New Onkyo Pre/Pro

[jostenmeat]

9.2 XLR preouts for DSX. 7 HDMI inputs.

I read about this unit elsewhere; roughly same introductory pricing as previous 885 and 886, or at least that's what some people think.

http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/PR-SC5507.html

Don't know when they'll make their way into the US.

The proverbial junk in the trunk:

 

[TLS Guy]

9.2 XLR preouts for DSX. 7 HDMI inputs.

I read about this unit elsewhere; roughly same introductory pricing as previous 885 and 886, or at least that's what some people think.

http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/PR-SC5507.html

Don't know when they'll make their way into the US.

The proverbial junk in the trunk:

May be the manufacturers are leaning. The receiver, never a good idea, is now an insane idea. There are increasing reports of fry ups in these forums from all major receiver brands. The microprocessors are now very powerful, and these powerful chips should not be surrounded by a huge power supply and seven or nine 100 watt plus amps. That is a recipe for short life and a lot of grief.

I was rereading The Closest Approach a couple of days ago. Peter Walker was put under pressure by Quad sales staff, especially his son Ross to have a receiver in the range. Peter researched this, and found that even in the analog days he could not make a unit of the quality of his separates, because of too much electromagnetic interaction between power amps and the other stages. Peter was no loony subjective audiophile, I can assure you. He was a careful scientist who had good data from all his work. If he thought the receiver was a bad idea way back, then it has to be positively insane now.

 

[Kitsum]

I bet there is no SD/CF slot for music PB off mem cards. I wonder why mfrs don't recognize flash memory as a viable music storage medium.

 

[Adam]

I bet there is no SD/CF slot for music PB off mem cards. I wonder why mfrs don't recognize flash memory as a viable music storage medium.

My guess is that the pre/pro concept intentionally doesn't include the ability to directly play media. There are plenty of external components that could feed audio from flash memory into the pre/pro.

EDIT: Well, it does have USB ports on the front and back for MP3 audio devices. So, forget what I just said.

 

[AVRat]

Guess this will be the new Onkyo Pro PR-SC887 when it hits U.S. shores. Looks like Denon may still be behind the eight ball if/when they release the AVP-CIX.

 

[jostenmeat]

May be the manufacturers are leaning. The receiver, never a good idea, is now an insane idea. There are increasing reports of fry ups in these forums from all major receiver brands. The microprocessors are now very powerful, and these powerful chips should not be surrounded by a huge power supply and seven or nine 100 watt plus amps. That is a recipe for short life and a lot of grief.

I was rereading The Closest Approach a couple of days ago. Peter Walker was put under pressure by Quad sales staff, especially his son Ross to have a receiver in the range. Peter researched this, and found that even in the analog days he could not make a unit of the quality of his separates, because of too much electromagnetic interaction between power amps and the other stages. Peter was no loony subjective audiophile, I can assure you. He was a careful scientist who had good data from all his work. If he thought the receiver was a bad idea way back, then it has to be positively insane now.

This pre/pro line has been on the market for over two years now.

There is no doubt in my mind that you are very discerning with your audio purchases. I'm sure you must be very discerning with nearly anything you buy, period.

I'm on my second receiver, and even if my present one only acts as pre/pro, I've had no issues with either. It's very hard for many of us to ignore the greatly reduced costs with receivers, and I'm led to believe it's not just primarily due to cost cutting; these affordable costs are a direct result of the economies of scale.

Of course I'd prefer to have a dedicated pre/pro. The receiver I chose only gives up Reon VP (which had colorspace issues anyway) and Audyssey Pro capability when compared to the Integra 9.8. Yet, I paid only 1/3 the price.

I just wanted to bring that point up, and I know that you know it's all crazy.

Yes, Onkyo/Integra has pretty much been the only choice in HDMI pre/pro's, since over two years ago, anywhere near that price. Once you look past Onkyo, the price tag jumps by multiples.

Outlaw's pre/pro is still not here. Emotiva's isn't either. When Denon releases their second pre/pro model (for considerably less than the AVP at $7,000), a lot of folks should be happy.

 

[TLS Guy]

This pre/pro line has been on the market for over two years now.

There is no doubt in my mind that you are very discerning with your audio purchases. I'm sure you must be very discerning with nearly anything you buy, period.

I'm on my second receiver, and even if my present one only acts as pre/pro, I've had no issues with either. It's very hard for many of us to ignore the greatly reduced costs with receivers, and I'm led to believe it's not just primarily due to cost cutting; these affordable costs are a direct result of the economies of scale.

Of course I'd prefer to have a dedicated pre/pro. The receiver I chose only gives up Reon VP (which had colorspace issues anyway) and Audyssey Pro capability when compared to the Integra 9.8. Yet, I paid only 1/3 the price.

I just wanted to bring that point up, and I know that you know it's all crazy.

Yes, Onkyo/Integra has pretty much been the only choice in HDMI pre/pro's, since over two years ago, anywhere near that price. Once you look past Onkyo, the price tag jumps by multiples.

Outlaw's pre/pro is still not here. Emotiva's isn't either. When Denon releases their second pre/pro model (for considerably less than the AVP at $7,000), a lot of folks should be happy.

The economy of scale is the whole issue, isn't it? In other words how the industry is geared. If you geared up for prepros then you should surely be able to produce them for less than a receiver. Then the consumer has a choice of amps. Best of all it would encourage powered speakers with active crossovers, which has to be of huge benefit to the consumer. In other words apart from the huge compromises the receiver engenders, it hamstrings progress in other areas at affordable price points. As time passes, I'm more and more convinced the receiver should make a graceful retirement from the scene, except possibly at the very low end.