Pioneer Elite got the dreaded UE22 error, looking at a Marantz or Yamaha to replace it

C

ChicagoLR3

Audioholic
Its been quite a while since I've posted anything here, but my receiver got the dreaded UE22 error on my VSX-52 the other night, and has been useless ever since. I might try the heat gun trick as a last ditch effort, but I don't have much hope. I got 9 years out of it, so I'm not too mad though.

Anyways, I've been looking at receivers to replace it. I have a 5.1 setup at present, which will likely be expanded into 7.2 or ideally 7.2.4 in the future when my basement is finished. I'm looking for a mid-tier receiver, with 110 WPC (2 channel at least), 4k, alexa, airplay, phono, etc. I've been looking at the Marantz 6013/6014 and the Yamaha A1080. I've long been a fan of Marantz, but have concerns about reliability. The yamaha is supposed to be more reliable, but Audiosciencereview had some questionable distortion measurements.

What do you guys think? I'd like to keep the price around $1,000, and am open to refurbished units. A local store to me has both, but I haven't had a chance to visit yet.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
9 years on an AVR is great.

A Yamaha might last longer, but there's no guarantee.

Everyone has their own reasons for choosing certain AVRs.

Personally, I have sold all my Denon products in my house and now own Yamaha.

I think a Denon 3000/4000 series should give you probably another 9 years. :D

Oh, I would never buy a refurbished AVR. But if I were to buy one, it would definitely be a Yamaha since they are supposed to be the most reliable. Even with refurbished, Yamaha will pay for shipping both ways if you need service during the warranty period. Plus, Yamaha AVRs are NOT serviced by those useless people at Panurgy in New Jersey! :D

Here is a thread on AVRs:
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
No sense in just considering Marantz and not Denon (particularly the latest 3xxx series). I lean towards Denon myself and don't think I could switch to Yamaha as I'd have to learn a different avr function language :) plus I don't consider YPAO as competent as Audyssey (but Yamaha has PEQ rather than GEQ). Consumer electronics are what they are, some will have issues....hopefully sooner than later. Taking care of the avr with good ventilation and/or adding external cooling is another thought.
 
FcBuff

FcBuff

Audiophyte
Alternative point of view. I have personally purchased 3 refurbished Marantz receivers over the years. All have performed flawlessly. Most recently, AV7705. Comes with a 3 year warranty. Pretty good in todays environment. One of the reasons I feel OK with it is that the "need" to upgrade due to changing specs(HDMI, HDCP, 4k, 8k, 18gbps, 48gbps etc etc etc) is real and ever present. I don't feel nearly as conflicted if I have to upgrade in a couple of years and kick the old receiver to the curb. It is all about risk tolerance I suppose. Your mileage may vary...
 
MalVeauX

MalVeauX

Senior Audioholic
Sorry to hear that, I too recently lost my 7.2 Pioneer to the UE22. I bought it refurb in 2012 and it died in 2019, so 7~8 years on it. Same thing... UE22. Also not willing to do the heat gun and constant fiddling fix. Plus it was too old to use newest HDMI so it refused to work with my 4k signals.

I don't think there's any real data base showing average life span of these units, so any claim for one brand or another is going to be nothing but anecdotal.

That said, of course seeing a UE22 error on my own, and seeing others with it, I'm of course biased to think I will likely not use a Pioneer in the future, if they even still exist.

Instead, maybe look at it from a warranty point of view. Look at something with 3 or 5 year warranty? You can get refurb units with good warranties still.

X4500H with 3 year warranty
RX-A2080 (only 18 month warranty)

Very best,
 
B

banks

Audiophyte
Cant go wrong with Marantz or Yamaha both are great.I have Marantz 7008 and 7012 and just picked up a Yamaha 3080.All are refurb. units and when I got them they all looked new.The Marantz had one year and the Yamaha has 18 month war.If you like to mess with settings and sound modes the Yamaha is a lot of fun, and it has better apps to play back music and stuff than Denon or Marantz .Aud 32 is better than yapo on the 3080 but in the end you can get awesome sound out of either of them.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I am a huge fan of Yamaha! I either still own or have owned the following Yamaha items:
Two motorcycles - XS1100 Special and Seca 650
Four audio units - one integrated amp, one stereo receiver , one AVR, and one DVD/CD player
Four saxophones - one soprano, one alto, one tenor, and one bari (which is my main horn).
All of these have been great performing products and met or exceeded my expectations for capability and reliability.
I can say the same of the Denon and Marantz units I have had, except for one slim-line Marantz which had an HDMI board failure. Marantz replaced it (actually sent me a new receiver) under warranty and it has been fine ever since!

