Onkyo 676 any good?

[Benedict_Arnold]

Might have just found an old cheque that I never cashed which will cover it.

On sale at $350 plus tax here.

Need all the latest HDCP2.2 4K HDR etc EXCEPT Dolby Vision and want to run a 5.1.2 Atmos setup, ideally only a single rear though, for a 4.1.2 Atmos setup with Zone 2 preamp outs for muzak in the dining room and on the patio.

Video sources will be a Sony X800 4K BDP and an Amazone Fire box. (the old wired network type). TV is a Samsung 8 series flat 4K TV which is HDR.

Half the price of the Marantz 1608 so I'm willing to forgo the slimline design of the 1608. Maybe replace with a 1608 later when funds allow and use the 676 elsewhere.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[simonlewis]

No the onkyo dosen't have audyssey therefore i would go for a denon AVR-X2400H or a marantz.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

^ The Denon is twice the price here, close to that of the Marantz 1608. I'm penny pinching for now.

Also the room this will be going into has one wall "missing" and another is virtually all glass, so acoustics won't be great to start with. The majority of the time it'll be used for muzak service rather than HT. I have a Marantz 7010 and a 7.2.4 setup in the dedicated movie room after all. This is for the sitting room and muzak in the dining room and on the patio, all be it with a cheap power amp added on.

 

[Series1boy]

No the onkyo dosen't have audyssey therefore i would go for a denon AVR-X2400H or a marantz.

no reason not to purchase. This AV has AccuEQ calibration and will do a good at this price range and can be tweaked manually like all calibration software on AVRs

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

What I really wanted to know as whether they catch fire like Onkyos used to for a while, whether the HDMI boards crap out... Things like that.

Anyone?

 

[macdiddy]

a (very) quick google search comes up with one (yes only one) report of a Onyko amp catching fire and it comes from this very forum posted by someone with the username "admin" which flags up all kinds of suspicion.

I'm on my second Onyko amp, not because of any major failure (yes the hdmi board did fail after three years but as Onkyo knew about the fault they have repaired the amp free of charge including free courier pick up and return) but because I wanted the latest surround formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS-X.

I am very happy with my new (won in an auction on ebay) Onyko amp, cost just £200 and gives excellent results with both music and movies, didn't come with the setup microphone but instead I downloaded a sound meter app and set the levels manually, took about an hour or so.

*music2*

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

I've had three or four Onkyos over the years. Last one died, I think, because it shorted out when sweat from my brow (yea really - this is 100 degree 100% humidity Houston TX) dripped onto one of the boards as I was hooking it up.

I think it was the 646 that actually had SEVERAL boards catch fire and there was a spate of HDMI board failures too.

I think the ?7? series is Gremlin free, and, being flogged off at half its original MSRP, it seems like a heck of a deal.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Marantz 1608 dropped over $200 over the weekend, thanks to the 1609 now hitting the shelves.

Best Buy wouldn't price match that low so I've just ordered a brand new one from Amazon for $499.00 including (zero) sales tax and free shipping.

Should be here Tuesday and wired up shortly after that....

5.2.2, Atmos, DTS:X, full 4K, HDR, BT2020, Dolby Vision, ask nicely and it'll get up and put the kettle on...

5.2.2 is just perfect for our sitting room (one wall not there at all and the other all glass) and with a modest power amp 'Zone 2" will provide Muzak in the dining room and out on the patio too.

 

[newlash09]

Marantz 1608 dropped over $200 over the weekend, thanks to the 1609 now hitting the shelves.

Best Buy wouldn't price match that low so I've just ordered a brand new one from Amazon for $499.00 including (zero) sales tax and free shipping.

Should be here Tuesday and wired up shortly after that....

5.2.2, Atmos, DTS:X, full 4K, HDR, BT2020, Dolby Vision, ask nicely and it'll get up and put the kettle on...

5.2.2 is just perfect for our sitting room (one wall not there at all and the other all glass) and with a modest power amp 'Zone 2" will provide Muzak in the dining room and out on the patio too.

Glad your hunt for a new AVR has ended. And that with a marantz again too....enjoy sir

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Best Buy had occasionally tried dropping the price to $550 (plus 8.25% tax) to shift their slow moving stock. Whenever they did, however, I didn't have the cash.

Now the 1609 is out the on-line retailers are shifting their stocks of 1608s as quick as they can. Best Buy wouldn't price match, so I just bought from an Amazon affiliate on line.

Right now the unit is somewhere on Interstate 45 on its way down from Dallas.

Only difference with the 1609 seems to be the addition of a phone stage, which I won't use.

Now all I have to do is get the speakers sorted out. The in ceiling ones were already bought, just need Her Majesty's permission to put them in. I've got four pre-wired locations, each about 6 feet in from the corners of a 24 x 24 room. The TV is in one corner. Unless it goes over the fireplace (which I forgot to get pre-wired for), it can't really be moved.
Certainly not short term. So the speaker over the TV's corner may become the centre, the two diagonal ones will be the Atmos overheads and the back one will be a single rear surround (the 1608 does allow for a single rear BTW - I checked). That just leaves FL, FR and the centre. Her Maj won't allow "proper stereo" speakers I expect, so right now I'm thinking decent sound bar or sound base... or just use the TV's speakers (which in the Sammy 8 Series are pretty good anyway).

This is all for Netflix-ing and GoT-ing. We still have the 7.2.4 setup in the media room.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

So far, so good.

The unit was sitting in the courtyard when I got home, no risk of rain here at the mo...

Unpacked it and spent a couple of hours setting up the basics, back of the sideboard eveything sits on looks like the aftermath of an explosion in a spaghetti factory, but no buzzing from anything and it's all hidden, so who cares.

Also got the iddy-biddy Yamaha NS-IC400 in-ceiling speakers I bought for the room (because they're small and the Memsahib won't object quite as much) hooked up and sorted out which socket goes to which speaker. I've set the in-ceiling over the TV corner as the centre, the two diagonals as the two middle Atmos overheads and the remaining one in the corner diagonally opposite the TV as a single rear. I have yet to get into the receiver's manuals deeply enough to figure out how to tell the receiver there's only one rear speaker.

For the fronts I'm using my Bose Companion 2 PC speakers at the moment, hooked up to the RCA per-outs for the front speakers. I'll be looking for better tall and skinny type fronts unless or until I go for a sound base or move the TV over the fireplace and add in-walls as and when the pocket money allows. A spare Klipsch R10SW subwoofer I've had for ages will be added this afternoon.

Picture quality is spot on and the sound is great, all be it not quite as powerful as the 7010 and NS-IW960s upstairs, but quite enough for the living room. For now, anyway. AUdessy and all the clever stuff yet to be tried.

For 500 Imperialistic Infidel Yankey Petro-Dollars (about 385 Quid) I think I've hit the nail on the head with this one....