I feel kind of lost and hopeless right now. I have Axiom M80V3's, Vp-180, and QS8's. Everything sounded awesome with my Denon 2807. But, it was having problems, so I upgraded to an Onkyo NR818. Both system run the Emotiva XPA-5 to all speakers. Simply put, NO MATTER what I do, I cannot get rid of a brand new harshness that I am hearing with the new Onkyo receiver. It is not absolutely terrible and obviously just a defective component, but it is very clearly there so much so that I cannot play at high volume any more and enjoy it like I used to (just weeks ago with old Denon). I've tried everything on the Onkyo including turning down the treble setting by 10db and running pure audio. But, it is there in every speaker at every listening mode.
Also, recently both woofers went out on my VP-180 at once (this occurred before I got the Onkyo receiver and actually while it was just sitting there un-used). So, I'm wondering if my XPA-5 is clipping at all and causing the harshness which is merely co-incidental with me upgrading to the Onkyo receiver.
Any advice, tips? I've spent so much money on everything and I love the XT32 feature of the 818. If I go with a different model with XT32, like a Denon 4xxx series, I will be paying another $600 at least.
One of my thoughts is that perhaps since most of my Axioms are pretty new (except for the QS8's), that because the Onkyo may be pushing more treble in to all the speakers, that maybe all the speakers new a brand new break-in period. I've read that new owners of Axioms can sometimes hear a harshness that disappears after break-in.
I'm really not sure what to do at this point.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by VoicOfReason; 09/10/12 03:18 AM.
