I am looking for a new home theatre receiver. Two receivers I am seriously considering for my tastes include the NAD T 757 and the Onkyo 709. My budget is around 1k.
This will be used likely 75% for movies, 25% for music. Here are the features I am looking for:
-At least 5.1, if not 7.1 -Auto-room calibration set-up (such as Audyssey) -The ability to decode all of the new lossless surround sound formats found on blu-rays (i.e. Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio) -The ability to make dialogue in movies easier to hear when listening to movies at low volume levels -Pre-outs so that I have the option of hooking up a separate amplifier to it in the future
The speakers I will be pairing this with right now are Paradigm Studio 20s. I will likely upgrade to larger speakers in the future, which is why I want pre-outs on the receiver. I currently use a powered subwoofer, so the receiver doesn't have to work too hard in the low-end.
Although I will only be using this for music approx. 25% of the time, sound quality for 2-channel stereo is still very important to me. However, I understand that most people cannot tell much difference in sound quality between receivers, providing the receiver has enough power to adequately power your speakers.
I would like to know what receiver(s) you guys would recommend and why.
if you want a good price on the Onkyo, take a look at accessories 4 less online. they are an authorized dealer who carry a lot of factory refurbished units for considerably less than retail. I got a few goodies from them over the years, including my HD radio module for my own Onkyo AVRs.
What about the difference between the NAD 757 and the Marantz 6006 or 5006. Does anyone here have any experience listening to either of these two or similar models? If so, I'd appreciate it if you could share your opinions on any differences.