What home stereo would you recommend?

[thescoutranch]

I am looking to get a new stereo receiver for the house. I am sure this may be like asking “ what gun should I buy?”, but I would appreciate some input/advice/recommendations.

Are there any stores you would recommend for the purchase or just go thru Amazon?

I thought about going to some of the stereo sites, but it would be like drinking from a fire hydrant, so I thought I would toss the question out here.

Some of the features that I would like are as follows:

Bluetooth capable - transmitting and receiving

Input for mp3/thumb drive/(hard drive?)

Multiple speaker outputs. (Patio/bedroom/living room/ study)

Everything controlled thru a remote (or phone?)

Reasonably priced ($200 - $400)

No need for my neighbors (5 miles away) to be able to hear the stereo.

No need to feel the bass in my chest.

I would prefer a self contained unit that does not require an amplifier, but could accommodate a stand alone CD player.

Thanks for any input.


Epp

 

[Kar98]

I honestly didn't know "home stereo" was still a thing people did.

 

[thescoutranch]

I guess I am showing my age. Lol. What is it called nowadays?

 

[pronstar]

I've got this one, Denon makes good stuff. You can find comparable from other big brands like Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo etc.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XYG978Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My home theater installer recommended it, and at the time it was on sale ($399) for less than for what he could sell it to me for.

I have two zones - living room and outside patio.
You can run it all from Denon's HEOS app, but in my case I'm controlling it from my phone via a different automation app.

The number of speaker outputs available for different zones will be dependent on how many speakers you use per zone.
My theater is 7.1, so all of the speaker outputs are dedicated to my living room/theater zone.

My patio is run via line-outs to a separate receiver that provides power for the patio.
But I could have dedicated 5 (or fewer) speakers to my living room, which would allow the receiver to power the patio.

This is just one way to do it, as I wanted a decent home theater setup.

Something like Sonos might be a good setup to consider as well.
https://www.sonos.com/en-us/home
Ultimate sound quality won't be as great, but for stereo can be very good, and it's super easy to setup and install.
But it might push the budget a bit.

There are also others that compete with Sonos, for less money.
I'm just not too familiar with them.

 

[Brains]

Pretty easy to get those features, minus the multi-room support and bluetooth transmission. Most multi-room receivers are going to be mains + 2nd room, nothing is going to have 4 room capability - or at least nothing anywhere near that price range.

Do you have speaker wire pulled from all your remote locations to a central spot, or are these new locations you're planning to add?

 

[LeadChucker]

I got hooked on audio equipment when I was in the military in Germany. The Post Exchange had a stand alone stereo and camera shop where we could buy equipment for pennies on the dollar compared to US prices. I probably had 8K of stereo equipment - and this was in 1980!
Then I built this system for my home in the late 90's

Theater

• LeadChucker
• May 14, 2020
• 1

What you are looking for is a multi-zone stereo receiver. The brands Pronstar recommended are a good place to start. And Sonos is a good alternative as well if absolute sound quality isn't an issue.
Here is a good article to help you select one. Selecting a MultiZone Receiver
Amazon is a good a place as any to purchase from:
Here is a quick list to look at: Receivers-Multi-Zone-Amplifiers

 

[oldag]

You can get cheap or you can get good.

I am so old school I just have two speakers with a preamp and power amp.

Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo should do it if they have anything in your price ranges.

 

[texasnurse]

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/yamaha...VBniGCh3kmwp3EAQYASABEgKiBPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have something similar to this minus the Bluetooth functionality (which this one has)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FireInTheWire]

I have something like this. It has bluetooth and a couple other doodads.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/pionee...heater-receiver-black/6333561.p?skuId=6333561

I input into one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Niles-SS-6-Speaker-Selector/dp/B00022LD70

I have these through the house
https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-C...NzA&hsa_cr_id=1946224590001&ref_=sb_s_sparkle

And these on front and back porch
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00378KMIC/ref=twister_B00MMPOQRE?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Been real happy with it. It plays plenty loud.

 

[toddnjoyce]

I’ve gone through the whole gamut from simple to multi-zone home theaters, mainly using Yamaha equipment for audio and Sony for video. I’ve settled on Sonos for most of my audio solution now. It’s just easy to do however you are buying into an ecosystem.

 

[EZ-E]

Ive got a Yamaha AVR that ive been happy with.
Ive had it for about 4 years.
It has bluetooth & some other features.
I think it was about $400 when i got it.
It is the RX-V379

Current Version
https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/av_receivers_amps/rx-v385_u/index.html

It might be hard to have multiple speaker outlets in your price range. Most receivers that are moderately priced are 5.1 sound, You can get up to 11.2 but will spend some $$$.

 

[baboon]

I personally look down on electronics for music. In my lifetime there has been 45/albums, 8 tracks, cassettes, disks, MP3 players, satellite radio. I listen to more music on youtube now then anything.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

How do you do that without electronics?

 

[baboon]

How do you do that without electronics?

I'm just saying I have had guns that I owned going back to a crystal radio set I had as a kid that I put together. The guns are still in use, but I can't say that about various music player over the years. It's another reason I don't own a sail Foam.

 

[thescoutranch]

Thanks for the inputs, looks like I will have some homework tonight when I get done with yard work today. I will probably have some more questions tonight.

First thing learned - home theater, not home stereo. Lol

thanks again
Epp

 

[FireInTheWire]

Thanks for the inputs, looks like I will have some homework tonight when I get done with yard work today. I will probably have some more questions tonight.

First thing learned - home theater, not home stereo. Lol

thanks again
Epp

My "home theater receiver" powers speakers throughout my home for music. Lol

For my TV- sound bar with a sub. You can get pretty good sound with this set up.

 

[rotor]

Check out Crutchfield
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-XAGi71rgvME/

 

[innominate]

I think I have a onkyo nr 636 in storage im not using since I sold the house. If you're interested I'll go see if I can lay eyes on it this weekend. I'd let it go cheap.

 

[LeadChucker]

Check out Crutchfield
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-XAGi71rgvME/

Check Crutchfield out for info and advice but buy elsewhere to save money. Yes, they have lifetime support on anything you buy from them but that costs money and that money needs to come from somewhere.

 

[thescoutranch]

I think I have a onkyo nr 636 in storage im not using since I sold the house. If you're interested I'll go see if I can lay eyes on it this weekend. I'd let it go cheap.

If I do purchase this receiver from a member here, should I require a Bill of sale?

This is a joke! For the love of God, please don’t start that discussion again.