My Surround Sound / Stereo Receiver Died - Need a Replacement

[dchester]

OK, my old (prior century) Harman Kardon 5.1 surround sound receiver died, so I need to get a replacement. Thus, I'm soliciting advice on possible candidates. My budget isn't fixed, but based on pretty much nothing, I was thinking in the $1K neighborhood, (but could go higher). I haven't been keeping up with the new technology with the receivers, so I've got a learning curve. I'm suspecting this could end up with me upgrading lots of stuff, since I haven't had a technology refresh with my sound system, in quite a while.
In any case, any recommendations (especially based on your experiences), are welcome.

 

[John Locke]

OK, my old (prior century) Harman Kardon 5.1 surround sound receiver died, so I need to get a replacement. Thus, I'm soliciting advice on possible candidates. My budget isn't fixed, but based on pretty much nothing, I was thinking in the $1K neighborhood, (but could go higher). I haven't been keeping up with the new technology with the receivers, so I've got a learning curve. I'm suspecting this could end up with me upgrading lots of stuff, since I haven't had a technology refresh with my sound system, in quite a while.
In any case, any recommendations (especially based on your experiences), are welcome.

OK, just my 2 pennies. H/Ks are still very good as are Onkyo's and can definitely be had in the grand range.

One of the newer technologies is Dolby Atmos which is an 11.2 surround system that is pretty amazing but you can get by with far less.

Lotsa great tech out there for reasonable prices nowadays.

I'm sure you'll get many more recommendations.

 

[Undertaker #59*]

I've upgraded my AVR about 3 times in the past 8 years. Before that, I also had a Harmon Kardon 5.1.

During that time there has been a lot of consolidation in the industry. Many of these companies - HK, Denon, Onkyo, Marantz, and others all have the same parent company now.

The HK you knew is gone, along with those wonderful warm amps they had. But they are still a successful brand. For $1k you typically get a model or two down from the top.

My first HDMI switching AVR was an Onkyo. I liked it, but it had a failed board recall, and then died a year later.

When I got a new 4k TV this past spring, I needed a 4k AVR anyway.

After research, I decided to stay away from those consolidated brands, and I didn't like Sony.

So I bought Yamaha Aventage line. I am very pleased with it. No fuss, sounds great, though not crazy about the GUI, some of the setup was a bit confusing.

All of these modern receivers have a calibration system where you connected an included microphone and move it to different listening positions. It adjusts each speaker's dB to correct for the room. The Onkyo/Denon, etc use a system called Audyssey.

Yamaha uses its own proprietary system called YPAO.

I run a 7.2 config with front heights. Works well with Atmos.

No matter what you get, they are all absolutely packed with features now. And with everything HDMI, connections are much simpler than they used to be.