I am new to this list.

I need a serial/RS-232 controllable Dolby A/V reciever. Who manufactures the best option at a low price point? Yamaha had one for $1000, the Rx-v1000, but they just discontinued it. B&K has the next one up for $3500. I plan to operate the unit via a serial
input.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Cheers,
Daniel

I use the Onkyo Integra and Integra Research lines of Receivers and processor w/ RS-232 applications. They are not very expensive, are above average in reliability, and the 232 protocol is almost flawless. I believe that there are some problems w/ Marantz and RS-232, but Denon and B&K units are also supposed to work well.

-Tom Visser

Parasound has a processor preamp that would be appropriate. It's going to be priced past what a receiver is, but it's a nice piece. Check out parasound.com and look at the avc2500u.

Tsvisser & Fred,

Thanks for the replies. I investigated the Inegra options and they are exactly what I am looking for. I need to purchase about 12 units and this pricing will make the project doable.

Cheers!

If you do decide to go with the Integra models... to save you some possible pitfalls, these are the problems that I have found with the units. They are pretty obscure, so shouldn't cause any problems for the average application.

Zone2 and recording commands do not work if the primary zone is off. In other words, you have to always leave the receiver on or power on the unit, wait for the warmup time, then send the appropriate zone2 / rec command. you may then turn off zone1 and the zone2 / rec source selection will stick. This is also a problem with Meridian gear... both companies should take note and fix it!

Component video switching does not allow audio breakaway. If you select video1, then select a music source, you can watch the composite or y/c video while listening to the CD player, for example. This does not apply to component video, however. I have systems in the field that must downgrade video to composite or Y/C if the user activates a music source. Real world terms just means some extra logic to switch the display device to a different input, but is annoying just the same.

Cool thing that absolutely everything is discrete! Review the Integra RS-232 module if there is something missing from the Crestron supplied module (if Crestron is what you are using) as their module is pretty lightly coded.

-Tom Visser