If buying today, I would buy Denon or Marantz!
There are two reasons for this:
1) Yamaha seems to have lowered their standards.
2) With the new Audyssey app that D&M have developed, Audyssey XT32 provides what I believe is the best automated system for compensating for room nulls and nodes.

1) As explanation for my comment that Yamaha lowered their standards, this is evidenced by Gene's testing/review of the Yamaha RX-A860 Aventage AVR:
I love all of the streaming features the Yamaha RX-A860 offers. In fact, I'd say as far as networking and streaming audio goes, this is likely the best option in AV receivers under $1k. However, I don't like how offering all of these features has caused compromises in the most important area, POWER. While the RX-A860 is fine driving small bass-managed 8 ohm speakers, this is the first time I'd actually caution people against using 4 ohm speakers or even running 8 ohm tower speakers on the “large” setting. I’ve never said this about a Yamaha before. It's sad that a $400 predecessor from the very same company offered a more robust amp and power section than this product, which has AVENTAGE moniker stamped on it. To pour further salt on the power wound, the preamp out section of this receiver is a bit weak, making it critical to match with a high gain amplifier to ensure the preamp itself doesn't clip while driving external amplification. I'd like to see Yamaha beef up the amp section so the current limiting could be a little less restrictive and for God's sake, please give us a clean 2Vrms output from the pre-outs of ALL your AV receivers!
Like me, Gene is a long-time fan of Yamaha, the company, and that is reflected in his frustration with this item.
By all testing, their upper level Aventage products (2080 and 3080) are reasonably competitive on a performance basis, but the fact that they even produced this $1000 AVR (and still are currently producing the A880, which seems to be equivalent for amp capability) is very disappointing to me. IMHO, Yamaha should not be making an AVR at this price-point that is not capable of properly driving such a high percentage of typical speakers in today's market - they would do better to just eliminate this AVR (and, presumably the ones below it) and keep their reputation intact!
If you want to buy Yamaha, go with the 2080 or 3080 (assuming you are buying an AVR)!

2) Audyssey has been criticized for years, primarily due to some research that Harman did (I think Dr. Floyd Tool was lead on this research). This research was done using Audyssey XT which was the "best" Audyssey at that time. However, it seems the next generation Audyssey XT32 was developed with Harman's research and criticisms in mind, so they addressed many of the concerns in this version. Opinions on XT32, when run full range, are quite varied. Whether it is good or bad, and why, is up to the individual to decide and a perpetual argument here on the forum that needn't be revisited! However, with the development of their control app, D&M had a stroke of brilliance because no matter if you want full range roomEQ or not, there is little dispute that properly tuning the bass to your room resonances is always a concern. Depending on the dimensions of your room, somewhere between (typically) 100 and 200 Hz your room has tremendous influence over the bass response. You can partially address this problem by carefully evaluating where to locate the sub(s) and by using multiple subs; however, even after that, there is usually need for EQ to properly integrate your sub(s). We have several people who have learned REW ("Room EQ Wizard", a free, but comprehensive measurement software) and bought a mic with calibration file and a miniDSP (piece of hardware that allows computer controlled settings of EQ based on the measurements). This requires a commitment of time and (not too much) money. This is a great way to actually see what is happening and tune your subwoofer(s) for optimal integration.
With the new app, D&M have given us a new level of control over Audyssey XT32. For anyone who does not like its effects full range, they can now limit it to take effect only below, say 200Hz, where the room takes over the bass (known as the Schroeder frequency, see link below). A couple of the people who have used REW with miniDSP have tried using Audyssey this way and found that it does as good a job (or better) as REW with miniDSP, but only requires going though a guided routine and the needed gear is included with the AVR (except the App is $20 to download)!
Here is the most thorough review of XT32 with the app that I know of (he runs it full range for the review):
By all accounts Yamaha's YPAO is not so well developed and simply does not have the level of refinement needed to integrate bass! The included (in Yamaha AVR's) PEQ can assume much of the needed functionality of a miniDSP, but you would still want to learn REW and buy a mic so as to properly apply the PEQ settings!
 
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C

ChicagoLR3

Audioholic
No sense in just considering Marantz and not Denon (particularly the latest 3xxx series). I lean towards Denon myself and don't think I could switch to Yamaha as I'd have to learn a different avr function language :) plus I don't consider YPAO as competent as Audyssey (but Yamaha has PEQ rather than GEQ). Consumer electronics are what they are, some will have issues....hopefully sooner than later. Taking care of the avr with good ventilation and/or adding external cooling is another thought.
I did consider Denon, but I also have a turntable connected, and having a phono input is nice. I don't believe the Denons include one.
 
