Yamaha RX-V863BL or Onkyo TX-SR607

[viivo]

I didn't want to make another thread, but YoYo seems to be the only person reading the other one and I wanted to get some more opinions.

Does anybody have experience with either of these? I've been reading more reviews than I can count, and the two things that always come up for these two is this: the Onkyo lacks reserve power, runs hot, mid-range sucks; the Yamaha doesn't have all the nifty stuff like Audyssey or dynamic EQ, has fewer HDMI inputs, but the sound quality is awesome.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Hi again.

I haven't had either of these units. I've never owned a Yamaha. I've had two Onkyos, both of which have worked just fine for me. (One was bought used, the other is a refurb).

The Yamaha doesn't exactly look like a powerhouse
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/re...receiver-dolby-digital-performance-page2.html

I couldn't find a 607 power test, but the 606 performed quite well
http://www.ultimateavmag.com/avreceivers/608onk606/index6.html

So you'd likely have quite a bit more clean power output with the Onkyo, not that it's a big deal. If you're running your speakers as small with a subwoofer covering the lower frequencies, it's not as big of a deal to have a ton of power output.

The Onkyo units do indeed run hot. You'd need to have space around it to ventilate itself. Some people rig up a small fan (like a PC case fan) to help with air flow.

I don't know how good Yamaha's auto calibration is.

What seem to be more subjective comments about the quality of midrange and sound quality are difficult to comment on when there are so many variables happening. Room acoustics and speakers connected to the units are going to have a huge impact on this. Most receivers measure quite well from top to bottom... way better in linearity than speakers for example. Things like "midrange" are going to be much more dependent on your speaker choice and room acoustics than your receiver choice.

 

[viivo]

Thanks, that's really helpful. So Yamaha is being really generous with their ratings while Onkyo's specs are closer to real world results?

That makes the choice pretty easy then, especially since the Yamaha is $40 more.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'd say that the message to take away from this is that the Yamaha is less powerful than the Onkyo, but it's not likely to matter too much.

You can plug some numbers in here and see how a difference between say... 60 watts and 100watts doesn't really make a world of difference in terms of output. It's always nice to have more power than you need, but I don't think power ratings should be on your top 3 things to consider when looking at a receiver (unless the amplifier performance is REALLY bad).

 

[RKS]

What about a Denon 790?. It can be found for about $320 occasionally.