Pioneer vs Onkyo

mara5 · November 2011

Well it appears I've got to get a new receiver, old one can't do what I want. Trying to decide between the Onkyo 809 for about $629. or Pioneer sc 35/55 for about $1200. Is the price diff. worth it? Funny the 55 is their #2 receiver right now and it can be had for the same price basically as the phased out 35. Any opinions on that? The 35 are getting hard to find also.

Sherardp · November 2011

Go for the 35 and call it a day. Some awesome finds over at audiogon also.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?miscrcvr&1327012591&/Pioneer-Elite-SC-27-A/V-Receiv

cnh · November 2011

I'm a big Onkyo AVR fan, but in this case the Pioneers are the better unit. If you want an equivalent Onkyo you'd have to step up to a TX-SR 3009 or 5009. In terms of HT dynamic power those higher level Onkyos and the Pioneers are not better or worse necessarily. But if you're going to do "double" duty, that is, if music is as important as HT then I'd give the nod to the ICE amps in the Pioneer!

Good Luck!

cnh

SRTer · November 2011

mara5 wrote: »

Well it appears I've got to get a new receiver, old one can't do what I want. Trying to decide between the Onkyo 809 for about $629. or Pioneer sc 35/55 for about $1200. Is the price diff. worth it? Funny the 55 is their #2 receiver right now and it can be had for the same price basically as the phased out 35. Any opinions on that? The 35 are getting hard to find also.

Pioneer Elite SC-35's are nice. You will not be disappointed. If you want seperate crossovers, then go Onkyo. The Pioneer has a single X-over point.

Should power most 8 ohms but 4 ohm speakers should have something more robust.

jbooker82 · November 2011

SRTer wrote: »

The Pioneer has a single X-over point. .

What do you mean? One blanket xo setting for the Left, Center, Right, and Surrounds?

NewHTguy · November 2011

Where are you getting the 809 for $629? That's a great price assuming it is new.

SRTer · November 2011

jbooker82 wrote: »

What do you mean? One blanket xo setting for the Left, Center, Right, and Surrounds?

The Pioneer AVRs give several crossover points, but once set, the X-over will be for all speaker set to (SMALL).

The Onkyo AVRs give several crossover points which can be set individually for each speaker set to (SMALL).

This only matter if you want to run 80Hz X-over on the center ch and 50Hz on the tower speakers as some people chose to do. I run all my speakers (LARGE) without crossover except the center which is X-overed at 80Hz.

mara5 · November 2011

NewHTguy

accessories4less.com had them up till yesterday brand new for 629.99 Today,only refurbished at that price.

jon s · November 2011

I would not consider any Onkyo product... I have two and am having HDMI problems with both... They want $1000 (for the part only) to replace the HDMI boards on each unit (i.e. $2000 total)... This is apparently an endemic problem with most Onkyo AVRs for the past four years.

They are also having issues when the AVR cycles thru the various inputs on its own after a few months of ownership.

You can see the lengthy Onkyo threads on avsforum.com and on how poorly Onkyo is responding to these issues. Some users have taken to repair the boards on their own. The problems occur because Onkyo uses substandard caps on the HDMI boards which fail prematurely.

SRTer · November 2011

jon s wrote: »

I would not consider any Onkyo product... I have two and am having HDMI problems with both... They want $1000 (for the part only) to replace the HDMI boards on each unit (i.e. $2000 total)... This is apparently an endemic problem with most Onkyo AVRs for the past four years.

They are also having issues when the AVR cycles thru the various inputs on its own after a few months of ownership.

You can see the lengthy Onkyo threads on avsforum.com and on how poorly Onkyo is responding to these issues. Some users have taken to repair the boards on their own. The problems occur because Onkyo uses substandard caps on the HDMI boards which fail prematurely.

Never had any problems with my Pioneer Elites. A VSX-23 and a SC-35. They have been perfect in everyway.

chadam44 · December 2011

Nice price on the Onkyo, but with I like the Pioneer better. Just my opipnion, but to me the build quality of the pioneers has been better over the past few models compared to the Onkyo receivers, and I like the sound of the ICE AMPS.

PrazVT · December 2011

I wouldn't generalize about reliability - I've had Onkyo, Yamaha, and Denon, and never had an issue with any of them. I'd say all things equal, the Pioneers sound better.

GUI, menu system, and customization-wise, the Pioneers are stuck in 1999. Onkyo and Denon are way ahead there. But that's more about usability than performance. So that's just a call-out.

chadam44 · December 2011

I definitely agree with the Pio being stuck in the late 90s as far as GUI goes, but their optimization/setup functions in the SC series are easy to do and work just as well as the Audessey MultiEQ setup (I have done both with my old Denon 999 and my current SC-25) but it doesnt take nearly as long to go through all the steps. And the reliability issues with Onkyo are well documented starting with the 8/705 (HDMI board heat problems) and have only gotten better by using cheaper, lighter, and inferior quality parts. There is a reason why the 809 weighs in around 35 pounds and the 805 weighed in around 50.

But in the end, we have the same opinion. Go with the Pioneer and save yourself the headache of buying a new receiver in a few years when you find yourself wanting somehting a bit better.

Also, PrazVT, you a Hokie out in Cali? Richmond, VA Hokie over here.

Pioneer vs Onkyo

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