Sorry if you'd rather I just revive an old thread...I didn't

For the last couple years I've had the Pioneer VSX-1021k and I loved it...until the sound stopped working not too long after the warranty expired. Brought it into a stereo repair shop and there's nothing they can do...fucking annoying since EVERYTHING else works perfectly

So what are the best options out there right now? I'm looking to spend a max of around $500, needs to have Airplay or Bluetooth, and I have to be able to get at least a 3 year warranty on it...preferable from a store so I can just drop it off and not have to mail it somewhere.

I read through this article and it seems to think that the SONY STR-DN1040 is the best all around but not as good a value as others...but I can now get it off Amazon for $400, and therefore Best Buy as well.

http://www.cnet.com/topics/av-receivers/best-av-receivers/

There are some reviews on Amazon about the video not working so well on some units though, so I'm a bit hesitant there.

8/8/2014 2:03:11 PM

Support HDMI 2.0/4k? I usually keep receivers for a while and it's possible I might buy a 4k TV in the next 2-3 years. Something to consider. I don't think that Sony supports hdmi 2.0. just 1.4.

8/8/2014 3:53:12 PM

That question's above my pay grade, but this is from some website's review of the 1040:

Quote :

"10. Analog to HDMI video conversion, analog to 1080p and 4k upscaling, as well as 1080p to 4K HDMI-to-HDMI upscaling."

8/8/2014 4:05:40 PM

Avsforum.com

8/9/2014 8:19:32 AM

i enjoy my onkyo tx-809. 7.2, bi-amp for fronts, 3 zones, 6/2 hdmi with 4k upscaling, has a wired nic for airplay and dlna. was recertified on amazon for 450

8/9/2014 11:35:25 AM

Audioholics.com

And their store, audiogurus

Also, how much power do you need? What speakers/setup?

8/11/2014 2:34:07 AM

Also, that review fucking sucks. It's a shitload of info about a bunch of bullshit features that few people use, and not much about the performance and sound.

Of course, that's probably related to their assertion that AVRs had little or no effect on sound, which is a giant crock of shit. I have never heard anyone claim that like they portray as a school of thought of some (presumably Helen Keller). It is a laughable premise to anyone who has demo'd audio equipment. Speaking of which, go listen to a bunch of receivers and see what you like instead of just buying off a spec sheet. I found that I prefer Yamaha over, say, Pioneerr, at least for music, even though they're both good (comparing up-market stuff...Aventage vs Elite , apples to apples). Marantz was pretty neutral and just sort of vanilla.

[Edited on August 11, 2014 at 2:51 AM. Reason : Not negative on marantz. It's not bad... Might be just the ticket for you.]

8/11/2014 2:45:20 AM

Denon is another to consider. As I remember, these were also neutral and kinda vanilla. I don't think I liked it quite as much as Marantz.

Pioneer Elite sounded good on movies. I didn't like it as much for music, which was my priority. Yamaha Aventage is brighter and really "pops". I haven't tried the regular Pioneer or Yamaha lines, but I think those characterizations probably mostly hold. Marantz sounded good, well rounded, less in your face than the Yamaha. I liked it pretty well, but not like the Yamaha...although I could totally see some people not liking Yamaha.

I'm not familiar at all with Onkyo.

Oh, and my listening impressions are not only on the high-end lines of Pioneer and Yamaha (and fairly nice Marantz and Denon units), but they're also on electrostatic speakers, which are a different animal, too. Go try stuff out and see what you like.

Make sure you get enough power. Power isn't just for volume. If your speakers can be bi-amped, make sure you have enough outputs to support it.

8/11/2014 3:06:48 AM

Thanks for all that...I stopped by Best Buy just to see what they had on Friday and to ask if they price match on stuff if they don't have it in store. They looked up the one CNet reviewed as being the best and better sounding but more expensive (Sony STR-DN1040) and the guy ordered it for me for $325. I am not invested in it at all, and if people think it's a shitty device or I don't like it I'm fully prepared to return it...I just jumped since he was giving it to me for $75 less than Amazon has.

