Onkyo or Denon?

Systems · April 2009

Onkyo TX-SR706 or DENON AVR889? Upgrading from my Yamaha HTiB and would like some perspective on Denon vs Onkyo. Thanks.

Mike21 · April 2009

Whichever one sounds best to you. Both are very good quality.

Mike

woweu2006 · April 2009

some people said that Onkyo is easily to be over-heated. And Denon is over-priced.

I got a new Denon AVR-889 for $599. Still not opened yet. maybe I will return it.

comfortablycurt · April 2009

woweu2006 wrote: »

some people said that Onkyo is easily to be over-heated.

Onkyo's just run hot by their nature. It's not necessarily that they're "overheating". They just like to have more breathing room ideally. I've never had any issues with my Onkyo overheating, and there have been plenty of times where I've had it running for 6+ hours straight playing music at fairly high volumes.

Go and listen to them both...that's the only way you'll figure out which one you like more. The Onkyo has a slightly brighter sound than the Denon, which is a bit on the warm side in my experience. I preferred the sound of the Onkyo's myself.

I found the user interface on the Denon's to be kind of cumbersome compared to the straight forwardness of the Onkyo's menu's too.

There are plenty of happy users of each brand here though.

Falcon01 · April 2009

ken.paduch, my GF's Uncle has an Onkyo 605 and it sounds good but I don't know how much better the 705 and 706 are. I recently heard a Denon 889 paired with some B&W's and my jaw dropped. The sound was so clean and clear that I'm still recovering.

If it was my choice I would definitely look at the Denon but be warned, they are not the easiest to setup/calibrate. Still, it may take a while but you should be getting GREAT sound from the Denon.

jrgoswick · April 2009

As an Onkyo fan, I'm prone to say Onkyo. BUT I have have a feeling you'd be happier with the Denon in the long run(READ THE MANUAL, she's a pain in the arse to setup/use). It really comes down to your wallet!

thsmith · April 2009

The Denon is easy to setup, trash the manual and start going into the menus.

Here is a link for Denon easy as pie setup. http://batpigworld.com/setup.html#amp_assign

Dawgfish · April 2009

I have to agree with Mike21, whichever one sounds best to you. I own both Onkyo and Denon and personally I like the Denon sound better, but that's my tastes. One thing you might want to keep in mind though is that the Onkyo 706 has preouts and the Denon 889 doesn't. This is important if you want to add external amps in the future. Given this fact, if it were me chosen between the two, I would probably lean towards the Onyo for this fact even though the Denon is the better sounding and better built unit IMHO. If you have no plans of adding an amp, I would definitely go for the Denon. You have to be careful though because you think you may not want to add an amp today, but that could change down the road if you decide to upgrade your speakers and they end up being harder to drive and thus requiring an external amp. If your decision were between the Denon 989/2809 and the Onkyo 806 (which are the Denon and Onkyo mondels that I own), I would definitely recomend the Denon in a landslide.

Rocco1 · April 2009

The onks are running hot because they have a very centralized heat sink. Look thru the top of the reciever, the bigger the onk amp the larger heat sink you will see. Onk has been known to be one of the best at keeping the important componets of the reciever cool and having the heat drawn to the large heat sinks. They run hot but its all from one spot.

To go off what other people said. Preamps are important. what ever reciever you get make sure they have them. or you will being a new avr if you move to larger speakers that require an amp. Another good point is onks new video up converting in the reciever is a great feature. all things considered sound is most important and you need to listen to them both. everyone enjoys a different sound.

Onkyo or Denon?

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