tripod Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 I've got a Kenwood receiver (100x6) that has not responded to the remote for WAY too long. It used to be that I could tap the top and it would work for a few days at a time, now it just doesn't. I actually stand and walk across the room to adjust volume, which is simply not acceptable in this day and age. I've looked into repairs and discovered that it's bound to cost at least $100 and take 2+ weeks without my receiver at home. Anyway, I would like suggestions on a basic 5.1 receiver with all of the expected processing capabilities. I'm looking to spend no more than $300, which I realize is very little, but that's all I can justify since it's really just to keep me from standing to adjust volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsakura Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 Lower ended model of Denon or H/K? like their 1803 or HK 125? Or grab some Denon 2802 in the 2nd hand/refurb market? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 pioneer makes some decent receivers in that price range that I think you'd be happy with. I've had 2 pioneer's myself and each does well (one I use in my HT here in town the other at our cabin). have you thought about just getting a new remote? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMcGoo Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 Panasonic has a digital amp/receiver that sells for under $300. It has made quite a splash. I would investigate further, since digital amp sections are a new technology in receivers. My other choice would be Harman Kardon. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tripod Posted February 7, 2004 Author Share Posted February 7, 2004 Thanks for the suggestions, please keep them coming. ProDJ It's the receiver not the remote. I thought otherwise when it first happened and Kenwood sent me a new one. Still happened so I bought a universal. Duh! I eventually figured out (about 3 months after the warranty expired) that it was the receiver. One of the guys here suggested the tap on the top method, which worked for a long time, but it don't no more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsakura Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 ---------------- On 2/7/2004 6:17:37 PM prodj101 wrote: pioneer makes some decent receivers in that price range that I think you'd be happy with. I've had 2 pioneer's myself and each does well (one I use in my HT here in town the other at our cabin). have you thought about just getting a new remote? ---------------- Some people found out that the lower end Pioneer(not elite series) recievers are made to some OEM's in radioshack like KLH. They are much cheaper than the original one which has Pioneer's tag on(like someone saw same as VSX-812K oem for $150). If you can find the OEM's one, they are great choices, otherwise it's just a little lost for buying them(u have to know what do they exactly have and what do they look like, this line are all sharing very similar looking than each other). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 I've been pleased with my HK AV125 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tripod Posted February 8, 2004 Author Share Posted February 8, 2004 Any suggestions on how to identify those models? ---------------- On 2/7/2004 8:43:34 PM ccsakura wrote: Some people found out that the lower end Pioneer(not elite series) recievers are made to some OEM's in radioshack like KLH. They are much cheaper than the original one which has Pioneer's tag on(like someone saw same as VSX-812K oem for $150). If you can find the OEM's one, they are great choices, otherwise it's just a little lost for buying them(u have to know what do they exactly have and what do they look like, this line are all sharing very similar looking than each other). ---------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minn_male42 Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 i second the motion for the panasonic.... the xr25 is at best buy for $299..... 5 x 100 watts.... digital amplification.... great sound! additionally, i tried a $250 dollar pioneer receiver as a preamp with my separate amps.... i took it back after three days.... it was very noisy....lots of background hiss...very noticible on my KLF-30's..... i ended up goiung with a pioneer elite vsx-55txi to use as a preamp.... i know - alot more money - but absolutely no noise.... cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelerFan Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 ---------------- On 2/7/2004 6:27:55 PM MrMcGoo wrote: Panasonic has a digital amp/receiver that sells for under $300. It has made quite a splash. I would investigate further, since digital amp sections are a new technology in receivers. My other choice would be Harman Kardon. Bill ---------------- There is an interesting thread on the AVS Forum about the Panasonic digital receiver. Some call it the "$300 Krell killer". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsakura Posted February 8, 2004 Share Posted February 8, 2004 ---------------- On 2/8/2004 3:53:33 PM tripod wrote: Any suggestions on how to identify those models? ---------------- I didn't ever try to distinguish them...... but here should work: The thing that I can say is go to some shop that has the Pioneer model on, take a picture and really look at how does it build(check material, panel etc). Get the spec and go to ratshack and do the same thing about those KLH recievers' panels etc. I didn't really ever try it before but others may give you better idea about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tripod Posted February 13, 2004 Author Share Posted February 13, 2004 Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Here's where I'm at. I ruled out the Panasonic. Can't get past the speaker clips and I'm not sure there are enough connections on the back for me, plus availability seems iffy right now. Here are my finalists and the approximate prices I've found: Pioneer VSX-D812 - $200 refurb, $245 new Pioneer VSX-D912 - $280 refurb, $325 new Pioneer Elite VSX-41 - $350 new Onkyo TX-SR501 - about $275 new HK 125 - about $210 refurb HK 130 - $270 new This still isn't a small list, so any help in narrowing it down will be appreciated. Any known issues/benefits to a particular receiver? The refurbs are all from the manufacturers, so I feel pretty comfortable with them. