I'm looking for general opinions on the Technics line. I don't sell a lot of AV equipment to my customers, but sometimes it's asked for. I was going to offer NAD, but the problems worry me. Regardless of the sound, returns and equipment problems cost money, and most people are not AV enthuasist.
sarandon
Unregistered guest
Posted on
michael do not get the technics or sony or any other low end name brands of the like. try to stick with the onkyos or marantz or denon or h/k and yamahas
Technics was top shelf consumer grade twenty years ago. I just retired a full rack of Technic gear from phono to CD to Tuner/Receiver to Tape dual deck. Never had a problem. The CD and Tuner/Receiver have started a new life at my friends as his kids stereo. When I bought my new gear I didn't even consider Technics after a little investigation. They are not bad just not up to snuff with the Marantz, Denon, NAD, Onyko and HK. IMHO and only in my opinion I think the Yammies are two years behind these four, but I haven't checked out their new releases this year.
I wouldn't worry about NAD problems. They have excellent amplifiers in their receivers. Harman Kardon also has solid amplification.
The Yamaha 1400 and 2400 are good at their price points for those that like a lot of DSP's in their receivers and those that watch a lot of movies and HDTV.
I would offer the NAD receivers to the more audiophile-types. The NAD's also give you the flexibility of using 4 ohm speakers (besides 8 ohms), while the Yammies do better with 8 ohms.
The Onkyo 801 is good for those that want to hook-up with their computers to play NET Tunes. That is online Net radio. It is a fine receiver in other respects too, but again it isn't good for 4 ohm speakers.
For people that want to play music in a few different zones it is generally best to go with separates, but there are some higher end receivers with 2 or 3 zone capability.
I too just retired my Technics rack that I have had for 15 years. It was a a great system with a powerful class A amp, but I found the same thing as you did, replacing it with a new techincs system would be worse than the one I had. I ended up buying an Onkyo TX-NR801 and I like it. It drives my three PSB Stratus 4ohm front speakers great with my 6ohm rears just fine. It has a 4 or 6 ohm switch on the back to toggle between setups. I have had the system uncomfortably loud with no distortion so I am happy with its performance. But back to your quesiton, I don't think that technics would be the way to go for an AV receiver nowadays.