else generally is not. High current amps make a MASSIVE difference in the overall sound quality and they also can handle much higher acoustic dynamics as well as minimalize distortion. You will get far more out of your speakers and amplifier if you use high current, once you've tried it, you will never go back.

shard said:

No games support it, but very few soundcards support Dolby Digital or DTS via digital out. Only the Auzentech cards, and the Turtle Beach Montego Bay.

Also, not sure what you meant by you get alot less features for the price, my base line AVR135 has all the features of any other $400-$500 receiver.

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I know no games support it, assuming by it you mean optical out. Now my onboard sound lets me get dolby digital out, just have to have it on dvd. I think you mean conversion from 2 channel to dolby digital, which I haven't tried and am not planning on it.

What I was talking about, is the Yamaha receiver had analog rca inputs for 5.1 surround. That is what he should use for his pc, because that is what games support currently.

For about $300 you can get the 7.1 ch Onkyo tx-sr 504 which has 75w/ch & only! 0.08 % THD. I personally want the $500 100+ watt model which is THX certified with the same THD.

thefranklin said:

I know no games support it, assuming by it you mean optical out. Now my onboard sound lets me get dolby digital out, just have to have it on dvd. I think you mean conversion from 2 channel to dolby digital, which I haven't tried and am not planning on it.

What I was talking about, is the Yamaha receiver had analog rca inputs for 5.1 surround. That is what he should use for his pc, because that is what games support currently.

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No, games DO support it. If you want, you can come to my house and listen as I play COD2 with the optical out on my soundcard. Only certain cards support the output mode, but it works flawlessly and sounds great.

habbajabba said:

For about $300 you can get the 7.1 ch Onkyo tx-sr 504 which has 75w/ch & only! 0.08 % THD. I personally want the $500 100+ watt model which is THX certified with the same THD.

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We have an onkyo similar to that we got as a refurb from J&R. Actually, I think it was the HT-770s, so it came with speakers. I love it and it sounds great. I will, however, say this much: my headphones sound much better. But, that's to be expected when the whole HT setup cost $350 and my headphones alone were $200.

exhausted mule said:

there's a reason why the other brands cost more. they are a step above your average pioneer, sony, jvc.

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While I am an avid believer in the high end audiophile grade equipment, the auction he linked to was for a Pioneer Elite receiver. Because the name says pioneer don't confuse it for bargain bin material. Similar to how Toyota makes Lexus cars, Pioneer Elite is truley leaps and bounds ahead of Pioneer products.

I've always had great luck spending a bit extra for a Yamaha.

I used to buy junk like Sony and they always seem to break, bought the Yamahas for my last two setups and very happy about the purchase.
(In fact I bought the last one on Ebay at a steep discount from a reliable vendor, and saved 70% off the retail price)

Silversinksam said:

I've always had great luck spending a bit extra for a Yamaha.

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Yeah Yamaha is a great brand. Using a Yamaha receiver for my home theater currently

My favorites are Harman Kardon, Onkyo, and Yamaha, in that order

i will have to say yamaha... i have 2 of their recievers... 1 is a 6ch descreet input old one that still sounds amazing... the other is for our hometheater system downstairs... 7.1 surround with all very big speakers... the HTR-5890 has no problem driving them all espically in the huge room that they are in. and sound quality is uphoric