First time buyer AV Receiver advice

Desty

Desty

Desty

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12 Feb 2007
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Been fixing my house up for a while and gone down the route of networking the house and putting in cables for 5.1 surround sound in the living room so everything is neat and tidy.

My setup so far consists of a Sony 50W656 TV, Xbox 360 and Blu ray player and a HTPC.

Came across a good deal the other day on some 5.1 speakers, £289 for Tannoy HTS201. So now just need the receiver to connect everything.

Been looking at the ONKYO TXNR626, Sony STRDN840 and at a push the Sony STRDN1040 (but that is about £100 more and not sure if it's worth the extra). Budget is £250 to £350 (£400 at an absolute push). Can't really see much of a difference between them, although the Onkyo is the cheapest and does have a lot of features.

Any one have a recommendations or suggestions, am open to other suggestions too.

Thanks
 
Using Richer Sounds comparison.

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Onyko has more coaxial, it uses more power, it has bluetooth, more composite.

The Sony has Airplay, less power, 2 more HDMI, 1 more component, but only Passive Zone 2 control.

The Yamaha is a left field choice if you like their sound, It has very similar specs too.
 
Thanks for that, didn't realise you could do comparison on richer sounds! Makes it a little easier to see the differences.

That's looks like a huge power usage difference between the Onkyo and the Sony. I don't have any apple products myself (other half has iPhone and iPad mini) so not fussed about airplay. I do have nexus 4 and 7 though so Bluetooth could be handy, I do also have a squeezebox duet as well that I'll be connecting up. HDMI wise 6 should be more than enough for now, but I'm sure I'd find enough things to use them all!

Big price difference between them though, hadn't considered the Yamaha so will see what I can find out about that!
 
I'd recommend the Yamaha - especially to go with the HTS-201's - simple to setup and awesome quality of sound!

I've got a RX-V671 driving my HTS-101's

Seen that deal on HDUK for them HTS-201's - good deal there bud! :)
 
I would ignore manufacturers power claims, if that Onkyo made 120w it would be only driving 1 channel and just before it exploded. They are probably all closer to 50-60 watts per channel with all channels driven. The Onkyo does have a meatier power supply so could well be more power than the others, though Onkyo's normally run very hot.
 
If you're anticipating listening to music as well as films, then Yamaha is a good choice - they have the best 2-ch music reproduction at that price point.
 
Desty said:
TI do have nexus 4 and 7 though so Bluetooth could be handy, I do also have a squeezebox duet as well that I'll be connecting up. HDM
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The yamaha has android apps for wireless streaming if that makes things harder to choose

I went for the 673 (identical in specs just last years model) and im very happy personally id say its down to either the sony or the yamaha

the sony has extra ports but that might not really matter unless your driving 2 tvs and have every hdmi games console sky and virgin plus a pc, it also has 10wpc rated specs but as said take them with a pinch of salt and if running 5.1 both amps support bi-amping for fronts if that is possible with your speakers.

The yamaha auto tuning system is very good but ive not played with the sonys so that could also be just as good.

Long and short there is very little in them take a trip down to your local store and have a listen to the two
 
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Personally I own the Yamaha 673, Great bit of kit. I looked at the Sony and it's very good. I just prefer the Yamaha sound.

I hear the Onkyo’s are plagued by failing HDMI control boards, also they have a reputation for running very hot. Maybe a search might turn up more on this. I know the 616 was very failure prone which turned me off going for it, not sure how the X2X series fair.
 
Get the 840.

I got one recently, fantastic piece of kit. I didn't need the extra features of the 1040 in the end.
 
zoomee said:
I'd recommend the Yamaha - especially to go with the HTS-201's - simple to setup and awesome quality of sound!

I've got a RX-V671 driving my HTS-101's

Seen that deal on HDUK for them HTS-201's - good deal there bud! :)
Click to expand...

Yeah that's where I saw the deal for the speakers. Had been planning on getting the HTS-101's but at that price I couldn't resist them!

Been looking at the Yamaha now and I think I'm leaning more towards that. Do listen to quite a bit of music so should go well with the 201's!

Seen the reports of the issues with the onkyo and it's put me off it a little. Though I'd probably get an extended warranty anyway!

Thanks for the help so far! :)
 
If you can wait, I pulled the trigger on the Onkyo 626 today. I have no use for Airplay and dont mind about the power so can give it a write up at the start of next week
 
DiCe! said:
If you can wait, I pulled the trigger on the Onkyo 626 today. I have no use for Airplay and dont mind about the power so can give it a write up at the start of next week
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Planning on making a decision and buying next week! So will definitely will give it a read if you do!
 
We have a Denon AVR - x2000. It sounds good to me and the menus and setup is quite straight forward once you get your head around things.

Maybe worth considering as its within your budget.
 
FinglisHobbit said:
We have a Denon AVR - x2000. It sounds good to me and the menus and setup is quite straight forward once you get your head around things.

Maybe worth considering as its within your budget.
Click to expand...

Just read a review of the Devon AVR-X2000 over at whathifi (5 stars) and checked the features. Definitely would also consider that now too. So that gives me another contender. Also it's £100 cheaper than the Yamaha!

Going to wait to see what DiCe! says about his new Onkyo too!
 
I don't think you will be disappointed with any of the offering suggested so far if this is your first proper AV receiver 5.1 set up. So I would select the best one that ticks all the boxes you are after and for your budget.
 
Well first impressions are that the Onkyo sounds incredible, but that could be the KEF's.

Easy to set up, very easy in fact, wireless set up was a doddle, will do a more indepth write up tomorrow, I am off to enjoy some Blu Rays
 
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