C

ChicagoLR3

Audioholic
Sorry to hear that, I too recently lost my 7.2 Pioneer to the UE22. I bought it refurb in 2012 and it died in 2019, so 7~8 years on it. Same thing... UE22. Also not willing to do the heat gun and constant fiddling fix. Plus it was too old to use newest HDMI so it refused to work with my 4k signals.

I don't think there's any real data base showing average life span of these units, so any claim for one brand or another is going to be nothing but anecdotal.

That said, of course seeing a UE22 error on my own, and seeing others with it, I'm of course biased to think I will likely not use a Pioneer in the future, if they even still exist.

Instead, maybe look at it from a warranty point of view. Look at something with 3 or 5 year warranty? You can get refurb units with good warranties still.

X4500H with 3 year warranty
RX-A2080 (only 18 month warranty)

Very best,
My receiver isn't 4k compatible even, so I've been running everything to the TV, then sending the signal with ARC to the receiver. It works, but doesn't let me get the best out of the sources. I've been perusing Accessories4less, but they seem pretty wiped out lately. Not sure why.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I did consider Denon, but I also have a turntable connected, and having a phono input is nice. I don't believe the Denons include one.
The 4500 I linked above has a phono input. You know Denon an Marantz are the same company? Their AVRs share a lot of the same internal circuitry, parts and room correction.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
My receiver isn't 4k compatible even, so I've been running everything to the TV, then sending the signal with ARC to the receiver. It works, but doesn't let me get the best out of the sources. I've been perusing Accessories4less, but they seem pretty wiped out lately. Not sure why.
They have been wiped out, which is why I was surprised to find a couple of good deals in there for both Denon and Marantz. There's a 3600 in there too. Great price but no warranty.
 
C

ChicagoLR3

Audioholic
The 4500 I linked above has a phono input. You know Denon an Marantz are the same company? Their AVRs share a lot of the same internal circuitry, parts and room correction.
I'm on the website now, and saw it had an input. Its definitely a contender in that case. I was aware that they were the under the same umbrella.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I did consider Denon, but I also have a turntable connected, and having a phono input is nice. I don't believe the Denons include one.
I have a couple Denons with phono stage....the 3600/3700 also have phono inputs.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
My receiver isn't 4k compatible even, so I've been running everything to the TV, then sending the signal with ARC to the receiver. It works, but doesn't let me get the best out of the sources. I've been perusing Accessories4less, but they seem pretty wiped out lately. Not sure why.
I'd suspect the Covid pandemic has caused many logistical issues and perhaps also has affected the manufacturer's service center assigned to the refurb process.
 
C

ChicagoLR3

Audioholic
The 4500 I linked above has a phono input. You know Denon an Marantz are the same company? Their AVRs share a lot of the same internal circuitry, parts and room correction.
I think i might go with the 4500. It has pretty much everything I'm looking for, at a more attractive price. My local store had one for $1,200, compared to the refurbished at $999. Do you think the extra $200 is worth it for new?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I think i might go with the 4500. It has pretty much everything I'm looking for, at a more attractive price. My local store had one for $1,200, compared to the refurbished at $999. Do you think the extra $200 is worth it for new?
Does the store offer something of value to you for that $200 ? Otherwise same warranty, albeit some slight additional risk in a refurb (and I did at one point have two bad refurb Denon 4520s, went with new for $100 more in the final more because I was just tired of swapping gear in/out :) ).
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I think i might go with the 4500. It has pretty much everything I'm looking for, at a more attractive price. My local store had one for $1,200, compared to the refurbished at $999. Do you think the extra $200 is worth it for new?
I don't. I say that because I've bought from AC4L and have had good experiences. Product shows up packed well, with original documentation and the 2 I got were indistinguishable from brand new. Even smelled new. Any other hesitation I might have, the 3 year warranty clinches it for me. You do have to fill some stuff out after receiving the avr to get the warranty tho so don't forget to do that.
 
C

ChicagoLR3

Audioholic
Does the store offer something of value to you for that $200 ? Otherwise same warranty, albeit some slight additional risk in a refurb (and I did at one point have two bad refurb Denon 4520s, went with new for $100 more in the final more because I was just tired of swapping gear in/out :) ).
I'm old school in that i like having a physical place to take stuff back if I have an issue, but other than that, maybe just supporting a local business. I think I'll go with AC4L in this case
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Does the store offer something of value to you for that $200 ? Otherwise same warranty, albeit some slight additional risk in a refurb (and I did at one point have two bad refurb Denon 4520s, went with new for $100 more in the final more because I was just tired of swapping gear in/out :) ).
Yeah, your experience was a bit of an outlier but at least it worked out in the end. I don't blame you spending the extra hundo for new, after swapping 2 of them out.
 
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