Another Dead Onkyo and a New Yamaha to Replace It

[Haywood]

The four year-old, lightly used Onkyo receiver in my family room just died. Everything works fine, but zero audio. Even the headphone jack is dead. I am not a happy man. The Onkyo in my main system needed $150 in repairs a couple years ago after just two years of use. The Onkyo that used to be in my daughter's bedroom lost all the surround channels a couple years ago. That makes three Onkyo receivers in a row. I am DONE with Onkyo.

The family room system has a couple old subs and a five of those Insignia speakers we all liked a few years back. I have a very basic 50" Toshiba 1080p 120hz LED backlit LCD panel for the display. Sources are a Roku 3 and a Sony PS3. I clearly do not need a high end receiver and I found a good deal on a Yamaha RX-V375 on Amazon. New Egg has it for $349. Crutchfield has it on sale for $229. I just snagged it on an Amazon Black Friday Week sale for $179. I am annoyed that I needed to buy a new receiver, but pleased that I got something that meets my needs for so little.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B981F38/ref=pe_385040_127541850_TE_item

 

[Botch]

Wow, can't beat that price! bscene-drinkingcheers:

 

[Haywood]

I've gotten pretty good at putting together low-dollar, high-bang secondary systems. Take the family room system:

50-inch Toshiba: $499
Yamaha Receiver: 179
5 Insignia Speakers: $165
10-inch Polk Subwoofer: $99
Roku 3 (Refurb) $65

Beat that for about a thousand bucks!

 

[Deleted member 133]

Looks like a great deal for the intended purpose.

I was looking at the unit's power specs...

•5-channel powerful surround sound
100W per Channel (6 ohms, 1 kHz, 0.9 % THD, 1 ch driven)
70W per Channel (6 ohms, 20Hz-20kHz, 0.09 % THD, 2 ch driven)
135W per Channel (6 ohms, 1kHz, 10% THD, 1ch driven, JEITA)

Is it just me, or does anyone else have problems with what Yamaha is presenting (and I'm sure other manufacturers as well)?

Whatever happened to good old 8 ohms, full bandwidth, low distortion, continuous, stereo specs? The closest they come is the 70W rating for 2ch - but that's driving a 6 ohm load. Did the FTC (or whatever) scrap the rules / guidelines that allowed everyone to compare apples and apples?

I've got no problem with additional specs covering a variety of situations, especially with multi-channel units, but that baseline "standard" spec should always be there IMO.

Jeff

 

[Randy]

That's definitely a good price. Sounds like you will have a decent little system at a great price. THis hobby doesn't have to be super expensive to enjoy.

 

[Haywood]

Looks like a great deal for the intended purpose.

I was looking at the unit's power specs...

•5-channel powerful surround sound
100W per Channel (6 ohms, 1 kHz, 0.9 % THD, 1 ch driven)
70W per Channel (6 ohms, 20Hz-20kHz, 0.09 % THD, 2 ch driven)
135W per Channel (6 ohms, 1kHz, 10% THD, 1ch driven, JEITA)

Is it just me, or does anyone else have problems with what Yamaha is presenting (and I'm sure other manufacturers as well)?

Whatever happened to good old 8 ohms, full bandwidth, low distortion, continuous, stereo specs? The closest they come is the 70W rating for 2ch - but that's driving a 6 ohm load. Did the FTC (or whatever) scrap the rules / guidelines that allowed everyone to compare apples and apples?

I've got no problem with additional specs covering a variety of situations, especially with multi-channel units, but that baseline "standard" spec should always be there IMO.

Jeff

Yeah, I noticed that too. I doesn't really matter in my application, because the speakers I am using don't require a lot of power. This is also not the main system, so I am not as concerned about being able to drive the system to high volumes.

 

[Haywood]

That's definitely a good price. Sounds like you will have a decent little system at a great price. THis hobby doesn't have to be super expensive to enjoy.

This system is going in our downstairs family room, which is mainly set up for the kids to watch movies, play video games and hang out with their friends. I wanted to give them a place to kick back, have fun and socialize while leaving my wife and I with a little more peace and quiet on the main floor. This room is also where I play to put our home gym and it will be nice to have something better than a Bluetooth speaker to listen to while working out. The seating we are going to put down there is easy to move around, so we also have the option of clearing some space and using workout videos.

Right now, the room is still full of boxes with a couch and TV crammed into one end. I will finally be able to finish unpacking and finish setting up the room after I get my bonus in December. I will definitely post pictures when I am done with it. I expect it will be quite nice, despite its modest footprint.

Here is the seating I'm going to put down there when the dust clears. Each Lovesac Pillowsac seats two people comfortably. The pillows can be taken off their rockers and unfolded into full-sized beds, which is great for sleep-overs and overflow company. They are also insanely comfortable and the covers are removable, replaceable and machine washable.

 

[lulimet]

I've gotten pretty good at putting together low-dollar, high-bang secondary systems. Take the family room system:

50-inch Toshiba: $499
Yamaha Receiver: 179
5 Insignia Speakers: $165
10-inch Polk Subwoofer: $99
Roku 3 (Refurb) $65

Beat that for about a thousand bucks!

