With my limited knowledge, I would rate them in the following order.
1. Denon 2. Onkyo 3. Marantz 4. Pioneer 5. Yamaha (what I own, but at the time I was under the impression that all brands pretty much sounded the same) 6. Sony
My reasons are based purely on no facts whatsoever and are all personal opinion based upon what I have read.
« Last Edit: Sept 1, 2012, 3:09am by paintedklown »
I think Marantz & Denon have the best amps. I think Marantz & Yamaha sound the best. Onkyos usually run so hot you can fry an egg on them! Sony's usually have weak amplifiers. Denons are typically good solid value all around.
Just my opinions, and I've heard them all, but admittedly, not all under the same circumstances...
Joined: Jun 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 1,023 Location: Colorful Colorado
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #3 on Sept 3, 2012, 10:12am »
I am still "new" to this hobby, so maybe I don't know better. I have a Sony STR-DA5600ES AVR. I am happy with it. It does everything that I can imagine it should. It has built in room correction with a stereo microphone, two remotes (big- super function and small- multi function) Both control multiple other vendors products. It sounds great to me and has every function I can thinko of. I Can't complain about it at all. When I was having problems powering my Focal speakers, Sony sent me a new STR-DA3600ES (what I had initially bought) and then upgraded me to the STR-DA5600ES for way under retail. They called me several times and helped walk me through all kinds of setup. I was really impressed with their customer service.
I know everyone wants to be happy with their purchase, but are other makers products that much "better"?
I realize you are looking at reliability, price as as welll as functionality. But if my Sony is at the bottom (or almost), the ones at the top should fly around the room and bring you cold drinks...
I am not trying to be smarmy, I just can't fault my AVR. Again, maybe I don't know what I am missing.
Joined: Jun 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 4,750 Location: Boca Raton, FL
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #4 on Sept 3, 2012, 10:25am »
I have owned Sony and Yahama receivers. Now, these were not the top of the line mopdels. They both performed reliably but the audio quality was not there. I still think that they had some type of limiter circuit that reduces bass as volume is increased that made the sound thin & dry rather than full bodied. I can't prove it though. It was not noticeable when you use a subwoofer. Their user interface were also poor for my desire. I have no experience with the other brands you have mentioned. Of the 2, I hold my nose and prefer the Yamaha. If you want good sound, get a top class receiver or better yet, go separates.
Joined: Aug 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 614 Location: North of 49
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #5 on Sept 3, 2012, 10:50am »
Not for SQ but for value, I would say Pioneer then Sony. A case in point, my C$350 Pioneer that I bought in 2002 had pre-outs and still working. Waiting for the XMC to replace it and I may just keep it for emergency purposes rather than selling it for $40.
Inaudible is inaudible and you don't get extra brownie points for making it twice as inaudible as another solution. - Kevin Haskins Double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion. Its a killer.
Joined: Oct 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 2,771 Location: Indianapolis,IN (Broad Ripple)
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #9 on Sept 3, 2012, 12:22pm »
Denon Marantz Onkyo Pioneer Elite models Harman Kardon Yamaha sony
I have had Harman Kardon, Kenwood way back in the days and Pioneer Elites. I have to say Harman Kardon was really lacking something. My elite sounds much better than it. With that said I want a top of the line Denon or Marantz.
Polk RtiA9 mains swan diva R3 surrounds Av123 X-voce center Av123 MFW-15 sub eD A5-350 sub Pioneer elite vsx-33 Emotiva xpa-5 50" panny plasma 100" electric Elite screen Epson 8350 Pj Belkin Pf60 10 ATS acoustic panels Harmony one Yeah its a hodgepodge of speakers, Im in the works of getting all new stuff at all times
Inaudible is inaudible and you don't get extra brownie points for making it twice as inaudible as another solution. - Kevin Haskins Double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion. Its a killer.
