Hello there! I am starting to build my home theater setup, one piece at a time. I started with some decent speakers, and now I am looking for a receiver with pre-amp outputs to make room for an amp. Preferably around $300 (used is OK).
Can someone recommend one to watch for? I had been eyeing the Kenwood VR-510 and a couple of Maranz models. I don't have any particular brand loyalty, I just don't want to shell out big $$ for just a pre-amp at this time.
I've had nothing but grief from receivers. Too much stuffed into one box. Try the Marantz 550 pre-amp for about $250 or a similar Rotel. You can pick up a 5 channel amp for about the same (rotel 30 x 6?).
Otherwise, try www.tsto.com and get a marantz or denon receiver new for around your price. There is no comparison in quality between a $300 denon and a $500 kenwood. The Kenwood is just filled with more crap.
Sogood51, Does Onkyo generally have pre-amp outputs? I am wary of buying on ebay without a specific model number because I don't want to end up in the same situation I'm in currently! I have a Pioneer VSX-D509S (which I like quite a bit except for the lack of a real phono input) but it's a dead end amp-wise.
Try a Yamaha rxv 695 or similar with preamp inputs and outs... this way you can get the processor usage out of the unit and also the "ok" preamp stage.... It would be a decent start... yamaha processing is not bad for ht usage... Good luck, Joe Custom Audio LLC
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