Audio geeks: Low-end A/V receiver?

I have wired the family room with 5.1 surround. But I have not installed the speaker yet. It is mainly for listen to music ( front two), and for movies.
 
Sony receivers make wonderful doorstops. If you don't care about the sound, Sony is the perfect choice (same goes for HK, this isn't 1973 and HK hasn't been very cool since then). Then again, if you don't care about the sound, why buy a receiver at all? Just use those fine speakers attached to your video device. Even many low end projectors have a teeny little speaker in them these days. Turn up the volume and revel on the glory of your video panel. Who cares about the sound.





All of which is to say, and there are many aphorisms I could use here (but I won't), either spend something appropriate, re-evaluate your budgeting, or go plan C (using those nifty speakers in your display).





On a positive note, Yamaha, generally speaking, manages to nicely balance video features and audio quality on the low end.





In-ceiling speakers, again the question is budget. There are a lot of companies that make some nifty, if not cheap, in-ceiling stuff. Speakers are a more personal taste question than perhaps any other part of the system. The "rights" and "wrongs" are much more blurry. That said, if you buy it at Home Depot, it's probably not a good speaker despite whatever the box says. Check some decent brands and fer gossakes, buy something that has a decent warranty so you're not only having to pull the bloody things out of your walls and ceilings if they blow but are forced to pay for the new replacements instead of getting them free. At least a five year warranty, typically unconditional, is the base.





One commentor above noted the importance of video quality to audio quality. Again, somewhat subjective but let me make this analogy. Next time in you're the cinema and watching a feature film, ponder how important the mostly invisible audio portion of your time there is. It's really vastly more important than most people think. That said, TV's are sexy and no one has ever gotten laid because they had cool speakers (well, at least since the mid-seventies). The people who advocate spending $3k on a video panel and $500 on some home theater in a box are the same ones who think it's cool to slap cheap rubber on M series BMWs. Balance out your budget or admit you only care about certain aspects of your home theater and act accordingly. There's a reason it's called a "system". All the parts should work together. Some it isn't just there to make holes in the walls or add a few more margin points to retailers bottom line.





I could go on and on but I won't. Suffice to say that you either get it or you don't. If you do, do yourself a favor and buy from someone local (chances are, you already are if you get it). Buy stuff you can actually hear before you buy it and don't take crap from a salesperson. If you don't feel as though you know or have heard enough to confidently make a buying decision then that salesperson and retailer has failed. Move on. All of which goes to say very little for the sellers of gear that don't even try to do that.





And no, I don't own a store and even if I did, I wouldn't sell anything to you. Don't mistake my passion for pointless ranting.





It's funny, when it comes to music, most people will admit that the for much of the mainstream, whether it's Britney Spears or whomever the empty vessel of the hottest producer currently is, that yes, most music buyers don't have great taste. Yet, when it comes to the gear behind home reproduction of sound and video, all of a sudden we start hearing how 50,000 happy customers can't be wrong. Hell, 50,000 customers are wrong every day. There's a reason Circuit City and Best Buy are still in business.





Swim upstream a little bit. Put a little work into your effort. It will repay you quite well.
 
I think these are actually 6" ceiling speakers, but perhaps you can consider them anyway. I've heard great things (no pun intended) about Aperion speakers, though I've never had the pleasure of owning any.





<a href="http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-632-IC-In-Ceiling-Speaker,13,31,25.aspx">http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-632-IC-In-Ceiling-Speaker,13,31,25.aspx</a>
 
stng: Aperion is a well-respected brand; IMO, ceiling or in-wall speakers almost always involve compromises, but if you must for aesthetic reasons, I don't think you could go wrong with that company.





ice weasel: While what you say is true to some degree, amplification and processing has a very subjective impact on audio, far more so than speakers do. I have yet to see one well-run double-blind, level and bass-matched study that clearly demonstrated superiority of certain amps/receivers to others (AVSForum members have run many), even at cost differences of upwards of 20-fold. So, until you or someone else proves he can tell the difference between a Krell separate from a Sony receiver without looking, I wouldn't be so hasty as to judge someone who is trying to stay within a budget for AV equipment.
 
<p>I cant believe how cheap this gear is getting. Looks like that $ 100.00 does not have any HDMI support from that link. As with most electronics we are dealing with Gordon Moore`s Law <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law</a>. Since speakers wont get that much cheaper. Spend the savings on some nice bookshelf units. </p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>It seems that sooner or later, the copper wiring in the power supply transformer is going to drive prices on these back up. I wonder if we'll ever reach the point where Class-D takes over the mainstream for purely economic reasons. Less aluminum would be needed for the heatsink as well.</p>
 
Class-D and other PWM or digital designs will take over when large SMPS (switch-mode) supplies are cheaper than a large toroid transformers. It'll also save on shipping, packaging, and overall weight. Less design considerations due to more efficient amplification, more-efficient = less heat and less need for aluminum heatsinks. Less heat could mean better realiability when Joe six-pack sticks the receiver inside a 'media cabinet' choking it off of any airflow.





Designs like ICEpower from B&O are decent, but IMO there's still plenty of room for improvement (sound quality wise). Class-D modules seem like the easiest way to add as many channels as needed by simply plugging in an module. Off all the Class-D designs, I think Hypex UcD modules have a slight edge in sound quality.
 
For in wall, Speakercraft, Niles, are decent. If you go up the sound-quality ladder, companies like Triad specialize in inwalls, in-ceiling, etc. Each speaker is enclosed in it's cabinet, rather than the typical open baffle in wall design. I use four in-ceiling Triad surrounds, for the rear and sides. A compromise for sure (in-ceiling) versus in the room, but design and decor took first place.
 
I'm impressed with the size of the UcD180 module. It baffles me that something that small, <em>heat-sink included</em>, can deliver 180 watts RMS.
 
<p>Effen, it just depends on nominal usage. Also digital are extremely efficient as well its not spending alot of effort trying to ampilify white noise on a near sine wave input/output. Digital is the way to go if your frequencies are kept to a very discret frequency output (subwoofer), but they may lack warmth in some of the older or re-recorded CD's.... </p>

<p>Anyways for speakers, i'd give <a href="http://www.madisound.com">www.madisound.com</a> a try. I've been building speakers for a while and its nice to have quality from the start.</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
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