Looking for a budget receiver...

Hi & welcome to the forum j.wallace

Well you can get something reasonably decent for £200 AV amp wise a Whathifi 5* product the SONY STRDH820 for that Clicky, another option The Denon 2311 Clicky & a Yamaha 667 Clicky of course some of these depend where you live but there are bargains out there to be had. 2 of these links are clearance so they may not work at a later date.

All of the above amps upscale, all are at least 5.1 & at least 2 of them (as far as i'm aware) do 3D if you need it.

I would suggest you have a little look around on the internet, find a few local or local ish shops & try to get an audition, so as you can decide on what you like & dislike on the sound front, nothing can beat that as peoples tastes are so varied.

Regards .. Paul

Some great suggestions there, thanks very much. I've just gone into my local hi-fi dealers who said the amps that were suggested are great for home cinema but might lack a bit when listening to music in stereo...

He suggested the Yamaha RXV37 which they are selling for £350 at the momment. Is the extra money really worth it?

Honestly I cant rate the Yamaha rxv-371 highly enough. I've got 2 but they are the slightly older version which are still available - Just. I managed to pick up on of the last ones available at Richer Sounds the other day for £145, but they are only showing a few left as of yesterday. I guess it depends on where you live!

For £250 - I would still go for it. Best on the market for that price by far.

Mil5419 

All av amps lack a bit on the sound compared to a decent dedicated stereo amp of the same price point. The best out of the 3 mentioned would be the Yamaha (more musical IMO), or the Denon for music (i would say), depending on the partnering kit of course. As i said your best bet is to have an audition, take along a couple of our favourite CD's & Blu-ray discs to make your mind up, this would be my recommendation in whatever amp / av amp you are choosing.

What speakers have you got?

I've got an old pair of Sonys for the time being but will eventually upgrade to either the Pioneer SP-PK21BS's or the Tannoy HTS101s. The latter is easier to get hold of but a bit more pricey at £330.

The system will be mainly used for movies so quality surround sound is the priority over stereo quality. What's the best way to do this on a budget?

That being the case Tannoy speakers do tend to go well with Pioneer amps IMO so have a look at the Pioneer VSX521 or include it in your auditions list with the speakers you mention.

Do you guys think the Sony STR-DH810 with the Pioneer SP-PK21BSs would be a good match or should I pay the extra and go for the Tannoys?

Just got another recommendation for the Sony STRDH520. 3D Compatability, 7.1, 4xHDMI inputs and much more friendly on the wallet.

So final setup choice would be this amp with the Tannoys?

The Sony STRDH-520 does not seem to have upscaling support (that is if you need it), compared to the other av amps on the list. Having said that though if you play dvd's through your playstation or other BD players they would upscale them, BD's would not need upscaling.

As to the speaker question, the Tannoys should would work well with it, although i would still recommend an audition to be sure your happy with the sound produced. Just to add you may find a good deal on the 2nd hand market.

Regards...

.....or the TV. 

Just gonna add it

DO NOT get the Sony STRD820 from richer sounds.

Its pretty pathetic!

I bought it just to use for a while, but it was so bad that i could even keep it for a little while, i returned it back to richer sounds in 1 day! (yes it was that bad)

Speaker Sound Quality was extremely bad, Treble was bad (CD, Stereo)

The Audio in Phono (RCA) posts was not even gold plated

No banana Plug post

Just bear in mind i was listen to music on this at the time.  im sure that if u was mainly goin to use it for cinema it wouldnt be that bad

But from my point of view and experiance i just saying that auido for music was Bad!

cheerrrs!

Yeah with that i would say Tannoys

because Speakers is all that Tannoy make , so they know what there doing.

I have tannoy Revolutions R2, they Are FANTASTIC with music....

If tannoy is good with music they WILL be good with cinema, Music is harder than cinema to do.

But bearing in mind you will need a good amp. i have ARcam at the moment, and damn its good, i can hear every single instument that is playing in the song!

Now you've put me off! Is there an amp that is generally agreed to be a decent budget option for home cinema? I will be listening to music on it but the main priority is decent home cinema