Onkyo 808 or 3008? Please help!

[mkohman]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

what did i tell you on my first response to you in post 2? i eluded to the fact that i suspected that you were giving in to peer pressure and that you never stated that you didn't like the sound of your current receiver. i don't think your crazy, i think you gave into pack mentality

don't feel bad, this site and others like it are full of folks who either give in to join the crowd or are pressured into feeling bad or not "up to scratch" with the gear they have even though they are happy with it.

sometimes the grass is not greener on the other side; it just cost more!

stick with what you have and keep it for as long as you, yes, i said you, are happy with it!

best of luck to ya buddy.

Bro, I really appreciate you advice and help.. you are absolutely right.. saometime we buy things we are very happy with but feel that we may be lacking something and always look for something better.. You did actually say this in the second post I am sending it back tomorrow for monday delivery so look forward to gettting a refund. I am relieved in some way that I had the 3008 and was able to test it out in my house.. Don't get me wrong.. it is a very sexy receiver and is more than capable of doing the job for my speakers however juist can not justify the price tag when compared to my 608 which I already have.. I am going to stick with the 608 for as long as I can .. I still have almost 4 yrs warranty anyway so we will see what comes along after that time.. Thanks a million bro.. much obliged.. also one last point I wanted to ask you is

1 - I listen to movies at -20 to -15 during a movie then back to -50 to -35 for daily TV etc.. are these volumes safe ? I mean is -15 a danger zone or is it still safe?

2 - My 608 only has options for 4 ohms and 6 ohms.. my speakers are rated at 8 ohms .. is it safe to choose option for 6 ohms would that be the next best thing as I don't have the 8 ohms option in my amp? Also at 8 ohms the receiver pumps out 100 watts per channel so at 6 ohms what would that be ? 140watts or 160watts? or something like that?

Thanks

Originally Posted by lojack1976

I took a look at the specs of your speakers, and they don't need a large amount of power, but they do need a receiver or amp that is pretty robust. They are 8ohm nominal, but they dip down to 3ohms and they have an efficiency of 89dB's which is not very efficient but not too inefficient either. See...even though a receiver may not be rated for low impedance performance it can still be effective at driving most speakers. Many people in the forums will swear that you need an ultra expensive receiver or an amp to drive a good number of speakers, but this is usually not the case. Most mid-range and even some entry level receivers can drive the majority of speakers just fine. Its only when you want to listen to them at an unusually loud level for extended periods of time that you can potentially run into problems.

Most people just don't push the volume up nearly enough to strain their receivers though. I have a TX-SR605 that I temporarily had connected to my Prefaces and there wasn't a lack of power with it. My speakers are 4ohm and can use more power than yours, but even still the 605 could push them pretty well. It never got unusually hot either. The only problem I had was that it was just a poor match with my speakers. It just had a harshness and it sounded blah. No distortion or clipping occurred, but the 605 has a sound characteristic at the top-end that just doesn't work well with my speakers at all.

When I swapped it out for a Yamaha RX-V867 I actually noticed a power drop, but it still worked OK until I added my power hungry 5ohm center channel and that's when things came crashing down, and I was forced to add an amp. This is not a common scenario for most people though. I listened to some B&W 683 and 684 speakers and I found them pretty easy to drive and the specs aren't far off of from yours. The 608 should be robust enough to handle them, and if you didn't hear much difference with the 3008 at the loudest levels you listen at then you probably don't need it. The 608 is a THX Select2 receiver which is required to have 4ohm stability in order to get that certification, so with your speakers being 8ohm nominal with the occasional impedance dip you should be fine. So sit back and enjoy your speakers.

Thanks for your support and comments.. much obliged