Buy the VSX-01TXH for $499 PM me. The thing that made up my mind was the info about bad Onkyo's on the net and the abundance of refurbs as this speaks directly about quality more refurbs for sale more returns. Also customer service was an issue too, just google the onkyo model number and add the word problem and you will come up with issues like upconverting, HDMI compat issues, overheating, customer service, etc..
Hope this helps
Yep, but if you look at the big average of happyness and disappointment in the world, you'll find no real clear winner or looser.
In the end, it all comes down to a personal choice. But Value, Features, Build, Ergonomics, Performance, Audio & Video quality, Remote, Gui, Manual, Ease of Operation, True Power, Personal Satisfaction, Overall Pleasure, all add up for the final decision (purchase), without even knowing most of the time what you have and what you don't.
We mostly go with what we read and our instinct. Except of course the reviewers that have the chance to listen to various models and brands, from the same year. So, we read the reviews too and we learn to have our favorite reviewers. We also check a bunch of forums to help us to make our minds, but it is very tricky because each one of us have his own preference.
So, we look for objective reviews with people that have more experience in comparing various brands. But even there its still tricky because each reviewer is different. So we look for consistency, and we concentrate on just a couple reviewers that we feel some affinities with.
And, if we have the chance (like I do) to bring these receivers at our own home in our own rooms with our own speakers, then it helps even more.
If I really want to enumerate all the faults of each brands, it will be just futile.
I'm gonna be very honest with you, I own Pioneer, Kenwood, Yamaha, Marantz, Denon and Onkyos. Guess which one is the best?
None and all, for a bunch of different reasons. In the end, I love them all and I hate them all.
So what's to really recommend to different people than us with different rooms and speakers and combination of components and different choice of Music & Movies at different volumes in different circumstances at different times in life (years), from different manufacturers with some having better components one year over the next, etc., etc., etc.
There is no definitive answer, only Peace is important.
Bob
