I have an Onkyo 600 that has and still serves me well. My Epic 60/500 sounds great. I have however been toying with the idea of getting a new receiver but being located on the butt end of Africa has its challenges. Firstly there's not been much high def stuff to speak of. Blue Ray is scary expensive and not in any rental shops yet, but our first HD channel is launching for the olympics. At some stage I'm going to have to bite the bullet but cost and timing are critical in my opinion. If I make a purchase it will need to last for probably 8 to 10 years.

I have always liked the Denon kit and the 3808 is really nice. Locally it comes in at $3,000 and there is no way I can justify that price. The Onkyo 605 is $1,300 which is also quite scary given you can get it for $400 in the US.

So I was thinking that since I will probably only have 1 hdmi source for a while, upgrading is not vital and when I do get a second source, I could maybe get a switch for the hdmi video and just use the 5.1 rca audio outs from the blue ray player I end up getting to my current receiver to get the better sound. I could probably get away with my current receiver for at least 6 months but more than likely a year or so without "having" to upgrade.

Then I see that the place I normally buy my stuff from has the Sony STR-DA5300ES for the equivalent of $1,100. They normally retail closer to $1,800 here. Now I've never been a huge Sony fan but at that price my ears picked up. I realize that they will more than likely announce a new model in the next few months but the specs seem pretty good, although I'm not 100% sure how good it will sound.

I guess my rambling thoughts come down to:
  • How good do you think the sony is and how much of a step up in sound (if any) compared to the 600?
  • What's your best guess as to how well it will stand up to future advances? If I need to upgrade this thing in 3 years I will have a cow.
  • Do you think the price is too good to pass up on?
  • Would you hold out for as long as you could and then decide based on what's available at that point in time even though it might be more costly?

I think you see where I'm going...

Just looking for a sounding board to bounce ideas off of.

Thanks,
David