These are my speakers...not sure if these change your reccos at all

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882981013

8/11/2014 3:43:30 PM

Oh cool, I also have MartinLogans. I have Vista fronts and a Motif center. They're the big electrostatic speakers, though.

Yeah that makes a ton of difference, actually. I had in mind you had big towers for some reason. You don't need much power for little speakers like that. Get a decent receiver that you like the sound of and is available for a good deal. I think you're on the right track.

If you ever get really serious about your audio/home theater, I'd recommend going with seperates instead of a receiver. It'll be a little more money (on a bill that's already crazy), but you will be more future-proofed and probably have better equipment. I bought a beast receiver (Yamaha RX-A 3010), but what happens when 4k becomes the standard? I'm boned. I'll have to buy a new rx, as if the TV won't be enough!

Not a factor for you right now, and it won't be unless you get way more into this stuff (hahaha, don't!) Just keep this in mind if you get crazy in the future.

8/13/2014 10:14:30 AM

Yeah that AVR looks like it'll be good for the money, unless you happen to really like the sound of something else (but at this level, without zillion dollar speakers , it's probably gonna be really subtle and not worth obsessing over. I mean, this isn't a Wal mart setup, but it's not a $5k or $10k or $30k+ setup or anything, either.

One thing I forgot to mention—DON'T use bluetooth for streaming music. Not on any halfway decent setup, anyway. It degrades the sound. Airplay is what you want, and this AVR has it , so that's good. (AppleTV would be another option).

8/13/2014 10:25:05 AM

Thanks for help man...yeah I'm not quite enough of an audiophile to invest so much money in all this stuff right now...plus we're having our first kid in January and convincing my wife we need to buy a whole new sound system that dwarfs the amount of money our current one costs would probably not go so well

next time something breaks maybe...

8/13/2014 11:21:47 AM

Congratulations, and yeah, what you have is fine unless you're really nuts about it, and then like other bleeding edge stuff, the prices get stratospheric rapidly.

I got in twice as deep as I had intended, but it was because I scored deals of 50%+ off and couldn't pass it up. It is extremely bad ass, but the price tags were downright embarrassing even at huge discounts. I stomach it only because I could probably sell most of it for near what I have in it whenever I decide to.

8/13/2014 1:17:18 PM

Fuuuuuuck fuck fuck...my receiver (Yamaha RX-A3010) has died. It started off a couple of weeks ago as an occasional interruption in sound...then it got worse to the point that it only occasionally puts out any sound (and then only for maybe a second).

Research and consultation with my A/V guy tells me that it's almost certainly a failure of the HDMI chipset. Makes sense, because I heard what sounded like a failing (hissing and squealing) capacitor being broadcast through one of my speakers on several occasions during the couple of weeks that the failure progressed.

Onkyo has had severe problems with this, too; they are fixing their receivers for free, even outside of the normal warranty window. I hope Yamaha does the same. If they don't, I guess I'll see if any local shop can fix it. If not, I guess I'll put it on eBay and get what I can out of it, and then maybe finally break out the checkbook, grit my teeth, and take the plunge into separate components.

2/10/2015 12:16:40 AM

talk trash about yamaha on a bunch of major sites and social networking. Often times they'll have people patrolling and they will reah out to satisfy their unhappy (and vocal) customers

[Edited on February 10, 2015 at 12:41 AM. Reason : .]

2/10/2015 12:40:41 AM

Called Yam; they basically said that if it's within warranty, they'll fix it, and if it's not, then they won't. Fair enough normally, but that's at least kind of bullshit, in my opinion, when it's apparently such a widespread problem (not just with Yamaha...appears to be most of the big brands. Yamaha, Denon, and most especially Onkyo--who is doing a great job of standing by their products.)

At any rate, it's perfect timing, because I have 1 month of warranty remaining. The closest authorized repair center is in Atlanta, so I have cover shipping one way. Other than that, I should be good (other than the gigantic asspain of disconnecting/reconnecting all the stuff in my 4+ ft tall audio rack that's connected through my receiver.

