3 of the 11 AV receivers whose manufacturer publishes a US list price fall in this band. Every figure below is the manufacturer’s own, linked to the page it came from.
Last verified: 2026-08-09
What “under” means here
A price band has to be drawn somewhere, so we draw it on manufacturer list price and say where. This page is everything below $1,500. List price is not street price. These models discount, some of them heavily, and a model at the top of one band is often bought for less than one at the bottom of the next. We do not publish retailer prices, because a price we cannot keep current is worse than no price at all. Use the band to narrow the field, then check what it actually costs today.
We hold 16 AV receivers in the database. 11 of them have a list price published by the manufacturer; the other 5 do not, and are named at the foot of this page rather than guessed into a band.
The 3 in this band
Denon AVR-X1800H
- List price
- $849
- Amplified channels
- 7
- Power
- 80 W (8 ohm, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.08% THD, 2ch driven)
- Main-zone pre-outs
- 2 channels (front only)
- 4-ohm rating
- not published
- Tallest layout
- 5.2.2
What the published figures favour
- 2 main-zone pre-out channels, so those channels can be moved to an external amplifier later.
- 2 subwoofer outputs, which is what independent multi-subwoofer correction needs.
What to check before buying
- Pre-outs are front-channel only, so the upgrade path stops at the front three.
- No 4-ohm rating published. Denon publishes 8 and 6 ohm ratings only. No 4-ohm rating or impedance statement on the US product page.
- Power is published with two channels driven only, so the figure overstates what it delivers with a full surround bed running.
What reviewers report 2 published reviews read
Both reviewers reach the same shape of verdict: this is a lot of home cinema for the money, it is easy to get working, and it runs out of authority before a large room does. Neither treats the power limit as a flaw — both frame it as the boundary of what the price buys, and both name the fix as spending more rather than tuning what you have.
Consistently praised
- Setting it up is repeatedly singled out as easy rather than merely tolerable. Both reviewers describe the guided Audyssey MultEQ XT calibration as walking the owner through the process, and one calls the whole procedure fool-proof — which matters more on a first receiver than on any other, because the buyer has never done it before.
- Value for the money is the other point both make explicitly. One describes it as ridiculously good value; the other, comparing it to what the same outlay buys elsewhere, argues few similarly priced soundbars compete at this level.
Consistently criticised
- Both reviewers put a room-size limit on it, and neither hedges. One states the 80 W per channel suits small to medium rooms and warns against larger home theatre spaces; the other says the output is ample for a small room but that greater heft, authority and theatrics require a larger wallet. Read together, that is two independent sources saying the same thing: the ceiling here is the amplifier, not the setup.
Reviewers point to it suiting
A first multi-channel system in a small or medium room, where the buyer wants the setup to be guided rather than fiddled with.
Reviewers suggest looking elsewhere if
The room is large, or you expect the receiver to still be adequate after the speakers get more demanding — both reviewers point upmarket for that, not at a better calibration.
Sources: AVForums · Trusted Reviews. These are other reviewers’ findings, not ours — we have not heard this speaker.
Denon AVR-X2800H
- List price
- $1,299
- Amplified channels
- 7
- Power
- 95 W (8 ohm, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.08% THD, 2ch driven)
- Main-zone pre-outs
- ? channels (sub only)
- 4-ohm rating
- not published
- Tallest layout
- 5.2.2
What the published figures favour
- 2 subwoofer outputs, which is what independent multi-subwoofer correction needs.
What to check before buying
- No 4-ohm rating published. 8 and 6 ohm ratings only. Pre-outs are the two subwoofer outputs, not a full multichannel pre-out.
- Power is published with two channels driven only, so the figure overstates what it delivers with a full surround bed running.
What reviewers report 2 published reviews read
The two reviews agree on what this receiver is good at and, unusually, agree on the same reservation — and both then argue that the reservation may be a virtue. Neither presents the bass character as a fault to be fixed; both present it as a voicing choice the buyer should hear before committing.
Consistently praised
- Connectivity is the most repeated strength. One review lists it first among the pros; the other describes the breadth of formats and inputs as what makes the unit usable as the hub of a system, and specifically values not having to unplug things the way a soundbar forces you to.
- Both note the interface as a real improvement rather than a cosmetic one. One calls the full-screen interface user-friendly; the other, comparing it directly with the previous model, lists a better interface among the reasons to move up.
Consistently criticised
- Both reviewers independently report less bass weight than they expected, and both immediately qualify it. One writes that some listeners might crave more bass weight; the other describes a more restrained bass response and adds that it could equally be called more natural than more bombastic rivals. Two sources, the same observation, and the same refusal to call it a defect.
- The styling draws the same complaint twice. One says the appearance needs a refresh; the other, an owner of Denon receivers going back nearly twenty years, notes the look and feel has hardly changed and singles out the dot-matrix display as the part that dates it.
Reviewers point to it suiting
A system built around clarity and dialogue, with a subwoofer doing the low-end work, where the receiver is expected to switch a lot of sources.
Reviewers suggest looking elsewhere if
You want the receiver itself to supply weight and slam, or you care how it looks on the rack.
Sources: What Hi-Fi? · Empire. These are other reviewers’ findings, not ours — we have not heard this speaker.
Marantz CINEMA 70s
- List price
- $1,300
- Amplified channels
- 7
- Power
- 50 W (8 ohm, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.08% THD, 2ch driven)
- Main-zone pre-outs
- 7 channels (full)
- 4-ohm rating
- not published
- Tallest layout
- 5.2.2
What the published figures favour
- Every main-zone channel can be handed to an external amplifier, so the amplifier section inside it is never the ceiling.
- 2 subwoofer outputs, which is what independent multi-subwoofer correction needs.
What to check before buying
- No 4-ohm rating published. 8 and 6 ohm ratings only.
- Power is published with two channels driven only, so the figure overstates what it delivers with a full surround bed running.
At a glance
| Model | List price | Amplified channels | Main-zone pre-outs | 4-ohm rating | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denon AVR-X1800H | $849 | 7 | 2 ch | not published | source |
| Denon AVR-X2800H | $1,299 | 7 | ? ch | not published | source |
| Marantz CINEMA 70s | $1,300 | 7 | 7 ch | not published | source |
What this page could not include
These AV receivers are in our database, but their manufacturers do not publish a US list price, so there is no honest way to say which band they belong in:
- Yamaha RX-V6A — no list price on the manufacturer’s US page
- Yamaha RX-A4A — no list price on the manufacturer’s US page
- Yamaha RX-A6A — no list price on the manufacturer’s US page
- Onkyo TX-NR6100 — no list price on the manufacturer’s US page
- Arcam AVR11 — no list price on the manufacturer’s US page
We will not take a price from a retailer listing to fill that gap. Retailer prices move, and a band built on one would be wrong within the month.
Related
- AV receivers From $1,500 to $3,000 — the same category, middle band
- AV receivers Over $3,000 — the same category, higher band
- AV receivers ranked by main-zone pre-out channels — the whole category by upgrade path
- The gear database — every figure used here, with its source
- How we work — the method, and where it breaks