Need a new receiver

J

Justintoxicated

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 10, 2002
Messages
14,519
I have the large polk audo speakers that go on sale on newegg (monitor 70's etc), I have a 12" powered sub by (fill in name later).

Bluetooh capability would be nice as well as Ethernet (maybe not sure what I would use it for)

4k might be good to future proof, but I'd guess that whatever I get now for 4k will probably be out of date by the time I get a 4k.

right now I'm using an ancient sony receiver, only has analog inputs. It must be from back in the day when sony made decent stuff, because it has certainly survived for a long time! It's from back in 2000 I believe.

It's working fine, but it limits devices that can be plugged into it. It has no room correction etc. I keep putting off the upgrade because it suites all my needs except for HDMI. Right now everything is piped through my HTPC anyways so analog is fine. I'm thinking though that it might be nice to have surround sound for my OTA TV, netflix and amazon with the new firetv stick (limited to stereo when using the HTPC due to online access of amazon prime only supporting stereo). Stereo isn't that bad, but this is not 2.1. Amazon prime only gives you 2.0 so not even my subwoofer works.

While I know amazon COULD release a better client, reality is they want to sell their firetv shit so I might as well get something so I can enjoy it.

Should I get onkyo? Denon? My stereo sytem isn't junk but it is pretty entry level.
 
If you don't want to break the bank this
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Pioneer+Receivers/VSX-1124-K

If price doesn't matter
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Elite+Receivers/SC-89

I personally don't like Denon or Onkyo I've never had a Pioneer fail me

I have last years 1123K and am upgrading to the elite I linked when I install my ceiling speakers to complete my Dolby Atmos setup

I still have a Pioneer VSX-1014 from early 2000's that is in my retro game room and work flawless still.
 
Yamaha, Pioneer, and Denon are good places to start. Figure out a budget and start from there.

About Onkyo, personally I've never had issues but I've talked to many people who've had massive issues with there Onkyo receivers.
 
My Onkyo receiver has been rock solid and kicking ass for ~8 years. I have no preferences. Get which one has the features you want.
 
I have the above mentioned pioneer (it goes on sale every now and then for $350, so don't spend that much on it), I also had the new rx-v677 yamaha. Sound quality wise the pioneer won and I kept it. But the pioneer over all quality wise is much lower than the yamaha to me.

The 1124 is buggy, if you are adjusting settings it will randomly lose its sound or picture and a restart fixes it (I got the first one replaced thinking it was defective, second one is exactly the same and some other people on line mention the same buggyness). Once you get it all adjusted you don't really have to deal with that, though sometimes it will drop the picture for about 1 second and come back.

The 677 had a much nicer user interface, was much faster changing inputs, and overall was just a much nicer, well working receiver. It would automatically turn itself on if you choose to airplay to it. Stuff like that that the pioneer doesn't do. BUT (fairly big but), I could not get the yamaha to sound "normal", voices were always too low, sound effects too loud, no matter how I adjusted it.

The pioneer I was able to get sounding just right so I kept it instead.
 
munkle said:
I have the above mentioned pioneer (it goes on sale every now and then for $350, so don't spend that much on it), I also had the new rx-v677 yamaha. Sound quality wise the pioneer won and I kept it. But the pioneer over all quality wise is much lower than the yamaha to me.

The 1124 is buggy, if you are adjusting settings it will randomly lose its sound or picture and a restart fixes it (I got the first one replaced thinking it was defective, second one is exactly the same and some other people on line mention the same buggyness). Once you get it all adjusted you don't really have to deal with that, though sometimes it will drop the picture for about 1 second and come back.

The 677 had a much nicer user interface, was much faster changing inputs, and overall was just a much nicer, well working receiver. It would automatically turn itself on if you choose to airplay to it. Stuff like that that the pioneer doesn't do. BUT (fairly big but), I could not get the yamaha to sound "normal", voices were always too low, sound effects too loud, no matter how I adjusted it.

The pioneer I was able to get sounding just right so I kept it instead.
Click to expand...

Have you updated your 1124 ?

My 1123 has been super solid its going in my game room when I order the elite for my movie room.

Yeah definitely never pay the msrp these things are always on sale
 
HisSvt76 said:
Have you updated your 1124 ?

My 1123 has been super solid its going in my game room when I order the elite for my movie room.

Yeah definitely never pay the msrp these things are always on sale
Click to expand...

Came with the latest firmware.
 
The problems with some of the recent Onkyos were the HDMI board heating up too much and taking themselves or other components (inside the receiver) out. I am not sure if they have sorted this problem yet. I was an Onkyo fan from a good experience with one of their stereo receivers, but the HDMI problem pushed me away.

I am very happy with the Yamaha unit that I purchased (RX-a720 for reference). It has a pretty nice gui overlay for going through it's settings, nice and responsive. Some people do not like Yamaha due to lack of Audessey, instead using their own YPAO room correction. I cannot comment on that as I do not use room correction at all.

