I need a new A/V Receiver, so I’m going to let you in on my thought process of searching for a new one.
My current unit is a refurbished Onkyo HT-R500. It does a great job, it’s just an old receiver (and a low-end one at that).
The things I like about it are:
- Configuration flexibility – It has many options for speaker level and EQ for its price. All those options are pretty standard now, but I like them.
- Power output – It can drive my speakers plenty loud without obvious distortion.
- Good range of inputs for its age – It has optical, coaxial, and analog multichannel inputs. I use all of them and I’ve appreciated the analog inputs since I was able to buy a Blu-ray player with HD (high-definition) audio decoding and pass the HD audio through the receiver.
- Price – I don’t remember how much I paid (it was at least 5 years ago), but it was pretty cheap.
So why do I want a new one? Here’s why:
- No HD Audio decoding on-board – This isn’t a big issue since my Blu-ray player does the decoding, but I’d rather have the receiver do it and leave the Blu-ray player to its video playback role. Also without HD audio decoding I likely couldn’t do the next item on this list.
- No lip-sync adjustment – My current receiver can’t delay the audio so it will match up with the video through my projector. Projectors often introduce a small delay (several milliseconds) in the video since they do some processing on it. To make up for that delay the receiver needs to slightly delay the audio output. That function is usually called lip-sync delay.
- Only 5.1 channels – Although my current setup doesn’t need 7 speakers, I would like the ability to upgrade in the future if we move to a bigger listening/viewing room.
- Limited EQ – My current receiver has simple bass and treble adjustments, and that’s it. I would like additional EQ capabilities, which many receivers have now.
- HDMI Switching – My current setup doesn’t pass any video through the receiver since it doesn’t support HDMI. I’m not really using it as an A/V receiver, just an A receiver
Knowing those likes and dislikes I was able to figure out some requirements for my next receiver. There are many features that are standard on most receivers now, such as: tons if inputs, SD audio decoding, headphone output, etc. Here are the unique ones I wanted to be sure to get:
- Good power output
- 7.1 channel support
- HD audio codec decoding (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio)
- HDMI switching and regeneration (because my HDMI cable run to the projector is long)
- Lipsync Delay
- Advanced EQ features
- Low Price!!
With those in mind I found a few reasonably priced models that would probably meet my desires:
- Refurbished Onkyo 707 – $520
- Onkyo TX-SR607 – $500
- Denon AVR-1910 – $500
- Denon AVR-1610 – $380
- Pioneer VSX-919AH – $350
After identifying those model I then looked up some reviews to see what the experts who test the various functions thought of them. They were all well reviewed and nothing stood out as being the “best”.
After I started digging into the specs for each receiver I realized something; the cheapest option (The Pioneer) had all the features I cared about, and it had a higher power rating than many of the other ones. I really didn’t want to spend $500 on a new receiver, so I decided that I’m going to get the Pioneer.
Now I just need to finish saving up for it. I’ve got about $100 saved up in my “fun money” account that I get $20/mo for. I can also tap into some Christmas and birthday gift money (my birthday is in January), so I might be able to buy it soon!
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