[Target1]

Howdy,

I'm about to move into my first apartment, and I've decided that my old Kenwood Receiver needs to go. It has no audio outputs, no video anything, and is pretty crappy overall. Being as I have no real knowledge of anything video, or audio outside of headphones, I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. First question would be, is there a good audio/visual forum out there that I could join? Second, what is even a good price range for receivers these days? I was thinking $300ish, but a quick amazon search showed that for about $120 I could get something with all the inputs and outputs I could ever need. I think that I'm going to have a pretty cheap TV until I get out of law school, so HDMI (not sure exactly what that is) will probably be superfluous. Any help is much appreciated, and if you have suggestions for forums where this will be a more appropriate question, please let me know.

Target

 

[VicAjax]

recommendation #1: check out www.avsforum.com

recommendation #2: wait for the Panasonic SA-XR57 digital amp to come out.

 

[devwild]

I've actually been quite happy with my Kenwood VRS-7100, which you can still find for around $300. However, I believe they have been discontinued, as Kenwood is supposedly leaving the receiver business. Panasonic also has highly respected digital receivers in the same price range. I think these digital receivers currently give the best bang for the buck you can find, and will last you a while.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Take a look at Outlaw:

http://www.outlawaudio.com/

They have quite a good reputation and I've seen many good reviews. I think the prices are fair, too.

 

[Wmcmanus]

The Outlaw receiver is a killer value. You can typically find a used model 1050 for $300 or less on Audiogon. Tough to beat given their operating structure which cuts out all middlemen and thus keeps their prices down relative to features and performance.