Best HT Receiver for around $500

[Arik5405]

My Harmon Kardon AVR-235 that I've had for probably 7 years now just had it's front left channel go out so I'm looking for a replacement as well as an upgrade. I recently purchased some new speakers so I'm looking for something that can push them a little better then the AVR-235 could.

My current speaker setup is:
4x - Polk Monitor60 Series II
Center - Polk CS2 Series II
Sub - Velodyne (can't remember the model at the moment)

What do you guys think?

Edit: Thinking about pulling the trigger on a Denon AVR2312CI. Accessories4less has a refurb for $449.99 shipped. Amazon has it new for $599 but I have about $54 in Chase Rewards I can apply to the order from Amazon.

 

[Soccerman06]

A Denon 2112 should be in that price range.

 

[DAGTA]

I picked this one up on NewEgg's last sale for it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882117412

It's $599 after the discount code. Pioneer SC-1222-K. I don't know how well it compares to other receivers but I've been happy with it so far.

 

[Soccerman06]

Ive never been a real fan of refurbs but if your confident go for it.

 

[funboy6942]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Onkyo-TX-NR...58993?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item1e732897b1

Got this and I run everything through it including my pc. Cant go wrong, sounds great, plenty of power to drive your speakers, and its got net radio abilities including 3d, and upscaled video well past 1080P so its pretty much future proof. OH and it has discrete 5.1 inputs so if you choose you can hook it up to your pc as well.

http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?class=Receiver&m=TX-NR709
More info and pictures.

 

[thelastjuju]

ANYTHING.. but a refurb of course.

Seriously, the differences between receivers are so overblown these days its just flat out ridiculous. They want to be able to charge you more for useless indicators like watts/channel, which you'll end up spending hundreds more for like a 2-4 db difference in reality!

If you have quality speakers/headphones, and a quality DAC (or quality sound card if its an PC or HTPC) literally any entry level receiver from a good brand (Denon, HK, Onkyo, Yamaha) will result in fantastic sound quality.

 

[funboy6942]

Whats wrong with a refurb?? 99% of what I have in my house is a refurb and out of all the years I been buying them, I have only had one go bad, and then they gave me my money back for it only because they didnt make one of the parts that blew anymore.

With a refurb, it depends on who you buy from, but a direct factory refurb gets you more features, and a better model compared to what you would get if you spent the same price on something that was new. IMO of course.

Like the one I listed. Its a factory approved merchant, and a factory refurb, not much to go wrong if you ask me, and I should know because I bought one.

 

[Arik5405]

I went ahead and purchased the brand new Denon AVR2312CI from Amazon. I was turned off by the refurb not only because it was a refurb but because the site didn't have the best reviews. I also got a 3 year warranty instead of the 1 the refurb came with.

 

[purbeast0]

I went ahead and purchased the brand new Denon AVR2312CI from Amazon. I was turned off by the refurb not only because it was a refurb but because the site didn't have the best reviews. I also got a 3 year warranty instead of the 1 the refurb came with.

i've been researching receivers the past months or so, and you can't really go wrong with Denon. definitely a good choice that seems to fit your range nicely.

my 4311ci should be arriving next week and i'm definitely excited about it

 

[ImpulsE69]

I have the Pioneer VSK-1121 and love it. It's in that price range now (if not lower).

 

[Howard]

Onkyo receivers seem to be the least reliable from what I have seen.

Anyway, whichever one you get should have an automatic sound calibration feature such as Audyssey MultEQ. It's *very* important.

 

[Vdubchaos]

ANYTHING.. but a refurb of course.

Seriously, the differences between receivers are so overblown these days its just flat out ridiculous. They want to be able to charge you more for useless indicators like watts/channel, which you'll end up spending hundreds more for like a 2-4 db difference in reality!

If you have quality speakers/headphones, and a quality DAC (or quality sound card if its an PC or HTPC) literally any entry level receiver from a good brand (Denon, HK, Onkyo, Yamaha) will result in fantastic sound quality.

I agree, when I got my 1609 for $169 I was looking at 1909 and other Denons/Onkyo and H&K receivers and I simply couldn't justify the price difference for the features that I wouldn't use anyways. I just need a receiver for sound, heck I don't even use HDMI for connections (Optical).

I guess I wouldn't mind more power from it (its only 70-80watts per channel) but it does great and is plenty loud.