onkyo 626 or something else?

[sjj84]

Looking to buy a newer av receiver and had in mind the onkyo 626. Main reason for choosing it is that it has a decent amount of HDMI connections and I've already got an onkyo iPod dock. However it seems that onkyo receivers seem to have quite a few problems, but this may just be that I've noticed them more as I was looking for them. Are there any alternatives that I should be looking at for the same £300?

[VEX]

If you keep them well ventilated there are no significant issues of the others.

Give the sheer numbers of Onkyo product out there I would guess the % problems are quite low.

Not much to beat them at the Richer Sound Price.

V.

[pmanson]

Had my 605 for around 7 years from new.

No issues to report except that the remote is now a bit unresponsive.

Would like to upgrade to benefit from an extra HDMI connection but not worth the cost at the moment

[OldSkoolRS]

I'd heard similar things about Onkyo amps regarding heat, but I recently bought an 818 myself for £500 ex display. Though I use it as a processor since I have a separate power amp for the front speakers (LCR + front heights), the 818 still runs the 4 x surrounds. Even after extended running at just below reference level it barely even gets above room temp.

I'd bought it as a stop gap to replace an older high end Arcam AV9 processor (which no one seems to want to buy, so I obviously left it too late ). The intention was to move the 818 into my conservatory if a used Marantz AV8801/Onkyo 5009 processor comes up in the future, but TBH I think I'll be sticking with the 818 as it sounds great. I'm running a pretty revealing set of MK 150 series speakers too.

[Output Flange]

Hadn't heard of the heat issue with Onkyos - I've got a 606 that's spent the last four years in a very hot cupboard with no ill effects.

[league67]

I went to Ritcher Sound the other day and had a play with Onkyo 616/626 and Yamaha 473/673. All four, to my non-audiophilistic ears, sounds the same. Not similar, exactly the same. Close up, Onkyo seem to have slightly better finish. From few meters apart they look much of muchness. Yamaha has very very good control IOS app (didn't have time to check Onkyo's one). I'd pick them on features (like number or hdmi ports and similar) rather than on sound ability.
Included remote is LOT better on Onkyo


YMMV.

[OldSkoolRS]

If you have the option of an amp with Audyssey XT32 (note the '32' part not just 'XT') then IMHO this can give a useful improvement in the typically less than ideal living room set up: I ran the full 8 point calibration again on my 818 yesterday after I wired in the new front height speakers. Even though I suffer a null at 35Hz the rest of the bass is very well controlled by XT32 (though I've added a second smaller sub at the back of the room and this helped even more, though the 818 treats them as one sub).

Yamaha amps do have 'YPAO' (or similar letters) room EQ, but it's much more basic than Audyssey apparently, so the two amps once set up in your living room might well sound different (though of course it's down to your own ears to say which you prefer).

To be fair though most AVRs these days seem to sell on the 'features' rather than sound quality (and to be fair unless you are able to run at near reference level the lower power outputs may well be good enough anyway). I'm getting frustrated trying to sell my older Arcam processor because people want things like 'Spotify' and other web based features rather than just a good clean sounding amp...shame that a 3k processor doesn't seem to be worth even £450 these day.

Edited by OldSkoolRS on Wednesday 30th October 21:12

[sjj84]

Think I'll go for it then, certainly seems a good price. The issues I'd heard of were more things like HDMI ports failing than overheating. I better drill some ventilation holes in my unit before I wire it up I think.