Audyssey Capable Receiver Choice, $1k, Video Processing Q+

**Deephaven** · **09-08-09, 12:58 PM**

Torn between the Denon 3310 and the Onkyo 876.

Critical to me is that they work with my home automation system and these two are capable.

I am also interested in HDMI upconversion as I only have one cabling run to my televisions so whatever I choose will have to take SD & Component HD out of my cable box & DVD player and upconvert appropriately.

I have read some negative reviews on the delay time associated with switching video inputs on the 876. While that doesn't sound ideal if it is still somewhat fast I can live with it. Also usually the amplifier on the Onkyo gets a bit more credit for having headroom. There are no Onk dealers local to me and all of the Denon ones are big box stores so doing a real comparison or listen is a joke.

Considering I have no experience with the video side of things I wanted to ask if that alone was reason enough to grab the Denon.

The receiver will be used temporarily with some Def Tech BP8's and a SS Rlp 12" with a BFD, but the speakers themselves will also get replaced with some DIY fun in the next year.

**tonyvdb** · **09-08-09, 01:09 PM**

I do not know what the Denon uses but the Onkyo has the HQV Reon chip and is regarded to be the best for video processing. The Onkyo also has a very high quality amplification section and the power supply is extremely good.
My personal choice is go with the 876.

**Sonnie** · **09-10-09, 12:16 AM**

Have you looked at the new 807?

It is not quite as powerful as the 876, but has a few more features.

**Deephaven** · **09-10-09, 08:17 AM**

Interesting, just did now. I knew a new series was coming and truthfully hoped that it would lower the price of the current

I don't need the extra functions as the unit will be sitting in the same rack as my PC and Squeezebox, but I can surely see how that will fit a market niche nicely. Between the smaller amps and the Faroudja chip I think the 876 or ABT 2010 in the 3310 are probably better fits for my need.

My needs are:
1) Connect with CQC home automation software for control
2) Upconvert to HDMI 1080p to minimize the need for an upgrade later as knowing myself in this room it will be at least 15 years before I replace the tv
3) Audyssey to help my non-ideal space. Dynamic volume for the commercial levelling during normal TV is a huge bonus to the WAF as well.
4) 5.1 processing
5) Headroom. I hate wimpy amps and will be building some diy mains,ctr, surrounds sometime this winter.

In the favor of the Onkyo are a beefier amp, THX, better Audyssey and the Reon
The Denon I lean to since it definitely works perfect with CQC, seems to hold its pricepoint better and the ABT 2010 chip should be fine as well. Stupid reasoning perhaps, but when things are priced such that one is generically $500 more than the other but you find it on sale for the same it is alluring. Actual delivered price to me is within $15 of each other.

**Sonnie** · **09-11-09, 01:11 AM**

Quote:

Dynamic volume for the commercial levelling during normal TV is a huge bonus to the WAF as well.

I have not found that this works for those LOUD commercials.

Oh... make that LOUD and ANNOYING!

**Deephaven** · **09-11-09, 09:09 AM**

I was really hoping that would be helpful. Otherwise the woman turns down the volume about 10 seconds before the show starts again EVERYTIME. Probably have to dvr delay everything so I can just skip them.

**nova** · **09-11-09, 12:33 PM**

The Denon uses the HQV Realta chip. The Reon is basically a scaled down mass consumer version of the Realta chip and therefore less expensive.
I'd bet you'd be hard pressed to notice a difference in either of them.

**Deephaven** · **09-11-09, 12:40 PM**

Quote:

nova wrote:

The Denon uses the HQV Realta chip. The Reon is basically a scaled down mass consumer version of the Realta chip and therefore less expensive.
I'd bet you'd be hard pressed to notice a difference in either of them.

I thought the 3310 uses the ABT 2010

**nova** · **09-11-09, 01:24 PM**

Sorry, you are right,... it's the Denon DVD players that have the Realta not the receivers.

**Jon Liu** · **09-12-09, 05:52 PM**

I just wanted to chime in here.

I've had both Onkyo and Denon receivers and can say each one had their pluses and minuses.

Onkyos - are really feature packed. Bang for the buck comes to mind when I think of Onkyo. They really are a good value. But, they do generally run very hot. You're going to want plenty of room to ventilate them. Also, while feature-packed, I think some of the features are afterthoughts more than anything. Individual users can pick and choose whether or not their features are worth it or not.

Denons - I think of their build quality and style. They pack less features into them overall, but I think the features they have are more thought out, at least it feels that way to me. Their appearances are much more sleek and I much prefer their interface. I also prefer their sound quality over the Onkyos. Mind you, the difference is minimal and dependent on the rest of your equipment and your ears ability to resolve any differences, but to me the Denons sound a bit more musical.

I hope this helps!

**Jungle Jack** · **09-13-09, 09:31 PM**

Hello,
I would go with the Onkyo TX-SR876. In addition to offering an excellent video solution (Reon), the amplifier section is very strong and is able to out out over 200 watts into 4 ohms ACD. The 876 weighs over 20 pounds more than the 3310. (50.9 lbs Onkyo, 28.6 lbs Denon) Almost all of this is in the power supply.

BTW, the only Denon AVR which uses the Realta chip is the AVR-5308. The others use Faroudja video solutions. They have gotten much better of late, but I still prefer the Reon.
Cheers,
JJ

**Deephaven** · **09-13-09, 11:29 PM**

Quote:

Jon Liu wrote:

I just wanted to chime in here.

I've had both Onkyo and Denon receivers and can say each one had their pluses and minuses.

Denons - I think of their build quality and style.

Their appearances are much more sleek and I much prefer their interface. I also prefer their sound quality over the Onkyos. Mind you, the difference is minimal and dependent on the rest of your equipment and your ears ability to resolve any differences, but to me the Denons sound a bit more musical.