Overall I felt that Denons quality has gone a little downhill recently. To be honest everyone's quality has gone down a bit. The top cover on the Yamaha is a bit more flimsy than I would like. But Denon seems to be content to ride on their name recognition for a bit. I did not look at Pioneer's offerings.

These are the conclusions that I came to when checking out receivers a couple years back. Hope it helps.
 
I'm not someone who usually has issues with electronics. But I can tell you first hand my Onkyo has dropped hdmi ports for no reason after warranty expired. I'm now down to 2 hdmi ports that work. My Sony in my bedroom has a buzzing transformer. I'd say go with pioneer, denon, or yamaha.
 
In the past, I liked Onkyo for their price/performance and their inclusion of Audyssey, but, since they've dropped Audyssey in favor of their own in house AccuEQ (end results measure worse), I'd say Denon. Marantz if you want a fancier badge on the front. Both still use Audyssey, which I like.
 
The Pioneer VSX-824 I just bought took a crap -- the HDMI inputs and output stopped working after a month of use. Really bummed out since I really liked the features of the Receiver and the price wasn't bad at all. In the process of returning it (can't exchange since it wasn't Amazon direct) and want to replace it but I an now gun shy of the Pioneer electronics.

Should I be? Or just call it a fluke (this stuff happens from time to time in electronics).

EDIT:
Found this: http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-VSX-1024-7-2-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B00ITHKJCK

So, I "upgraded" to the VSX-1024-K for less than what I paid for VSX-824-K. Here's hoping this one lasts more than a month.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
somecallmeTim said:
The Pioneer VSX-824 I just bought took a crap -- the HDMI inputs and output stopped working after a month of use. Really bummed out since I really liked the features of the Receiver and the price wasn't bad at all. In the process of returning it (can't exchange since it wasn't Amazon direct) and want to replace it but I an now gun shy of the Pioneer electronics.

Should I be? Or just call it a fluke (this stuff happens from time to time in electronics).

EDIT:
Found this: http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-VSX-1024-7-2-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B00ITHKJCK

So, I "upgraded" to the VSX-1024-K for less than what I paid for VSX-824-K. Here's hoping this one lasts more than a month.
Click to expand...
I'd wager its not a wide spread problem, I haven't read about others with pioneer receivers dropping hdmi ports like the Oknyos do. Though I hope the 1024 isn't buggy like the 1124. I'm wondering if some of it has to do with the 1124 having two hdmi outputs and there maybe some bugginess there with hdcp and that's why it drops audio/video at times. I'm using both outputs, one for a projector at night and the screen pulls down in front of the tv I use during the day.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I have heard of many problems with recent Pioneer models, so yesterday I bought a Yamaha RX-v377. I have it partially wired up now (just 4.0 for the weekend) and it sounds fantastic on cable TV movies. Hope to add center channel next week. Have the speaker available, but ran out of time. The bass shakes the floor with my current speakers so may not even add a separate subwoofer.
Now I like Pioneer and own a great vintage stereo system but I do believe reliability has lessened with the newer products. My older TV had audio output so used external speakers for sound quality.
No matter what you do I recommend getting a quality surge protection system or a UPS for all your equipment power and signal lines. HDMI ports seem to have little resistance to voltage spikes.
 
Justintoxicated said:
I have the large polk audo speakers that go on sale on newegg (monitor 70's etc), I have a 12" powered sub by (fill in name later).

Bluetooh capability would be nice as well as Ethernet (maybe not sure what I would use it for)

4k might be good to future proof, but I'd guess that whatever I get now for 4k will probably be out of date by the time I get a 4k.

right now I'm using an ancient sony receiver, only has analog inputs. It must be from back in the day when sony made decent stuff, because it has certainly survived for a long time! It's from back in 2000 I believe.

It's working fine, but it limits devices that can be plugged into it. It has no room correction etc. I keep putting off the upgrade because it suites all my needs except for HDMI. Right now everything is piped through my HTPC anyways so analog is fine. I'm thinking though that it might be nice to have surround sound for my OTA TV, netflix and amazon with the new firetv stick (limited to stereo when using the HTPC due to online access of amazon prime only supporting stereo). Stereo isn't that bad, but this is not 2.1. Amazon prime only gives you 2.0 so not even my subwoofer works.

While I know amazon COULD release a better client, reality is they want to sell their firetv shit so I might as well get something so I can enjoy it.

Should I get onkyo? Denon? My stereo sytem isn't junk but it is pretty entry level.
Click to expand...

Denon stuff is weak these days. Just don't have the punch they used to. That said they have upped the other features for the price.

You can get 4k pass through, Bluetooth and Ethernet for 3-400 bucks, not to mention some other nice features. They just don't have much power.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top