stereo receiver recommendations


Hi folks,

A friend recently got me interested in this hobby, but I'm definitely still a newbie without much real world listening experience. A colleague at work knows I'm interested in audio and came to me for advice to replace a broken stereo receiver. Problematically, she was fairly coy about budget, so a few recommendations would be greatly appreciated... Lets go with <$500, $500-600, & <$1000 as the 3 price ranges.

She definitely wants to have a phono input for a connected turntable and to have a FM tuner built in so unfortunately we're stuck with stereo receivers rather than integrated amps, which drastically limits the options. She also definitely wants to buy new. She didn't know the model of speakers so I'm not talking about a serious audiophile but rather someone who just enjoys having music playing in her home and doesnt want to give up local radio or her vinyl collection. For that reason I'm thinking ease of use, functionality, and reliability are probably just as important as sound quality (I hope that doesnt make too many of you cringe), but I still want it to sound good. Searching through musicdirect & crutchfield, I've come up with the following:

<$500: Cambridge SR10 or Yamaha R-N303
$500-600: Cambridge SR20 or Yamaha R-N602 
<$1000: Outlaw RR2160 or Yamaha R-N803

Would love input from people with experience with any of these products or recommendations about something else that might be better. Any problems any of you have found with any of the above models? Anybody experienced both in a particular price range and found one to sound particularly better? 

Thanks!
ethos123

Showing 4 responses by willemj

The Yamahas are good and have the advantage that they have digital inputs as well, as does the Cambridge sr20 and the Outlaw. The Yamaha RN 803d also has room equalization built in.
An FM tuner is superfluous these days. FM always was a challenged technology and at current bitrates of the better internet radio stations, the imperfections of internet radio are far smaller than those of FM. In addition, you have a far wider choice, of course. A Chromecast Audio is an easy way to do this.
On the other hand, a receiver is hardly more expensive than just an integrated amplifier. It does not require a more expensive case, and it does not require a more expensive power supply, the two most expensive components. My guess would be that the extra component cost is only a few dollars. In the case of the Yamaha receivers, their advantage over and above their amplifiers is that the more expensive ones have more digital inputs - you quite quickly need more of those (at least three for a streamer like the Chromecast Audio, for the 2 channel output of the TV, and for the digital output of the disc player).
The Yamaha RN 803d has it all. 2x100 watt rms, tuner, airplay, smartphone app for remote control, Spotify Connect, dlna compatibility, mm phono input, 2 optical and 2 coax digital inputs, plus, and this is very attractive at this price level, room equalization. I am sure I am forgetting something. Oh yes, pretty classy looks, and good build quality from a reputable manufacturer that will be around in the future. I am planning to buy one for my daughter.
The good news of all this is that it is actually quite hard to go wrong if you stick to the mainstream brands. Just look at the various options they sport, like digital inputs  etc.