Recently I just bought some Polk R30's as they are rediculously priced, and am now looking into upgrading my whole system and getting a sub. Right now I need a reciever :S Im willing to spend up to $800ish - but the cheaper the better.
7.1 would be nice especially if it had multi-zone. I would want something 80-120 Watts/c. Also it would be wonderful to have XM ready as well as networking options, but those are not essential.
Firstly - What Brands should I be looking at in recievers?
Secondly - What are some of the minimum specifications I should try to get?
Thrid - What do you personally recommend?
Im also looking at subs if you have any suggestions as well for that.
ouch, with a $900 budget you could've done far better than those R30s (I'm guessing you paid around $60-100/pair for them). I know, because I just sold my R30s (which I found ok only for surround duty) to a guy for $90 and felt guilty about it afterwards.
Also think long and hard about just how much you truly need surround sound. With your budget, you'd be able to get a far higher quality 2.0 or 2.1 setup (2 speakers and possibly a sub). To be honest, surround sound only makes sense if your taste in movies is predominantly of the big-budget action/thriller genre. If you mostly watch TV shows, news, sports, dramas, or comedies, I would not bother. On the other hand if you don't listen to much music (like under 40%), you can get by with cheaper grade components. So a careful assessment of your habits/needs/tastes, plus your room size, is crucial.
Basicly what im looking for is eventually having a full surround sound system with projector or plasma for movies. It is true that I will use it mainly for music but id like to have that surround sound option.
Right now its a small room but I plan on moving to a new place where I can have a studio and a place to watch tv or movies.
I currenly use my system everyday - and am using it for a varity of things - listening to music (40%), Watching TV (40%), Watching movies (20%)
At the end of the day im looking for good quality at a good price. Thats what got me to buy the R30's.
I'd return the r30s. Why? Because while they deliver pretty decent mid-bass (boomy, but at least you know it's there) for their size, their 3/4" tweeters are hopelessly incompetent at delivering the single most important quality of an HT speaker---clarity and detail, particularly with voices. You can do much better, and for not much more money.
This is what I'd get:
1. 2 pairs of Athena AS-B1.2s + Athena C1.2 center, $380 from audioadvisor.com
2. Marantz sr5500, authorized refurb with Marantz warranty, $400 from accessories4less.com
3. Dayton 10" sub, $120 from partsexpress.com
The Athenas have full 1" tweeters, excellent detail and a tad on the bright side but should be perfectly balanced out by the very warm Marantz receiver.
The Dayton sub will provide the low-level bass for movies though if you want something better (tigher, cleaner, faster) for music you'd have to move up to the Hsu STF-2, $350 shipped b-stock from hsuresearch.com
The config above gives you two options for expansion should you move into a bigger space and have more cash in hand: the receiver can do 7.1 so you could add a pair of Athena AS-F2.2s up front and have 2 pairs of B1.2s as surrounds, plus it has amplifier pre-outs so you can add an external 2-channel amp to really give those F2.2s some serious whomp.