A/V reciever advice


Hello,
I just finished building an office in the basement and looking for an AV receiver. What this will be connected to is my PC, and Satellite receiver, TV and a 5.1 system of speakers. The Speakers are nothing special, 4 in Ceiling speakers and 2 In wall Speakers a sub and a Center channel. The ceiling speakers have two different configurations, depending on if i am watching TV or using the PC (Mainly Gaming and iTunes). I do not want to spend a a lot on the receiver at most 500 since this is not my main system.

The probelem is there are so many brands out there and some of the brands I am familiare with the quality was gone down.
For my main system I have Denon A/V reciever, Anthem Amp, and Paradigm Speakers. But I have heard the Denon's quality has gone down. If not Then I will stick with Denon.

The brands I am familiar with are Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, NAD, Sony.

So looking for advice on these brands and other that might fit the criteria.

Thanks.
iahawk
There are a plethora of threads out there about the poor quality AV receivers .

Some have many more complaints than the others , but none are immune except the top-end gear like Krell, Bryston and Cary ... All of which are many multiples of your budget.
The Onkyo apoears to be the worst with its legendary HDMI failures and followed by Denon.

Here's a link to navel gaze that kinda summarizes it all in a series of posts on
Canuckaudiomart: "another Onkyo bites the dust ...."

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=29836&start=45
Take a good look at the new Emotiva receivers - very good sound quality and 30 day in-home trial along with a 5 year warranty....

https://emotiva.com/products/emotiva/receivers-0

-RW-
I'm thinking about Marantz for a bedroom setup. They appear to be a top selling brand, but I haven't done alot of research. Actually I just heard Denon bought Marantz....
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I just bought a Yamaha DSP A-1 (gold w/wood sides) from another online site. I really didn't need it but... anyway, I bought it. It's like new and included the manual and remote in mint condition. The point is that technology has moved very fast and many owners of quality receivers have felt the need to upgrade due to simple connection issues, i.e. component video, HDMI, USB, etc. Let there loss be your gain and buy one used. I recommend Yamaha and Marantz, and especially the gold (champagne) colored ones. They will sound good when you listen and look good when you don't. Just be sure to demo it before you hand over the money.