A/V Recievers...

[Shaggy]

Not sure if this thread fits here, but giving it a try.

I am looking to get a new receiver. I have points with my Sony card so the receiver will only be a sony.

When it comes to A/V Receivers or anything that has to do with audio, its all new to me. So I need some guidance here. Here is my setup, I have 2 older speakers which I plan on upgrading the speakers as I can not buy/change the size of the boxes due to the built ins I have made years ago for the size of the speaker boxes. I plan on getting 2 or 3 more including a sub. I need about 6 hdmi connections - Dish, PS3, XBOX 360, Wii U, Ouya, and possibly one more in the future. With this setup, what is my best bet.

Here are my choices.

Sony STR-DN850 - http://store.sony.com/7.2-ch-4k-wi-...catid-Collections-EPIC-Sound-Bars-HAV-Systems

Sony STR-DN1050 - http://store.sony.com/7.2-ch-hi-res...-receivers?_t=pfm=search&SearchTerm=STRDN1050

Sony STR-DA1800ES - http://store.sony.com/es-7.2-channe...pMC6MuRF?_t=pfm=search&SearchTerm=STRDA1800ES

So what is the best option for me with my current setup? Have any of you owned any of these receivers and liked/hated them?

Fill me in.

 

[sdleo29]

Go to AVS forum; great place for info. Not sure what your budget is, but dollar for dollar Axiomaudio has incredible speakers for the money. Don't get sticker shocked before comparing to the bigger names you see B&W , Definitive etc... In terms of receivers, sony is not a big player, but since your getting it with points have at it. If you don't wanna spend big money on really clean stuff like Rotel, which your hearing may not even be able to appreciate, then I would go with Pioneer Elite, Yamaha, HK in that order.

 

[Shaggy]

What do you have?

 

[JCCNY]

I didn't look at the features on each receiver, of course make sure you have enough HDMI inputs. Decide if you want wifi, bluetooth, or air play. Most new ones handle 3D, but check that.

For at least a 5.1 set up you'll need one center, two front and two rear speakers. A good sub is always nice too, my HSU kicks ass. Good luck.

 

[sdleo29]

I have a 7.1 channel Pioneer Elite and also a Yamaha for receivers ( yes I am sick) . My speakers are all Axiom; I have tried and heard many and Axiom is the best quality for the money; hands down IMO. The M22 book shelf speakers are ridiculous.....the 12" sub will bring down your house on Low Frequency Effects (LFE). The surrounds are pretty good too, but you have to get a receiver to drive everything; it all starts with the amp inside the receiver. As an example, a friend of mine was driving a B&W 5.1 setup with an Onkyo receiver, I switched it to a Yamaha apples to apples on power (watts/channel) and the difference was night and day; same speakers. There is always smoking deals on AV equipment on the forums or eBay. Audiophiles are sicker than gear heads when it comes to their man cave setups.

 

[Shaggy]

I'm not trying to go balls to the wall on this setup. The receivers I listed are basically free due to the years of accumulated points. The other issue is that I have older speaker boxes that I can not change due to the fact of my built in entertainment center(it's a drywall built in) sizes and need to stick with them. Hoping I can find updated speakers to go in the boxes and replace the older ones. So I will use those as my left and right sides. I then will go out and get a center and also 2 rear Bluetooth speakers and get my older sub I put in storage to finish up the 5.1 setup.

With the 7.1 receivers, do they need 7 speakers or can I still keep my 5 speaker setup?

 

[sdleo29]

Gotcha... yes,you can run 5 speakers on a 7 channel receiver. Like JC said, just make sure you have enough HDMI inputs, power is probably not a big deal... do a compare on the website, I'm sure there are not major differences outside of power per channel HDMI and CODEC stuff.

 

[Shotokan1509]

Sony I was looking at 1050 but lucked out finding pioneer elite sc71 for smoking deal. I am only running as 5.1, going to satellite upstairs.

 

[Shaggy]

What do you mean satellite, like as in dish/direct?

 

[Shotokan1509]

2nd zone, I'm going to install 2 speakers upstairs that I can turn on for playing music through whole house but off when watching tv downstairs

 

[Shaggy]

So do you have to wire them in or is that what you mean by satellite? Would possibly like to do that to in the near future.

 

[Shotokan1509]

I may have used wrong terminology, yes I have to run wire it's just that the speakers will be powered by receiver in different room. And I run a Logitech smart control that I can control everything from my iphone