I am what most people would call a "poor college student," but my addiction to home theater equipment doesnt give up that easily. I have been putting together a system the last 6 months, and have come to the question of which reciever to get. Because the receiver was probably going to be the most expensive component, I saved it until last. I have been looking around on this page and others and had settled on the DA4ES. After reading a new review, I dont think that one is going to be the one. I have also been looking at the Denon 2802 or 3802, the Yamaha RX-V2300 or 1300, and the Sony DA5ES. I only can spend roughly about 500-700 dollars so I am wondering which would be better for my system. I am running Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3's for the fronts, 2's for the rears, and the Center for the center. The sub is just some down-firing 12" local brand. Decent though. You can check my page at www.geocities.com/nyates55 if you want to see all the specs if it would help. I have a room that is about 16' X 14' and was just wanting a reciever that would produce clean bass and highs, and would be able to sounds equally well in a new room as I am in college and will be moving in a year. Thanks a lot for any suggestions or recomendations.
Check out the Marantz SRx300 range (SR4300, SR5300 etc) or, the older SRx200 range (SR4200, SR5200...up to SR9200) - the latter especially are very good value for money at the moment in the UK because they're about to be replaced. Don't know what the story is in the US though. I recently got an SR4200 for the equivalent of $300 and I'm blown away by it. It's got Dolby ProLogic II, 5.1 pre-outs and assignable digital inputs (2 coax, 2 optical) amongst features you don't usually find at that price point (it's original retail price was about $550 here). The advantages that the SRx300 series have over their SRx200 predecessors are very slight IMO (6.1 and a couple more Dolby bells and whistles). Michael.
You may be interested to know that the DA4ES seems to be the VA333ES UK model and the DA5ES seems to be the popular VA555ES UK model The popular european DB1080QS (note no 'ES' here) model also looks like the DA2ES model and supports the same sound processing features, so quite likely will be virtually identical in terms of its internal design and sonic qualities. Then again we also get the red 'UK' tuned badge issue... Have a look on: http://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/comm...grfnbr=16020&parent=ES_SERIES&catLandNum=2100 P.S. I have a DB1080QS UK Model
if you interested in the 3802 you might want to wait a couple more months. I'd wager there will be a few up for sale once the 3803 starts shipping.
If he is in the US the 3803 has been shipping for some time and the 3802 is available at a discount. The 41tx looks good but I think the 43tx is well worth the extra money. I just placed an order for a 45tx to replace my faulty Marantz SR7300