Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > July > 28 > Entry
I am researching A/V receivers (help!)
When I moved to Austin back in the swingin’ late 90s (what, you weren’t swinging? You totally missed all the SWINGING!), I was a single guy, living alone. The little bit of money I was able to save was spent on the kinds of things guys living alone spend it on: cheap tequila and pricey home theater stuff for movie parties that never seem to actually happen.
That’s how, about 11 or 12 years ago, I ended up with a very nice Pioneer DVD player, a gigantic Sony A/V receiver and a set of Advent 5.1 surround speakers back before those items had become ubiquitous. I believe I bought them all at A&B TV, which was able to guide me through all the gear in the store to find the ones I wanted.
Now, 12 years later, I have a baby, two mortgages and the opposite of a swinging life. What’s the opposite of swinging? Sedentary? I am a very socially sedentary man. The Pioneer DVD player now sits in the bedroom where we’re watching “The Wire” after the baby goes to bed most nights.
The Sony receiver and speakers are in the living room, now connected to several game consoles, our DVR and a Sony HDTV. Everything sounds fine, but the receiver is so old it lacks most of the new audio formats found on Blu-Ray, any kind of HDMI or component inputs/outputs (this was a LONG time ago in home theater years) and the volume knob is starting to give out. I think a new receiver with HDMI connections would also help eliminate a lot of extraneous wires that clutter up the back of our home theater cabinet.
I still like my Advent B&R speakers, so there’s no need to replace them. But I’m definitely in the market for a new receiver — something not too expensive, which decodes DTS-HD and Dolby True HD formats and is capable of 7.1 sound (which I don’t have the speakers for now, but may be willing to add on later).
There are some pretty amazing deals on receivers out there right now. The three front runners are as follows:
Onkyo TX-SR607 7.2 receiver — It has a front HDMI port which sounds like it would come in handy for new devices I test out for short periods of time. It seems to be widely admired on geeky A/V forums and seems like a solid piece of equipment. It doesn’t seem to have a decent on-screen menu, however, and an iPod dock add-on costs $100, which seems ridiculous. Still, it seems like a solid choice. Also, it is 7.2, not 7.1 (for an extra subwoofer, if you have it). .2! That’s another whole .1! And it has six HDMI ports, which seems crazy. Crazy GOOD!
Sony STR-DN1000 — My last Sony receiver lasted more than a decade, so there’s a sentimental factor here. but the DN1000 isn’t out yet (it arrives on Amazon this week) and there are no real reviews or testimonials out there. It’s $388 on Amazon, which seems like a steal, but I’m leery of buying any product that’s brand new and hasn’t been put through its paces by A/V geeks smarter than myself. Think I’ll have to pass on this one. It also suffers from Lame Accessory Syndrome: an iPod Dock and Sirius-Ready add-on antenna aren’t even available yet, but I’m sure they’ll be pricey. We have a Sony TV and a Sony PlayStation 3, so I thought this receiver might play extra-nice with those sibling components.
Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K — A very positive review on CNet almost has me convinced that this should be my purchase, even without a front-panel HDMI port. I like the USB port on this thing and the included iPod/iPhone cable. We hook up my iPhone and iPod to our receiver all the time to listen to music and I’d like not to have to pay for a separate dock. And the on-screen menus for this receiver sound like they’re easy to navigate.
All the receivers are about $400, so price isn’t that much of an issue. And there are much geekier specs than I’ll get into here like, “Does it upscale from analog sources over HDMI or pass along the signal?” Stuff like that makes me curious and disgusted with myself for being curious at the same time.
Sure, I could buy a home theater in a box, but I already have good speakers and, as lame as it sounds, I like getting back there and setting up all those speaker wires and deciding which cable goes where. And I like the bulky heft of a good A/V receiver with those dozens and dozens and dozens of inputs and outputs. It scratches a geek itch that a HTiB just doesn’t (trust me, I know; I’ve helped other people set those up).
Any A/V geeks in the house want to offer advice? I’m leaning toward the Pioneer even though the Onkyo seems to have a good track record and has all those handy HDMI ports.
What’s a geek to do?
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By E
July 29, 2009 1:43 PM | Link to this
go with the Onkyo, they make solid products. I have the 706 which is similar and have no complaints, HDMI switching is flawless and the sound is amazing.