Best home cinema receiver for £300

[hugepiece]

looking for any guidance here, i'm looking to replace my ageing SONY with something else. Any recommendations? I really only want to spend £300. Its really just to connect to my Pioneer Kuro 50" plasma and SKY HD and PS3.

[trooperiziz]

Slightly over budget at £330, but you wont get a better amp in that price range.

Onkyo 606

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.c...

[SS HSV]

trooperiziz said:

Slightly over budget at £330, but you wont get a better amp in that price range.

Onkyo 606

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.c...

Went through the same thing with my friend two weeks ago and he decieded on this one. Got it from ebay and paid just over £300 delivered. I think it's the ugliest amp ever but it sounds good and is very powerful.

[fatboy b]

I got a Sony DAV-IS 50 before Christmas for £299. It's great, but it appears to have gone up a little. Perhaps if you shop around a bit.

[trooperiziz]

SS HSV said:

trooperiziz said:

Slightly over budget at £330, but you wont get a better amp in that price range.

Onkyo 606

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.c...

Went through the same thing with my friend two weeks ago and he decieded on this one. Got it from ebay and paid just over £300 delivered. I think it's the ugliest amp ever but it sounds good and is very powerful.

Indeed, it really is ugly as sin, but I don't look at the amp while I watch a film

[westtra]

thumbs up for the onkyo, just got one recently and its very good.

[JustinP1]

Another thumbs up for Onkyo.

Not one of the 'jump to' manufacturers but I chose their gear from their 'high high end' arm, Integra for the processor and power amp.

The stuff is built like a train and still sounding awesome five years on and not really outdated as I can live without DTS HD and HDMI switching at the moment

I daresay that the new units benefit from a lot of the trickle down technology from the units that cost 20 times as much 5 years ago.

[MrV]

Another vote for the 606 and Richer sound will price match if you don't wont to get it from flea bay

[Peter G]

I got a Yamaha RX-V2700 from Audio Excellence in Swansea ex demo for 300 instead of 600, have a lok on sites like exdem.com and audiophile candy

[Muzzlehatch]

The Yamaha DSPAX763 is arguably a better amp for the £300 budget than the Onkyo 606, but it only has 2 HDMI inputs, which puts some people off.

[ItsTony]

I can't talk from comparison with the Onkyo, but picked the Yamaha DSPAX763 after reading reviews from magazines. If I was going to stretch my budget that little bit more, I would have gone for the model up, the 863.

[NWMark]

Denon 1909 is another good choice, has 3 HDMI inputs too, just hard to find in black at the moment, loads of silver around if that will suit.

Currently £300 at richer sounds, but they only have silver in stock, £342 at Superfi, both silver and black in stock, asked to price match richer sounds and they already knew they had no stock but still said they would reduce it to £310 for the black.

Set it up this morning, excellent connectivity, up conversion and upscaling. Have everything going through this now and all input are output on the one HDMI cable to the TV

Edited by NWMark on Tuesday 3rd February 15:42

[Red Firecracker]

NWMark said:

Denon 1909 is another good choice, has 3 HDMI inputs too, just hard to find in black at the moment, loads of silver around if that will suit.

Currently £300 at richer sounds, but they only have silver in stock, £342 at Superfi, both silver and black in stock, asked to price match richer sounds and they already knew they had no stock but still said they would reduce it to £310 for the black.

Set it up this morning, excellent connectivity, up conversion and upscaling. Have everything going through this now and all input are output on the one HDMI cable to the TV

Edited by NWMark on Tuesday 3rd February 15:42

It's almost worth changing my Denon 3801 for one of those for the HDMI capabilities. Might have to do some research.

[hugepiece]

ItsTony said:

I can't talk from comparison with the Onkyo, but picked the Yamaha DSPAX763 after reading reviews from magazines. If I was going to stretch my budget that little bit more, I would have gone for the model up, the 863.

Thanks, this looks like a good option for me as the onkyo only seems to have 2 optical inputs, where I need 3. It will be good to have the HDMI but I wont be using it for now as have seperate settings on my plasma for each device.

[trooperiziz]

hugepiece said:

ItsTony said:

I can't talk from comparison with the Onkyo, but picked the Yamaha DSPAX763 after reading reviews from magazines. If I was going to stretch my budget that little bit more, I would have gone for the model up, the 863.

Thanks, this looks like a good option for me as the onkyo only seems to have 2 optical inputs, where I need 3. It will be good to have the HDMI but I wont be using it for now as have seperate settings on my plasma for each device.

The number of inputs you need is always the deciding factor I find!

Personally I use all 4 of my HDMI inputs on the Onkyo, so anything with less than 4 wasn't really an option.

[Plotloss]

The low priced Yamaha stuff, up to the 863 is getting difficult to find as its very short stocked.

The reality is that at this price point, all the jap amps are practically identical in terms of sound/video quality and its a feature war.

[hilly10]

trooperiziz said:

Slightly over budget at £330, but you wont get a better amp in that price range.

Onkyo 606

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.c...

£310 today Richer Sounds

[hugepiece]

well i just took the plunge and ordered a Yamaha DSPAX763 online for £284 inc postage, a bargain me thinks

[ItsTony]

hugepiece said:

well i just took the plunge and ordered a Yamaha DSPAX763 online for £284 inc postage, a bargain me thinks

Same amp as I've been using since Christmas. You won't be dissapointed

(Its probably nothing to worry about but mine came with a dodgy remote that just wouldn't connect with the amp but would work with the display model in the shop. They ended up replacing the whole amp so probably nothing to worry about.)

[fivesixseven8]

hugepiece said:

well i just took the plunge and ordered a Yamaha DSPAX763 online for £284 inc postage, a bargain me thinks

I don't think you would have been disappointed with any of the amps mentioned here.

I was much the same, AV amp for around £300 and my shortlist ended up with the Yamaha 763, Denon 1909 and Onkyo 606. Went for the Denon in the end but the Yamaha came in at second place.