Need help Choosing a New AV Receiver

[omniscientonus]

I'm unfortunately in the market for a new AV Receiver. When I first bought my home theatre setup I went with a Harman Kardon AVR 745 and LOVED it (once I figured out how it works, lol). My plan was to go big and keep it all long-term/for life. However, the receiver only lasted me around a year.

I purchased all of this stuff after I just moved into my first apartment, and being an apartment, I couldn't really make use of it. Since then I've been apartment/trailer hopping and have never gotten any real opportunities to enjoy my stuff. In reality though, I never even left the first apartment before this receiver crapped out on me. It goes into standby mode around 1 second after I try to turn it on. It won't get any further, and I've tried everything that didn't have to do with taking it apart to fix it.

They want $75 just to look at it, and when I was snooping around on Google, the FEW people I could find who had even somewhat similar issues all seemed to hint that this continued happening to their units around 1 year after repair, even with multiple repairs. They also said the repairs weren't cheap. I figure if it's going to cost $75 to look at it, I probably would be better off just buying a cheap $200-$300 new unit and just put this mess behind me.

Anyways, I'm looking for suggestions for a replacement unit. I don't need much. (1) HDMI in - (More would be better for the future), (1) HDMI out and enough power to run (2) Polk Audio Monitor 70's, (2) Monitor 60's, (2) Monitor 50's, (1) CS1 center channel and (1) PSW10 Sub with hopes of adding a downward firing sub sometime in the (near?) future.

I'm not much of an audio/video-phile, so I'll admit that I don't exactly have the ears/eyes to pick up on minor differences in quality here and there. I just want to enjoy my equipment now that I'm in a real house! If anyone could help I would be greatly appreciative!!!

tl;dr:
Basically I need a new AV Receiver. I need it to run off of my computer, I would like to one day be able to hook up at least (1) console (PS3 for instance) and it needs to run (2) Polk Audio Monitor 70's, (2) Monitor 60's, (2) Monitor 50's, (1) CS1 center channel, (1) PSW10 Sub and one day (1) Down Firing Sub (probably Polk just to match).

Looking for something in the $200-$300 range. I'm looking to buy my own house soon (renting while looking at the moment), so I'm trying to save for a down payment so while more wouldn't <i>usually</i> be an issue, it kind of is right now. I'd say $500 is my max, and if I pay that, I'd like to be able to keep the thing for a long time to come.

 

[ssddx]

i've had my pioneer elite vsx-30 for around 3 years or so now without even one hiccup. i would definitely suggest pioneer products in your price range. the only reason i went with a $550 unit over a $300-500 unit is the on screen display (OSD) capabilities.

you want at least 2 hdmi inputs, one output. i would highly suggest having spdif input capability and composite/component inputs just in case but this is up to you.

i've heard to avoid sony receivers under $500 and that onkyo receivers are okay but not on the same level as the big boys.

just letting you know what i use and my experience with pioneer.

in case it matters, i'm powering a 5.0 klipsch quintet IV set and a 450w sub. way under the capabilities of the receiver but my budget was around $1200. the receiver does fall within the suggested 1/5 to 1/3 total cost of the system range.