Help me choose a A/V Receiver

[shaurya]

Hello,

Planning to a convert my game room (rectangular shape; size - 22' x 15') into a Home theater. (screen at the shorter side and seats at the opposite short side). Here are some more details-

Finalized-
--7.1 in-wall (wife wants in-wall) speakers probably from HTD or form ebay Ebay
--Panansonic Project PT-AX100U
--120' motorized screen form Ebay
--Theater furniture form rtheater(+ve feedback on AVS forum)

Need-
--An A/V Receiver but not sure which one. Somewhat like CAV as far as capability and automation features with RS 232. Should be supported by either CQC or ML. Something that is as popular as ELK. Budget is max $500.
-- I am neither an audiophile nor a videophile.

Any feedback or help would be greatly appreciated. I don't know much about speakers. Can someone provide recommendation b/w the 2 speakers I have highlighted. Any feedback on htd or onlyfactorydirect? Any feedback on the screen seller on ebay?

Regards,
Shaurya

 

[dublin00]

Hello,

Planning to a convert my game room (rectangular shape; size - 22' x 15') into a Home theater. (screen at the shorter side and seats at the opposite short side). Here are some more details-

Finalized-
--7.1 in-wall (wife wants in-wall) speakers probably from HTD or form ebay Ebay
--Panansonic Project PT-AX100U
--120' motorized screen form Ebay
--Theater furniture form rtheater(+ve feedback on AVS forum)

Need-
--An A/V Receiver but not sure which one. Somewhat like CAV as far as capability and automation features with RS 232. Should be supported by either CQC or ML. Something that is as popular as ELK. Budget is max $500.
-- I am neither an audiophile nor a videophile.

Any feedback or help would be greatly appreciated. I don't know much about speakers. Can someone provide recommendation b/w the 2 speakers I have highlighted. Any feedback on htd or onlyfactorydirect? Any feedback on the screen seller on ebay?

Regards,
Shaurya

You should probably ask those questions in www.avsforum.com, but on the topic of a 7.1 A/V receiver most people seem to think the Denon custom installer units sound the best. The low end 2307CI is still outside your price range, but next month the manufactures start to roll out the 2007 product line and you'll probably see that old unit at Costco at a greatly reduced price.

 

[noshali]

I have a pioneer that is around 1300 dollars....I know way out of your price range but 4 hdmi ports and driver for CQC...priceless.

 

[IVB]

how many zones?

If you just want 3, with only 2 powered, Denon 3805's have been going for around $500-ish on eBay.

 

[shaurya]

Hello All,
The more I read about receiver and its capabiliites, the more I am inclined to up the ante. As I read, it appears that a good received can be used in place of CAV (something I planned to install down the line) if I have only 3 zones. Is this true.

I really have 3 zones that I want for my Audio/video requirements-
-Home Theater Room
-Master Bed Room
-Family Room.

Is there a receiver than can provide at least component (preferable HMDI/DVI) output to 3 zones and Audio (at least 2 channels) output to 3 zones (w/o using another Amp) while providing switching functionality, upconversion etc with 5-6 input...I can increase my budget to $1500-$2000 if I can get the functionality of CAV from a AV reciever. Note that I don't really need the CAV keypads as I intend to build a IR infrastructure along with Touchscreens (lilliput or Fujitsu 34xx/35xx).

Hello dublin00,
Thanks for your kind response and the insight on lower pricing. Will be on the lookout.

Hello noshali,
Which particular Pioneer model you are referring to. Can you provide some guidance that can satisfy my req as mentioned in first para of this post.

Hello IVB,
I spent countless hours on your website and your posts. Your work is what really inspired me to venture out in this territory..Are there receivers that can provide 3 powered audio/video zone so that I don't have to invest in CAV...I can increase my budget as mentioned above.

PS: Please be easy on me. I am a total newbiee-both in Home Automation and in Audio Video area. However I did stay at Holiday Inn... :lol:

Regards,
Shaurya

 

[IVB]

I really will start answering questions and stop asking questions soon, I promise. But, one more to better guide you before I misinform: Are the bedroom and family room surround sound zones, or just stereo speakers? (ie, do you have (5 or 7) speakers and a subwoofer, or just 2 speakers and perhaps a subwoofer)

 

[shaurya]

Hello Mr IVB,

Thanks for your patience towards my incomplete post.

1- Home theater would be 7.1 (wired for all the 7 speakers & subwoofer)
2- Family Room prefrably 5.1 but will live with something less (wired for 5.1)
3- All the bedrooms are wired for 2 speakers.

I have read and understood that for multi room setup either CAV or some kind of switching hardware such as Autopatch etc are required. If I can accomplish multiroom with just a good A/V receiver and with somekind of speaker switching such as one from HACS then it would be great.

Regards,
Shaurya

 

[shaurya]

Forgot to add that Home Theater with 7.1 will not be used simultaneously with 5.1 in Family room.

Regards,
Shaurya

 

[nathan1047]

As far as integratiability goes, I'd look for one of Yamaha's RXV1500, 1600, 1700s, or 2400-2700s. The 1600/1700 and 26/2700 offer HDMI switching and RS232 ports.

 

[shaurya]

Thank you Mr nathan1047,

I will check them out. One question though...In the receiver area, is there a concensus or prefrence on any particular Brand or Model.

Regards,
Shaurya

 

[IVB]

Sorry for the delay, life got away from me for a moment.

Am I reading correctly where you say that you have two 5.1 zones (home theater and family room), and that you want a single box to drive them both as well as the 3rd stereo only zone?

That seems expensive/undoable, and instantly takes the CAV/CAM out of contention as they're stereo only. What you may want to do is get two of the low-end Yamaha (RXV1500 & 1600 both have CQC drivers, I think), or a Denon (i think 2807/3803/3805 all have CQC drivers). Those are generally ~$400-ish. You could get a signal sensing amp for all other zones, we'd just need to make sure you could use the PC to control volume.

Granted i'm a little tired as I just got home from a trip, but I *think* that would even eliminate the need for an autopatch. You wouldn't have any sharing of audio concurrently across zones, but that doesn't seem to be a requirement for you. In the future, you could add one on to get that if you so chose.

 

[shaurya]

Hello Mr IVB,

Thanks for taking time to read my post and respond accordingly.

I want to drive both my Home Theater(7.1) & Family Room(5.1) with the same AV reciever BUT NOT in parallel. Either HomeTheater or Family Room would be driven by the AV reciever and if I can use the 2 channels left from the 7.1 receiver for the 3rd zone (audio only) then it would be great.

Isn't this possible with some kind of speaker switching like Speaker Switch with RS232

Regards,
Shaurya

 

[IVB]

I have no personal experience with speaker selectors - how would you wire up the speaker wire to the ht & famrm with that? Would you run both to the speaker selector, then one pair to the receiver?

 

[shaurya]

Yes. Home Thearter (7.1) wiring terminates into a central location. Family Room (5.1) also terminates into same locations. All other zones also terminate at the same location. I wanted to hook these to speaker selector and then 1 set of audio wires goes to AV Reciever.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Shaurya

 

[IVB]

sounds like you'd need 1 speaker selector just for the HT & FamRm, route that to the receiver, and another if you wanted to do the other zones.

Never done it, i guess it would work, i look forward to your review :huh: