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Insignia Receiver, who makes it? (1 Viewer)

Seth=L

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Seth L
Who makes the Best Buy house brand Insignia receivers?

Model in question, Insignia IS-HC040917

It has a discrete output stage, Toroidal Power supply, and two 10,000 uF capacitors. Is there any possibility that this receiver may be as good of a deal as the Insignia bookshelf speakers discussed on so many forums?

It also has an input wattage of 500 watts, so it may come close to it's wattage output ratings. It is probably short on surround features, but I could care less. I don't use Pro-logic and DSP modes often, and the X-over in my M&K is likely to be better than what's inside the receiver. I think it has Component, S-Video, and of course Composite switching, two coaxial digital inputs and one optical. It is by no means loaded, but for $150 or less it could be a very good deal. This is assuming that it isn't made by KLH or some such crap. I owned a KLH receiver a few years back and it was the worst audio component I had ever purchased, I just hope that the Insignia is in no way similar to that.

Thanks in advance,
 

johnADA

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Orion is a large manufacturer that makes goods for Insignia, ILO, Sansui and some other low cost names.

Lots of quality problems with anything Orion makes and we had one Insignia DVD player I bought for the kids last Christmas because it was cheap. But I had 3 units within 6 months and they all failed. Never again!
 

John Garcia

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I read a quick blurb about the Insignia speakers and the person said they were completely unimpressed.

The first time I saw an ad for the insignia stuff, I thought Optimus, Fischer or Kenwood's low end stuff. El Cheapo, in other words. I'd pass.
 

Seth=L

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Seth L
No denying that it is cheap. But by looking at it you can see it has character.:D

It also had Toshiba output devices, from my understanding they are good transistors.

I have a sneeking suspision that Orion did not make these receivers. As well I have auditioned the Insignia speakers in my home, and for $50 a pair NEW, they can't really be beat.
 

Frank A

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Seth, on one of the other forums, I think Dennis Murphy has done a mod or a re-design on the Insignia speaker crossover (pretty sure it is the Insignias). It is supposed to improve the sound quite a bit (I don't have one, so don't know).

Frank
 

John Brill

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My understanding is that Insignia, Best Buy's "house brand" is assembled by Guangzhou Aivin Electronic (GAE) Co of China.

Essentially, Best Buy puts together a specs list for what the product should have and be able to do. It is then up to GAE to scope out parts and assemble the product. It would appear that GAE bulk purchases left over components from end of model runs (for example, you may get H/K amp section in one unit or a JVC amp section in another) and if you were to open up two identical models of a products, the innards may be completely different.
 

Seth=L

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The bookshelf speaker system I mentioned earlier was made by a company called Radiient. Many Insignia TVs are apparently made by Orion. So they just outsource to whoever they want to I guess. I will look up the company mentioned and see what they do.
 

Alex/d

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Seth... look here :)
http://www.aivin.com.cn/200511/english/About.asp

"As one of the few acoustic manufacturers in mainland China authorized by American DTS, DOLBY Company, aivin is the unique ODM amplifier supplier of Best Buy in America, who is one of the biggest worldwide home appliances and electronic product retailer and dealers."
 

Seth=L

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Thank you Danny, that was a good read. I am pretty much settled. I live in an Apartment so really loud doesn't help me anyway. It will hold me over untill HDMI 1.3 spec is through to receivers and they become affordable.
 

Danny Tse

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No problem, Seth.

If you have a powered sub, the heaviest load is already taken cared of by the amp in the powered sub. Unless the rest of your speakers are really inefficient, I think you should be OK. Since Best Buy has a 30 days return policy, try it out....you really have nothing to lose.
 

ChrisWiggles

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But you'll end up paying in the long run when you have to replace it. That's my general thinking with these sort of things though.
 

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