I'm switching from seperates to reciver in the Home Theatre. The seperates will go to an analog (vinyl) only system, while a reciever and a new surround speakers will go in the den.
So which sub $500 reciever? I'm partial to the Pioneer ( self calibrating and higher output, pre-outs,) but the Onkyo has better THD specs and many more reviews on the CC website. I'd like to hear some non commercial responses on both.
Brock, If you go to the review section of the receivers here you will find a few reviews of the 912. All are pretty glowing in their evaluations and one calls it a "tour de force". Maybe a bit overstated but I saw one review that said it was better than the NAD 742. I do think it's better than the 601. I would also consider the Marantz 5400 which has a list of $599 but I'm sure can be had much cheaper mail order and should be no more than $525 retail. Sound &Vision gave it a great review a couple issues ago and it has outstanding power; over 100w with 5 channels driven. By the way, what speakers will you be using with this new receiver?
Short term, I'll continue using my Pioneer tower-center-sats, adding a powered sub and 2 more sats. For the analog system I'm considering a pair of Dana or PSB bookshelfs.
Long Term I'm interested in Fluance and Home Theatre Direct. Fluance has the edge on price plus they offer a bipolar surround.
HTD is a mere 3 hours away in Allen. I could drive down, audition and bring them back if I chose to.
If you have any suggestions, I have a post on this subject in the Home Theatre Speakers forum.
Hi This thread interests me. I had looked at the Pioneer 912K and the NAD 742 in Sept last year...
Decided on the 742 based on THD specs and the strong recommendations of others on this forum. Turned out to be a great choice and I am amazed at the audio quality everyday I turn it on.
In fairness to the 912, its got great specs and features for the price point. Was going at $300 at ebay at that time.
Looks like my best bang for the buck will be the 912K combined with a Parasound phono stage and speaker selector. That way I can have home theatre in the den and stereo in the living room and on the deck.
Pioneer has also come out with a DVD/CD/DVD-A/ SACD player for less that 250 and I've seen discounted for 180. Looks like a bunch of stuff is going on ebay!
Brock, is that the Pioneer DV-563A? Do people have good things to say about it? It's C$250 at Futureshop, and I might be tempted to get one to try my DVD-A/SACD analog connections on my h/k 325 :-)
I have yet to even hear a DTS 5.1 recording so I should probably start there!
The DV-563A is by far the cheapest universal player out there. I haven't tried it yet, but read fairly good things about how it sounds. Video quality is supposed to be mediocre. For US$149 (that's about C$900 ;) at Best Buy, it may be worth trying.