Onkyo TX-SR603X Vs HK AVR340
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New member Username: Mail2jkdPost Number: 1 Registered: Feb-06 | To all audio gurus, Let me just beging by saying that I am planning to setup my first home theater setup. For a starter the forums here are helpful, but as always the more I read, the more I get confused. I have a living room size of 20 x 16, after considerable reading and lot of research I have decided to go for Polk RM10. Now my confusion is that which receiver to use to power these speakers. Is it TX-SR603X or HK AVR340. My first question is am I in the right track. My budget is about $500. Crutchfield has deal for HK for $499, so both prices being equal, which one to choose? I have been reading about the heat generated by Onkyo, so advantage HK. I have seen many people seem to purchase Onkyo, so I assume more online help will be there if I stumble during setup. So advantage Onkyo. Also, HK says 55W/Channel where as Onkyo 90W/Channel, but I see the frequency supported by HK is 20Hz - 20kHz and Onkyo is 10Hz - 100kHz. Does this mean HK is a less powerful receiver? Hope my questions make sense to you all  Jay |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3642 Registered: Mar-05 | Between those 2 I'd get the HK...don't worry about the specs, they are meaningless especially in your case with little Polk satellites. |
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New member Username: Mail2jkdPost Number: 3 Registered: Feb-06 | Thanks Edster... Can you tell me why you would choose HK over onkyo...That would help me... |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3645 Registered: Mar-05 | better power supplies, higher quality current (current not wattage), better music SQ. The Onkyo is easier to use, well-written manual, but that's about it...I'd get the Onkyo only if it were much cheaper than the HK and if you are not a music listener at all. |
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Silver Member Username: EramseySouth carolina United States Post Number: 445 Registered: Feb-05 | Edster is of course correct. The HK is a much better receiver than the Onkyo. To it's credit the Onkyo will do a decent(not good,but acceptable) job with surround but it it is entirely lacking with respect to two channel audio performance. The HK is also a wideband width amplifier design ranging from 10Hz to 100KHz. See www.Harmankardon.com for this and other info. The advantage of the HK over the Onkyo is it's build quality which is a bit better. Also importantly, the HK will fare much better with a difficult speaker, one that favors a low impedence or has a wide impedence swing or a low sensitivity or a combination of these. I have an HK AVR 335 which sits on a ventilated rack and with fairly loud volumes and long hours of use never gets more than slightly warm to the touch. I have yet to hear or see the cooling fan turn on. If a receiver gets painfully hot to the touch with your hand on top of it for a few seconds, something is definately wrong and a receiver that operates a such a heat level will not last more than a few years if it doesn't burn up before then. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 1470 Registered: Dec-04 | A good response to the question, Eric, and I concur. My H/K can run the Psb silvers all day and night without a hiccup, and it never even gets warm. If this is a measure of quality, there ya go. These speakers are prone to wild fits of impedance, and the H/K handles everything with aplomb. I run a Rotel 985 amp past the Harmon, but the amp is in the shop right now. I do not miss it that much, as the H/K does a lot with just 55w. |
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Silver Member Username: EramseySouth carolina United States Post Number: 446 Registered: Feb-05 | Thanks Nuck, any newbie can read any audio rag test review of any budget or midlevel Onkyo and see why they are not a high current design, actually quite the opposite. Onkyo uses current limiting in their amplifier designs, this is an archaic, performance robbing method of amplifier protection. This is why the Onkyo's fall way short of their stated power ratings. The only decent Onkyo is the TXNR1000, which I admit is excellent receiver but at 4 grand, you can get seperates for that that are considerably better. |
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New member Username: Mail2jkdPost Number: 4 Registered: Feb-06 | Thanks you all. I got my HK 340....just waiting for my speakers to arrive... |
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Silver Member Username: KanoBC Canada Post Number: 852 Registered: Oct-04 | "H/K does a lot with just 55w." They really do disservice their product by the way they rate their receivers. 55W per channel is the minimum the unit will output under the worst conditions while other manufacturers give the rating according to what one channel will do under the best conditions. In effect, while the Onkyo states 95W a channel if it were tested the same way as the HK it is around 30W/Channel. The HK rated at 55W a channel could be called 100W easily and they would sell more units. |
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Kevin H Wallen Unregistered guest | i am looking for a reasonably priced 5.1 reciever. I have paradigm legends in the front and paradigm mini monitors in the back. I dont want to spend too much money. Any suggestions? |
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Silver Member Username: HawkHighlands Ranch, CO USA Post Number: 686 Registered: Dec-03 | Jay: Congrats on the h/k purchase--I think it was the right one. What you need to understand about power ratings is that they are nearly meaningless. 35 years ago, when stereo receivers were becoming the home entertainment purchase du jour, power ratings became a joke as companies tried to come up with new measurements that gave them more power than the other guys. So the FTC ruled that power ratings had to be figured into an 8 ohm short with both channels driven. Why is this abridged history lesson germane? Well its because the FTC has never updated it for HT receivers. As a result, companies like Onkyo (including most Japanese mass market brands) rate their receivers with only 2 channels driven at a time because that is all the FTC requires them to do, rather than 5 or more channels driven simultaneously which is what is needed for HT applications. About 2 years ago, Sound & Vision tested the new Onkyo top of the line--I don't remember the model #, but it was supposed to have 130 wpc x 7. Well, the lab test showed that it barely got 130 wpc when testing two channels. but the amp clipped at 54 wpc channel when testing 5 channels. And the 7 channel test was even worse. And, yet, as you noticed, they have a heat problem--no doubt the result of an undersized and over-worked power supply!!! The h/k, on the other hand is one company that specifies its products with all channels driven. The 340 will actually give you about 5% more power than rated because h/k does not skimp on the power supply. Those are real watts, my friend. |
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