Which AV Amp and expect life?
Discussion
How long should I expect them to last? My last two (Onkyo and Pioneer) have both given up working after about 18-20 months. Original price paid for each one was around £200-300, so not top end stuff, but not the cheapest out there either.
I used them daily for watching TV, movies and occasionally music.
So now I am back in the market again, are there any brands known to last!? Any recommendations for what to go for this time? Same sort of price range.
Cheers
edit - ops subject should say 'expected life'.
I used them daily for watching TV, movies and occasionally music.
So now I am back in the market again, are there any brands known to last!? Any recommendations for what to go for this time? Same sort of price range.
Cheers
edit - ops subject should say 'expected life'.
OP,
AV forums types will all disagree with me - but personally i'd not buy another entry level amp that tries to cram every pointless feature into a low price point - and get an older but good machine instead.
Yes, the latest dolby is better than the old one - but the latest standard though a bad amp is NOT better than the old one through a good amp. Have a shuftie for old Denon A1, rotel 10 series, the big onkyos etc - worth peanuts and will sound great.
AV forums types will all disagree with me - but personally i'd not buy another entry level amp that tries to cram every pointless feature into a low price point - and get an older but good machine instead.
Yes, the latest dolby is better than the old one - but the latest standard though a bad amp is NOT better than the old one through a good amp. Have a shuftie for old Denon A1, rotel 10 series, the big onkyos etc - worth peanuts and will sound great.
Some Gump said:
OP,
AV forums types will all disagree with me - but personally i'd not buy another entry level amp that tries to cram every pointless feature into a low price point - and get an older but good machine instead.
Yes, the latest dolby is better than the old one - but the latest standard though a bad amp is NOT better than the old one through a good amp. Have a shuftie for old Denon A1, rotel 10 series, the big onkyos etc - worth peanuts and will sound great.
Part of the problem is I want some of the newer features like bluetooth, Spotify, 4k upscaling etc.AV forums types will all disagree with me - but personally i'd not buy another entry level amp that tries to cram every pointless feature into a low price point - and get an older but good machine instead.
Yes, the latest dolby is better than the old one - but the latest standard though a bad amp is NOT better than the old one through a good amp. Have a shuftie for old Denon A1, rotel 10 series, the big onkyos etc - worth peanuts and will sound great.
What do you think to something like this? http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/s...
Edited by scottri on Saturday 25th April 16:14
scottri said:
Some Gump said:
OP, AV forums types will all disagree with me - but personally i'd not buy another entry level amp that tries to cram every pointless feature into a low price point - and get an older but good machine instead. Yes, the latest dolby is better than the old one - but the latest standard though a bad amp is NOT better than the old one through a good amp. Have a shuftie for old Denon A1, rotel 10 series, the big onkyos etc - worth peanuts and will sound great.
Part of the problem is I want some of the newer features like bluetooth, Spotify, 4k upscaling etc. What do you think to something like this? http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/s...
Another killer is your cats bringing in a mouse, chasing it around the lounge, making it jump inside the AV cabinet, and scaring it so much that it does a wee on the amp whilst it's switched on, which results in a very big bang, some flame and lots of smoke.
Is this what's happening to you as well?
Is this what's happening to you as well?
VEX said:
How enclosed is it?
How hot does it get during use?
Heat is a massive killer of electronics and amps generate a lot of it.
V.
I'm a bit worried, I'm picking up an amp soon but the space it's going into in the AV unit isn't that much bigger than the amp. Am I going to cook it in no time?How hot does it get during use?
Heat is a massive killer of electronics and amps generate a lot of it.
V.
ladderino said:
Another killer is your cats bringing in a mouse, chasing it around the lounge, making it jump inside the AV cabinet, and scaring it so much that it does a wee on the amp whilst it's switched on, which results in a very big bang, some flame and lots of smoke.
Is this what's happening to you as well?
Not exactly the same but a few years ago a neighbour's cat weed (we suspect) over our telly and broke it. Is this what's happening to you as well?
I bought my first AV amp in 95/96 an that still works, my next one in 2007 which also still works and I'm now on a secondhand one that's prob around 5-7 years old I guess. There was another on in 2011 too which was ex-demo but now flogged and as you'd expect, that works perfectly too.
All Yamaha. The only thing I would say is the current one (465 - I think) has a plastic volume knob but coming from a 2067 which is the other end of the range, there are going to be some differences. I'm actually very impressed with how good the 465 is. Obviously nowhere near as loud as the 2067 nor anywhere near the features but actually it's good where it counts - sound.
All Yamaha. The only thing I would say is the current one (465 - I think) has a plastic volume knob but coming from a 2067 which is the other end of the range, there are going to be some differences. I'm actually very impressed with how good the 465 is. Obviously nowhere near as loud as the 2067 nor anywhere near the features but actually it's good where it counts - sound.
My brother and I both have Arcam AVR100s, both see daily use (mine was second hand, his new) - both still fine (if a little dated in features).
I think they're probably both 10-15 years old and would have cost £600 or so.
Mine lives in a glass fronted wooden cabinet but I removed the back of it for better airflow and it sits on a shelf on its own with a 3" gap above. My brother's is in a bigger cabinet with a DIY fan setup IIRC.
I think they're probably both 10-15 years old and would have cost £600 or so.
Mine lives in a glass fronted wooden cabinet but I removed the back of it for better airflow and it sits on a shelf on its own with a 3" gap above. My brother's is in a bigger cabinet with a DIY fan setup IIRC.
I've been very happy with my Denon AVR2809 (which is a few years old, but still passes through a 3D signal without issue (on Sky3D at least, not tried it with anything else)) - really good buy and even better now I've upgraded the TV and the HMDI control works properly 
I'd be sorely tempted to go for a Denon, something like the AVRX-3100 - http://www.denon.co.uk/uk/product/hometheater/avre... Not sure when their 2015 models are due out, as the AVRX-3100 has been out a year or so I believe?
I'd be sorely tempted to go for a Denon, something like the AVRX-3100 - http://www.denon.co.uk/uk/product/hometheater/avre... Not sure when their 2015 models are due out, as the AVRX-3100 has been out a year or so I believe?
My Sony STRD515 is about 20 years old, still works fine in my parents stereo setup.
My 'bedroom' setup uses a Yamaha DSPA-595a which I bought in '99.
Current main setup is a Sony 520 (it's temporary...needed something which could handle more delay than my Yamaha) which is over a year old.
So, in short, they should last pretty much forever. As has been suggested maybe you are (without knowing it) mis-treating them. As was said, getting them too hot? Shorting the speaker connections? Using speakers with too low an impendance or connecting more than one speaker to a connector? Something like that?
P.S. Sony for features, Yamaha for sound quality is my very biased, completly ungrounded prejudice.
My 'bedroom' setup uses a Yamaha DSPA-595a which I bought in '99.
Current main setup is a Sony 520 (it's temporary...needed something which could handle more delay than my Yamaha) which is over a year old.
So, in short, they should last pretty much forever. As has been suggested maybe you are (without knowing it) mis-treating them. As was said, getting them too hot? Shorting the speaker connections? Using speakers with too low an impendance or connecting more than one speaker to a connector? Something like that?
P.S. Sony for features, Yamaha for sound quality is my very biased, completly ungrounded prejudice.
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