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I wasn't really that much a believer in receiver quality...until mine died

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vi edit

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And not for the reasons you think.

I had an Onkyo RC-180 that I bought *just* under two years ago. Last month I fell victim to the dreaded HDMI board failure that plagues many of their products. Thankfully I still had a month of warranty left. Cost me $40 to ship out and have it repaired.

In the meantime, I had an older H/K AVR-247 which was one of their first HDMI processing receivers out.

Holy crap what a difference that was and not in a good way. I had my Onkyo running a 2nd zone for whole house audio. The H/K couldn't do it. It would clip the amp on the 2nd zone even using a speaker selector to help control impedance issues. So I had to dig out *another* even older amp to power the 2nd zone.

When running HDMI through the H/K and to my projector using 1080p sources it was supposed to do a true passthrough. It wasn't. Image was noticeably less sharp and much darker.

And sound wise when watching movies the H/K just sounded very small and lacked the room filling presence that the Onkyo did.

After close to a month of having the RC-180 repair it finally came in yesterday and I got it hooked back up, ran Audessy and set up my second zone. It's literally like a shot of steroids to my home audio & video. Projection quality through my projector is much sharper and more vivid. My 2nd zone is pumping out a high quality sound without clipping the amp. And my theatre has a much fuller presence than it did with the loaner.

So after being fairly indifferent in the differences between receivers, I guess I've seen a bit of enlightenment. There is something to be said for higher end devices and how well they handle different aspects of processing.
 
And imagine your surprise when you start considering sound quality 😉

Then you'll probably end up with separate setups for music and HT.
 
I had Onkyo issues as well. My Panasonic and Denon receivers are still going strong.
 
jpeyton said:
I had Onkyo issues as well. My Panasonic and Denon receivers are still going strong.
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I was fortunate that I had a warranty left. Guess I better start saving up to buy a new on in 18-24 months when it eventually fails again. These things have a time bomb built into them that blows up right as the warranty is going out.

Sad though, because it really is a beast of a device for the money I paid (under $500 at the time).
 
I have a Denon AVR-4800, it doesn't have all the new bells and whistles, but it's still going strong.

I just leave the HDMI switching up to my TV.
 
Admitedly my rc260 is much lower end than the 180, but I found the video processing greatly detracted from image quality, and setting it to passthrough in the menu isn't actual passthrough. There is an unnecessary button combo not mentioned in the manual that you have to input on the receiver (setup+vcr) to disable it completely. It also noticeably reduced input lag in games, even compared to when the receiver was set to game mode.
 
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After listening to my tripath... I could never go back to mass produced receivers ever again. Sure good for movies... But not so for music.
 
ericlp said:
After listening to my tripath... I could never go back to mass produced receivers ever again. Sure good for movies... But not so for music.
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I would say it pends on the levels you want. I had my mains (Klipch) connected to a tripath for a year and it was nice, but not all speakers are as efficient.

Have you modded your tripath at all? Extra capacitance and trimming the DC offset helps a bit with music.

If I ever get around to setting up whole home audio I will defiantly use a few tripaths and a 24v Meanwell PSU.
 
I have 4 t-amps. Tho. I only listen to the 2024 chip two are that (classic sonic and a Trends) others are HK based off ebay / parts express.

I find that while the others are good they just can't produce the same sound (something is missing) it seems ...

Both are on batteries and while the trends does sound better I still like the first amp I have maybe because it has so many hours on it.

Yeah. I know what you mean. It's hard to match up speakers for t- amp. I am using infinity. But I'm thinking of building a nice box and throwing in some 15" speakers... Looking at these.. I think 99 efficiency of the 9 clean watts that the 2024 can produce would sound amazing... All I need is a cabinet shop to cut me the hardwood! 🙂

The Audio Nirvana 'Super 15 Cast Frame' ($398/pr) has a frequency response from 22 hz to almost 15,000 hz. You can expect at least 99 db efficiency in any of our cabinets. It handles 50 watts continuous RMS (normal listening level will be about 1/10 watt). Impedance is 8 ohms. Voice coil is 2.0 inches (50 mm). Magnet weight is 4.3 lbs. Total weight is 18 lbs. The cone is made of paper. The surround is accordion style and made of treated cloth. The phase plug is copper anodized, machined solid aluminum. The frame is cast aluminum. A separate tweeter is not necessary. Few people can hear above 14,000 cycles, so the upper limits of this speaker are all most people will ever need. You might be interested to note, for example, that FM radio is limited to 15,000 hz. In one of our larger cabinets, this is one of the best sounding speakers we have for sale.
 
I have noticed this as well. I had an old 90s h/k stereo amp, eventually I got my hands on a 78 pioneer sx-780. The sound quality difference was incredible.
 
I have an 1994 or so Denon AVR-1000 that my parents gave me when I was a teenager that is in my garage running speakers for when I work that is still going strong. I've never had any Denon fail on me and it's why I still use them. Onkyo has been hit or miss with my family and friends. Seem they just don't hold up very well. My vote is always Denon 🙂
 
The HK receiver is advertised as 50 watts, the onkyo is advertised as 110 watts. While the specs are only a ball park guess of what the real output power of the amp is, the Onkyo definitely has more power than the HK. It's no surprise that the Onkyo sounds better, you're comparing apples and oranges.
 
kornphlake said:
The HK receiver is advertised as 50 watts, the onkyo is advertised as 110 watts. While the specs are only a ball park guess of what the real output power of the amp is, the Onkyo definitely has more power than the HK. It's no surprise that the Onkyo sounds better, you're comparing apples and oranges.
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Eh, doubling the output would only net a +3db. That's not very much. There's more to it than that.
 
Presumably the Onkyo has a power supply that can sustain the 110w, when only driven to 50w output there is more current available to the amp for transient spikes compared to the HK receiver whose power supply is maxed out at 50w output. A 10 watt amp with a huge power supply can sound better than a 20w amp with a tiny power supply, it's all about head room.

Room correction technology on the Onkyo probably plays a large part as well.
 
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My denon avr3803 I bought used off Craigslist 2+ years ago can still blow the walls out of a room.
 
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