Yamaha RXV3800 vs Onkyo 905

[admin_exported]

Please can someone help me? I'm about to buy one of these receivers, I havce been offered a great deal on the Yamaha but I am intrigued by the Onkyo. Can someone PLEASE point me in the right direction. I'm replacing my Pioneer VSA-AX10is as I am upgrading my whole video system to HD and want a receiver to take care of the switching and new audio formats. I never really got on with the Pioneer and have owned several Yamaha A/V Amps in the past (DSPA1000, DSPA3090, DSPA1), and I've always liked them. I decided to try the Pioneer as funds were a bit more forthcoming at the time and I couldn't stretch to a Z9. I have a full Kef speaker system, Reference 1042 Raymond Cookes, Centre 100, TDM34DS surround, 70S rears and a Rel Storm 3 sub. I use a Nad 207THX stereo power amp for my 1042's as I listen to alot of music so stereo performance is paramount. I hope that I can get some sound advice as I'm going to be purchasing in the next few days. Thanks lads and lasses.

 

[Anonymous]

Have you tried auditioning the actual products?

In any case the last thing you want to do is blindly believe what others say (Especially reviews)

You won't choose your lifetime partner (spouse) by a review (if there was one) without actually dating would you ?

 

[Anonymous]

You've not met my missus have you?

I met her at the "Helen Keller" dating agency!!!

I just wonderd if anyone had heard the amps at all?

I'm going to have to sort out a demo.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Very cynical for a first post, susanoo. Anyway AFAIK we haven't had either unit for review yet, so no need to let those nasty reviews mislead you.

 

[VoodooDoctor]

I have the Onkyo TX-NR905 and am very pleased with it. My previous amp was a Yamaha 759SE with Mordaunt Short Genies. I have the Genies still as I am waiting for the Kef 3005SE's to arrive.

The control that the Onkyo exhibits is a lot better than the Yamaha (as I would hope for the money) especially with dialogue that is distinct and was "muffled" with the 759SE. Watched Flashdance (don't ask!) from Sky Movies HD yesterday and you can hear individual beads rattling on the dancer's costumes as they dance and foot-scrapes on the floor. The titles from Superman Returns (again Sky HD), where meteors and the titles whizz around you and collide are executed with real excitement and directional control. Much more precise than my previous amp.

Hooking up the PS3 via HDMI was painless. I watched Die Hard 4.0 on Blu-ray (DTS-HD soundtrack) a couple of days ago and was again impressed by the soundfield control.

For CD music, I have a Rega Apollo attached via Chord Crimson cables and I have Monopulse 32A's (the original review pair apparently!), biamped via the Speaker B connections. Music is precise and detailed. Haven't quite decided whether it is as good as the Rega Mira 3 that I originally audition the Apollo with. I haven't had that much time to play with it and to play my favourite CD's.

It also integrates very smoothly with my Buffalo Terastation and plays WMA Lossless without any problems over a Netgear Homeplug system and Netgear Ethernet Switch.

I'm not as experienced as some people round these parts but my ears tell me that it is a very good piece of kit. On "another" forum, people have had the new Denon, Yamaha and Onkyo to test at home and most have preferred the Onkyo saying its sound is meatiest and most exciting.

My only real nark with it is that I got a unit that needs to be sent away for the "upgrade" to fix the black "crush" issue. If I had got one a week later, I wouldn't. It's not a great problem for me as I am still waiting for the new surround speakers (and a Toshiba HD EP-35). Hopefully, I'll be hooking it all back up next weekend and getting really stuck in to all that it has to offer.