Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Onkyo 875

Alan, thanks for the informative post, as always. Is there a place we can learn what Axiom included in the A-1400 that makes it superior (if that is the right word) to other amps that Ian worked to better? The A-1400 is out of my price range (for now?) but I'd love to know what elements make it so dependable, or what specs point out its robust nature. I hate just trusting name brands, but it seems like that is the smart play in the AVR market.

Thanks again.

Wow. Thank you very much Alan! Great info, as usual.

Oh yes, 105+db is crazy loud. I'd never actually watch an entire movie or listen to music at that volume. But I want my system to be able to peak at that cleanly if I need it to. Everyone enjoys cranking up a demo scene, every now and then.

I didn't realize that Onkyo's (of the past) were on the 'iffy' list for receivers. Of course, it doesn't technically matter for me because I can continue to use my LPA to drive the M80's, if I were to get an 'iffy' receiver.

Peter, I just logged on and saw the interesting debate continue so I thought I'd do a quick experiment. I measured the room level from 12 feet from my m80s (all 7.1 channels; Q8s, VP150, EP500) with the 876 driving into 4 ohms - and measured a little over 91 db with some Vivaldi - and measured over 95 db driving at 6 ohms (the 876 does not have an 8 ohm setting), with the same music. No clipping or distortion whatsoever. These were both max settings, but I could only tolerate it for about 20 seconds - my ears are still ringing.

Drew, your results should leave you even more than just, in your words, "reasonably happy". You established that your 875 can drive your M80s to beyond safe listening levels with ease. The distortion in the speakers at 110dB with some particular program material shouldn't be a cause for concern. All speakers distort at very high sound levels(note the NRC tests on SoundStage showing significant distortion beginning at their 95dB level)and you shouldn't confuse the fact that the M80s can "handle" over a 1000 watts without being permanently damaged with the entirely different matter of playing at those levels with low distortion.

The point about permanent hearing loss that I briefly mentioned earlier in the thread may need a little more emphasis. For a table of recommended sound level limits compiled from EPA and World Health Organisation studies see the third set here . Note that the first two sets of longer limits are for workplace situations where some long term hearing loss is considered acceptable by some. This doesn't apply at home. So, enjoy great sound with your M80s and 875, but hopefully when you're listening for enjoyment rather than running a test you'll keep those 100db+ levels just for split-second peaks.

More good stuff guys. Thanks to everyone once again. Glad to hear that you've got your M80's screamin' with the 876 without issue.

ibmack, do you have any heat issues with your 876? And how is the delay in switching HD resolutions? It seems that the two biggest problems that people report with it are high temps and 8+ second delays for video sync-ups via HDMI. Any comment on that?

The more I read about the 876, the more impressed I am with its specs. For the prices I'm finding (<$1,000), it really appears to be a fantastic receiver. Has all the bells and whistles that I'm after for a good price. It's a hard choice between it, the 3808, and the Pioneer Elite SC-05.

Or to just sit on my wallet and wait for the UMC....

Decisions, decisions.

Hi Peter, you might also consider the new Denon 2809ci, it has all the latest HD decoding, 8 position Audyssey MultEQ XT, Dynamic volume, and Dynamic EQ, and its a Denon.

Peter, as I had no heat issue with the 875, nor do I have heat issues with the 876. But since it seemed like something to do I mounted two temperature activated scythe S-flex fans on the top.

Switching between HD channels is faster (~1-2 sec.) than between digital and HD channels (maybe 2-3 sec). Sometimes it is longer although I don't know that it is attributable to the 876. I know the original 875 had some very poor switching times but that was improved with subsequent FW updates (incidentally Onkyo is very poor for supporting FW updates, but nevertheless they do distribute updates - or perhaps more accurately put, they allow them to become available to the community at large. Once you have done it once (RS 232 cable and optical image burning), it is easy).

Buy this unit you will not be sorry.

'Quack & 'Mack, thanks for that info.

The 2809 looks interesting. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. After being more-or-less out of the AVR market for the past 7 years, I'm trying to reacquaint myself with all the relevant model numbers.

I will definitely take a look at it as I'm comparing AVR's. My only hesitation with it is that it's lacking a few features that the 876 has; THX Ultra certification (probably meaningless, but it has the sticker ), a GUI setup (sort of confused as to whether or not it has one), more power, and that Reon processor (I want a 'good' upscaler), and by just about every review I've read, the Reon is placed above the Faroujda in terms of absolute upscaling performance. But still, looks like a rather potent receiver.

Happy to hear from a real user on the 876's HDMI handshake speeds. One or two seconds is certainly tolerable. 8+ is a bit long. And yes, I've read through all of the AVS stuff about firmware updates. I'm an IT guy and so I'm not afraid of doing such things, and I have a couple of old PC's with serial ports so that's not a problem. So I'm reasonably confident that F/W updates will not be an issue.

Thanks again guys.

The addition of the Reon chip really does give the Onkyo an edge. Notice that the flagship Denon does not use the Faroujda, but a Silicon Optix chip.

Peter (et al)
Re the Silicon Optix Reon chip, I saw a very recent article comparing new projectors that said the Silicon Optix HQV chip was the best scaler of the group. Mitsu That's pretty impressive. I give this review a bit more credit on this topic considering it is not the budget-AVR review guy, but the video review guy. I'm sure the AVR guy knows his stuff, but for the same chip in the sub-$1000 Onkyo to meet the critical demands of a videophile is a useful point opinion.

Hope this helps your selection process.