What to do, What to do???

steven_b46 -- Thu, 09/28/2006 - 22:27

Hi...

New to the list...HI!!! Not a technosavy person either

Questions... I am looking to replace a 9 year old rear projection TV that has been serviced one too many times. We want to go big...70+ inch (getting old and that 52" was hard to see :p). Because of good prices I've narrowed it down to the Toshiba 72HM195 or the Mitsubishi WD73727. Is the extra $500 for the Mitsubishi worth it?

Also, my 12+ year old Technic's stereo I was going to replace as well. I was kinda sold on the following:

Infinity BETA50 fronts
Infinity BETAC250 Center
Infinity PS10 or PS12 Sub
Mirage OMNICAN6 rears (ceiling)

These have a really descent sound for the money.

Anyway, I've been struggling with receivers. I want a receiver that will do what I need which is:

-movie, sports watching
-listening to music
-zone surround in theatre room and audio on back porch simultaneously.

I don't have to have the latest and greatest as you can probably tell, but I don't want to be too far behind the times before I even start. If I want to upgrade to BlueRay/HDDVD (which ever wins) or what ever else is the new technology of the day, I don't want to have to replace it to take advantage of those technologies. Do I need HDMI? Is 100Wx7 sufficient? What about all the other acronyms.

Who makes a good receiver? What are the features that I must have? Most of the stuff they talk about is greek to me.

I'm thinking $400-$1000 is about as high as I want to go on an A/V receiver.

Dennon AVR-3806
Onkyo TX-SR803
Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS
Yamaha RX-V2600

I can find all of these for under $850.

I had a dealer try to sell me a Yamaha RX-V4600 for $1080. It was their last one (display model) and he said Yamaha was discontinuing this model. It seems older technology than the 2600.

Others?

What do you suggest? The more I look at receivers, the more confused I get. I started out looking at the Yamaha HTR-5890 and RX-V659.

TIA,

Steve

Casual Viewer -- Sat, 10/07/2006 - 06:57

as far as i know, most receivers use some of the surround channels to power additional rooms. so probably a 7.1 receiver would be necessary. 5 channels for the main room and use the final 2 for the other room. make sure the receiver can do both simultaneously. you don't specify whether you want to listen to one thing in one room and another thing in the other room. if so, make sure the receiver can do this. and how easy is it to do this? i also wonder how many watts the surrounds can handle also. i think some receivers do fewer watts to the surrounds. you need to make sure it can handle the type of listening you plan in the other room and the speakers being used. make sure the sales person is knowledgeable on the subject and look at the manual on-line to make sure it can handle your needs. when you get into the finer points, most salesmen will be clueless. too many products, too many features.

if you find receivers that can handle what you want to do, just listen. if you can't tell the difference, it really doesn't matter does it? pick the one you find easiest to use.

it is difficult to keep up with the technology in this field. all receivers will be outdated in the next 6-12 months as HDMI 1.3 comes into being. don't worry about it, anything you buy will still give you good sound using today's hookups. and it's not like you will be doing all your movies on hi-def media anyway in the near future.