Wanna help me spend $500 on a Home Theater Receiver?

Question

I'm looking to upgrade my current Kenwood (15 yrs. old) and was thinking of the Onkyo TX-SR705 or something similiar.

I'll be running my Samsung 1080p DLP, DirecTV HD-DVR, XBox 360, and a p-scan DVD which I hope to replace with a blu-ray soon.

My speakers are Klipsch RSX-4's for the two front and two rear sats, as well as a RCS-4 for the center. My sub needs to be replaced, as well.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

I think you'll be safe going with an Onkyo receiver. Though they kind of give false advertising to their actual power ratings.

Personally I would go with Denon or Harman Kardon.

The links below are examples between them (quickly picked just from price view). Notice how Onkyo has higher power ratings, I can garuntee that HK or Denon will be not only be louder but better power the speakers for sound and clarity altogether.

Anyways if you pick either brand you'll be satisfied. I heard a couple guys say they were really impressed with pioneer's high end amps.

Answer 2

I think it's a great choice.

That receiver won "Gear of the Year" in the Perfect Visions's January issue.  It is also on Home Theater Magazines Editors choice list.

Yes, power is less than other receivers, but it has all the bells and whistles that rival higher end units from other companies.

And home theater - is NOT music.  You are not trying to fill every room in the house with concert-hall volume. You surround a few seats with an array of speakers.

Klipsch became famous because their speakers did NOT need 150+ watts per channel to sound decent so these are not power-hungry speakers.

So the Onkyo would be a good choice.

SUBWOOFER:

Look into a used SVS or HSU Research subwoofer.  I tend to suggest people buy less-accurate, cheaper speakers, but put more into the sub because home theater is about IMPACT.

Answer 3

why not? i just got a SR705 a couple months back.. even though it has a lot of inputs.. your actually limited to very little depending how you connect them..