Looks like my Onkyo has crapped out again, Goodbye Onkyo.

[transmaster]

Over on the AVS Forum they are saying that Onkyo is offering generous discounts on refurbished AVR's if you trade in your defective unit. You can apply this discount to any refurbished AVR they have.

 

[bigx5murf]

I have/had an Onkyo 906 that had an hdmi board fail in abt 3 yrs - sitting in 'free air', with a temp controlled set of fans running on it even.
I did read that replacing the caps on it does 'fix it', so, maybe, someday...in the meantime I still use it as a non-hdmi shop amp/radio (it does have HD Radio FM!).
Even with all that and fairly efficient speakers, the thing runs HOT, even at 'idle'.
Still unforgiveable for a >$2k receiver, though, so Onkyo gets no second chance with me (not to mention a nearly inscrutable UI, and weird MP3/lan setup).
Over the years I've just had poor experience with receivers - mostly short life spans, and all seemed to run pretty hot.
It just seems to me that all that is too much 'heat' to put all in one package, only made worse by HDMI/processor boards, so won't ever get another one.
Never had a failure with a preamp or pre/pro yet - I almost got the the Integra/Onkyo pre/pro instead of the 906, and don't think they had anywhere near the failure rate - no amps on board.
Live and learn.

I'm not sure about your particular model. But pretty much all real Class AB amps (which will run in almost pure Class A at lower loads), are going to run really hot. Many flagship lines AVR are going to be included. If you want a cool running AVR, I recommend checking out Pioneer, since most of their amps are Class D. I've owned both, and none of the others have issues despite being old, used, and used regularly.

 

[for_p1]

I call BS on this - I bought an Integra DTC 9.8 preamp/Processor USED and its been in place over 8 years ago now - the original HDMI
is still working fine - the ONLY issue it ever had is a bit of crosstalk in the radio, and since I never really use the radio - its moot.

You are lucky. I am lucky with with my Onkyo 876 receiver too (mine was made late in model year, if this is important). Others with same models were not lucky at all, with video processor boards failing after less than 2 years of service.

 

[hjames]

Careful - I did not call BS on Onkyo gear failing pretty quickly, that's really well documented. In my post I called BS on your comment

All brands have this HDMI issue. Boards are not desigbed to run for more than 3 years.

I've had HK receivers as well as Yamaha receivers and my 10 year old Integra and none of them had HDMI failure.
My big HK AVR-7300 (Top of the line) had a VLSI chip failure ... something completely different.

You are lucky. I am lucky with with my Onkyo 876 receiver too (mine was made late in model year, if this is important). Others with same models were not lucky at all, with video processor boards failing after less than 2 years of service.

 

[blue72]

I just picked up my first product of theirs with the known HDMI failure, a DTR-7.8. It is too old to fall under their current warranty program, so the previous owner attempted a re-cap. I managed to get it going again and rigged up a fan directly over the HDMI board to pull air up and out. Hopefully it'll keep things cool enough to let the thing live for a long time.

 

[HVHiFI]

Looking at the Yamaha Aventage RX-A770. It's power output 95 WPC more or less matches the 110 WPC the Onkyo has at least I will not be able to tell the difference so it looks like a good replacement. Is there anything else I should be looking at in the +/- $700 Dollars range?

We carry the Yamaha and I really like the unit. The Yamaha AVRs have been very good to my customers and therefore to me as well. I always encourage to jump to the Aventage line from Yamaha as the build quality is very good.

Another to consider for a few buck more, is the Marantz SR5011, which has also been a very good AVR to us along with the prior model SR5010. I believe they retail $899 which directly competes with the Yamaha RX-A870 at the same cost.

 

[Bodyblue]

Marantz SR5011

I really like those and have been seriously looking.....what do you think of the slim line Marantz units? I know they have less power but we have a small front room.

 

[HVHiFI]

The slim line units are very nice when space is a concern and you do not need tons of power. You can easily run four small bookshelf speakers, center, and sub with one. I have many customers who like them for LCR setups as well. Shoot me a message if you'd like other details.

 

[Bodyblue]

The slim line units are very nice when space is a concern and you do not need tons of power. You can easily run four small bookshelf speakers, center, and sub with one. I have many customers who like them for LCR setups as well. Shoot me a message if you'd like other details.

Thanks for the info, I figured they were pretty decent. I have an SR 4002 still going strong and it has way more power than I need at 80 watts.