Up in the air

Re: Up in the air

I, personally, would go with the Onkyo. I'm not very familiar with Pioneer receivers, although I'm sure it would work just fine, but I know Onkyo gives a lot of bang for the buck. I have the Onkyo 805, and like it a lot. I've used a Pioneer 563a universal dvd player for years, and it has been an excellent player. I'm still using a Pioneer PL-514 turntable, from the 70s, and it's also very good. But these are the only Pioneer pieces I have experience with.

As for the heat issue, use the top shelf in the rack. When I think of a rack, I think of shelves with the sides and back are open, and the top shelf has nothing over it. Is your's like this? If so, being on top shelf means it's open except for the bottom. I have my 805 on top of my entertainment center, instead of on the shelf that all my earlier receivers used. My receiver hasn't gotten hot yet, and I'm driving 4 ohm speakers. As long as you don't close in the 806, there shouldn't be an issue with heat.

I doubt seriously your ears will hear a difference between 110wpc and 130wpc. The extra power will come in handy if you ever hook 4 ohm speakers up to it, but even then I'm not sure you'd notice any difference. With 4 ohm speakers, the more power you have, the better. Also with more power, the sound is cleaner and clearer, even at low volumes.
Good luck..........

Re: Up in the air

I currently have two Pioneers and have owned two Onkyo's and I'm sure you would be pleased with either one, but I would also go with the Onkyo. The Audyssey EQ is probably just a bit better than the Pioneers MCACC.

But as I've said before, if you've narrowed it down to those two then down-load the manuals and give them a read. I bet you'll find something in one of them that seals the deal.

Re: Up in the air

I have no experience with Onkyo, but am on my second Pioneer Elite receiver. My current model is a 94TXH, after previously owning a 47TX for several years.

If you are concerned about the heat issue, the newer Pioneer models do run a lot cooler than they used to. With my old 47TX, I had to remove the top shelf from the audio rack in order to keep the receiver cool enough -- it's an open rack, and there was about two inches clearance to the top shelf. With the newer 94TXH, the unit runs sufficiently cool that I could replace the top shelf in the rack with no overheating issues.

Re: Up in the air

I've owned Pioneer and Pioneer Elite (D810s, D811s, 43TX, 1014TX, 82TXs) in the past and currently own an SR805. As the years have passed, the quality of amplification found in the top-end Pioneers and entry-level Elites has tapered off. The 54TX/56TXi were the last models available with a truly robust amplification section. The new SC models with ICEpower amplification are a big step up, but the VSX models just don't have the oomph that Elites once had... they're not completely under-powered, just not what they used to be.

At the same time, Onkyo made some big downgrades in audio components and features going from the SR805 to the SR806. The downgraded the power supply and, in turn, the amp's total power (most significantly when a 4ohm load is present). They downgraded the DACs from Burr Brown to lower resolution Cirrus Logic models. They downgraded Audyssey from MEQ XT to plain MEQ. These downgrades were done, it seems, to allow for a more robust video processing implementation (DCDi Cinema to 1080p vs. DCDi Edge to 480p)... but that video processing has a major flaw (clips BTB and WTW) that makes it a downgrade as well. The SR805 was a beautiful niche unit with the same audio quality and features as Onkyo's flagship without the added cost of a high-end video processor. The SR806 has been dumbed-down to a middle-of-the-pack AVR with flawed video processing.

Either way, to me at least, the smart money is in either a refurbished SR875, Marantz SR7001 (if your BD sources decodes TrueHD/DTS-MA), or on the lower end, the Pioneer 1018AH because it just works with no real flaws/quirks.

Re: Up in the air

If the front is open and you can add a couple of inches above, a BuyExtras AVR fan would probably add enough circulation to avoid the need to modify the cabinet.