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Need help selecting receiver.


Newbold

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Hi, someone I work with needs a new receiver and we were wondering what to get. He has a 5.1 setup in his living room with 2 subwoofers. He also has 2 speakers in another room that he would like to connect to this system. Also, sometime in the near future he may go 7.1 in his living room.

Does this look like a good receiver for this setup:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onkyo-Surround-Sound-Receiver--TX-SR602-/sem/rpsm/oid/97895/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

If the link doesnt work the product is: Onkyo Surround Sound Receiver (TX-SR602)

Also, will the 5.1 sound fine for now on a 7.1 receiver?

Thanks for your help!

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Newbold, welcome to the forum!

Many of the AV receivers will support "other room" systems. If he's thinking of going to a 7.1 system, it might make sense to go that direction, even if he's got a 5.1 system now.

I can't speak for Onkyo since I haven't heard one. Popular brands around here are Denon and Outlaw on the high value end. Aragon and B&K seem to dominate the higher end.

I have a Denon and love it, although I think there is an upgrade in my future when I move into a new home (7.1, all Heritage system).

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Harman-Kardon AVR-130. A really sweet little 5.1 receiver for only about 300 bucks; see my post on it several days ago.

On my Khorn mains + Belle center + RS-35 surrounds HT system, the 130 blew away a far more expensive new Pioneer 7.1 receiver I tried and an older Onkyo TX-DS-575 5.1 I had on hand. The Pioneer and Onkyo sounded thin and dry, in comparison. The HK 130 had, after being broken in, a much richer, fuller, "tube-y" sound. I'm very happy with it.

Given the listenability of the 130, a 7.1 further up in the HK line might be well worth a tryout by your friend.

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A harman/kardon avr-130 is nice, I agree. If 5.1 plus stero on another romm is required, step up to the avr-320 which does that. The 6th and 7th amplifier can either be a Zone II stereo or extend the 5.1 to 7.1.

Check out ecost.com for excellent pricing on factory reconditioned units.

If you can find it, last year's h/k avr-325 should be cheap and weights in at 40 lbs. I have this driving La Scala's and I'm very happy with it.

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Sorry, I meant this year's avr-330 instead of avr-320 (two years ago). Can be had for $449 at etronics.com (same price as the Onkyo you listed).

ecost.com has the older but beefier avr-325 from last year at $435.46. The price difference is small compared to this year's model, but I'm told the 325 was sold as a 4xx series in Europe which expalins the beefier weight.

The older avr-320 can be had for $389.99 at ecost.com and this year's avr-230 for $319.99 at etronics.com.

You can look up the specs and download the manuals for all these models from www.harmankardon.com

Note that the 2005 x35 models are about to come out, with new features. But on a budget you can't go wrong with the above. For plain 5.1, no thrills, no zone II, but great sound and high-current, try a NAD T742 for $399.

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I'm new to this forum. I've had Klipsch speakers for 4 years now and just love them.I have this receiver, just picked it up two weeks ago.It cost me $441. I havent had a chance to play around with everything it can do with it yet, but the DD-Ex and DTS-Es sound great. You can leave you main speakers as large to enhance the double bass it can perform. I had a HK and I can say they sound about the same. THe only thing is I have 85 watts per channel from the Onko compared to 45 from HK. They are both good receivers. Really the best way to do it is go out and test them with a set-up your looking at.

Art

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