Amp/Preamp Asylum

Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here.

Return to Amp/Preamp Asylum

Message Sort: Post Order or Asylum Reverse Threaded

Onkyo Reference

74.61.219.98
Posted on April 14, 2012 at 21:57:54
Mr Peabody
Audiophile

Posts: 200
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA
Joined: August 14, 2010
 I got to hear the new Onkyo Reference gear tonight at a friends house, it was driving Monitor Audio GX100's. This stuff sounds as good as it looks, and it looks great. All the pieces are very heavy with solid build. The amp has big VU meters on front, rated at 80 watts into 8 ohms must have been a joke, the sound is much more powerful. The preamp comes with built in phono stage as well as DAC. Not sure why Onkyo went ahead with a stand alone player, and to us who were listening we actually preferred the DAC in the preamp to the player's internal DAC. The player's internal DAC was a bit more polite to bad recordings. However, the preamp's DAC seemed to make instruments seem more live, or present. The phono stage proved to hold it's own because I thought his ProJect table with Sumiko Blue Point sounded better than either DAC, but being played were high quality LP's. If you are looking for good performing 2-channel gear at a reasonable price you should give the Onkyo Reference a listen.

 

Hide full thread outline!
    ...
RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 16, 2012 at 16:02:26
Mr Peabody
Audiophile

Posts: 200
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA
Joined: August 14, 2010
 I haven't heard the difference yet but my friend says the CD player has option to set the filter to sharp or slow, when I listened it was on sharp, he set it to slow and says it was a big improvement.

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 14, 2012 at 23:13:51
Disbeliever
 Whilst I have not auditioned the Onkyo reference, past experience has meant that any amplifier that sports large Virtually Useless meters should be avoided.

 

I bought a used Mcintosh amp..., posted on April 17, 2012 at 19:43:03
BS64
Audiophile

Posts: 2119
Joined: July 17, 2000
 ...because the company resides in the good ole northeastern US of A. My decision was also influenced by the longevity of the company and their reputation of solid build quality.

I removed the cover and disabled the meter lights within the first couple of months. That was nearly 8 years ago.

While I have never compared it to other ss amps on my current Gershman A-G speakers, I have no problems with the way it sounds. The MC7200 production years were 1986 - 1991. So my amp is atleast 21 years old. It has never required any service. Granted, it does not see more than a couple of hours of use per month now that the kids are active in sports, but when I do get the opportunity to listen I am confident that it will power up and deliver the goods each and every time.

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 16, 2012 at 18:05:53
middleground
Audiophile

Posts: 21637
Location: Sherbrooke, Quebec
Joined: December 23, 2001
 But meters look sooooo cool!

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 15, 2012 at 21:04:22
Mr Peabody
Audiophile

Posts: 200
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA
Joined: August 14, 2010
 What problems have you had with amps featuring meters? Seems buying an amp based on meters or not is as mythical as buying an amp based on it's weight.

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 15, 2012 at 23:14:57
Disbeliever
 I have found older heavy weight McIntosh amps with meters sound very poor not worth the reputation they seen to have with some, also Accuphase amps with meters very expensive and not as good as many other amps far cheaper without meters. I have not heard the latest Onkyo reference but I still would avoid amps with Virtually Useless meters as they have been known for many many years.

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 17, 2012 at 04:29:04
geraldm121
Audiophile

Posts: 636
Location: connecticut
Joined: January 9, 2007
 Based on your theory I guess that means if you bought the Mac utility versions they offered of the same amp (ie: a 2100 vs a 2105) without the meters it would sound better.

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 17, 2012 at 05:16:56
Disbeliever
 Less is usually better, certainly cheaper, VU meters so Old Fashioned & useless

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 16, 2012 at 17:57:23
slippers...
Audiophile

Posts: 215
Location: UNITED STATES
Joined: June 20, 2011
 Well I thought your handle had a religious connotation...I see now I may have been wrong.

I happen to be there that night and it seems the meters had a purpose...at least to the owner...he looked every so often to see how many watts was being used in those peaks and valleys.

That was a nice sounding amp. I could have used the meters back in my younger days when I did purple haze, but now, I have no use for them, but the amp sounded nice. And those Monitor Audio stand mounts GX100's where absolutely incredible.

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 16, 2012 at 14:07:27
l1945@sbcglobal.net
Audiophile

Posts: 930
Location: midwest
Joined: July 5, 2007
 I've owned exactly one Accuphase amp in my life, and was big and heavy with VU meters on the face plate. Sound was far better than most amps I've heard to this very day. Besides most of the better amps have a defeat button if the ugly sight of them bothers you that much. But still I wouldn't ignor an amp just because somebody put VU meters on it, and of course vise versa. Some of the worst sounding amps I've ever heard didn't have any kind of meters on them. I suspect that the main reason we don't see a lot of meters on amps these days is because they tend to react very slowly compaired to what is really going on. Of course there was the old led meters like the ones on tape decks. They were supposedly faster, but you can't prove it by me.

My current amps are meterless, and even if they were on there I'd hit the defeat switch. Mostly because I don't have time to watch them move back and fourth anyway. But meters do not make an amp good, nor do they make an amp bad. They're there just to sell them.
gayr
Gary

 

You get my vote for most intelligent post in this thread! - nt, posted on April 26, 2012 at 16:50:12
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 19686
Location: USA
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
 .

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 15, 2012 at 10:39:29
must
Audiophile

Posts: 365
Location: pacific northwest
Joined: December 22, 2003
 To be avoided even if it sounds really, really good?

 

RE: Onkyo Reference , posted on April 15, 2012 at 06:43:21
SETdude
Audiophile

Posts: 3245
Joined: January 20, 2000
 I read a post about McIntosh meters...they are there because people like them. Useful? I dunno.

 

Page processed in 0.018 seconds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2013, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ] [ Take5 ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]