I'm considering buying a low end Onkyo receiver, either the tx-8011 or 8211. Onkyo emailed me that there is no difference between the two (said one sells at Circuit City, one at Radio Shack), but I find a $25.00 price difference, and the 8211 is listed as 3 lbs. heavier. Otherwise, the specs are listed as identical for the two. What is the difference?
One of my sons has an 8011 and it is a solid receiver. It cleanly pushes all 50 of those watts with no noticable distortion across the entire power range.
I had looked at the 8211 as well as the 8011 when I bought it for him. I think there used to be a larger difference that 25.00 dollars between them. As I recall, both of those receivers push 50 watts/channel at 8 ohms and I think 100 at 4 ohms. My recollection is that the 8211 had more inputs. The FM tuner on the 8011 is great and very sensitive, and I can get stations quite far away very clearly, which is hard to do by my home. I don't know about the 8211, but I have been very pleased with the 8011.