Joined: Mar 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 2,177 Location: California Gold Country
How would you rate the mainstream audio companies? « Reply #11 on Sept 3, 2012, 1:42pm via the ProBoards Mobile App »
Hard to do these sorts of things but to play along I'll cheat a little (and use AVRs as the criteria) 1 Marantz / Onkyo 2 Denon / Pioneer Elite 3 Yamaha / Sony / Pioneer
I am still "new" to this hobby, so maybe I don't know better. I have a Sony STR-DA5600ES AVR. I am happy with it. It does everything that I can imagine it should. It has built in room correction with a stereo microphone, two remotes (big- super function and small- multi function) Both control multiple other vendors products. It sounds great to me and has every function I can thinko of. I Can't complain about it at all. When I was having problems powering my Focal speakers, Sony sent me a new STR-DA3600ES (what I had initially bought) and then upgraded me to the STR-DA5600ES for way under retail. They called me several times and helped walk me through all kinds of setup. I was really impressed with their customer service.
I know everyone wants to be happy with their purchase, but are other makers products that much "better"?
I realize you are looking at reliability, price as as welll as functionality. But if my Sony is at the bottom (or almost), the ones at the top should fly around the room and bring you cold drinks...
I am not trying to be smarmy, I just can't fault my AVR. Again, maybe I don't know what I am missing.
That's really great service from Sony! Even though I prefer Yamaha, I can't say that Yamaha's customer service is very good at all,...in fact if I were rating customer service only, I'd put them on the bottom without even knowing about any of the others they're that bad!
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #15 on Sept 4, 2012, 12:50am »
I have owned all of the brands you mentioned. I do not use room correction, so as far as just sound quality, I would rate it like this: 1- Marantz 2- Denon 3- Pioneer Elite 4- Yamaha 5- Onkyo 6- Sony
Everything from Yamaha and up sound great with music. It is very close. I am not a fan of the Onkyos of late, although I still use one of their older Dolby Digital/PLII receivers. If room correction is important, then my list would look like this:
1- Denon 2- Onkyo (Integra) 3- Marantz 4- Pioneer
I'm not familiar with Sony or Yamaha room correction.
If I were in the market for a receiver today, it would probably be a Marantz/Denon or Pioneer Elite SC. Onkyo would definitely not be considered.
Joined: Dec 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 2,424 Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #16 on Sept 4, 2012, 1:13am »
As I suspected, there are a lot of varied opinions.
I suppose I should have been more clear in my question. It was purely regarding SQ for 2 ch. and multi channel audio listening (SACD, DVD-A).
One day my Yamaha will need to be replaced, and I was just curious to get a general consensus of what everyone thought of the major brands.
I purposely selected these particular brands due to them being easy to find at most big box/retail outlets.
My current Yamaha is light years beyond my old Kenwood receiver that was once a part of an old HTIB, then I used an old Dolby pro-logic Rotel processor for a short while with my Emo amps as a stop-gap until I bought a modern receiver to use as a pre/pro.
At the time, I was a noob to audio and thought that all (similarly priced) receivers used as pre/processors would essentially sound the same. Now I have learned that the differences are more pronounced than I had originally thought.
In my head, I had chalked up either Denon or Marantz as the top SQ winners if you weren't going to use their internal amps, and probably Pioneer Elite, or higher end Onkyo models if you planned on using their internal amps for power.
The day I auditioned Magnepans at a local dealer, they had them hooked to a Marantz SR7005 and I was very impressed with how well it performed.
This got me to thinking and I just wondered what "conventional wisdom" said when it comes to SQ for these major (and easy to find at B&M store) brands.
I guess it probably comes down to features and connectivity options at that point...
« Last Edit: Sept 4, 2012, 1:24am by paintedklown »
Joined: Aug 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 223 Location: Ajax, Ont Canada
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #17 on Sept 4, 2012, 1:50am »
Yamaha Aventage series Pioneer Elite Series Marantz..have not heard them Denon Onkyo SONY LAST I kid you not every piece of Sony I purchased has been in for SERVICE at least once, SONY never again..I'm talking TV's AVR's PS3's VCR's all In for Service
Re: How would you rate the mainstream audio compan « Reply #19 on Sept 4, 2012, 2:18am »
Paintedclown, forgive me if I've told you this before. With your gear, I think the most beneficial step would be to move into a standalone processor. You simply will throw away less money on components that you already have like the amp section. I got lucky and bypassed recievers all together by going to separates and I am very happy for my decision. I'm also lucky that I didn't piddle around in mediocre amps and DACS and just went for good quality and value with both my emotiva purchases.
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