Onkyo TX-SR806: BE afraid!

[MatthewB.]

Hmmm, I bought my Onkyo 805 from Amazon and when my reciever last year just stopped working. Onkyo informed me to just mail it to the nearest corporate center (not service center but actual corporate center) which was in Colorado (I live in AZ). They had it about five weeks, and not onlyh fixed the problem (cold solder joint problem) but updated the firmware to 1.8 and fixed the fuse problem with the display, with the only cost to me was the cost to ship to Colorado.

Although mine runs very hot, I placed a small two way computer fan on the right rear portion (where video processing chips are) and also placed a regular 4" fan blowing over the top on the left side. I have mine on the top shelf of my Bell'O rack where it is open on all sides and has 8" of clearence above the unit. My Onkyo has never gotten more than luke warm since then.

 

[krzywica]

Hmmm, I bought my Onkyo 805 from Amazon and when my reciever last year just stopped working. Onkyo informed me to just mail it to the nearest corporate center (not service center but actual corporate center) which was in Colorado (I live in AZ). They had it about five weeks, and not onlyh fixed the problem (cold solder joint problem) but updated the firmware to 1.8 and fixed the fuse problem with the display, with the only cost to me was the cost to ship to Colorado.

Although mine runs very hot, I placed a small two way computer fan on the right rear portion (where video processing chips are) and also placed a regular 4" fan blowing over the top on the left side. I have mine on the top shelf of my Bell'O rack where it is open on all sides and has 8" of clearence above the unit. My Onkyo has never gotten more than luke warm since then.

The point is that you should not have to take these measures with a consumer product. I can see if it was a product aimed at the modding community, but this is a product that voids the warranty if you pop open the case. There is no excuse for such poor engineering.

Products that are heat sensitive are engineered with an ambient thermal temp range in the specs. They must have designed these things at the north pole or something.

 

[bandphan]

The point is that you should not have to take these measures with a consumer product. I can see if it was a product aimed at the modding community, but this is a product that voids the warranty if you pop open the case. There is no excuse for such poor engineering.

Products that are heat sensitive are engineered with an ambient thermal temp range in the specs. They must have designed these things at the north pole or something.

Guess I need to stop modding routers talk about heat

 

[tom67]

Aside from the Mfg warranty which is an expressed warranty, you have other rights. Frankly, I would direct a notice to their insurance dept. and notify them of of a fire liability claim. This is a separate action that has nothing to do with the expressed warranty...in every state, there is a statute which controls the period to pursue such an action....

 

[jostenmeat]

Like TLSGuy said, they are packing way too many things in one box. My next receiver would have everything my 4308 has including the power, but no wifi and only HDMI pass through.

I would love a bare bones pre/pro, with only an accompanying Audyssey suite (XT, Dyn vol/eq, pro capability, DSX). I don't need a tuner, wifi, video processing, etc. I am pretty sure this is not coming soon.

The point is that you should not have to take these measures with a consumer product. I can see if it was a product aimed at the modding community, but this is a product that voids the warranty if you pop open the case. There is no excuse for such poor engineering.

Who said we had to? I don't. Sure, I could have opted for the nearest equivalent in features, namely the Denon 3808/4308, but I just didn't want to pay 2 to 3 times more for that reputation. Yes, the good reputation IS desirable, and I'm waiting for a Denon pre/pro, but I am afraid it will be well north of $3,000. It might very well keep me returning to Onkyo/Integra for half the price, or less. Then it would be my third Onkyo in a row. I like trying new brands, as I'm not about "loyalty" so much.

Products that are heat sensitive are engineered with an ambient thermal temp range in the specs. They must have designed these things at the north pole or something.

I'm not worried about it.

Where did the OP go anyways? Post 'n run?

 

[Adam]

Where did the OP go anyways? Post 'n run?

Nah, he/she stuck around for a good two minutes.

 

[TLS Guy]

The OP did post on Amazon so I think he is legit. There are 116 reviews on Amazon on this receiver. Most are favorable, although there are an unusually high number of unfavorable.

There is another report of fire. This one also caused a speaker to burst into flames at the same time. This is not good.

There was one event of severe over heating that took down the mains transformer and apparently Onkyo have had the part back ordered for months to the warranty center.

There are other complaints of it being very hot, especially when driving four ohm speakers, so much for their THX cert. The customer said the receiver got very hot and shut down with his speakers, so he used an external amp for the mains. He says the receiver still runs very hot, but does not shut down with that arrangement.

There is another complaint of severe heat not solved by having a fan blow over it. The owner thought the unit runs hot enough to cause a fire and is afraid of the unit.

There are quite a few complaints about video quality.

So the fire rate is approaching 2% in the amazon reviews, with a speaker toasted to boot.

