Opinions on Home Receivers

[Kjonus]

So my 21 year old Kenwood receiver finally died on me :( Back when I bought it was a high end unit with 5.1 and has been great for my needs in our main living room. All that I have hooked up to is the PVR, an aftermarket bluetooth receiver and a set of Energy RC-Mini. I'm wondering if I should look at replacing it with a 2 channel stereo unit or stay with a 5.1 unit.

What do you guys think?

[colsankey]

I think you should decide if you want lots of channels, or a nice simple setup.

I had a polk 2.1 sound bar that sounded decent and was nice and clean for the living room.

But in the basement I'm really splashing out on the entertainment area and will need a multi channel receiver.

The good news is if you only need a 5.1 capable system, theres lots of them on clearance right now.

[killramos]

Whatever you do make sure it has Atmos capability and Dolby vision pass through. Even if you don’t use either standard right now.

Aside from that it’s kindof a spend what you want to spend situation, getting something one generation old is a good bet for value.

I have a Marantz 6012 and really like it.

[The_Penguin]

I'm a bit out of touch on modern receivers, but I can say from experience in repairing a few for friends... avoid Onkyo. Lots of problems.
I've always liked Pioneer and I recently bought a Denon that I'm pretty happy with. Plain old 5.1 no fancy Dolby stuff.

[sxtasy]

I second the Marantz Sr6012, great sounding receiver with all the bells and whistles for home theatre. I also have a 2channel Marantz receiver which sounds great for a dedicated music setup.

[rage2]

Denon and Marantz are basically the same thing since the merger. Everything is the same down to the UI. Just exterior differences. Buy what’s cheaper. I have one of each.

[nismodrifter]

https://www.visions.ca/product-detail/51260/pioneer_5_2_channel_4k_dolby_atmos_and_dts_virtual_x_av_receiver_with_bluetooth?categoryId=143&sku=VSX534

So would something like this do the job for a reasonable setup? I am not huge into home theatre. I have speakers in wall/ceiling, I believe the speakers are setup to produce a "phantom" centre channel. Just need a sub and receiver to get things going.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I think you need to decide if you are going to go 2 channel or stick with 5.1 before you even look at receivers. If you enjoy the surround sound experience and watch lots of movies or any major TV shows, you are going to be giving up a lot dropping down to 2.0. If you are using it for news, cartoons, etc. then it won't matter nearly as much and you might be better served prioritizing aesthetics.

[sxtasy]

https://www.visions.ca/product-detail/51260/pioneer_5_2_channel_4k_dolby_atmos_and_dts_virtual_x_av_receiver_with_bluetooth?categoryId=143&sku=VSX534

So would something like this do the job for a reasonable setup? I am not huge into home theatre. I have speakers in wall/ceiling, I believe the speakers are setup to produce a "phantom" centre channel. Just need a sub and receiver to get things going.

Just my opinion, but I've had Pioneer Elite in the past and wasn't impressed with the sound. I would step up to the Denon in that price range, HEOS is a nice feature that we use quite often.
https://www.visions.ca/product-detail/52697/denon_5_2_channel_full_4k_ultra_hd_av_receiver_with_built_in_heos?categoryId=0&sku=AVRS650H

[SJW]

What Kenwood receiver did you have? I might want the parts.

Does it look like this?
97537

[Mitsu3000gt]

Just my opinion, but I've had Pioneer Elite in the past and wasn't impressed with the sound. I would step up to the Denon in that price range, HEOS is a nice feature that we use quite often.
https://www.visions.ca/product-detail/52697/denon_5_2_channel_full_4k_ultra_hd_av_receiver_with_built_in_heos?categoryId=0&sku=AVRS650H

If you weren't impressed with Pioneer Elite in the past, most likely you didn't have something set up properly or did not have the room correction running properly. They are pretty widely known as some of the best receivers available, particularly their amplifier section. What model did you have?

[sxtasy]

If you weren't impressed with Pioneer Elite in the past, most likely you didn't have something set up properly or did not have the room correction running properly. They are pretty widely known as some of the best receivers available, particularly their amplifier section. What model did you have?

I don't recall the model, I quickly exchanged it. It's possible that I didn't set it up correctly, but I found it to be quite a bright sound when paired with horns on Klipsch speakers. I like the warmer Marantz sound. All subjective of course.

[Kjonus]

What Kenwood receiver did you have? I might want the parts.

It's a VR-505

Was briefly checking things out today before work got busy and this looked like it would fit the bill https://www.visions.ca/product-detail/38033/yamaha_network_stereo_receiver?categoryId=141&sku=RN303

In our living room we mainly watch the news, HGTV, History stuff like that or listen to music in the background when people are over. If we're watching a movie or actual tv series use the 60" with 5.1 in our bonus room.

[revelations]

I don't recall the model, I quickly exchanged it. It's possible that I didn't set it up correctly, but I found it to be quite a bright sound when paired with horns on Klipsch speakers. I like the warmer Marantz sound. All subjective of course.

Sounds like you are comparing the out of the box sound vs configured sound. Good lord some of the Yamaha systems have an internal web configurator now.

[SJW]

It's a VR-505

Was briefly checking things out today before work got busy and this looked like it would fit the bill https://www.visions.ca/product-detail/38033/yamaha_network_stereo_receiver?categoryId=141&sku=RN303

In our living room we mainly watch the news, HGTV, History stuff like that or listen to music in the background when people are over. If we're watching a movie or actual tv series use the 60" with 5.1 in our bonus room.

Oh shit mines way older.