What's a nice Home Theater Receiver (High Current)?

[Armitage]

So has anyone found a nice High Current Home Theater Receiver at a great price?

I was looking at the Onkyo TXNR808 for $729.97 at VANNS.com ... but I've heard the updates have been kind of screwy...

[jettster]

Looks like it's $692 shipped on Amazon. I have been looking at that one for a little while but don't really have a compelling reason to buy one, other than more power, more HDMI's. Currently have an Onkyo TX-SR804 that's been pretty good for a few years now.

[JohnnyB]

So has anyone found a nice High Current Home Theater Receiver at a great price?

I was looking at the Onkyo TXNR808 for $729.97 at VANNS.com ... but I've heard the updates have been kind of screwy...

Onkyo has been ahead of the curve on lossless hi-def surround and has a long-running tradition of high current performance in their receivers. And as Jettster pointed out, you can get it even cheaper at Amazon.

A few years ago Outlaw Audio got started in the budget high end surround HT market with their 950 model surround processor. For their next generation they came out with a value-added version of a pre/pro designed and made by Sherwood-Newcastle. For their third generation with full HDMI switching and all the lossless audio decoding schemes, they couldn't come up with a sellable design, and after a year of delays and excuses, canceled the project altogether and started selling the Onkyo pre/pro from their website. Although Onkyo has had a few problems, they are in their 4th generation (maybe 5th by now with HDMI 1.4a) of latest-version HDMI switching and TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding while other companies struggle to come out with a viable first or second generation.

[Armitage]

I'm still on the fence if I want to pay for an Anthem MRX 500, otherwise the Onkyo is still the most likely.

[cynic]

TX-NR808 is $679 at newegg, free shipping and no tax outside of CA

[JohnnyB]

I'm still on the fence if I want to pay for an Anthem MRX 500, otherwise the Onkyo is still the most likely.

Any chance you'd consider separates? Emotiva has a fully up-to-date preamp/processor at $699.

Their multi-channel amps (200 wpc available also) are stupid cheap and well reviewed too. It took awhile for Emotiva to work the bugs out of that UMC-1, but apparently the latest software version has dialed in its operability and reliability. 5 year transferable warranty. This company was founded and is run by one of the partners who founded Audio Alchemy in the '90s, which re-defined price/performance in digital processors.

[Armitage]

Well the decision was made for me... the wife picked up a Onkyo 1008 (135 Watts x 9) with a Harmony 900 RF remote... as a 20th Anniversary gift...