Hey all - anyone have any experience ordering receivers (or anything else for that matter) from Accessories4Less? They have some sweet deals on refurbished Onkyos. I'm interested in one of the 608s but a bity wary of the whole refurb route.

It's been many years since I hung out here but I always got the best advice from the Axiom forums so I figured I'd check out here first.

I have purchased refurbs directly from shoponkyo with great success.

Since A4L is an authorized refurb reseller, I would expect them to be good, too.

Inspired by some recent changes to the setup of my 706, I spent some time this past weekend reading over the official owners thread over on the AVS forum, and based on the comments posted by other refurb purchasers, I'd have a hard time recommending those bargains. Mostly problems with upscaling and Audyssey setup, though I'm not even halfway through reading all of the posts in the thread.

FWIW, I bought mine new at the tail end of the model year once the bugs had been worked out, and the only problems have been user error.

I've bought cable and the like from them, and CS is very good. They messed up my order, but correct it without any fuss.

Picked up an Onkyo 707 from them, no complaints.

For your info, what you will find in this case is that it would seem primarily Onkyo, is very protective of their Canadian distributor so as a result authorized resellers like A4L don't sell their refurb/recond. product in to Canada or beyond the US in general. Same goes for Amazon, One Call etc. etc. If you don't have a US address to ship to or someone to bring it back for you, you are out of luck.

Last year I purchased a Marantz unit from A4L and it is fine with no issues.

Birdman, I've dealt with both A4L and ShopOnkyo, and my experience with their factory refurbished units has been entirely satisfactory. ShopOnkyo is, of course, their in-house outlet. A4L I'd think would be especially careful in handling those sales so as not to lose their status as a factory authorized refurb dealer. It's been said that the return rate on factory refurbs is lower than on brand-new units. While I haven't seen any statistics on this, I'd be inclined to think it has merit, since the refurb process should include a thorough check.

I must say that the opinions and related experiences with refurbs expressed here, so far at least, are quite encouraging. Personally, I won't be in the market again for some time (hopefully), but I'll keep it mind - especially the shoponkyo route - for when the time comes.

A friend and I both got 805's from ShopOnkyo a couple years ago - completely satisfied.

I've never purchased anything from A4L. But in all of the online discussions I've ever run across, they are the most recommended place to get great deals on refurb'd Onkyo gear. I don't recall ever reading of a bad experience with them. At least, nothing systemic.

If A4L had something I wanted, I wouldn't hesitate to order from them.

Just looked at them now they do seem to have some amazing deals, they are doing the Onkyo TX-NR808 at $599.99 thats nearly 50% off. Pretty impressive stuff.

Wow, that looks like just about the perfect receiver.

I just got my receiver from them about a month ago. I got the refurbished Onkyo SR608. The first one they sent me had a few problems. The onscreen menu would never pop up, and the volume was low (even when turned WAY up).

I emailed them, and they sent out a replacement with a prepaid fedex return for the old one. The new one I got works perfectly. All in all, it was a good experience and I got an awesome deal.

Just remember to keep your original packaging if you need to return the unit for some reason.

Also note that ShopOnkyo has a Christmas weekend 20% off sale on certain refurbished models for "ClubOnkyo" members. With the $10 credit for registering, the net cost of the 807 would be about $390 shipped.

Refurb opinion, not specifically Onkyo...

I bought a Denon Refurb from DakMart and the sub pre-out didn't work. Seems the previous owner had broken off an RCA connector in it. I didn't care about the Warranty (long story) so I opened it up and saw the pin sticking out the back of the port and I fixed it myself.

How the Denon Refurb Techs missed *that* is beyond me but it has shaken my confidence in Refurbs.

snazzed

I bought a refurbished Marantz SR5002 AVR from AC4L(for only $328 shipped) around two years ago and I can't recommend them enough. The unit was delivered lightning-fast(two days from their facility in FL to my front door in South Jersey) and it looked and performed as brand new. Even the manual looked brand new. They even included a four foot XIOS HDMI cable. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.

Well, drat. The one I was looking at has sold out. The 808 looked exactly like what I was looking for.