Denon & Yamaha Vs. Pioneer VSX-LX505 & SC-LX704 or Onkyo TX-RZ50

[MalVeauX]

Hey all,

The Denon x3700H is universally one of the most recommended solid AVR's right now and the past few years. The later releases add a few things but still this one comes up a ton more than the 4xxx or later even. Then there's the Yamaha stuff like the 2080/3080 or the RX-A8A series (don't hear much about the later). While Onkyo & Pioneer (same now?) have been sleeping it seems, the last half a decade or more, now they're offering rather neat AVR's but not a lot of chatter about them, so I'm curious how the VSX-LX505 (11.2 and pre-amp out) and SC-LX704 (something new, not sure what the advantage is of the amp tech here?) and then the same things with Onkyo's name on them like the TX-RZ50 which seems to be the same as the Pioneer LX505 I think? Not a lot of reviews. Was wondering if the Dirac correction is an advantage over what the x3700H has or similar enough to not matter. Curious what the Pioneer SC series is offering that's new?

Very best,

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think the bigger question is, can you trust a company that has been in the news for BANKRUPTCY?

What happens to their warranty or customer support if they go bankrupted next year?

How's their current customer support to begin with?

 

[MalVeauX]

Sure, good point. I'm just curious.

The latest Yamaha range like the RX-A6A and A8A all look great.

Denon's are still easily one of the most recommended AVR's currently in the two communities I monitor.

I used to use several Pioneers 10 years ago, got the dreaded UE22 error on my 7.2 receiver with pre-amp outs. I loved that damn thing. Gave up the ghost. I got tired of opening it up and blowing it with a heat gun. I didn't buy anymore Pioneer after that. I've had two Onkyo, but low end budget ones. They're still kicking it to this day in use daily in some rooms (kid has one now). I didn't follow where Onkyo/Pioneer went after the past half a decade or more, I recall the bankruptsy thing, and then it seemed to get smoothed over and now they're dropping AVR's with modern stuff and pretty nice specs and pre-amp out layout, HDMI stuff, etc. Just curious if these are legit or if basically there's no point considering them and just turn back to Denon/Yamaha for the budget mid-range. I'm talking $750~1.5k range receivers, none of that $3k~6k stuff for me.

Very best,