I hope this helps!

Thank you. Appearance won't mean much to me as it will be in a rack in the basement. Being musical will though. Can you describe what you mean by musical? I tend to favor hard cone mids and am concerned over the sonic signature of the AVR as well.

Quote:

Jungle Jack wrote:

Hello,
I would go with the Onkyo TX-SR876. In addition to offering an excellent video solution (Reon), the amplifier section is very strong and is able to out out over 200 watts into 4 ohms ACD. The 876 weighs over 20 pounds more than the 3310. (50.9 lbs Onkyo, 28.6 lbs Denon) Almost all of this is in the power supply.

Cheers,
JJ

Power supply says something as well. The testing that I saw once turning on the 4 ohm switch was that the power dropped like crazy, but did well at near 4 ohms in the 8ohm mode. The speakers I am contemplating building for the room aren't receiver friendly and might require flipping the switch if the receiver isn't up to it. *Contemplating the Modula MTM as I already have the drivers.*

**Jon Liu** · **09-14-09, 01:40 AM**

From what I heard between the Onkyo 805 and the Denon 4308 was that the Denon had a bit more natural sounding midrange than the Onkyo. The top end was a little less forward, but still had a sparkle to the top end. Overall it sounded just a bit more fluid to me while listening to tunes.

Also, I haven't been following too closely, but I remember hearing buzz around the time they released the xx6 series stating the quality of sound was worse in the xx6 compared to the xx5 series counterparts. The xx6 series was adding more features, but I think build/part quality was reduced to compensate for the extra features they added in. I don't know what the status of the xx7 quality.

**TRiSS** · **09-14-09, 06:53 AM**

I recently went from a marantz SR7400 to an onkyo 876, and so far I am very happy with both sound and video quality. The switching of HDMI inputs takes a bit longer, but so far I haven't found that a real nuisance. I don't switch back and forth that often on the receiver anyway, and when I do switch sources teh extra few seconds don't really bother me. No experience with Denon though.

**Jungle Jack** · **09-14-09, 09:32 AM**

Quote:

Jon Liu wrote:

From what I heard between the Onkyo 805 and the Denon 4308 was that the Denon had a bit more natural sounding midrange than the Onkyo. The top end was a little less forward, but still had a sparkle to the top end. Overall it sounded just a bit more fluid to me while listening to tunes.

Also, I haven't been following too closely, but I remember hearing buzz around the time they released the xx6 series stating the quality of sound was worse in the xx6 compared to the xx5 series counterparts. The xx6 series was adding more features, but I think build/part quality was reduced to compensate for the extra features they added in. I don't know what the status of the xx7 quality.

Hello,
The only instance where the xx6 series parts quality went down compared to the xx6 was in respect to the TX-SR805 in comparison to the TX-SR806. While the 805 shared the same amplification section as the 875 and 905 (905 did have a toroidal transformer), the 806 no longer shared the same amplification section.

The TX-SR805 weighed 51 pounds while the TX-SR806 weighed around 35 pounds. There is an excellent writeup in Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity comparing the 2. While the TX-SR805 was THX Ultra2 Certified, the TX-SR807 is THX Select2 and the 806 should have been Select2 as well as the 806 and 807 share the same amplifier section.
Cheers,
JJ

**Jon Liu** · **09-14-09, 12:21 PM**

Thank you for clarification, JJ.

I remember people talking about the weight difference of the 805 vs the 806. Good to know it was just the 806 that was affected

**Jungle Jack** · **09-14-09, 12:33 PM**

Hello,
Jason, my pleasure. I was really disappointed when the 806 was released that they did that. I honestly believe that the TX-SR805 is one of the best AVR values of all time. It offered amplification comparable to other manufacturers 2-3 thousand Dollar AVR's and THX Ultra2 Certification.

I still recommend the 805 over the 806 and 807 due to the far stouter amplification stage. While I appreciate the new Audyssey Volume and other enhancements, a heavy duty amp section means more to me.
Cheers,
JJ

**tonyvdb** · **09-14-09, 02:01 PM**

The only problem with the 805 is that any that are still available now seem to be suspect and dont usually arrive in working order. I have been very happy with my 805 and have no plans to upgrade any time soon as this November it will be two years I have had it.
The secrets review of the 806 said that it should not have even been given a THX certification at all as it failed badly at driving a 4 ohm load.

**Jungle Jack** · **09-14-09, 02:08 PM**

Hello,
I was not aware of any QC issues with remaining TX-SR805's. In all honesty, I have not been reading up too closely about them of late.

I purchased a TX-SR805 the first day it was available as a stopgap until the TX-SR875 and DTR-9.8 were available. Even though I used it strictly as a prepro, I was quite impressed with it. Just for yuks and giggles, I hooked up all of my Martin Logan's to it and it preformed surprisingly well considering how brutal of a load ESL Martin Logan's are.
Cheers,
JJ

**tonyvdb** · **09-14-09, 02:18 PM**

The 805 is a serious receiver no mater how you look at it. Have you done the 1.8 firmware update and the DSP update to yours?

**Jungle Jack** · **09-14-09, 02:22 PM**

Hello,
I sold my 805 years ago. The 805 was released to market before the 875 and 9.8 that I wanted all along because of the Reon processing. My 875 has 1.04 firmware which corrected the colorspace issues and most of the other problems and enabled Reon's picture controls.
Cheers,
JJ

**Lordoftherings** · **10-31-09, 01:25 AM**

The Onkyo TX-SR876 is the way to go (in particular at it's street price).

* I should know, I own it.

--> And if you want to go the newest route, get the Onkyo TX-NR3007 (which is its replacement).

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