Should I get this receiver?

[Tavis]

Technics SA-AX730 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000K0JK/ I am getting it from a friend for $50 with two (unknown) speakers. Would you do it? I believe this thing is just Dolby Digital "ready". All the reviews I've found for this receiver are positive. At least 4 out of 5. Can anyone recommend a good cheapo Dolby Digital Decoder to go with this? I'm getting a new TV soon and I'd like to get a decent sound system to go with it. Thanks for any input.

 

Hmm pics arent showing for meh...

 

[loup garou]

If you can scrape together ~$320, go for the refurbed HTS650 HTIB from Shoponkyo.com. By the time you buy that receiver & speakers and get the DD Decoder and the rest of your speakers, you'll have spent about as much, and be left with not as nice of a system.

 

[Tavis]

Unfortunately I don't have that much at this time. $50 I can afford, $300+ I cannot at the moment 🙂. Really just want to know if this is a decent system for $50.

 

[loup garou]

Quite decent for $50, some pretty good reviews:

http://www.audioreview.com/A-V,Receivers/Technics,SA-AX730/PRD_118841_2718crx.aspx

If you're just going to use it for music, it'll work more than fine for $50, but if you plan to use it as an HT receiver, I stick by my recommendation of saving up and buying a receiver with a DD decoder built in. You'll save $ in the long run.

 

[Viper GTS]

There are a lot of very affordable DVD players with built in DD decoders, I wouldn't worry to much about the lack of decoding capabilities.

Some day you're going to want to go the preprocessor + amp route, & your receiver will be useless anyway.

Viper GTS