2. home-theater
  3. 1345486347

Hate this, I need an AV receiver. Help me choose

Since the manufacturers won't simply put analog audio out jacks on their new TV's, it looks like I will have to buy a crappy AV receiver to get sound to the outboard speakers. TV only has optical digital out which you all know we would never choose between our cherished CD transports and DAC's. It irks me because I have unused amp and preamp that would work just fine for this. I am an old school Tube and 2 channel audiophile. Even though this is only for the TV set up I don't want anything that sounds too crappy. What can you guys recommend for me here that I can find maybe at Best Buy without wasting too many dollars. Any hope in a 5.1 Yamaha for under 300 bucks for example?
hifiharv

Showing 2 responses by realremo

realremo
460 posts
 
When i was doing research on this, Yamaha was the cheapest receiver that had multi-channel analog outputs, also they use burr brown DACs, if i'm not mistaken. The multi-channel outputs make it more versitile for future applications, you can feed a power amp with it. My #2 choice in getting a lot of value/features for not much money is Onkyo.
Also consider buying an affordable DAC with an optical input, might be cheaper than a receiver. You should be able to set your TV to output two-channel-only thru the optical.
realremo
460 posts
 
Affordable DAC with optical input:
http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-D1
I've heard this DAC along with their A5 speakers at RMAF and really liked the sound. Source was a computer, not a TV, but I was impressed. Uses the AK4396 DAC chip:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/modwright3/transporter_2.html
Audioengine has a 30 day in-home trial. If you don't like it or it does not work, send it back.
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