# Which Reciever is Better for me: Onkyo or Yamaha?



## Mozhoven

I've got two recievers, both older, that I am considering to use with a dedicated 2-channel system. It'll be purely for music utilizing Monitor Audio 303's for my mains and a Def Tech ProSub 100tl for my bass. 

 The first receiver is a Onkyo TX-SV444 at 70watts per channel. with 0.08% THD at 8ohms

 The second receiver is a Yamaha RX-V850 at 80 watts per channel with 0.015% THD at 8ohms

 The Onkyo has a Sub Out, but with a fixed crossover (not sure on the frequency) and no pre-out

 The Yamaha has a Low Pass out fixed at 200hz, and it also has a pre-out. 

 Which will sound better in your opinions for my purposes?


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## Drag0n

You own both, and its probably doubtful that anyone out there is familiar with either or both models in question.
 Hook them up and listen to them!
 It doesnt matter what anyone else thinks anyway.
 It matters what you prefer.
 As far as name alone, i prefer yamaha.
 You also never stated "your purposes".


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## Mozhoven

DragOn, 

 You're right, listening is best. But, from purely a personal option point-of-view I would like to know what those with more experience with these two brands think. 

 As a relative newbie, I know just a little about the reps of audio manufacturers. Just curious if Yamaha and Onkyo are still considered "audiophile" quality components. 

 Also, extra features aside - will 10 watts make much of a difference?


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## LeeMark

In general these are consumer brands and quality is so so. Some people like them for HT set-ups but a good audiophile quality integrated amp would be much better especially with the speakers you have. Depends on how much money you want to spend, but good midlevel quality can be had from NAD or cambridge audio, creek and music hall. Good luck.
 Lee


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## warpdriver

Onkyo and Yamaha stuff are pretty much equivalent. I've owned a lot of both. 

 They do both make some pretty good stuff in their audiophile lines (like high end audiophile Yamaha amp and SACD player). The Onkyo A-9555 integrated amp is winning the hearts of a lot of audiophiles on a budget. So both companies are good at offering good sounding components.

 but your components are pretty much the normal consumer grade stuff, I would be surprised if one sounded a lot better than the other. In this range, I'd definitely be more inclined to look for a budget amp like a NAD or Cambridge Audio for two channel duty. I would not want to use a 200Hz crossover for my speakers, most of the time, you want to cross over lower than 100Hz to prevent localization of the sub (you would be able to tell where the bass is coming from)


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## Mozhoven

Would it be worthwhile (for the time being)to use the Yamaha along with an amp of decent quality? It'll be a while before I can afford to upgrade seriously, so I'm just looking for the best I can do for the time being. 

 I suppose one good thing I have going for me is that these two receivers are the best I've heard in my own home - so I don't know what I'm missing...(my wallet likes this, ignorance is a mortgage payment)


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## Beyerfan70

Hi bud
 Ive owned a few recievers in my time and personally i would go with the onkyo,as ive had many problems with yamaha ones.
 In fact once i took one apart that had stopped working to find that it was full of sony parts!
 Onkyo all the way.


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## Mozhoven

Ok, I think I'm going to use the Yamaha as a preamp, and use two Marantz MA500 monoblock amps (150wattx2) to drive my speakers.

 I'll watch Craigslist for a decent preamp to come along, but from what I understand, the Yamaha will do this function just fine without negatively affecting the sound. The only downside is its size compared to dedicated preamps. 

 Beyerfan70, I do agree that Onkyo makes excellent components, even at the consumer-level. I've owned several over the years and all have performed perfectly without any problems. Now that my speakers have outgrown my receiver, I gotta find a better match to reach their full potential.


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## fordgtlover

While I can comment on the specific models, I have had both a Yamaha and an Onkyo AV amp over the years. Personally, I found the Yamaha to be quite bright. The mids and high were just too grating. The Onkyo was better, but still too harsh for my liking. I ended up buying a Denon AVR. I found this to be much nicer sounding. This was not with MA speakers though.

 As with any other audio gear, listen and judge for yourself.


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## majid

Many HT receivers will digitize analog input signals to apply the DSP effects like stadium modes, then pass the resulting digital stream to an internal DAC and on to the power amplification section.

 If you are using vinyl or a high-end CD player with a better DAC than the receiver, this dual conversion completely defeats the purpose and you are better off getting a purely analog preamp, even if it is just a passive attenuator.

 Most Yamaha receivers have a "processor in" 5+1 input that bypasses this internal DSP entirely. If you have it, I would recommend you use it. Unfortunately, you can only use a single source with it.


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## Mozhoven

majid, 

 How can I tell if my receiver has this feature?


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## majid

From perusing a scanned manual for your Yamaha receiver that I found online, it does not have defeatable inputs to bypass the ADC-DSP-DAC chain.


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## ronnielee54

I myself have always been partial to Onkyo. I lost a fair amount of love for Yamaha when I saw their products sitting on the shelf at Best Buy and Sears.


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## warpdriver

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *ronnielee54* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_I myself have always been partial to Onkyo. I lost a fair amount of love for Yamaha when I saw their products sitting on the shelf at Best Buy and Sears._

 

Onkyos are at Circuit City, very similar to Best Buy


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