Comments on: A Home Theater Cry For Help

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:33 +0000

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.

By: Anachronous One

Anachronous One — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:42:16 +0000

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

By: oobs

oobs — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:32:41 +0000

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..

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:47:02 +0000

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.

By: Spaceboy

Spaceboy — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:02:30 +0000

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.

By: Momie

Momie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:24:18 +0000

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.

By: Leroy

Leroy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:20:09 +0000

That reminds me, I should probably be doing the same, My surround sound needs an upgrade.

By: Cleric

Cleric — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:10:14 +0000

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.

By: Gooney Gu Gu

Gooney Gu Gu — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:17:03 +0000

Agreed, Onkyo TX-SR606

By: Duke Togo

Duke Togo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:25:13 +0000

Look to Japan, they still make those funky XRGB things that upscale a Famicom to crazy resolutions.