Our new place has Polk 5.1 speakers mounted on the walls (well, actually we need to buy a subwoofer since the owners took that with them, but nevertheless…) so it seems like the right time to put my NAD C340 2 channel amp in another room and upgrade to a surround sound system. There are so many receivers out there – how to choose a very good quality one that’s under, say $1000?
We might be getting HD soon, so I figure HD switching and upconversion will be really nice to have. Multi-room and iPod integration are pluses. Not sure what else to look for. Mainly I just want something that’s fairly easy to use and has nice clean sound for movies, TV, and music.
Since we have a built-in entertainment center with cabinet doors, I’d like to also find something that catches the IR signals from our remotes and retransmits it to the components inside the cabinet.
Recommendations?
since you mentioned NAD, they do make a great hometheatre receiver that shuld be around your price point. Other good performers are the Yamahas and Pioneers.
If you want to spend a little more, check out the Marantz receivers. They’re bulky and very musical.
cheers!
To handle the IR, there are retransmitters available at smarthome and other home automation retailers. If the doors on your center are glass, them the IR will go through, but I expect you know that.
I have not gone HD yet but have looked at a friend’s setup. The plan is to no longer use the receiver to switch the video. I will have the TV handle the video and the receiver handle the audio and use a programmable remote that has macros. When I switch sources, the remote will send a command to the receiver and a command to the TV. Reason is that you will probably have different video signal types (RGB, S-video, digital and analog) and it’s no longer practical to have the receiver act as Grand Central Station.
If you can find an Onkyo with the inputs you need, I’d go for that. I replaced my Yamaha surround sound system with an Onkyo and I never looked back.
Harmon Kardon is a great brand as well. They have low end up to really high end systems.
I ended up going with the new Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS with HDMI upconversion, upscaling, and iPod integration. Sounding pretty good so far. Will probably soon be the subject of another blog post…