A Home Theater Cry For Help
September 13th, 2008 at 11:32 am
“Sir, why is it still so hard to figure out which home theater receivers are right for me?”
That’s the IM-based cry for help I sent out to a friend this morning after finally realizing that I wouldn’t be able to come to any conclusion on my own. Here’s my situation:
I have a rapidly aging home-theater-in-a-box setup made by Kenwood. It’s a standard 5.1 deal, nothing ultra fancy. It’s done a fine job for the past, like, seven years or so. But I’m looking for something more, something that will handle 1080p video and has at least two HDMI inputs, as well as component ins (for my Wii) and perhaps an S-video (for my DirecTV receiver).
Right now, I have to run HDMI to the TV and use optical audio to my receiver. Since I only have one optical port there, I have to run the optical cables out of my 360 and PS3 into an A/V switcher that I used to use when everything was using component. It’s messy, using more cables than I’d like and making switching everything on take some time.
I also don’t want to spend a zillion dollars. Last time I looked, something like this was around 700 bucks, which seems too high of a price to pay for mere convenience. I figure I’ll save my money for when I want to get some new home theater speakers instead. I’m pretty sure I blew out my subwoofer at some point and figure I might as well replace everything while I’m at it.
I’m sort of surprised that there isn’t some sort of big gaming-focused article or section of a site out there devoted to addressing this topic comprehensively. You’d think that a retailer would put something like this together, even if all us gaming-focused sites are too busy covering games to really nail the peripheral stuff.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I guess.
September 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Yeah i’m currently looking around as well… something cheap but that also does the job well. At the moment i’m looking at at least 200 pounds which is good… but not at my budget
September 13th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I bought the Onkyo TX-SR705 and I’m really happy with it. It has 3 HDMI, all the advanced audio options that you need, and since it’s last year’s model you can’t usually find it for a great discount. It’s listed for $519 on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR705-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B000OBMX0K/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221335759&sr=8-1
September 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Hey Jeff,
Really enjoying Giant Bomb. I just got (and wholeheartedly recommend) the Onkyo TX-SR606. For $370 shipped on Amazon you get 4 HDMI inputs with 1080p passthrough, DTS MA and Dolby TruHD decoding. It does upscale the Wii and other component inputs to 1080i but it’s not great. Not a big deal if your TV does good upscaling of 480p stuff. The sound is amazing, and HDMI simplifies the cabling a ton.
Hope that helps. gamertag: hektek360; PS3: ioHek
September 13th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Check out an Onkyo receiver. They have some that do 1080p and have up to 4 HDMI inputs. The Onkyo TX-SR506 is $299 at Circuit City with 3 HDMI inputs.
September 13th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Please post again when you actually make a purchase and let us know what you chose, because I’ve been having similar issues trying to find a decent but cheap receiver with HDMI…
September 13th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I had a nightmare trying to find a decent audio solution that didn’t cost a fortune, ended up managing to find a Logitech 5.1 set up that had all the appropriate optical inputs etc.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
does anyone know of a reliable and reasonably priced method of getting Onkyo hardware to Canada? That had always been my one barrier to acquiring one.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I’m not big on home theater systems but I know exactly what you mean about balancing want with need. In my case, I could get a good gaming computer for a few thousand dollars from a regular O.E.M. But if I were to go from the ground up on my own and build my current dream machine, it would cost me about $26,000.
Which way do you think I should go?
September 13th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
There’s really no need for a gamers guide to AVRs. The features that a console needs like great sound and video inputs are the same as any other component. All product reviews should cover the number of inputs and video quality if a unit has upscaling, so any home theater system review has the same relevance. With the exception of the PS3 and it’s Blu-Ray quality, in which case reading reviews just imagine any BR player they mention is a PS3. Because it probably is.
I would recommend a Denon 1708 ($500) or at a push the 1609 ($350). When you are looking at an AVR to use for passing video you don’t want to go too low in price. The video circuitry of most AVRs is pretty poor most of the time but bargain basement units are just terrible.
Current generation Onkyo’s that use the Reon have great sound and some of the best video quality (I use the 875) but I would not recommend them. Recently their support has been pitiful and firmware upgrades are difficult to find (not available outside service centers)and even harder to implement for the average consumer.
Audyssey calibration is a useful feature that you should look for to quickly get good results from existing speakers. Despite what manufacturers say, their versions are not as good.
If you have a decent 1080p TV then I wouldn’t bother using the upscaling of a cheap device. Most of the time your TV will handle the signal better. In the case of the 360 and PS3 which can both handle HD signals up to 1080p I would make sure to buy an upscaling AVR that allows you to switch off any video processor it has so that it will just pass the native signal straight through.
Don’t buy DVD/HTiB solutions where possible. The feature set of a dedicated audio video receiver will easily eclipse what a combination HTiB can do.
September 13th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
and if anyone is looking for help to buy AV stuff, forget Best Buy, Circuit City etc. and head to Crutchfield. They have the best customer support for newbies and a good product range. You pay for their help and service by not getting the bargain deals you’ll find in some other places, but if you don’t know what you are looking for or how to plug it all in the price is worth it.
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Tab/Learn.aspx
September 14th, 2008 at 7:01 am
I was faced with a similar problem last year, and bought a Yamaha RX V-661 Receiver for $400. It has two HDMI in’s, 3 component ins and up-converts everything to run through the components and has plenty of inputs. However, the Onkyo does a great job of running everything through one HDMI and both receivers sound great. I would suggest Amazon for everything because after paying no sales tax and free shipping you can’t be amazon’s prices.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Huuuooochiiaa…my head! The simple life of yesterday. Too much technology for me…
September 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Go with god friend. I find dealing with the world of audio / home theater daunting. The amount of conflicting common knowledge and fanboy noise is painful. Good luck sir. Maybe you should make a post when you finish the setup and how you like it?
