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Help - Looking for a receiver - I don't know anything anymore

Aaron German

Aaron German

Active Member
Hey all,

I haven't been around here for a long, long time. After I reached the financial limits of my audio system, my interests just kind of wandered elsewhere. And I started farming, which didn't leave me much free time. Nor did it help the pocket book.

But now my Marantz SR 7400, bought refurbished from accessories4less over 10 years ago, is acting up and I need a new receiver. The problem is that it just randomly shuts off. I believe that the protect function is acting up. It is now to the point that it cannot be lived with. While I had hoped that my next purchase would be upgrading to separates or better speakers. Instead I will be buying a replacement of what I already have.

I know nothing about receivers these days. And I have put in zero research at this point. I figured I could get some suggestions here to help guide my search.

It'd be great to spend no more than $500. But, perhaps, I could be talked into the $700-$800 range.

Here's the features I think I want:
5.1 surround sound (or better)
5.1 analog inputs
HDMI inputs (somehow I have lived without these up until now)
Phono jack
bass management capabilities

What I'll be hooking up to it:
PS3
Cable box
DVD/CD/SACD player
computer
Xbox (though this is far from necessary)

The speakers it'll be running:
Front = Klipsch Heresy II
Surround = Athena (don't know the model anymore; there bookshelf speakers)
No center at the moment

If you all can think of features I'm overlooking, but might want, please let me know.

If anyhow has an old receiver that fits the bill and that you'd like to get rid of, let me know. Maybe we can work something out.

Good to see this place is still around.
Aaron
 
Hey Aaron! Sorry I don't have any input on this post since I'm still using relatively ancient gear myself... but it's good to see you here. And wow, didn't know people actually farmed anymore, thought that was just FarmVille on facebook. :laughing: (though I guess that's terribly passe now too...)
 
PaulyT said:
Hey Aaron! Sorry I don't have any input on this post since I'm still using relatively ancient gear myself... but it's good to see you here. And wow, didn't know people actually farmed anymore, thought that was just FarmVille on facebook. :laughing: (though I guess that's terribly passe now too...)
Click to expand...

Haha. Food doesn't grow itself. At least not yet.

Having done a bit of looking around, it looks like the newer receivers have some nice features, like built in decoders for FLAC and other lossless formats. That and the fact that I have a computer in the listening room now might just encourage me to make myself a music library on the computer.
 
Looks like some of these newfangled receivers allow for a bi-amping option for the front speakers. Maybe I can kind of have separates.
 
Given the features I want and the selection available on accessories4less, I've narrowed it down to the Marantz SR 6009, and either the Yamaha RX-A1030 or RX-A1040. The Yamahas allow for bi-amping of the fronts. This is too tempting. I may have to bring my Paradigm Studio 20s out of the office to try out that feature.

Between the two Yamahas, the 1040 has some features my wife wants, like direct wifi connection to mobile devices and being able to watch sports on TV while playing music through the USB input. The 1030 will let you do this with the tuner and network inputs, but not the USB input (if I have understood this correctly). The extra $100 also gets you built in WiFi (I guess the 1030 requires an adpater?). I'm not sure these features are worth an extra $100. But if my wife wants to be able to hook her iPod up and listen as she watches soccer, then so be it.

I'm going to sleep on it, but I can't go without a receiver for too long.

Right now, we have the cable box hooked up to my dad's old Sherwood. Cracks me up that equipment from the early 70s is coming to the rescue of equipment from the mid-2000s. Then again, I guess that's not all that surprising. Today's stuff can do so much more. It just doesn't do it for as long.
 
This is super important. DO NOT buy anything that does not have HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2. Receivers are something we tend to keep for a long time and if you want this thing to work with the new displays and source components, you need to make sure the receiver you buy supports these standards.
 
Haywood said:
This is super important. DO NOT buy anything that does not have HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2. Receivers are something we tend to keep for a long time and if you want this thing to work with the new displays and source components, you need to make sure the receiver you buy supports these standards.
Click to expand...

I have no idea about the HDMI 2.0a and the HDCP 2.2. I certainly want to buy something that will be useful as long as works. But I've been getting by without having HDMI inputs on my receiver. Is it possible I can go a decade without having to have HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2?
 
I'm beginning to realize that I'm going to do what I did when I bought my Marantz SR 7400: by a good version of of the last model with the old technology. That worked out well for me last time. I think I'm OK with that.
 
PaulyT said:
Hey Aaron! Sorry I don't have any input on this post since I'm still using relatively ancient gear myself... but it's good to see you here. And wow, didn't know people actually farmed anymore, thought that was just FarmVille on facebook. :laughing: (though I guess that's terribly passe now too...)
Click to expand...

Just where do you think food comes from? LOL BTW, I like what Aaron is farming!
 
Huey said:
Just where do you think food comes from? LOL BTW, I like what Aaron is farming!
Click to expand...

It's not what it looks like. Or it is.

That's a small planting of hemp I'm standing in. Kentucky is trying to get back into growing hemp. That planting was for some research purpose. I'm not sure what came of it, as it was not my project. But it sure was fun to watch it grow.
 
Alright. It's getting tough to decide between the Marantz SR6009 and the Yamaha RX-A1040. Every time I think I've found a feature the one has that the other does not, closer inspection reveals they both have it.

It is clear to me that Yamaha does a better job of presenting their product to a person like me than Marantz does, but I'm not sure that's a good reason to base a purchase on.

I liked my Marantz, so that's a reason to stay with the brand. On the other hand, there seems to be a fair number of complaints about software issues with the Marantz. In the end, updates seem to fix the problems. But it sounds like a hassle. Perhaps these issues have been fixed on the refurbs?
 
I don't think you can make a bad decision here so... pick the least expensive one, or the one with the coolest start-up screen, or flip a coin, or the one tallest one ...
 
Aaron German said:
I have no idea about the HDMI 2.0a and the HDCP 2.2. I certainly want to buy something that will be useful as long as works. But I've been getting by without having HDMI inputs on my receiver. Is it possible I can go a decade without having to have HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2?
Click to expand...

No, not really. Component video outputs are dead. Everything has already moved to HDMI. New content won't even play over component. Without the latest HDMI, a lot of future content won't even play. You may think that you can get around this by using optical and coax digital inputs on the receiver, but those will not pass any of the newer codecs. If you want to be able to play Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS HD-Master or DTS:X, you are going to need to run your audio over HDMI. This is putting aside the number of devices that have dropped audio outputs altogether in favor of a single HDMI output.
 
Aaron German said:
Alright. It's getting tough to decide between the Marantz SR6009 and the Yamaha RX-A1040. Every time I think I've found a feature the one has that the other does not, closer inspection reveals they both have it.

It is clear to me that Yamaha does a better job of presenting their product to a person like me than Marantz does, but I'm not sure that's a good reason to base a purchase on.

I liked my Marantz, so that's a reason to stay with the brand. On the other hand, there seems to be a fair number of complaints about software issues with the Marantz. In the end, updates seem to fix the problems. But it sounds like a hassle. Perhaps these issues have been fixed on the refurbs?
Click to expand...

If you are going to go with a Marantz, get the 6010. The future-proofing alone makes it worth the extras money. I would not recommend that anyone save a buck by forgoing the new HDMI standard. Those products are cheap because they are already obsolete in an important way.
 
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