I hated Onkyo AVR. Read on.
10 years ago, I bought my first AV receiver which is Marantz SR4300, an entry level receiver. I'm very happy with the Marantz because of it's very warm and divinely musical sound (paired with either mission, wharfedale, yamaha, mordaunt short).
I was really really happy.
Before I bought it, I auditioned all other locally available entry level receivers from NAD, Harman Kardon, Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, etc. I liked the sound of Harman and Marantz; Harman was beefy and punchier, while Marantz remained simple and stunningly musical.
For 10 years I was very satisfied with Marantz, the 5.1 inputs for my SACD and 6ch pre-outs, 6.1 DTS-ES and DD-EX, etc, however, what I really need now is an AVR with HDMI inputs (and a component video inputs and a USB input feature) so I decided today to buy a new one. Apparently I dont have SARS
(2003-2004 era I think) for AVRs, but not for speakers, Subwoofers, and Display Panels
so Marantz is still serving me for more than 10 years.
I hated Onkyo because when I was testing one of their entry level AVR, if Im not mistaken the SR501, it needs to be in its MAXIMUM volume settings for you to hear what you are listening. So if the encoding of the source you are watching/hearing is relatively low, then if you played it back in SR501, even in the maximum volume level, it may not be adequate. For reference my listening settings/preference for the Marantz is -16db and maximum of -12db, and it can even go VERY LOUD up to +18db. The Onkyo "low volume" issue, was also experienced by a several fellow PinoyDVD members (my PDVD batch-mates back then). So from there, I shy away from any Onkyo AVRs.
That was in 2003.
Though I am already hearing that these was corrected in 2004/2005 and later models. I didn't care.
Today, I purchased a new entry level receiver (no audition was conducted) from Onkyo, the TX-SR313, I decided to buy it because of the following main features (aside from HDMI): component video in (for my SACD and DVD-A players, and the build-in USB port and of course, for a very cheap price of Php 12K. Wow!
Pioneer 522 (11K) and Denon 1713 (18K) were also consdered but the two AVRs do not have component video in and the Denon is expensive without the component video. I may have a little use with the network capability of Denon but not my priority.
So there, I bought the Onkyo, I hope this will give at least satisfaction, otherwise you will see this in the MarketPlace section soon, though I hope it will not happen hahahhaha. If I am satisfied, then I need to say bye bye to the Marantz Diva.
Cheers!
