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[matt57]

i have no idea how to answer your question other than by saying my wife just bought me the Onkyo 7.1 surround sound system and rec. it sounds so much better than my older sony 5.1 system. unfortunately nothing uses 7.1

[hamwbone]

my onkyo 7.1 sounds awsome too! tobad theres nothing in 7.1........ hehe  the rear speakers do get simulated pretty well though, so i still enjoy it.   i think matching the speakers to the reciever you buy is more important then just one or the other.

[LANDON14]

From what I understand, companies have been dumbing down thier products for some time now. The best reciever I have owned was (by far) the Sony STR DA2ES.

[twistedsymphony]

It's typical of the big brand names to really gut the low end models to make it more attractive to people...

Big name companies like Sony or Yamaha are hit or miss these days... the quality really depends on the model itself, you can't just say "everything from brand X is quality worth buying."

There ARE some companies that do pride themselves on offering quality products across their line up, but it's fairly rare that you'd see such brands carried at a big box store.

Personally I've always been partial to Marantz/Denon and my 6.1 Marantz reciever sounds AMAZING  

Making a generalized statment saying older electronics are built better is just pure BS... Electronics are like any other group of things.. a few winners and a whole lot of loosers.

Here's a senario I see all the time:
Some guy in the 80s/90s is looking for a stereo reciever he reads reviews talks to people and decides to get one by "Brand X" it lasts him 15 years and when it finally gives out (or maybe he just decided he wanted something shiny and new) he just goes out and blindly purchases something from "Brand X" because the last one they made was so well built. Now since Brand X is really only a shell of it's former self and evolved into more of a money making machine then a company who care's about the quality of their products this guy starts spouting "Boy, they don't make them like they used to! Modern electronics are crap quality!"

...Correction... that piece of expensive junk you blindly bought is crap quality, The moral of this story: Do your research and you'll be fine.

[Chancer]

I agree. Don't be fooled by a badge today. Even manufacturers that used to produce quality now use cheap design, cheap assembly, poor components outsourced to obscure parts of the world (wherever is cheapest) just to compete in a market where consumers want the lowest price. Research into who actually makes the guts, don't just jump on a badge name and think the quality will be there because it was in days gone by.
I usually stick by Technics (Panasonic). Marantz gear is excellent. My old mans Hi-Fi is all Marantz stuff

[MrBones]

The lesson that I've learned when buying electronics is to always buy the cheapest high end stuff, and not the most expensive low end.

The expensive low end is gonna have good parts, and the cheap high end still may cost twice as much, but that money usually goes somewhere.

The product line is also important.  I'm on the search for a new receiver, and I was looking at the Yamaha HTR series, until I got told they're crap.  They have all the right features and look good on paper, but the right parts aren't there to really make it good.

If you're really unsure of what to buy, go to a electronics store where the sales people don't make commission, ask what they recommend for your price range, and ask for some demos.  A good salesman will have music/movies that show off everything a receiver can do, and how well it can do it.

[Austin7687]

Well, if you're looking to upgrade to surround (but don't want to pay an extreme amount), the sound will almost definitely not suck on these receiver brands:

Harmon/Kardon
Denon
Onkyo (I would stay away from the very low end of this brand)

With those three you're going to get much better sound than you ever would out of a Sony receiver. And as for running video through a receiver, unless it's nescessary, I wouldn't do it, as even the high-end brands will degrade picture quality a lot of times (except for the new HDMI ones, but those only use a pass through, so they don't really mess with the video connection anyway).

As far as speakers go, if you don't want to pay a bunch for them, go with Polk Audio, Infinity or on the higher end, Boston Acoustics.

Don't pay store prices on this stuff, either. Go into the stores to do your research, but you can either make an under the counter deal using one of the salesperson's discounts (I used to work at an electronics chain, the discounts on this stuff is huge! At, or below cost, most of the time, which on some stuff is around 50% off). Or for a slightly higher price, you can get your stuff from a wholesale place online, there are lot of them. Happy Hunting!