Question about Vintage Receivers

[Rob68]

I recently moved into new house where I will be able to set up a home theater system. A combination of many things (including laziness) stopped me from doing so over the last 15 yrs or so. I pulled 4 receivers from storage that have either been used by me or family members in some capacity over the years but are all, at least, 10 years old. I am don't have anything special with my TV's (2 50"+ flatscreens. not curve or anything cutting edge). My hope is to use one of the 4 that I have and probably sell/donate the others. My question is; is one of the 4 listed below head and shoulders better than the others and worth using for my purposes (watching sports and movies with surround sound speakers and subwoofer)? Be gentle when you reply as I know all of these are dinosaurs....

onkyo tx-ds797
pioneer vsx-27tx elite
sony str-de635
denon avr-900

 

[Rob68]

vintage is probably not the right choice of words, outdated might be a better choice. I'm just looking for some advice as audio receivers aren't an area of strength for me.

 

[. Raine]

I'm not familiar with those particular models, but from repairing consumer electronic devices most of my life, I would try out the Onkyo, they made some stuff that was real good quality. Sony and Denon never impressed me much, especially Denon. Mind you, this is from a repairman's point of view, not as a user. Pioneer was always a mixed bag, some real good units and some real junk.

It could be that I'm way off, because as I said, I'm not familiar with those particular models.

 

[ronton3]

I'm not familiar with those particular models, but from repairing consumer electronic devices most of my life, I would try out the Onkyo, they made some stuff that was real good quality. Sony and Denon never impressed me much, especially Denon. Mind you, this is from a repairman's point of view, not as a user. Pioneer was always a mixed bag, some real good units and some real junk.

It could be that I'm way off, because as I said, I'm not familiar with those particular models.

I'm not familiar with those particular models, but from repairing consumer electronic devices most of my life, I would try out the Onkyo, they made some stuff that was real good quality. Sony and Denon never impressed me much, especially Denon. Mind you, this is from a repairman's point of view, not as a user. Pioneer was always a mixed bag, some real good units and some real junk.

It could be that I'm way off, because as I said, I'm not familiar with those particular models.

 

[ronton3]

I gave my next door neighbors son an Onkyo 805,(he is very happy to have it), that I used for a home theatre. I bought a Denon X3100(500.00 now 800.00 when I bought it last year). The new one is so much easier for streaming and and hooking things up to. The old ones will work but will probably be a pain in the butt, compared to the newer models. You are in luck on the flat panels, the curves are quickly going out of style in that size.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I would be more concerned with the type of inputs. Can you use any of them as an HDMI switcher? Does it have an optical input?

I have an ONKYO surround I bough in 2007 or 2008. Works pretty well

 

[jevans64]

Of course, none of those will be able to handle HDMI and the digital audio formats associated with it. Of the 4 on the list it will be between the Onkyo and Pioneer... Onkyo because it is slightly newer and Pioneer for the extra power. You'll only be able to use those to process up to Prologic II for the Pioneer and DTS:ES for the Onkyo. You'll have to split the signals ( HDMI direct from source to TV and digital audio from source to receiver ) for ALL sources, which will create more cable clutter. The receiver's only purpose would be to power speakers, which they will be better at than new receivers. The new receivers come packed with lots of features but come with weak power supplies compared to pre-2008 stuff.