Alright, I'm fed up with Onkyo support, or lack there of. I've been on hold for ever, trying to get net tune radio working. They won't answer, so I think I'm going to return my receiver, and buy a new one. What's the best under 2 grand. I want 7.1 min, and goes to 4ohm for the m80's. I have about 10 days to make a decision.

thanks,

Rick

Denon or Marantz are probably your best bet if you're fed up with Onkyo, although I wouldn't be confident support will be any better. If you have room in your budget, consider the Outlaw separates, who have customer service/support on par with Axiom.

If you're willing to sacrifice the 7.1 (i.e. haven't bought the speakers yet), I will reiterate my broken record suggestion to consider the Arcam receivers. The performance on music is night-and-day better than Japanese units.

I would love to audition some Arcam components myself.
I was in a store today (another topic for another thread) and some some Rotel as well.
Honestly though, i think the support is best gained from the dealers as opposed to going direclty to the manufactorer. Buy from a reputable dealer.

You might want to also look at the Harman Kardon AVR-8000, the back of that is pure quality, gold plated speaker posts even. I also like the Pioneer Elite's, although some here will disagree, for sound I hear H/K and Pioneer are the best among non-seperate receivers. My .01 worth.

Hi ralderman,

I'm repeating what I posted elsewhere: Although THX Ultra and Select certification contains some aspects of dubious benefit or minimal usefulness, the THX requirements for the amplifier output sections are quite rigorous and include the ability to drive 4-ohm loads without current limiting or amplifier shut-down from protection circuitry. The H/K AVR8000 is an excellent example. Monitoring these boards over the last year, I've never seen complaints of Denons (2803, 3803, etc) shutting down with 4-ohm speakers or being power-starved from current limiting.

So look at receivers with THX certification or consider the Denons. By the way, any receiver that will drive 8-ohm loads will have no trouble with 6-ohm loads. It's 4-ohm loads that cause problems with some brands that are basically spec'd for 8-ohm speakers and were never intended to be married to 4-ohm speakers.

Regards,

Thanks everyone, I'm going to do some research, the Onkyo I have is THX select, it's a nice receiver, but there's just a few little things that I dislike. I read the specs a little closer, it's 110w per channer @ 8ohm with 2 channels drives from 20 Hz to 20kHz, and 145 @ 6ohm 2 channels driven from 1kHz. The only thing is says about 4 ohm is 2 x 220 Dynamic power output (stereo). The net-tune doesn't work very right, and customer serviceis totally missing. The last thing that bothers me is the lack of power, it just doesn't drive the speakers like I expected.
I wish companies were half as good as Axiom. They definitly have the best customer service.

Thanks agian,

Rick

I'll second fhw's suggestion of looking into an Outlaw 950/755 combo. It's a little over budget, but IMHO you won't find a receiver in this price range that'll drive your speakers like separates will.
If you decide to go the receiver route, I'd look at Rotel, HK, NAD and Denon.
Good luck.

Hi Alan,

Are the amp requirements for the THX Ultra and Select different? My Onkyo-787 is Select certified, but that has apparently not prevented the receiver from shutting down under 4 ohm loads.

Hi,

Yes, I believe only THX Ultra includes the requirement about driving 4-ohm loads. The "Select" certification is much less rigorous from what I understand. And that would seem to be borne out by your experience with the 787.

Regards,

Amer,

All THX Select guarantees you in a receiver is Re-EQ capability (which is a good thing) and a a fixed 80Hz crossover for bass redirection to the sub (which is a bad thing if you use towers or microsatellites). There are some dirt-cheap THX Select receivers out there, and I've heard a Kenwood that sounded terrible. Almost all of the performance, power and distortion standards relate to THX Ultra/Ultra2.

Denon receivers will handle 4 ohm speakers according to their web site.

http://www.usa.denon.com/support/faqs_ht.asp

I talked with Alan tonight and discussed a few ideas. I finally got through to Onkyo tech support and fixed a few options with the net-tune. Anyway, some thoughts about my issues coulds relate to Onkyo's aggressive current protection, also since I'm not running a sub, the base from the receiver eat's up a lot of power. I haven't had a chance yet, but I'm going to test the impedence settings this weekend, and try running the mains off another receiver.
Right now I an trying to decide if I should replace the NR900, or add a separate amp. The NR900 has a lot of features such as thx-ex, dd-ex, dts-ex, neo6, front A/V inputs, 192/24 bit decoding. Granted, not all of these features are main stream yet, it should last for a while. So I'm thinking they added a lot of features and skimped on the power supply and amp.

Rick

Well I finally did it, I auditioned some Rotel products. I deceided to go with the RSP-1066 proceser, and the RMB-1075 amp. They sounded great at the showroom, I have to wait until Saturday to pick them up. They offered me a discount, they have on eblack unit left but it was a display model. I can get both for $1,850 USD. Which seems to be a great price. They were in the process of changing their floor models out for silver ones. My only reservation is that it is not THX.

Rick

There's no reason that should be a reservation. THX does not much more than assure a very minimal amount of quality. Rotel has a LOOOOOONG tradition of making spectacular products. I'm sure you will be thrilled with your setup.

Good choice and you got one hell of a deal.

I have the RSX-1065 and it definitely is clean and loud.

They have a 1098 coming out in late March or April. It's twice the price, but something to look forward to.