So my father decided that it was time for him to upgrade his HT setup....so he got some JBL mains, a B & W center, and now he's coming to me asking what amp he should buy and why. So i gave him three options, on three tiers, decreasing in price. However I'm more of a vintage kinda guy myself so I'm not exactly sure which of these (if any, i'm open to suggestions) would be his best buy for a 7.1 channel hifi receiver. Please give me your input on these!! Thanks

Tier one - Rotel RSX-1560
( http://www.rotel.com/NA/Products/ProductDetails.htm?id=471 )
Obviously if money was no option this would be the receiver of choice - good THD numbers, and you know that you're getting a quality product, becuase it's rotel. I don't believe that this amp is THX certified, but i'm sure it's nice.

Tier two - Marantz SR8002
( http://us.marantz.com/Products/2204.asp )
A great second choice in my opinion - toroidal transformer, decent THD, plenty of power, and, best of all, THX certification. This amp has a lot of features, and does a lot to compensate for room acoustics and speaker variations. I believe that this would be his best buy (available for 1400 or so online) , but I've read some horror stories about the firmware needing and update and such.

Tier three - harmon Kardon AVR-354
( http://www.harmankardon.com/product_detail.aspx?cat=REC&prod=AVR%20354&stype=S )
Not a bad amp - listened to this one in the store and it had decent sound. It has a LOT of features for the money (you can get it for around 520 or so online if you're crafty), less power than the other two but then again this is tons cheaper than both of the upper tiers.

The real question here is, is it worth spending the extra money for the Marantz or Rotel over the H/K, and why? Thanks a lot guys, appreciate your input.

-John

Get thee Marantz. Better reliability, superb sonics, and superb warranty (3 years). An excellent buy. The H-K sounds nice but is a reliability nightmare. Rotel is a good alternative and is very nice.

I have had a HK for 3 years now, for my movie system, its rated power is all channels playing at the same time, all hk are like this, i think marantz is denon/marantz

I don't know where the "H/K is unreliable" stuff comes from. I have owned a H/K AVR630 and a DVD22 since new, both have been flawless. I can't see the justification for the other two, versus the price of the H/K. However, he will have to buy the one that makes him happy. I'm very satisfied with my H/K receiver, and would buy another one.

I don't know where the "H/K is unreliable" stuff comes from.

Possibly from all the auction listings for refurbished ones. Sure seems to always be a lot of them.

The only "unreliable" stuff I own is (coincidentally) all Sony. The new Sony Blueray player has been in for warranty work, and the vintage Sony multi CD player is about to go back (for the second time) for repairs. I will agree that there is a lot of H/K stuff out there that is "refurbished", but I have had no problems with either my H/K receiver or DVD player.

I think the H/K reliability concerns come from issues with the firmware on their newer receivers. On the audio side there are very few problems, but the video side has a few issues. I tried an AVR254 despite the online reports of problems. I followed everyone's advice and upgraded the firmware on the unit and still had HDMI issues. I returned it the next day and went with a Marantz SR5003.

The short take is the H/K is fine if you have no plan of using HDMI.

For $900 in savings I would go with the H/K. In fact I would look into the refurb market and see what there is to be had even cheaper. I have a Pioneer refurb A/V receiver that hasn't given me any problems whatsoever in the 3 1/2 years I've owned it.

You can buy HK from their site new and refurbished