Amp died, which direction to go?

[Mt72]

Hi and thanks for any input!

Years ago I was a fussy audiophile and was too obsessed with how the music sounded instead of enjoying the actual music. Built a house and decided to convert the audio room to a home theater.

My speakers are Gallo Reference 3.1 with the "same" Gallo center. I have a 10 year old Onkyo as my pre/pro and had a 5 channel Sherbourn 5x200 amp which supplied the power for the fronts/center.

The Sherbourn began to have issues and will cost $550 to replace power caps or something like that, which is more than I want to spend on repairs as I also want to upgrade the Onkyo at some point as well.

The Gallos are not impossible to drive but I also don't want to damage them with inadequate power if I get carried away with the volume (maybe just paranoid but replacement parts will be hard to come by).

Is there such a thing as an A/V receiver that can accomplish both that costs less than $1k?

Thanks again for any and all advice!

 

[lovinthehd]

What Onkyo avr do you have? It likely is quite sufficient unless you turn the volume knob beyond reason....

 

[Mt72]

TX-SR805. 130w into 8 ohms. I will want to upgrade this at some point however. I don't believe it has HDMI passthrough so my Oppo is getting the video signal slapped around before it hits my projector (I could be wrong).

 

[carlthess40]

Are you planning on selling the sherbourn amp?

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Is there such a thing as an A/V receiver that can accomplish both that costs less than $1k?

$1000 A/V receivers that can handle a 4-ohm load are pretty scarce.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Mt72]

I believe the speakers are 6-8 ohm with 88 sensitivity, thus far have been fairly easy to drive. I just know that throwing power at them as proven to be more of a positive the negative. My concern is that it seems the only way to get really good high quality power in receivers is to spend a few thousand dollars to get there, mainly because they also add in 13 channels and multiple zones etc.

I have not decided what to do with the Sherbourn yet.

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

You'll be OK spending more than the repair cost to replace the amp? I understand not wanting to repair it at that price, but you'll likely be spending 2X that to get a comparable new amp.

 

[lovinthehd]

TX-SR805. 130w into 8 ohms. I will want to upgrade this at some point however. I don't believe it has HDMI passthrough so my Oppo is getting the video signal slapped around before it hits my projector (I could be wrong).

Look at p.47 of your manual for hdmi thru setting. Your avr has a decent amp section but if you're going to buy another 5ch amp its going to cost more than repair....

 

[Mt72]

I would have no problem getting it repaired, but I'm also going to want to upgrade the Onkyo soon and was hoping to perhaps put the $500+ I would save by not repairing the amp, into a new receiver. There is no perfect solution I suppose.

The through setting for HDMI only appears to be available on the 875 model as per the instructions, unless I'm reading it wrong.

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

HDMI pass through should be available on most receivers today. I'd also look at something other than Onkyo personally.

 

[lovinthehd]

I would have no problem getting it repaired, but I'm also going to want to upgrade the Onkyo soon and was hoping to perhaps put the $500+ I would save by not repairing the amp, into a new receiver. There is no perfect solution I suppose.

The through setting for HDMI only appears to be available on the 875 model as per the instructions, unless I'm reading it wrong.

Thanks!

What features are you updating in the avr? I didn't see an exemption for the 805 in that part of the manual but didn't really study it either....if your avr doesn't have those hdmi settingss....

 

[Mt72]

In the manual it suggests that for the next step where you select "Through" proceed if you have the 875, if you have the 805 you can exit the menu. My 805 has no pass through option as pictured in the manual.

This would be a nice option, but I would also guess that after 10 years the room correction would have improved, as well as the inclusion of Bluetooth and other wireless capabilities. In the end, it still performs very well so it's not like I'm desperate for the upgrade. Thanks.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I would get the $1,000 Denon X3300 when on sale on Amazon for $599 (currently $699), or Like-New (open-box) conditions from Amazon Warehouse for $484 (actually this is what I would get).

Yeah, why spend $500 to repair an amp when you could just get the X3300 for $484?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01HL8KYAY/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

It has no issues powering my 4-ohm RBH SVT Towers to 90dB Volume in my open plan living room 20’x22’x13’ sitting about 18FT away.

My older Denon 3112 AVR didn’t have any issues powering my B&W 802 D2, Phil3, $3K Focal, and $3K Dynaudio towers (LP 12FT away, 90dB Volume).

I also had a 50WPC HK AVR that easily powered 5 speakers (DefTech BP7000, BP7001, CLR3000) that had impedance below 4 ohms.

So I am not very concerned with AVR powering 4-ohm speakers, unless the AVR is the mid-price Yamaha or lower.

The Denon X3000 series can easily power 4-ohm speakers.

 

[lovinthehd]

In the manual it suggests that for the next step where you select "Through" proceed if you have the 875, if you have the 805 you can exit the menu. My 805 has no pass through option as pictured in the manual.

This would be a nice option, but I would also guess that after 10 years the room correction would have improved, as well as the inclusion of Bluetooth and other wireless capabilities. In the end, it still performs very well so it's not like I'm desperate for the upgrade. Thanks.

Yeah I see that on pg 46 now....

Audyssey XT is still out there on a lot of avrs, altho I do think the next step up the Audyssey ladder, XT32/SubEq, is better to have. Wireless network capabilities are handy to have, too.

 

[Mt72]

I would get the $1,000 Denon X3300 when on sale on Amazon for $599 (currently $699), or Like-New (open-box) conditions from Amazon Warehouse for $484 (actually this is what I would get).

Yeah, why spend $500 to repair an amp when you could just get the X3300 for $484?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01HL8KYAY/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

It has no issues powering my 4-ohm RBH SVT Towers to 90dB Volume in my open plan living room 20’x22’x13’ sitting about 18FT away.

My older Denon 3112 AVR didn’t have any issues powering my B&W 802 D2, Phil3, $3K Focal, and $3K Dynaudio towers (LP 12FT away, 90dB Volume).

I also had a 50WPC HK AVR that easily powered 5 speakers (DefTech BP7000, BP7001, CLR3000) that had impedance below 4 ohms.

So I am not very concerned with AVR powering 4-ohm speakers, unless the AVR is the mid-price Yamaha or lower.

The Denon X3000 series can easily power 4-ohm speakers.

Thanks! I'll take a look. Always liked Denon. I've done a bit of research and funny how much lighter mid level receivers are these days. My Onkyo is much heavier due to the beefed up amp section, but I suppose weight doesn't always translate to quality (insert joke here).