Advice on a new amp (1 Viewer)

So i will start by saying its unlikely i will actually upgrade my amp, but it is bugging me so i cant help doing some research and looking around.


I am currently running an Onkyo TH-NR905B, and i love it except for one thing, HDMI.


there are not enough inputs, and it will not pass-through a 3D signal, and when i put in a 3D signal, it wont even do the audio portion (ive tried running a splitter but i still need to use optical for audio)


So i want to upgrade (but with the economy the way it is right now i likely wont, but research is still fun).


So I would like to stay with an Onkyo as they are the first amp that ive found that has plenty of power for my speakers


Right now my set up is


Paradigm CC-690 centre channel

Paradigm Studio 60's for the mains

and Paradigm mini monitors for the surrounds and rears


I've looked at both the 1030 and the upcoming RZ900 and ive got a few questions


The RZ is back to advertising their Toroidal transformers which ive loved in the 905B but the 1030 does not, so i wonder who they should compare for power handling and output.


Second thing ive noticed is the 1030 does seem to offer many more options for upscaling than the RZ900

The 1030 uses Burr-Brown DAC's compared to Asahi Kasei AKM4458 now its been a while for me on this stuff but i do recall burr brown DAC's having an excellent reputation though given it is Onkyo i am assuming that both will work exceptionally.


Finally and this one really confuses me, looking at the comparison on their webpage it seems like the 1030 will upscale to 4K while the RZ900 will not, but the RZ900 will pass through a 4k signal through HDMI, while the 1030 will not....


any help you can offer would be awesome and greatly appreciated.


Also dont know if this will work but this is the comparison i was looking at http://www.onkyo.ca/Products/products_compare.php

Most manufacturers are dropping upscaling on 2015 models.

Fact is...people use their sources for scaling...more than they use the AVR. The only thing that gets scaled anyway is 480i/576i. New DRM protocols remove 1080i/P from getting scaled to 4K anyway(and the tech sheet even says only 480i/576i gets scaled. Everything else* is passed on to the display...where it scales anyway).

So all those 1.4 AVR that can scale to 4K...not happening.

The main reason to choose an RZ over the 1030...

Fully baked HDMI 2.0 and DTS X.

Those two reasons are enough.

Lack of video scaling only matters if you have a VCR or a Wii.

I don't know "who doesn't use toroidal**" transformers. There are, essentially, only two versions for audio anyway. The real difference is the Darlington circuit. Having them all channel is a big plus.

*4K sources are another matter. If you buy a 4K source(none available, outside of Sony proprietary) it will upscale. Then the AVR has to be "out of the way" to the display. Hence why the AVR has no scaling. So you can't "accidentally turn it on and wonder why you don't have a picture...".

As far as DAC.

AKM is used(or was...) by Anthem.

ESS, Cirrus, AKM, Texas Instruments(Burr) etc all make good to great. I don't know where is particular AKM stacks up. Onkyo probably just chose them over BB because of a lower bid.

** and you can have pros and cons of those two till the cows come home...leave...and come home again...

Thanks Sam, i appreciate the input, it also does not hurt that the RZ is 200 dollars cheaper if i do decide to upgrade

schan1269 said:

Most manufacturers are dropping upscaling on 2015 models.

Fact is...people use their sources for scaling...more than they use the AVR. The only thing that gets scaled anyway is 480i/576i. New DRM protocols remove 1080i/P from getting scaled to 4K anyway(and the tech sheet even says only 480i/576i gets scaled. Everything else* is passed on to the display...where it scales anyway)....

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Thanks, Sam. You probably answered my curiosity as to why my RX-V775 doesn't upscale 480p or 1080i like my RX-V663 did (sad trombone), requiring me to duplicate a component video connection from teh AVR to the TV for my PS2 (stop snickering, I still love my PS2 games).

OP, I realize you want to stay with Onkyo, but I would urge you to compare Yamaha, and perhaps Denon, Marantz, Pioneer. I suspect you'll find other manufacturers will power your speakers okay (depending upon model), and may offer the features you want at a competitive price. Slightly older models (I have a 775 I bought last winter from Costco, though the 777 was the current model, the 779 just coming out) from accessories4less might fall below your Not Buyin' threshold.

Hi David,


I will definitely check those options out, but started my amp collection with a sony (sure it was a cheaper one about 500 dollars) and i found it woefully inadequate (though this was long before HDMi etc) then i later upgraded to a Yamaha i cant remember the model number (I think it was an RXV-1300, thought it may have been the 1200) but i spent about 1100 on it, it was after that i went to Onkyo, and with Onkyo was the first time my speakers were not starved for power, you could hear the distortion at reasonable levels on the yamaha, but with Onkyo no problems at all, everything was crystal clear. that being said i know there are lots of great products out there, but i was super impressed by Onkyo and that is where i first look now

An audio engineer at a speaker company told me in the mid-90sl that they knew Sony used cheap chipsets in their sub-$1000 receivers. I had one model that was RMA'ed 2 times, Sony replaced it finally when I started mentioning lemon laws. I had things like a specific surround channel suddenly dying. I was concerned that my 6Ω speakers were hurting the AVR, the speaker engineer groaned out loud when I mentioned the model of Sony I was using.

Onkyo is well regarded, but the forum news about them extending warranties and doing widespread "good will" warranty coverage of faulty HDMI boards has me skeptical of them. YMMV.

ChromeJob said:

An audio engineer at a speaker company told me in the mid-90sl that they knew Sony used cheap chipsets in their sub-$1000 receivers. I had one model that was RMA'ed 2 times, Sony replaced it finally when I started mentioning lemon laws. I had things like a specific surround channel suddenly dying. I was concerned that my 6Ω speakers were hurting the AVR, the speaker engineer groaned out loud when I mentioned the model of Sony I was using.
Onkyo is well regarded, but the forum news about them extending warranties and doing widespread "good will" warranty coverage of faulty HDMI boards has me skeptical of them. YMMV.

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Like Denon hasn't had problems. From the X90/XX10 through XX13 legendarily crapped their pants on anything resembling a 7.9 ohm load and under.

ChromeJob said:

Onkyo is well regarded, but the forum news about them extending warranties and doing widespread "good will" warranty coverage of faulty HDMI boards has me skeptical of them. YMMV.

Click to expand...

For my part i dont have a problem with mistakes that a company owns up to and fixes, much better than the companies that claim no mistake was made at all after the fact.