Best AV Receiver for £300ish?

[Andehh]

As per title. My trusty Sony DG-820 is now nigh on 10 years old, and whilst still going strong, I would like to know what to replace it with if it were to die on me. It has been used nigh on daily throughout those years, and has been used in anger many a time.

Main features I am after:

£300
90-100W
7.2 ideally
A very good quality mobile app
At least 5 HDMI inputs
ARC
4K/HDR Pass through
As idiot proof as it can be, I don't want to have to spend my evenings in the cupboard under the stairs trying to work out why something isn't working!

Any recommendations? Good brands these days?

[TEKNOPUG]

Andehh said:

As per title. My trusty Sony DG-820 is now nigh on 10 years old, and whilst still going strong, I would like to know what to replace it with if it were to die on me. It has been used nigh on daily throughout those years, and has been used in anger many a time.

Main features I am after:

£300
90-100W
7.2 ideally
A very good quality mobile app
At least 5 HDMI inputs
ARC
4K/HDR Pass through
As idiot proof as it can be, I don't want to have to spend my evenings in the cupboard under the stairs trying to work out why something isn't working!

Any recommendations? Good brands these days?

Sony, Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha. The usual suspects. Not sure what £300 buys you? I always try to look at a recent discontinued model. Eg: "A" Series 1, discontinued in favour of new "A2", is usually cheaper and better than a new "B2".

Couple of Sony's in your price bracket: http://www.richersounds.com/products/home-cinema/h...

[SuperchargedVR6]

It seems AV receivers get expired every year, but this was a good one - http://www.hyperfi.co.uk/yamaha-rxv677-network-rec...

[Sparky137]

If you can stretch another £49 I can highly recommend this:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/p...

I bought one just before christmas and have been knocked out by its performance. An added bonus is that it has a phono stage so makes connection of a turntable very easy.

One thing I have found particularly useful is the inbuilt internet streaming of Spotify and Tune In. There is also a very useful mobile phone app to control it - works from anywhere your WiFi reaches and can be great fun!!!

[_Rich_]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

It seems AV receivers get expired every year, but this was a good one - http://www.hyperfi.co.uk/yamaha-rxv677-network-rec...

I have this one, great system but a couple of annoyances are airplay tends to drop out when streaming music whilst skipping multiple tracks. And i have to switch the tv and sky on first before switching on the amp.

[Andehh]

Thanks very much guys, that Sony seems to tick a lot of the boxes! HDR support is something ill need to research more thoroughly.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Very good to know, I am a big believer in buying stuff from companies that offer a good support network. ill avoid Onkyo.

[TEKNOPUG]

Andehh said:

Thanks very much guys, that Sony seems to tick a lot of the boxes! HDR support is something ill need to research more thoroughly.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Very good to know, I am a big believer in buying stuff from companies that offer a good support network. ill avoid Onkyo.

I don't know what Denon customer service is like. I do know that I bought a Denon Amp & CD player 21 years ago, and a Denon AVR 8 years, that have been in constant daily use...

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Thursday 2nd February 09:25

[GravelBen]

TEKNOPUG said:

I don't know what Denon customer service is like. I do know that I bought a Denon Amp & CD player 21 years ago, and a Denon AVR 8 years, that have been in constant daily use...

I'd say the same about my ~10 year old Onkyo receiver, been used almost daily and never had a problem.

[KamSandhu44]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Same with Pioneer, their products are great, but their support is utter s**t. It's the worst I've ever experienced.

[SuperchargedVR6]

_Rich_ said:

SuperchargedVR6 said:

It seems AV receivers get expired every year, but this was a good one - http://www.hyperfi.co.uk/yamaha-rxv677-network-rec...

I have this one, great system but a couple of annoyances are airplay tends to drop out when streaming music whilst skipping multiple tracks. And i have to switch the tv and sky on first before switching on the amp.

I've got his slightly chunkier brother, the RXV-777, because I needed all the channels at pre-out level for my active speakers.

Air play drop out is common on many non-Apple devices! Do you have a dual band BT Homehub? I vastly improved drop outs on mine by switching off the 5Ghz channel. I play my itunes library through Apple TV instead of directly to the Yamaha now, which improved things still further.

I don't have sky but everything powers up via the HDMI ARC from my TV, which works OK for me.

I just wish Yamaha still made line level only 7.2 receivers. I don't need the 7 channel power amplfier!

[Mykap]

_Rich_ said:

I have this one, great system but a couple of annoyances are airplay tends to drop out when streaming music whilst skipping multiple tracks. And i have to switch the tv and sky on first before switching on the amp.

Another vote for the 677 here. Upgraded last year to get wifi,the change from the Sony I had before was awesome with my old Mordaunt Short speaker system coming alive with this amp. Functionality is great as well.

[AC43]

_Rich_ said:

SuperchargedVR6 said:

It seems AV receivers get expired every year, but this was a good one - http://www.hyperfi.co.uk/yamaha-rxv677-network-rec...

I have this one, great system but a couple of annoyances are airplay tends to drop out when streaming music whilst skipping multiple tracks. And i have to switch the tv and sky on first before switching on the amp.

I've been using a 673 for a few years now and it's been great. I was a bit worried about buying a "cheap" one but TBH it does everything that my much more expensive CA one does and it's powerful enough for the room it's in.

For another £100 you can get the newer 681 which includes support for Spotify Premium. Or for £30 you can just use a Chromecast to do the same thing on the 677.

[craig1912]

_Rich_ said:

I have this one, great system but a couple of annoyances are airplay tends to drop out when streaming music whilst skipping multiple tracks. And i have to switch the tv and sky on first before switching on the amp.

Don't use airplay but my amp switches on automatically when the tvs is switched on

[RedTrident]

I recently bought the Denon x2300w for a spare room. Think I paid £350. Review here http://www.whathifi.com/denon/avr-x2300w/review