New Amp
lee the van
Posts: 81 Forum Member
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I need a new amp and noticed that the ONKYO TX-NR609 is on sale at richer sounds for £379.00 seen here
click here
Any thoughts would be welcome.My budget is £500.00
Many thanks
click here
Any thoughts would be welcome.My budget is £500.00
Many thanks
0
Comments
Interesting (amplifiers) as I must have spent a few thousand on them over the last 20 years or so and I have came to the conclusion that 99% of modern amps are over priced and the audio quality is just not up to my liking.
Most go for looks and power...and not audio quality as such.
Ask yourself...what type of quality are you looking for ? - tight bass... high treble...or punchy bass with sweet treble...or tight bass with sweet or high treble?... the qualities are endless..or do you prefer a lot of 'midrange' (vocal ?)
Amplifiers will only sound good if you match them correctly with a pair of speakers of which you are happy with and you know what type of audio quality you want.
It would be impossible to list every amplifier that i have ever owned and every pair of speakers I have owned...but I would maybe do a bit of listening first and then decide because every amplifier is different...and even listening in shops will be a kind of false positive...or a positive false because the acoustics are different in the shop to your home.
After all the money I have spent over the years on amplifers I think I have found my perfect amp which I have been using for the last year or so is a JVC AX-222 of which I paid just £10 from a Cash Converters store to actually sell on! I was so impressed with the condition and audio quality I decided to strip it down, clean it all up and remove the dust from the inside and keep it... the audio quality is far better than anything I have heard and I am happy with it... unbelievable for something I brought for just £10 with the intentions to sell it on.
I also have a Sansui AU-117 vintage amplifier from 1978 I had gave to me of which is also superb...but very high-end treble of which I stripped down and cleaned up...but I have yet to find a pair of speakers of which will match this amplifier to which I will be satisfied with.
It is all down to your personal preference really with amps (and speakers) because what may suit one person - may not suit another because it is all depending on what you want from your own system.
If I want true audio quality....I use my 1978 Sansui (albeit bass light on my Tannoy Mercury speakers)...but if I want wall to wall bass with warm sweet treble... I use my JVC amp.
In Swindon, there is a shop called Audio T, which i would recommend, and it has a listening room where they will set up the equipment you want to test.
Whatever you do though, dont skimp on a single part. For example some years ago, i had a Sony FM tuner on my setup, but when DAB came around i replaced the tuner with a FM-DAB combi tuner from Acoustic solutions, which wasnt in the same ball park in terms of sound, build (eg controls). Should have spent the extra on a sony version.
Bi-wire the speakers also helps. My ones were B&W 601's.
What i would say though is that over the years, more common home systems (all in ones) have got so much better, to the point where i would find it hard to justify the *expensive* route. Maybe in a big room (really big room) where you could *get the most out of it*. The other thing is that common everyday all in ones have things like Sleep timers and even alarms, with LCD screens that dim and various other things, most of which you wont get on the expensive stuff.
I have the TX-NR609, mainly for cinema sound as I have a Roksan set-up for music. The Onkyo is an excellent AV amp. , the range of options through the Qdeo processor is vast, and upscaling as good as you could wish from domestic kit. It's also very pleasant musically, say when the Proms are on. I think at that price, you should jump in - but then, I'm biased!
Mike.
I recently plumped fro the Yamaha vs the Onkyo as it had Svideo support for backwards compatibility. Something I've now decided not to use:o
Very happy with it and to me sounds better than the Pioneer vsx 2011 it replaced. An amp vastly more expensive.
Thanks for all the help
Lee