PICK ONE... ONKYO 805 or MARANTZ 8001

If you avoid amps that employ negative feedback, your remaining choices will be quite scant, and none will be mainstream.

I would not buy a receiver that does not have HDMI 1.3. The 1.3 has both video and audio advantages.

Jim,

The serious AV/HT geeks hang out on the AVSforum site. Go there and search the archives. You will likely find lots of information about both of these receviers as they were both very popular high-end models.

As I recall, the AVSforum group is pretty keen on the Onkyos. I think there are also many proponents of that Marantz unit on the site. I don't think you could go wrong with either.

I don't personally have any experience with the Marantz line, so take my comments with that in mind. I have owned HT receivers from Sony, Sony ES, Pioneer, Pioneer Elite, Denon and B&K. My current Onkyo SR-TX703 is by far the easiest to setup and use. It also sounds as good as any of the other HT receivers I've used in my modest HT system (I'm primarily a 2-channel guy too). If I were suggesting an HT receiver for a casual HT enthusiest, I would feel very comfortable suggesting the Onkyos.

The only suggestion I would make is to consider your entire HT setup before deciding on a receiver. Many of the current receivers (I don't know about the one generation old models you are considering) provide video upconversion which will allow you to connect a single HDMI cable from the receiver to TV. The receiver will upconvert any video signal (Composite, Component, S-Video, HDMI), convert it to digital and output it over the single HDMI cable to the TV. This could be a great feature that simplifies your ease of use and cuts down on cable cost.

Good luck in your search and ENJOY!

TIC

I hang at AVS a lot and the word on the 805 is,it runs hot and has some noise issues. This is early on,whereas the discs and some players aren't standard I'm sticking with my older Marantz and use the analog outs on the player and straight to the display for the video. There are so many inconsistencies within the formats;some in the audio some in the video.--this refers to some players don't output all the audio formats over hdmi and my 1080p projector doesn't do frame for frame conversion. SO,I say do all the homework and make sure your player and display do all the new format is capable of before you leap into your new reciever.

Between those two (and for your intended use), I'd go with the Onkyo. That said, I would step it up one level in the Onkyo line, and get the Onkyo TX-SR875. The SR875 has even higher video quality than the Onkyo 805.

I did setup a system for someone a few months back using an Onkyo 805 that he had picked up at Circuit City...I thought it a nice Receiver for his system.

No worry about the power thing, IMO...The Onkyo has THX Ultra2 certification...a step above the Marantz, which has THX Select2 certification.

Dave