I find it pretty amazing that you can get good sound and picture for such little money nowadays.

 

[heeman]

Nice AVR for even a nicer price!

Give us some feedback when you get a chance.

 

[Haywood]

I should arrive tomorrow and I should have time to set it up over the long weekend, although only in 2.1. I will not be able to get the 5.2 setup until I redecorate the room and get all the boxes out of there. I'm doing 5.2 simply because I have an extra sub kicking around that still sounds decent and more is more.

 

[Haywood]

I am going to do the entire front wall of the room around the TV with Ikea Besta cabinets. The speakers are all front-ported, so I can put them directly into the bookshelves. I will mount the TV on the wall and put the center directly below it. I am still figuring out how I am going to handle the sub placement, but the back corner of the room is a strong possibility.

This is not exactly what I have in mind, but it is close enough.

 

[Akula]

I've been thinking Onkyo was having quality issues ever since the 605 and its overheating issues. This just confirms that they are still having quality problems.

I actually have a RX-V375 in my great room. It's a great inexpensive receiver. It's obviously a budget model (things like menus just aren't as nice looking as my old-and-always-getting-older Denon 3808), but it works great. I have it plugged into some Klipsch Synergy speakers (a couple F-1 towers and the C-1 center) and an old Paradigm PDR-10 sub. The sound is a darn sight better than the TV speakers and quite serviceable.

You should be quite happy with the receiver. Yamaha makes nice units.

I should add I've also gotten into making cheapo HT systems. My office has another Yamaha receiver (don't remember the model; it was an earlier/lower end one than this 375), a Klipsch Quintet minisat speaker system, and a cheap Polk sub I picked up off Amazon for $99. That one sounds way better than it has any right to.

 

[Haywood]

I like to keep the big money in my main system and go as value-oriented as possible elsewhere. I don't want anything that looks or sounds bad, but I'm not after reference quality. I've sort of standardized on those little Boston Acoustics XS 2.1 setups for the bedrooms and the kitchen, because they are way cheaper than they have any right to be, take up very little space and sound decent. I bought three of them, though I am still debating what I want in the master bed. I want a decent surround experience for the family room setup and I already had everything but the display when I moved here. I think we will be quite happy with it until I have the budget in a few years to upgrade the main system and move those speakers downstairs.

 

[Deleted member 133]

I should arrive tomorrow and I should have time to set it up over the long weekend, although only in 2.1. I will not be able to get the 5.2 setup until I redecorate the room and get all the boxes out of there. I'm doing 5.2 simply because I have an extra sub kicking around that still sounds decent and more is more.

Ok, maybe I'm about to pick nits, but I'm a sub guy and...

You're heading into MattB territory with that highlighted statement. Are you really doing 5.2 (channels) or are you counting the number of subs? (As described in other threads, I'm using four subs in my main HT, but it's still a 7.1 set-up.)

Subhounds need to know!

Jeff

 

[Haywood]

I should arrive tomorrow and I should have time to set it up over the long weekend, although only in 2.1. I will not be able to get the 5.2 setup until I redecorate the room and get all the boxes out of there. I'm doing 5.2 simply because I have an extra sub kicking around that still sounds decent and more is more.

Ok, maybe I'm about to pick nits, but I'm a sub guy and...

You're heading into MattB territory with that highlighted statement. Are you really doing 5.2 (channels) or are you counting the number of subs? (As described in other threads, I'm using four subs in my main HT, but it's still a 7.1 set-up.)

Subhounds need to know!

Jeff

I'm actually doing 5.1 with two subwoofers, rather than true 5.2. That is assuming I can find a placement situation that sounds good and looks okay in the room. If not, I'll donate the old Energy sub to my in-laws to use with an old pair of B&W speakers I gave them and I'll just use the Polk.

 

[MatthewB]

Wait wut I heard my name. Listen you can never go wrong with more subs. As for the Onkyo I'm glad when I sold my Onkyo 805 after seven years of use for about what I paid for it. Paid 580.00 and sold it in 2012 for 500.00 granted it had very little use and I did have to send it to Onkyo for a new HDMI board and larger display transistor but after buying Chris's Marantz I had no use for it as my Two Denons (4802 and 3808) are still going strong.

Enjoy your new receiver.

 

[Haywood]

I got the new receiver set up in 2.1 mode a few days and am VERY happy with it. The automated setup worked way better than I thought it would. I was extremely pleased with the result. I also have to say that I think the Yamaha as configured actually sounds better than the Onkyo it replaced. It is certainly no powerhouse, but it will play cleanly to the volumes I want with the speakers I have. I love the simplicity of the setup and the sound I got for the money. I have no regrets.

 

[Botch]

Good to hear, I've been a Yamaha fan since 1979. :eusa-clap:

 

[Haywood]

I am really chomping at the bit to finish getting that room together, despite the sure knowledge that another Ikea assembly death march awaits me. I took my daughter into Love Sac today to check out those Pillow Sacs I posted the picture of and she didn't want to get out of the one she sat down in. They are insanely comfortable. This is going to be the ultimate social hang-out space for my kids once I finish with it.