Growing up, I don't ever remember A/V stuff giving so much damned trouble. I've had an $850 subwoofer and a $2200 receiver die within the last year. I probably bought them both for 20-30% off list price, and both of them were either covered under warranty (Yamaha) or manufacturer goodwill (Klipsch). You'd think somewhat higher-end gear like that wouldn't fuck up all the time. I think this makes up my mind...sometime down the road, whenever I decide to upgrade or have to replace this receiver, I'm going with separates. At least then when something breaks or becomes obsolete, I won't have to shitcan the whole works.

2/10/2015 3:35:17 PM

The problem with separates is that there just aren't many choices for pres that makes economic sense. They mark them up just because they are separates, which is an incredibly niche market, so you're paying $2200 for a pre that isn't any better of a DSP/pre than the $2000 AVR with preouts. If you go separates, I'd buy the cheapest AVR with the DSP/video features you need and use it's preouts, that way you aren't in for a $2000 upgrade when they upgrade HDMI again. Don't believe any lies about some models audio DAC being better than others, all of them use the same chips from Wolfson or CMedia, from Onkyos on up. Spend the money on the amps and speakers.

I'm lucky, I have one of the first HDMI switching receivers Yamaha put out and it's still going strong. I guess HDMI 1.2 was less complex and easier to reliably implement .......

[Edited on February 10, 2015 at 4:12 PM. Reason : :]

2/10/2015 4:04:13 PM

yeah, that's another option-the kinda "hybrid" approach of using a high-quality but small receiver, then making the big power with amplifiers. I'm running 150W per channel as it is, bi-amped into the fronts, so I haven't viewed it as worth it to add separate amplification. One of these days, that big Aventage receiver will die again probably, haha.

I've had my eye on one of these for a little while:
http://www.audioholics.com/amplifier-reviews/emotiva-xpr-5-pre

2/10/2015 4:17:35 PM

I, too, have sent a receiver (Onkyo) to Atlanta for repair. Basterts didn't answer the phone ever and took 4 months to replace the HDMI board. It just showed up at my house one day repaired.

2/10/2015 6:04:07 PM

Was in Norman's? (NEI?)

2/10/2015 6:50:54 PM

^^^ you might need that on its own circuit to be able to max it out...

2/10/2015 6:53:13 PM

^^I don't personally recall, but that's the only service center in Atlanta for Onkyo so I'd assume so.

Also, the power button on the remote has never worked right since then either.

[Edited on February 10, 2015 at 7:10 PM. Reason : .]

2/10/2015 7:06:30 PM

^^ Yeah that's what I expect, too.

I don't think I'd need to max it out, but I might exceed what the current outlet can provide. Regardless, if you're in deep enough to have an amp like that and speakers that can use it, fuck it...what's a dedicated circuit at that point?

2/10/2015 9:01:44 PM

Like someone else said its always good to think ahead when buying a receiver as you generally will keep it for a long time. I made that mistake in that I bought mine right before 3D became a big thing and while I dont always have a desire to watch a 3D movie my receiver didnt have 3D HDMI passthrough so now if I want to watch a 3D I have to rig it up with the HDMI going to the TV and switch to optical out for the sound which is a pain in the ass.

2/11/2015 8:09:36 AM

I wonder how well things like this work,

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/546253/KanexPro-Audio-De-Embedder-with-3D/?cm_mmc=PLA-_-Google-_-Networking_Cables-_-546253-VQ6-42102177596-VQ16c-VQ17-pla-VQ18-online-VQ19-546253-VQ20-99733261697-VQ21-

if you like your existing AVR and just need an HDMI upgrade.....

2/11/2015 10:51:24 AM

I have an LG plasma with active shutter 3D glasses. There are some advantages, especially if you have the refresh rate to pull it off (my TV does; being plasma, it's 600 Hz), but they are such a fucking asspain to pair up and get working properly that I very, very rarely use them.

2/11/2015 1:12:59 PM

Eh I am not sure that would make a difference than what I have to do now which is simply switch the hdmi cable straight to the PS4 from the TV and switch the audio out to optical from HDMI.

2/11/2015 3:30:04 PM