I posted before in the Universal Remote section looking to buy my husband a new remote for his receiver. By the time I shopped for a remote and found something I thought he would like I was spending almost $200.00, then my husband mentioned casually that we needed a new receiver anyway bcz the tuner on ours is blown. SO I've decided to just get him a new receiver and make it a birthday/anniversary/christmas present. :) Right now, this is what we have:
(Please realize that I am an A/V moron, so I use extremely LAYman's terms.)

Receiver - Pioneer DSX-D701 Dolby Pro Logic & DSP is printed on the front of the unit.
Sony DirecTV box - NOT a Tivo or anything goofy
Zenith totally cheap KMart VCR
Sampo DVD whizz bang does it all and my husband still hacked it DVD player.
JVC big ole television
2 little bitty very expensive Bose speakers on the left and right of my TV
One bigger black Infinity speaker on top of TV
One very large black box with no name on it under entertainment center, on floor
One other speaker lookin thing that is somewhere behind the furniture, but I haven't seen it in a while.

That's the stupidest thing I've ever written. Anyway, I need a new receiver. Here's what I **think** I need.
1. Right now, even without a remote, my husband would LIKE for everything we own to go through our Bose speakers (I think he likes them more than me) so that means EVERY device I have needs to hook up to this new receiver. Technically, only four devices, and speakers.
2. Our current receiver does this whole thing where you can choose "Pro Logic", "Surround", "Jazz", "Hall", "Theatre"... etc. like all these settings that it can change to. He likes to play with that, so I'd like to keep it.
3. I think our current receiver is 100 watts per channel, but I don't know what that means, so do what you will.
4. He wants a tuner. It's not working on our current receiver, so he wants one that does. We have a super dee duper powered antenna thing already but the receiver's tuner is blown or something.

I want to spend approx. $300 if possible. I know he HATES Sony. I'm seeing some Denon's that are nice but I've never heard of them before. I'm using UBid, and Buy.com right now. I'd like to buy online, and refurb is fine. We're not rich people, he just has expensive taste in AV equipment - as you all do! Here's my MAJOR issue - I want to BUY Thursday or Friday and have it shipped no later than 11/16.

If you use AOL Instant Messenger, please IM me at AngelWintrode and I'd be happy to have a shopping helper! Thank you!!!!!

It's hard to tell exactly what you've got in the way of speakers, but from your description I'm not sure if you have surround speakers. These are rear speakers. Nonetheless, if you don't have them you'll want them eventually.

With respect to the receiver, there are many good choices. For $300, your certainly on the low end of the price scale, but that doesn't mean you won't have options. Almost all of the receivers in that price range are going to be fairly equal.
I'd recommend a trip to your local Best Buy or Circuit City. You'll see lot's of choices. Of course, you can buy online from those places also.

Here's a couple of examples (pulled from the Best Buy website)
[Link: bestbuy.com]
[Link: bestbuy.com]

Here's a couple of features you'll want to make sure you get.
Dolby Digital (the successor to Dolby Pro-logic)
DTS (another digital sound format)

I don't really know anything about those specific receivers, but as a I said, at your price point, they are all very similiar. Good Luck!

Angel: It's difficult to say, because at that price range there are so many brands, both good and bad. As Steve suggests, if you can go and take a look at the stores, then you will be much better able to narrow it down. Best advice: ignore anything whose name you don't instantly recognize. Not that they're bad; you just don't want to take the chance.

Any receiver with Surround capability automatically includes those Digital Signal Processing settings you mention, like Hall, Jazz, etc... some have more than others. It usually turns out not to be an issue, because the majority of them get boring pretty fast because they sound so weird.

I know for certain (because I've used the following pieces myself) that:

- Technics makes very impressive stuff for $299. Maybe, even, something that has ProLogic 2, which is the latest buzzword, but which makes videos and TV sound much, much better.

- Pioneer makes some outstanding, inexpensive receivers. I would recommend them highly.

- JVC is pretty good.

- Kenwood is also reliable in this price bracket.

I'm not sure what your "powered antenna thing" is, but most FM/AM tuners are pretty standard these days, and except for Pioneer, are nothing to write home about.

So, you're looking for:

- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS, and maybe ProLogic 2 (all will come with basic ProLogic anyway).

- Do not get anything that says "5.1/DTS Ready"; that means you won't get real surround unless it's built in to your DVD player.

- 100 Watts PER CHANNEL, or a minimum of 500 Watts Total. Don't be fooled by the Total number; sometimes signs or salesmen will say "Yeah, Wow, 300 Watts!". I only give this number because most receivers these days don't come with any less, whereas in earlier years less was acceptable.

- For plugging in other devices, you will want at a minimum, these types of inputs on the back of the receiver:

- "Component" inputs for DVD players.
- "S-Video" for DVD and TV and VCR (even if your current VCR is not S-VHS)

Any receiver that has the above inputs will also have all the other inputs you'll need to plug everything in to it. Note, however, that at this price range, watching your TV through the receiver's inputs is going to cause a bit of a loss in quality of the picture. Nice to know that you don't have to plug the TV video into the receiver to still get surround TV sound from the receiver.

In the end, keep your fingers crossed that the Receiver you select also comes with a Universal Remote Control that will manage your setup... ... Mike

This message was edited by Mike Riley on 11/14/01 08:46.04.

Angel, if he wants to keep the receiver you have, just buy a new AM-FM tuner, which simply becomes another source. You can probably get one for around $100.

Larry

Try the Onkyo TX-DS494 it is under $300. It has PLII, Dolby Digital and DTS, 5.1 inputs and a programmable remote.

bluesman

angel
consumer report magazine is doing receivers this month.

hope this helps larry.

Kenwood VR510 is a very good digital 5.1 Dolby THX Select/DTS (yes THX!)recvr you might want to check out & programable remote - good luck

Angel,

Have you made a decision? If not, I would recommend you browse Yahoo's Shopping link (from the Yahoo home page), and search for Denon 1602. It's a MSRP $399 very nice receiver that can be had for around $255 online. I would be more comfortable buying it from a local authorized dealer though. What I would do is to print off one of the internet prices and bring that with you to any Good Guys (they sell Denon) or to a specialty A/V shop in your area. They will usually make a deal with you, but probably not go as low as what you find on the internet.