September 14th, 2008 at 11:18 am
yea go with an onkyo .. also yea your right i wish there was something on hometheaters
September 14th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Jeff, you should let us know whose advice you end up taking. I’m sure we’d all be interested in hearing. Thanks.
September 14th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
If anyone is planning to buy online make sure the retailer offers free return shipping. If something goes wrong, saving money by buying from a bargain retailer is not going to look as good when you have to carry a heavy AVR to the post office and then pay $50-100 to send it back.
September 15th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Onkyo TX-SR674. Best purchase I ever made. If you can still find them, I’d buy it again in a heartbeat.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:59 am
What i do if there’s some kind of home theater decision to make is read the AVSForum a lot. I just keep reading until i’ve absorbed enough awesome knowledge to make informed decisions. And then i stop reading it until i need it again.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:00 am
The Onkyo TX-SR805 for $650 at Amazon is a steal. That is a thousand dollar receiver with One Hundred and Thirty butt kicking watts across seven channels. Only 3 HDMI in if you can live with that, it will pass component over HDMI too. That and some good speakers should last you a long time. Speaker wise you have to listen for yourself, I like Polk Audio (I have the RTiA7’s + TC65i in-wall surrounds), but Aperion is highly regarded as well.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Shoot I forgot to add http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_3/onkyo-tx-sr805-receiver-9-2006-part-1.html
September 16th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Look to Japan, they still make those funky XRGB things that upscale a Famicom to crazy resolutions.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Agreed, Onkyo TX-SR606
September 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I’m currently looking for a good system myself and everything seems so overly complicated I’m afraid my head might blow up. I definitely feel your pain.
Keep us posted.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
That reminds me, I should probably be doing the same, My surround sound needs an upgrade.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Might as well go with the family here… The Onkyo TX-SR506 is a great piece of hardware. Sounds fantastic. The remote is so-so but I am really happy with my purchase.
@Edward Pollard: Try http://www.bhphotovideo.com They ship in Canada and the shipping rates are OK ( I am in Qc ). That’s where I bought mine.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
AV Receivers are a little maddening to sift through in the current market. I’ve been in the CES industry for going on 8 years now and this current landscape of product is super tricky to navigate for the non-enthusiast. I would recommend something that has the ability to handle high-resolution audio as the PS3 supports it and Blu-Ray films also sport high res audio tracks. If you are using your PS3 as your primary Blu-Ray player then all you need is a receiver capable of accepting multi-channel pcm audio through HDMI (which means any HDMI ver 1.1 and up receiver) because the PS3 does not have the ability to bitstream the high-res audio codecs. Newer receivers have the ability to accept bitstream information from Blu-Ray players to process the high resolution tracks internally. In the sub 700 dollar price range I would recommend the Yamaha RXV-663. It has two HDMI inputs and is as “future-ready” as a 500 dollar receiver can be. In terms of reliability and audio quality, I’ve found the Yamaha receivers to offer a little more bang for the buck than some other popular brands in that price category.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I would recommend my current receiver, a Denon AVR-1909 it’s super nice, got 3 hdmi inputs, and everything else you’ll ever need. Also the Audessy calibration offers a really noticeable improvement compared to calibrating it manually, at least in my experience. I used to have an old Onkyo and it got really hot, I really like the Denon I got now because it keeps cool for one, and also it offers a great feature set for a reasonable price. I think you can get them from JR.com for 500 bucks which in my opinion is a great price for a great mid range receiver.(you just have to call them to get the special deal.) This receiver also decodes all the latest audio formats: Dolby True-HD and DTS Master Audio. However if you’re watching blu-rays on your Ps3 you don’t really have to worry about that anyway since it decodes the signals internally and sends them out as a linear pcm signal, but it’s nice to have whenever you want to put that old HD DVD drive to use. As a side note I hear the competing Yamaha 663 and Onkyo 705 are both good receivers, but neither brand has built the strong reputation that Denon has when it comes to home theater, meaning Denons are widely thought to be more reliable. Hope that helps a little bit.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:32 am
well i guess i am not the only one in the same boat.. but a good friend of mine says you get what you pay for..maybe sounds abit silly..but it rings true. Apparently gear made in europe is the stuff to go for..don’t ask me for specific brands..
September 29th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
First, I love the Giant Bombcast; keep up the great work. I’ve turned a couple friends on to the podcast over the past two weeks.
Next, I want to second the recommendation of the Onkyo TX-SR705. I just picked one up to connect all 3 current gen systems as well as my cable DVR to my 46″ Tosh 46XF550U via a single HDMI cable. Oh, and do yourself a favor and grab a Harmony remote while you’re at it, if you don’t already have a kickass remote!
Onkyo 705: $500 on Amazon, no tax, free shipping. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000OBMX0K/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
Harmony 550: $77 right now on Amazon, but can be found for $50 on Amazon or other sites on a semi-regular basis. http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-550-Universal-Remote/dp/B000EUGX70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1222742305&sr=1-1
September 30th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
As other people have commented, the Onkyo SR-606 is a great machine. It’s got just the right amount of inputs and it’s easy to setup up on top of that. The Onkyo SR-606 has a good bang to buck ratio.