Seems this unit may require a recall. I suspect this may be a reason Onkyo are uncooperative with warranty and want ot blame the customer for fear of a costly recall.

I think this device likely is dangerous and should probably be recalled.

 

[Knucklehead90]

Interesting.
Buying something on Amazon does not automatically qualify it for an Onkyo warranty. There are many sellers that are not authorized selling on the internet - and ebay.

I find it unlikely that Onkyo would shrug off their obligation for no reason. I understand they often have customer service problems - however the one time I needed that service it was quick and very pleasant. They swapped out an SC885 and in very quick fashion - even paid the freight both ways. I guess I was lucky.

As for the bursting into fire - its something that does need to be looked into. If this were a car the Feds would be all over it.

 

[sholling]

The point is that you should not have to take these measures with a consumer product. I can see if it was a product aimed at the modding community, but this is a product that voids the warranty if you pop open the case. There is no excuse for such poor engineering.

Products that are heat sensitive are engineered with an ambient thermal temp range in the specs. They must have designed these things at the north pole or something.

Let's be realistic. Every manufacturer makes you play by warranty rules. Just try to get Denon to repair products that you bought at Costco. They'll laugh at you and tell you to buy from an authorized dealer next time, and I seriously doubt that they are sending anyone to your door to fix it even if you did buy from a factory authorized dealer. That means shipping it to a repair center just like Onkyo has you do so what's the problem? Am I missing something? As far as opening the case... I'd void your warranty to. I don't want customers poking fingers into bits and then sending me a bill for what they screw up. That's perfectly reasonable.

Let's also be realistic about heat - Onkyo packs in more bang for the buck than anyone else and their products seem to perform reliably for 99.99% of their customers. Here we have an isolated incident that is being blown out of all proportion. Unless I'm missing some bit of news this is one device catching fire not hundreds. It's happened with every kind of product from toaster ovens to TVs from every manufacturer. We can start talking about systemic problems when it becomes common. Since this is the first Onkyo receiver that fire I've heard of catching fire I think I'm safe in assuming it's not very common. Have you heard about dozens more catching fire?

Also keep in mind that as frustrating as any company can be to deal with you always have the option of kicking the problem up stairs. I had a problem with another electronics company's products and when customer service blew me off I wrote the CEO. A week later a vice president contacted me to make things right. Companies value their reputation and usually try to make things right.

 

[binary fly]

Smooth 2222,

I believe the 807 is having some of the same issues. Just give it a lot of room, and you might consider an external fan, as some have mentioned. I wish we had, but I doubt it would have saved ours, as it had lots of ventilation, in a completely open stand. I believe it was inevitable, the thing would blow, fan, or not. It simply couldn't handle the job without wanting to ignite.

There were some clues before the dreaded incident. I distinctly remember many times commenting that the unit 'smelled' too hot. When I noticed that smell, it would be almost too hot to touch. We'd just shrug it off, because considering Onkyo's history, we expected the unit to run 'HOT.' I mean, c'mon, how HOT is too hot? It didn't come with a temperature gauge .

I think warm, to moderately hot is one thing, but when your receiver is so hot it smells and you could fry eggs on top of it, you're destined for trouble. If yours is not doing this, you may be okay, but I'd never leave an Onkyo receiver unattended and I'd watch it with the eye of a hawk. I truly hate to see anyone else to go through our experience.

 

[binary fly]

Sholling,

With all due respect, I take exception with you stating that Onkyo users are 99.99% satisfied, and that our situation is being blown-out-of-proportion. Do you work for
Onkyo? Because if you don't and you'd read any of the reviews for this product, you'd know that this was NOT an unusual occurrence. It is, indeed, beginning to look like a brewing, systemic problem. Check Amazon reviewers out for the 806. We are NOT the only one. And, those reviewers will also make it clear that Onkyo customer service is poor, at best.

 

[jostenmeat]

It didn't come with a temperature gauge .

This worked for the previous generation, so I figure it would for x06 as well:

Turn on the unit. Press the display button and while holding it down, press the power button once. Release the display button and then hit the tone button once. It will bring up the temp on the display and you can monitor it and see how high it goes.

I'm sorry for your troubles. Assuming it's under warranty, I hope Onkyo takes care of you. Keep us posted.

Just out of curiosity, may I ask how loud you were playing stuff, and with what speakers? (Not that this should ever happen, that's what protect mode is for, I'm just curious is all, thanks.)

 

[jostenmeat]

Sholling,

With all due respect, I take exception with you stating that Onkyo users are 99.99% satisfied, and that our situation is being blown-out-of-proportion. Do you work for
Onkyo? Because if you don't and you'd read any of the reviews for this product, you'd know that this was NOT an unusual occurrence. It is, indeed, beginning to look like a brewing, systemic problem. Check Amazon reviewers out for the 806. We are NOT the only one. And, those reviewers will also make it clear that Onkyo customer service is poor, at best.

