best 5.1 reciever????

Outlaw Audio, Denon

If you don't need the video processing (HDMI), I run mine straight into my display, and can run the 5.1 audio out of your disc player, into the 5.1 inputs on the receiver, the Marantz SR-14ex and Pioneer VSX-59TXi are both great ways to go. The Pioneer has more features, including their auto EQ system and more recent surround codecs. Both were very expensive new (4500.00) but you can buy a mint VSX-59TXi for 800.00 to 1,000. and a Marantz for somewhere near the same. The Pioneer's remote is more user freindly too. I sold my Pioneer recently for 825.00, plus freight, too cheap, and already regret it. Good luck.

I secont the Pioneer (I have an Elite). Very nice for my HT.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the new Onkyo units.

I have an Onkyo TX-DS939 receiver and run the video from the DVD (HDMI) direct to the display. Still competes and betters alot of the newer stuff for sale now. Has a really good pre-amp section in it for a home theatre receiver and lots of power. The new onykyo,s are good and the denon,s as well as pioneer,s new or old. They all do pretty good for home theatre depending on model (cost) and yamaha,s were nice as well.Personally I would buy a good used receiver from these manufacturers before I would buy new. Keep the lions share of the money for 2 channel only.IMHO. Cheers

I own a Sherwood P-965 Pre-Pro. Their new AVR, the R-972, offers a great feature set and lists for under $1800. Pros: excellent features, and if the 965 is any guide, really great sonics. Cons: Ergonomics are lousy, and require lots of patience.

Rotel's new AVRs use class D amplification, if you like that sort of thing, and have updated features like HDMI switching.

Beware of the power ratings on these AVRs. Typically, these consumer brands deliver anywhere from 25% to 75% of rated RMS power with all channels driven. Exceptions to this are Harman-Kardon, B&K, Rotel, NAD, Arcam, and maybe a few others.

Also, even though you don't need many features, I would consider HDMI 1.3a and good video switching/conversion a must.

I use an arcam avr 350 for home theater applications and am very satisfied with its performance. I use analogue interconnects and a blue ray player with internal decoding of hd sound formats to access these high res soundtracks, and do so with great success. I would highly recommend looking for a used avr 350 which you could probably buy for a song since it is now a discontinued model. It also provides satisfying stereo playback and I happily relied on it for that when my red wine amp was away being upgraded. Finally, while the avr 350 has HDMI video switching, I do not consider it to be an essential feature. I never use it. For the most part it just requires another HDMI cable to hook up. However, HDMI 1.3a compatibility I do consider to be a worthwhile feature. It allows for a really clean hook up and the processing of high res audio formats, which are just awesome. The arcam avr 350 does not have this option so keep that in mind if you decide this matters to you and you choose to investigate the arcam, which I highly recomend you do.