Onkyo HT-R393

[hifi newbie]

Hi there,

Can anybody advise me on the capability of the Onkyo HT-R393 AVR for bi-amping?

I bought bi-amp capable Wharfedale Diamond 10.1's, mistaken in my belief that I owned the Onkyo HT-R693 which IS capable of bi-amping. It says so in the manual.

However I do not own that model, I own the R393 which Onkyo has told me is not bi-amp capable.

It is a 5.1 channel AVR with 110W per channel at 6ohms.

I'd like to use my AVR and diamond set outdoors for my wedding party and am really trying to get the absolute best sound out of this basic system that I can, without using the sub (Using the sub is NOT an option unfortunately). Aside from using great cables, what else can I do?

Is bi-amping possible even though it's not listed as a feature on this model?

I'm very thankful for any help I can get, as having a poor sound in an outdoor space will make me regret not paying more to hire a professional set. They were quoting way too much money for even 2-speaker systems.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

You can probably bi-wire, but not bi-amp. However, looking at an on-line manual for your receiver it looks like it has the bare wire "push them down and shove the wires in" type speaker connections, not proper binding posts. Therefore actually getting al the wire in might be a problem.

As far as bi-amping goes, I'm not familiar with that receiver, but it looks like it has RCA jacks for feeding a separate power amplifier (or two or three if you "chain" them). If you can do that and get sound out of both the receiver's internal amp and the power amp(s) you add, use the highest powered device to run your tweeters and the lower power one to drive your bass. It sounds counter-intuitive, but the tweeters really do use more power than the bass.

 

[hifi newbie]

Hi Benedict_Arnold,

You're absolutely correct about the push-in wire connections in the amp. I'm planning on buying banana pins (not banana plugs) to accommodate the 14 gauge speaker wire I also purchased recently.

At one stage during my research I think I found that the HT R393 amp by Onkyo has separate amplifying of each of the 6 channels. This was supposed to be a good feature that would provide a 'cleaner' signal to each of the speakers. I wonder if this feature should mean that I can bi-amp my speakers. However, I have since not been able to find the same information again regarding the separate amplifying / power in each channel.

I guess, my biggest query about all of this is whether or not any of the components in my set up would become damaged if I attempted bi-amping through this one AVR unit. If I am risking blowing the speakers or melting the internal components in the AVR then I won't even try.

Any thoughts?

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

If I were you I wouldn't try using the "spare" speaker terminals to bi-amp one pair of speakers. You can try it, but if you discover the mystical relationship between electricity and smoke, don't blame me.

If the receiver can operate in 2-channel stereo mode (which most Onkyos can, I think), and thus the sound delivered to the front left and right outputs is echoed to, say, the back left and rights, you would be better off adding an extra pair of speakers. For a party (unless its for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra or something - and if its for the WHF journos lock up your booze and your daughters *biggrin* ) cheap used ones off Fleabay will be fine, no doubt. You'll get more power and be able to distribute the speakers around the venue, so the sound will be less focused on the front. And a cheap pair of speakers will be a lot less expensive than a separate power amp, interconnects, ...

 

[hifi newbie]

Thanks Benedict_Arnold, that's what I'll do then. I'll see if I can get a spare set of speakers to add to it.

Thanks for the advice and info.