In defense of Sholling, he did state he hasn't read of this happening before. I, OTOH, have. I have also read of other brands of amps bursting into flames too. However, I would now note that when a poster shares this terrible story, they often are a first-time poster. Case in point right here.

So, whatever the % might be for this case might be, and 2% is way too high, I would easily suspect that a much greater proportion of those with such issue will report it publicly, whereas the great majority of owners never have posted anything at all, be it here, Amazon, anywhere.

This is an not excuse for your unit, but adding a wee bit of perspective.

 

[binary fly]

I was not pushing the unit hard; I was just listening to a CD at low to moderate level. My system consists of: a Panasonic 58" plasma TV, PS3, Wii, Cable/DVR and Aperion speakers. It was really sweet, until the Onkyo situation. And, I need to introject, that I loved the Onkyo running our system. We were enjoying a stellar
AV experience. There were absolutely NO gripes, except the heat issue.

 

[Ares]

I will ask you guys does any of the receivers that have been released this year have a built in fan? this just came to me while I had the TV on mute and I could hear the fan going.

 

[jostenmeat]

I will ask you guys does any of the receivers that have been released this year have a built in fan? this just came to me while I had the TV on mute and I could hear the fan going.

My 805 has a fan, and I've never noticed it being triggered (designed to at a specific temperature, forget what though). My NAD T973 mch amp has a fan, that is rather easily audible, but I think I've only triggered that once or twice, when connected to electrostats that drop to 0.7 ohm, back when they were part of the HT.

Some Aperion speakers have extremely low sensitivity. I think like . . 81 db/2.83/m ? Can't quite recall.

 

[binary fly]

Adam, I'm a 'she,' posting on behalf of my husband and I (just because I'm a better typist than him); we weren't just posting a hit-and-run . I can understand those concerns, though, since we are new to the forum. I can assure you, that our story is the whole truth, and nothing but. We were simply compelled to
post out of our deep disappointment, and concerns for others.

When we were first searching for a receiver, the Onkyo was reported to run very hot, but we didn't find
any reviews of them burning-out. Now they're coming in. If we had seen those, before purchasing, we
would have looked elsewhere, to be sure. I've read hundreds of reviews for other receivers, and several
have reported 'running hot,' but I haven't read any with reports such as ours, and those of other
1 star reviewers on Amazon.

If there wasn't ample evidence that this is a serious problem, we'd just chalk our experience off to acquiring a lemon and wouldn't reject Onkyo, entirely, because we loved the receiver. However, we're convinced, that if many more of these reports come in, that this is a product to avoid, that might eventually fit criteria to be recalled.

We will work with the legal department at Amazon, but if Onkyo offers us another receiver, we'd be hesitant to take it. We wouldn't feel safe with another one in our home. So, our search is on for a replacement; we'll just likely have to grin-and-bear, the financial loss.

We're also hoping no damage was done to our speakers, since this has happened to another reviewer on Amazon. We won't know until we get a new receiver and are up-and-running. If the speakers are damaged, that would be the straw...

 

[binary fly]

I didn't know you could get a temperature reading. You'd think that you'd get an automatic 'overheating' warning, or that the unit would simply shut itself down.

A friend was complaining that her cable/DVR box has been giving her 'overheating'
warnings. If the darn cable box can do this, why can't the receivers, particularly
when they're about to blow.

 

[Adam]

Adam, I'm a 'she,' and didn't disappear ;-).

It's good to see you back, btw! Sometimes people do a post-and-run, never to be seen again.

I haven't been following this whole thread, but I want to wish you luck on getting this issue taken care of, and I'm very glad that nobody was hurt.

 

[Knucklehead90]

I'm still curious about the warranty aspect of this. There must be a reason why Onkyo refused to honor the warranty. It all depends on whether Amazon - or the dealer that pedaled the Onkyo on Amazon was an authorized dealer. If they weren't then the OP has a conversational door stop.

As an avid amateur photographer and Nikon user I know well how that goes. Nikon USA is not Nikon the company - they are an importer of Nikon products and record each and every serial number of every item they import from Nikon. If I buy a 'gray market' lens or camera body they will not warrant it - they won't even fix it no matter how much you offer them. They have a contract with Nikon and a very good one at that as the exclusive importer of Nikon products.

I suspect Onkyo USA is a very similar company. I did a lookup on the Onkyo website for authorized dealers - Amazon is listed - however there are many dealers that sell through Amazon that may not be.

So - a warning to everyone looking to buy - if that low price seems a bit too good it may be for good reason. Products imported to the USA outside of Onkyo USA may never be warrantied by them.

I'm waiting for the OP to fill us in on who exactly they bought this AVR from - a dealer on Amazon - or directly from Amazon?