My stereo receiver recently died; what would be the best replacement that includes connectivity for HA?
This may not be the answer that you are looking for, but my setup is several Google Chromecast devices that each feed into an amplifier. I also have either a Zwave, Zigbee or Kasa plug to turn the amplifiers on or off. All these are controlled by Automations, including what radio station to play on selected days and times. The volume is controlled through the Chromecasts.
Interesting, that is the direction the technology is going. I do also however need a physical unit in the Living room for people without phones who want to just walk over and select a station or turn a knob for the volume…
I have heard that most Denon receivers work.
Thanks @PeteRage - I used to be an audiophile, but nowadays only interested in something less pricey -
Most high end receiver should be fine if you pick known brands. But be advised each integration/ vendoyhas thier own proclivities
Ive seen a Yamaha, Denon / Maritz, Sonos etc.
Go find a few AVRs that fit your need then go search the forum by model number to see if there are known issues.
For instance I use Denon. Everything works great except if I try to do combined speaker groups on Heos calling from Amazon and using Spotify (denons Amazon integration sucks.) that’s not HAs problem. It’s totally Denon. But had I known it at the time I needed an AVRs I would have bought another because it’s my wife’s #1 use case.
It is not that I want to insist on my setup, but in fact in our living room I have a stereo system (not connected to HA) that has a Chromecast in the HDMI port but it can also be controlled manually by anyone to play a radio station, and I could connect any other source (dvd etc) to other ports.
Pioneer seems to be well supported, no issues with mine.
I am now only a casual user of my old stereo (model is from the 80’s), speakers only in one room (living room), I’m very technical and used to be an audiophile… Was recently gifted an inexpensive turntable (already had one I had put away years ago from non-use) - however this one has bluetooth and there is the ticket for me to switch the receiver over to “phono” and play music from my phone to the stereo. As it is used only occassionally I am perfectly happy with this setup.
The receiver still works but there are issues such as crackling when turning up the volume (just dust in the unit), etc… I will take it apart and see if it just needs a good cleaning, but in the meantime -
What kind of use cases might be useful to me if I get a more modern receiver other than just turning it on and off or adjusting the volume / changing radio stations that sort of thing from within my phone and HA - would that be primarily the extent of it? Maybe not worth an upgrade (if I get the old receiver to still work)?
I’m probably an outlier here, but I have my AVR in a closet and long since lost the remote control. I use the AVR for primary entertainment, so we have a card on Home Assistant for power, switching inputs and adjusting volume levels. This also allows me to use it for TTS announcements, arrival music, etc. Well, it will when I finally figure out why the upgrade to bookworm killed audio on my pi4, but it worked well before that.
If a remote control works fine for you now, then upgrading just to be able to use HA, might not be worth it. For me it was and ethernet capability with an HA integration was one of the things I looked for when I bought it. The only real complaint I have with my system now, is that I can’t control the Samsung TV’s power state from HA, so that’s the only remote I have to reach for.
I bit the bullet and just took the receiver apart and fixed it. Just ton’s of dust and loose connections. I’ll mark this as the solution - not into this aspect of it right now but may come back to it one day.
Hm. Solved with no relation to the answer of the original question?
OK I cghanged it back to not solved. Go at it! Thank you, I am interested in hearing - 
I have two Onkyo 7.2 receivers that are fairly well supported via HA. TX-NR609 models. Yes, old by now but still working perfectly. New Onkyos middle end can be had open boxes for under $400, with phono input.
While these are pretty decent receivers, my favorite is my Pioneer SX-780 in my garage connected to a RPi4 running Volumio and my 75" TV. Sure, it’s not 5.1, but it sounds AMAZING! Much better than the two Onkyos but no remote, no network. 1979 technology is still brilliant!
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