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r/hometheater•
pschart

Exists there an amp/receiver that meets my criteria?

I hope this is the right place to post this and I'll try to be brief. My old(ish) receiver gave up the ghost a while back and I'm now looking for something to replace it as I'm tired of listening through my TV's speakers.

The dead one is a Yamaha something-or-other. I liked it because it had 4-in-1-out HDMI as my old TV only had 1 HDMI port (I know, I know...). I had my TiVo Premiere, PS3 and AppleTV all connected to it via HDMI and it to my TV also via HDMI. All was well. Then I stopped getting audio and it seems as though something has blown in the receiver. Luckily, my new TV has plenty of HDMI ports so I've temporarily just plugged everything into it. It's...okay, I guess, but I want my surround sound/sub back.

Now, I've got all the speakers I want/need and a powered sub (they're not audiophile-grade, but good enough for me) so I don't want to waste money on one of the HTiaB-majigs but those seem to be all the rage these days. I don't even really need any video capabilities as I'd like to just run the audio out of my TV into this mythical box I hope to find (via optical).

So, long story slightly shorter, I'm looking for something (relatively inexpensive but not "cheap") that will meet these criteria:

  • Optical in
  • 5.1/7.1 out

That's pretty much all I need but my search so far has been fruitless to the point of frustration. Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Posted Jan 5, 2012, 5:48 PM UTC

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pschartOP•

The "dead" receiver is not completely fried; the HDMI switching and video and everything seems to work - just no sound. I don't recall exactly when I bought it but it's less than a year old (which makes me hesitant to replace it with another Yamaha if warranty/repair is a no-go) so I may reach out to them but I'm notoriously bad at sending in registration cards which may or may not effect whether it's under warranty... I'm certain I no longer have the receipt.

If I do end up going the replacement route, I'd want something that will last longer than a year, for sure, but as far as future-proofing, I'm not terribly concerned. 5.1 suits my needs as I'm far from an audiophile and couldn't give a damn about 3D.

I'm not opposed to replacing it with another receiver, I was just hoping to find something simple yet capable enough to meet my needs. I don't need tons of HDMI/component/composite inputs, I don't need CD/DVD/Blu-Ray/AM/FM, I don't need 2k watts of output or anything like that. All I can seem to find, though, are HTiaBs and "regular" receivers that will require me to pay extra for a bunch of stuff I'll never use...

I wish I could find something like the receiver portion of the HTiaBs (small, powerful enough for me, etc...) without paying for the speakers I have absolutely no need or use for...

Perhaps I'm SOL and my only option is to get a full-blown receiver or go the route JamesR suggests.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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ZeosPanteraHome Theater Guru•

Sold out on tigerdirect. I wouldn't recommend a samsung anyways.

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pschartOP•

I'll definitely check on the warranty as the consensus is clearly "just get a receiver." Thanks for replying and cheers!

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JamesR•

I don't think you will be able to find anything cheaper than a new receiver. You could buy a discrete decoder and a multi-channel amp, but only hardcore audiophiles do that and so you can only get really high end stuff.

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pschartOP•

Thanks for the input (hyuk!), that sounds like exactly what I want except for the "high end" thing... :(

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mailerdeemon•

Sounds like you need a receiver. Go buy a receiver.

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pschartOP•

Yeah, it's looking that way. Hopes: dashed.

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mailerdeemon•

There are plenty of sub $200 options for receivers out there that will do everything you need.

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pschartOP•

Yeah, I know. I was just kind of hoping for something "simpler" (read: not gigantic with tons of inputs I have no use for). Price is not my main concern, but I thought maybe someone knew of something with more oomph and less waste for my buck.

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ZeosPanteraHome Theater Guru•

you might get a deal buying a used one on ebay. Or just troll amazon as their prices vary wildly..

http://www.amazon.com/HT-RC230-5-1-Channel-Theater-Surround-Receiver/dp/B004ODLJ5Y/ref=sr_1_70?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1325798208&sr=1-70

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nalc•

Check out the Denon AVR-591. I picked mine up used for $175 shipped.

5.1 (it has 7.1 capability, but not amps for the extra 2 channels, but you could hook up a 2-channel amp to them if you really wanted to)

Has optical input

Has Audyssey (automated room correction, pretty much the new 'big thing' for AVRs - you plug in a mic and place it in your seating position and it calibrates the levels for all speakers)

4 HDMI in, 1 HDMI out, so you could use it the way you did with your old setup.

Onkyo and Yamaha have solid options in the same price range, but I don't know what their model numbers are. The AVR-591 is the sweet spot in Denon's <$1k lineup. It's got pretty much the same circuitry as the more expensive cousins like the 791, but saves money by not having ridiculous amounts of analog inputs and analog video switching, and not having 7 channels of amplification. Like I need 4 s-video inputs and 8 composite video inputs, or 12 sets of RCA stereo inputs.

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PhotoJim99•

The Yamaha is probably the RX-V371 which is a basic but surprisingly decent receiver. I just picked one up for my bedroom for $229 at Best Buy (US). 4 HDMI ins, one out, passes 3D through (if you care). Has some analog, component and digital audio ins if you need them. My only real criticism of it is that it doesn't do video up-conversion, so if you hook up composite video or component video sources to it, you need to hook up those video cables to your TV also and switch the TV's video input to see the new source. For HDMI-only devices it'd be super easy to use.

The sound quality seems good (I've got little JBL bookshelf speakers on it and a JBL powered sub), not disappointing compared to my old Yamaha RX-V595a that it replaced. Some say the FM tuner is weak but it works great for me though (I have my attic TV antenna split off to do FM too though so it might not be a fair comparison). It does ARC too, so if you watch OTA HDTV and your TV can do it, the audio signal gets sent to your receiver so you can get full surround decoding.

For your purposes, it might do the job.

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pschartOP•

This sounds like a good option. While some of its features will be wasted in my setup, it certainly fits the bill. Thanks for the suggestion. I checked it out on amazon and it looks like it goes for around $350 new; might I inquire where you got your used one? Craigslist/eBay type of thing, or is there some place that sells refurbs?

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nalc•

I bought mine used on a forum. $349.99 was the original MSRP, but when I bought mine in the summer they were only $250-275 brand new online.

It might be an end-of-life product now. Denon rolls out a new model every year or so. I see Amazon currently has the AVR-1612 for $299. The 591 and 1611 were pretty much the same unit, so the 1612 looks like the updated 2012 version of it. Weird that it's cheaper, though.

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zombiesartre•

If your interested I have a used one. It was only used about two months before I bought a 3311CI (which is totally awesome) and new speakers. I have ALL of the packaging materials, the original box, and remote.

But before you even think about getting a new receiver, your old one should still be under warranty and I would get that straightened out first.

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pschartOP•

I will definitely be checking in to the warranty thing, but I'm interested in your offer, to say the least. I'll PM you my email address and perhaps we can...haggle. ;) Thanks!

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MinnowWouldBeLost•

First I'd check into the warranty as others have said, you should be covered it sounds like. However if you want to look at other units, not knowing the power requirements or anything like that, here's some low-cost 5.1/7.1 Sherwood receivers from Parts Express:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=252-222

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=252-226

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