MO on Onkyo 876 vs. Pioneer vsx-03 vs. Denon 2809 vs. Pioneer sc-05
Alright I have spent the last 2 months comparing each one of the receivers posted above and I will elaborate on my relevant experiences with each one. My "test system" includes the following:
Components:
Panasonic Viera 37 inch Tv
Panasonic bd-35 blu-ray player.
Samsung DVD-1080p dvd player
Media Center PC w/ hd dvd/blu ray multi drive
Harmony one remote
Speakers:
Klipsch RC-62 center channel
Klipsch RF-82 front towers
Klipsch RS-52 surrounds
Klipsch KSW-12 Subwoofer.
I began looking to upgrade my Onkyo 604 receiver because while I thought it was doing a decent job, I wanted to really get my Klipsch setup sounding great.
I read a lot of reviews online and on forums and heard many people raving about buying the Onkyo 876. I went to CC and purchased the 876, set it up and demoed it for 2 weeks and here were my impressions:
Pros:
As always the onkyo was super easy to setup and was very user friendly
Had all the connections and features I was looking for
Had the additional power my 604 did not have
Upconversion of super nintendo was decent
Had all the latest audio codecs
2 HDMI outs
Cons:
The sound quality was no better than my 604
HDMI switching was extremely slow
Ran hotter than my 604
Expensive
Huge Size
Overall nothing about this receiver in terms of sound whether watching movies or listening to music made me think this receiver was worth the extra money.
I returned this receiver and then went for the
Pioneer VSX-03 at BB/Magnolia
Pros:
Great price
Better sound than the Onkyo
Decent feature set and up conversion
Cons
poor setup interface
not very user friendly
unsure about overall build quality
MCACC (inferior to the Audessy)
A little light on the features
I then returned the Pioneer and went for the Denon 2809
Pros:
My Klipsch Speakers Came alive, especially for music. It was essentially the revolution I had been expecting when I purchased the Onkyo.
Same easy initial setup as the onkyo (audessy) although the interface is a little more complicated
Movies sounded better than ever.
Decent up conversion and all codecs supported
Cons
Expensive (retail)
No THX (does not really matter to me)
somewhat complicated settings
So of these 3 I was blown away only by the Denon. It was the best sounding in every aspect dvd, blu-ray, music, etc. I decided to keep the 2809 and then I found that Magnolia (where I got a deal on the Denon) had an online advertised price of 1K for the Pioneer Sc-05. I contacted the local bb/magnolia about the exchange and they were unsure if they could make the exchange at that price, because they were not a stand alone magnolia. However, they let me take an SC-05 home and demo it for about 6 days.
Pros:
Great sound quality in movies (+/- the denon? could not tell, maybe a little better)
Great sound in music (slightly worse than the denon. I felt it did not echo reverb sounds as clearly or quite as long)
Ethernet connectivity
good interface
Cons:
Weakish power supply
Huge size
Expensive
MCACC
Anyway, my local bb/magnolia said they could not give me SC-05 at the price the online magnolia ad said, so I was forced to decide between them by their prices. $830 w/ 4 yr warranty for the 2809 or $1900 w/ 4 yr warranty for the Sc-05. So I obviously could not justify the price difference for the Sc-05 just for its added power (realistically speaking I could not tell an audible difference in power) and the Ethernet connectivity (I have a stand alone media center pc so this was not too important). So I went for the Denon. Had I been able to get the SC-05 for 1K with the 4 year warranty I would probably have opted for it instead.
Conclusions: If you want raw power, multiroom HDMI, or need the best upconversion (I don't really need it at all) then go for the Onkyo. I did not feel its sound quality was up to par especially considering its price (1450).
The Pioneer 03 was a good deal at $700 and I would say that in terms of sound quality (not features of course) it was as good as the onkyo.
The Denon 2809 at $830 with a 4 yr extended warranty had the best sound for music and was extremely competitive with the SC-05 in movies. It surpassed the pioneer 03 and the Onkyo in everything else I tested. The Denon also missed out on some things like 2 hdmi out and THX certification which we all know is really meaningless (except for post processing)
Finally the Pioneer Sc-05 was overall the best in terms of raw power and features (minus MCACC which I found to be worse than Audessy). It was roughly on par with the denon in terms of sound quality but, was not competitive with the denon at its listed price range. At $1000 or less I would have gone with the pioneer.
Anyway I hope this helps some people with making their decisions for a new AV receiver. I just wanted to find out for myself on my system what sounds the absolute best in this mid to upper range price for AV receivers. I feel that many of the AV magazines have been doing a very poor job in reviewing and comparing new products and I hope my experience can help someone out there make a great purchase on a great receiver.
P.s. I just wanted to add that I could not find any discernable difference between upconversion quality and picture quality with any of these recievers so i would say they were all essentially the same.