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burtlively Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 check out the ecost.com denon & hk refurbs. i just picked up a yamaha rxv730 for $288 at tweeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tripod Posted February 14, 2004 Author Share Posted February 14, 2004 Thanks Burt, Looks like I could get the HK 125 from them for about $180 which is about the cheapest of all the models I'm considering. I think I'm leaning toward the Pioneer 812 or 912 though. Any reasons I shouldn't be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 I'm am not 100 percent positive but i think the pioneer is not high current amps. So you would have a smoother sound i would think with the hk, but i am only used to the older ones. Alot of those cheaper non high current amps with high power ratings give you good bass and play reletively loud quick. But they have this horrible distortion in the highs that usually causes listening fatigue after awhile. The onkyo is very good and detailed if you like a little bottom end i would stay away from it. I would go with denon if you like bass. Their is hardly any highs on a denon which i like you can listen for hours without fatigue and their 70 watts is devistating on klipsch. Harmon is very sweet and smooth with a nice midrange quality to it and is very detailed without being harsh. I've been down the same road as you for a long,long time. I would suggest you try to get a better one used. But then their is the gamble. I thought of the pioneer but the reviews steered me away. Plus i didn't find anywhere about them being high current even on their lower elite models didn't indicate that. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 ---------------- On 2/7/2004 8:43:34 PM ccsakura wrote: ---------------- On 2/7/2004 6:17:37 PM prodj101 wrote: pioneer makes some decent receivers in that price range that I think you'd be happy with. I've had 2 pioneer's myself and each does well (one I use in my HT here in town the other at our cabin). have you thought about just getting a new remote? ---------------- Some people found out that the lower end Pioneer(not elite series) recievers are made to some OEM's in radioshack like KLH. They are much cheaper than the original one which has Pioneer's tag on(like someone saw same as VSX-812K oem for $150). If you can find the OEM's one, they are great choices, otherwise it's just a little lost for buying them(u have to know what do they exactly have and what do they look like, this line are all sharing very similar looking than each other). ---------------- I would stay far, far away from those low-end Pioneer units. Their power ratings are bogus, they use cheap integrated circuit amps, and they're not particularly reliable, either. For $300, you can get a Yamaha HTR-5640 at BB - discrete transistor powered 80x6 receiver, S-composite transcoding, lots of nifty features, and good solid sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 To start with one of those pioneer units(912 I think) was budget avr of the year,I have a 411 in my garage and its been very reliable and sounds pretty good.The thing w/these model pioneer is that watt ratings are bogus as was mentioned and specs are not good(if you can hear specs). That said the HK's are very nice,I have a 125 in my bedrm I got for $125 used and it looks/sounds to be well worth what I paid and specs are good for the $.The elite 41 would be another decent consideration for the $.Also a Denon 1803 may be in this price range,another w/decent specs and build. I guess the point is I don't think you'll go to wrong with either of these and since its not a major investment(you prolly won't keep it forever)try to auditio n any you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 ---------------- On 2/14/2004 2:32:48 PM Fish wrote: and specs are not good(if you can hear specs). ---------------- Not to start an argument or anything, but I can definitely hear the difference between discrete transistor power and IC power, as easily as I can hear the difference between transistors and tubes. Furthermore, I put that 80x6 Yamaha up against the Pioneer 812 in a straight volume test. Two speakers, with an A/B switch behind the two amps. Set them both to -20dB. The Yamaha was far, far louder and cleaner than the Pioneer at that output setting. To me, that spells bang for the buck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tripod Posted February 14, 2004 Author Share Posted February 14, 2004 So how is it that the Pioneer 912 got loads of good reviews? Would you say that the HK 125 is better? It seems hard to go wrong for $180. In terms of loudness, I'm assuming that any of these will go as loud as I'll be wanting since it's my living room and I have a 4 year old who's sleeping while I watch most of my movies and TV. Clean and accurate sound is what I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 Harman is probally the most balanced. The older onkyo 500 is smoother than the new 501. Which sounds really good at lower volumes. You may be able to score one of them cheep. But i am not sure of that harman model. I am used to 75 watts harman power which i have. To bad i couldn't box that up and sell it to ya. That thing weighs like forty pounds boxed up though. It would cost alot to ship and it sounds awesome. Best iv'e heard with my system but it doesn't have an a and b selector for my deck speakers. Which is crucial in the summer for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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