A Onkyo A-9010 question

[killdozzer]

I didn't want to clog the forum with same topics, that's why I tried to ask this in an already existing thread.

I read all I could find and I read what you said here.

I'm not expecting anyone to break a sweat here, just from the top of your head:

Since it is a somewhat old unit, is there a better option under 300$ among Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer, Onkyo and such that you can think of right away?

It is for a friend of mine. He likes stereo music and he plays movies through this stereo set up. He's far from a bass-head. He plays old records and this Onkyo seems to have an acceptable phono stage. He likes headphones, and this model has a built-in DAC that can be utilized over a RCA or optical cable. He plans to hook his desktop PC to one of these to play digital files.

 

[Alex2507]

I found the onk on Amazon. Initially I wanted 2 of them. That's a lot of rec'r for $229. I really did look at a couple, three links and the wattage didn't seem to be one of their selling points so what exactly would 20 or 30 watts more be?

I guess my older Yamaha rec'rs are probably worth about as much as the onk but they boast about their bang for the buck amp sections. Connectivity takes a hit because of their age.

I'm pretty sure I've heard a rec'r running out of gas with some speakers that were kind of hard to drive around 90 Hz. That sh!t starts to sound ugly quick. Buying the cheapest rec'r that the cheapest company has to offer is never going to get a nod from the Marks, well, 1 Mark now.

 

[PENG]

That should be fine for small room and 8 ohm speakers. If he can stretch his budget and wait, I highly recommend the NAD C326BEE. I got my new in the box from an authorized dealer for CAD499. A deal like that on something like the C326BEE, plus a $10-$200 ext DAC will get him sound quality that could compete with a $2,000 integrated with build in DAC.

 

[KEW]

If he is willing to take advantage of buying factory refurbished (as in refurbbed by Yamaha or Onkyo, etc themselves) gear, here are some options to consider:
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/stereoreceivers/home-audio/receivers-amps/stereo-receivers/1.html?
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/integratedamp/home-audio/receivers-amps/integrated-amps/1.html

What speakers is he driving? Do you have any idea of their efficiency? I assume no sub?

However, since he is going to use it with a TV, anyway, I think the deal would be to find an older HT unit off of Craigslist.
Something like a Marantz SR6001 or Denon AVR-2308ci (two models I know) is old enough to have a phono section and new enough to have good bass management/Audyssey MultEQ. He could probably get something like this for ~$100.
You say he is not a bass head and I get that, I am not either. However unless he has pretty full range speakers, I would recommend adding an inexpensive sub for movies just for the fun of it and bypassing sub for music! Dayton Audio SUB-1200 would add a lot of Oomph (and is also a reasonably well balanced sub to experiment with for playing music) for $135.

Give us a link to the local Craig's list and we'll check it!

 

[killdozzer]

@Alex2507 @PENG @KEW
Guys, thanks a lot. Your recommendations are great.

Alex2507, I thought it could be a bit weak. That's why I said it could use 20-30W more per ch. Thanks for the advice, though. You backed me up.

PENG, he loves NAD, really loves it, but I feel that 300 US$ was a stretch in itself because Onkyo sells for 200 US$. Another thing, it's nice when you're in Canada. My country is a bit F'd up. Just for example; a speaker first released in 2013 still costs 100€ more than in any neighboring country. Our stores usually look like they pay retail price and then try to earn something. That's not on you, of course, I just tried to explain why waiting won't do him any good; the amp you got costs 813CAD here. On Christmas sales they'll put 713CAD and call it a discount.

Which leads me to KEW (thanks again for the input), no factory refurbished deals here, sorry to say. I know that a lot of deals you get I can't and that's why I tried to circumvent these market differences an just ask for a regular price of one of those global brands. And I would never bother you to go through my local Craig's, there's nothing there, please take my word for it.

These are my friend's speakers. I read that as well, although I can't understand everything. I can understand sentences like: "Wimpy amplifiers need not apply for the job of driving this speaker."

I wanted to rub against your knowledge of the market (it is one thing to learn to read specs and another to find a unit with desired specs only to find out it is not available here), so, I tried to go the other way around; if you were looking to improve on an Onkyo A-9010 today, for a sum of >300 US$, and you were looking for much the same thing like Onkyo A-9010 perhaps with a feature or two more or a couple of Watts more and you're looking among the biggest companies (Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, Pioneer, Onkyo) what would it be?

I'm very sorry if I sound ungrateful, it's not my intention. When I seek some advice here I always have to try to ask in such a fashion to exclude Emotiva, your local deals, Outlaw, 40 days trial, anything refurbished (I'm sorry to say we are probably one of those countries where refurbished is sold as new with no oversight), Internet direct sales and so on.

And really, don't go comparing spec. sheets, only if you know of some good entry level deal from these companies. I'll go comparing spec. sheets if needed, it's for my friend after all.

A big thanks to all of you.

EDIT: sorry, I just saw that the link to my friends speakers didn't work. It's working now.

 

[KEW]

"The wimpy amplifiers need not apply" pretty well says it!
Finding a competent integrated amp for under $300 is a tough target!
I would try to increase budget to the Onkyo A9050.

However, if the budget is not flexible, the Onkyo is probably as good as it gets in a proper integrated amp.

The Behringer A500 would fill the bill in a very basic setup, but no joy for DAC or phono section, so I don't think that is of any use.
https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-A500-BEHRINGER/dp/B000CZ0RL0/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1503520279&sr=1-1&keywords=a500+behringer

Both Yamaha and Sony have some inexpensive stereo receivers, but I have no idea how they would fare driving those speakers. They only give 8 Ohm power ratings and I'm not sure about DAC or phono.

A9010:

Nothing to get excited about in the interior that I can detect. Difficult to guess the size of the capacitors.
I do like that the heatsink is not folded aluminum sheet metal like I see in some low priced units (but for all I know folded sheet may work better, lol).

Sorry I couldn't offer more help!

PS - one thing to watch for is to be sure you have the DAC. Looking at images of the rear panel of the A9010, some have optical inputs and some don't, but in both cases, the panel is clearly labeled A9010. I don't know if different features for different regions or if they simply updated the receiver. However, usually an update would get some sort of model change (like mk2 or gen.2, etc).