Alternative to Onkyo 898??????

You might want to consider the new Pioneer Elite units- The new VSX-47tx can be had for a little under $2000- maybe a bit out of your price range, though, considering the cost of the 898.

 

The Sherwood Newcastle 963 is about the same price, and many people on this forum like Newcastle.

I was debating between the two- Onkyo 898 and Newcastle 963.

I ordered the Onkyo for a few reasons:
-Direct access buttons on the front
-Two video record loops as opposed to one on the Newcastle.
-Onkyo has the reputation for being easy to use- That is crucial for my wife use it, and convenient for me when I need to perform less common tasks.

I really wanted to buy the Newcastle for two reasons:

-They are kind of the under dog, and
-the 963 comes the MX-500 remote that I was planning on buying any way, but the above list was more important to me.

I should get the Onkyo today- I'll post my comments soon!

~Jay

PS- I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the ticking and drop outs won't affect me!

 

Have you considered the Marantz SR 8200? Excellent receiver with great remote, THX select, 120w *6, and RS232 port, too. Excellent for music and HT. MSRP is $1699.

 

I always wondered how double posts happened... I backed up, then refreshed.

sorry

~Jay

 

Brad,
You might want to look at the HK 8000. It has some incredible features(including the implementation of Logic7 on 5.1 sources). I have seen it online for about $1600. You do have to get a separate 2 ch. amp if want 6.1/7.1. I am still tossing around the idea of upgrading my Onkyo 797 for this unit. BTW the Marantz SR8200 mentioned above is a solid choice as well.

 

Get the 898 if thats what you want! Great rcvr!
JVC 10
Denon 3802
Sony 5es
HK 520
Yamaha 2200/3200
PS/ At that price you may want to think about separates. $1500 would get you a great start on separates
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Holl...1/ratevsac.htm
The lower models from Marantz don't have the punch/ or any of the lower models for any brand except HK. See thread!

 

I got the Onkyo plugged in last night! My wife was asleep in the next room, so I couldn't listen very loud. But I realized that I either have too much stuff or the Onkyo has too few inputs
I mapped out how everything should be plugged in and now it is completely full. If I add another component I'll need to dump something.
This morning before work I had a few minutes to play some music- It's not calibrated yet, but sounded pretty good. A bit brighter than my Newcastle 945 was. In fact in The Perfect Vision review they noticed that about it. My speakers are on the warm side so I think it'll be great for movies.
I know this is now a common feature, but it's new to me and I love it. The auto detect! If I put an audio cd in the DVD player- it knows, if I put a DTS music disc in- it knows My old receiver didn't do that and it was more of a PITA than I ever would have realized.
Here's my list of components, that'll give you an idea of why I used up all of the inputs:
LD player
Dish receiver
DVD player
HTPC
HDTV tuner card
VCR
Phono
Tape deck
Canopus A/D D/A Analog to DV converter- for capturing video to make DVD-R's
My next purchase will be an MX-500 to control all this.
~Jay