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

[spaceape]

Originally Posted by mkohman

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



Thanks for your support and comments.. much obliged

1. Do you mean -15 of 75db if so you have nothing too worry about.

2. 6 ohms is the right option for 8 ohm speakers. If we take the ohm dip of the cm9's into account then the right setting is properly still at 6 ohm's. Also remember it's 175 W/Ch at 6 Ohms for one channel only so in real life this is properly much lower but as mentioned before by lojack1976 wattage isn't everything. Quality of the unit and how it manages the voltage also needs too be taken into attention.

[mkohman]

Originally Posted by spaceape

1. Do you mean -15 of 75db if so you have nothing too worry about.

2. 6 ohms is the right option for 8 ohm speakers. If we take the ohm dip of the cm9's into account then the right setting is properly still at 6 ohm's. Also remember it's 175 W/Ch at 6 Ohms for one channel only so in real life this is properly much lower but as mentioned before by lojack1976 wattage isn't everything. Quality of the unit and how it manages the voltage also needs too be taken into attention.

thanks when I say -15 I mean lkistening to a movie and Master Volume being at -15db.. is that ok?

I am reall not sure of what to do .. I was going to remove my listing on ebay for my 608 but its at £285.00 at the moment and still 14 hrs to go Shall I keep or sell I don't know.. I sold my subwoofer PV1 and I am waiting for my Monolith DF+ sub to arrive .. it will take 2 more weeks.. just spoke with them today.. at the moment I am running at 5.0 my M1 at the front are now on full band I am worried this will damage the speakers as the M1's shouldn't be any lower than 80hz.. is there anyway I can increase my fronts to 80 hz as I dont want to damage the speakers.. ? without the sub It doesn;t allow you.. maybe I should just preten I have a sub and select that so then I can change the freq of the front r and l to 80hz.. ?

[spaceape]

Originally Posted by mkohman

thanks when I say -15 I mean lkistening to a movie and Master Volume being at -15db.. is that ok?

I am reall not sure of what to do .. I was going to remove my listing on ebay for my 608 but its at £285.00 at the moment and still 14 hrs to go Shall I keep or sell I don't know.. I sold my subwoofer PV1 and I am waiting for my Monolith DF+ sub to arrive .. it will take 2 more weeks.. just spoke with them today.. at the moment I am running at 5.0 my M1 at the front are now on full band I am worried this will damage the speakers as the M1's shouldn't be any lower than 80hz.. is there anyway I can increase my fronts to 80 hz as I dont want to damage the speakers.. ? without the sub It doesn;t allow you.. maybe I should just preten I have a sub and select that so then I can change the freq of the front r and l to 80hz.. ?

Not sure if i follow you completely. But i usually have my master volume up too around 45 max with the speaker levels in the onkyo menu at cirka minus 10db. If i remember correctly i may have had the master volume 5-10 higher wenn i had my small bookshelves. You will properly begin too have pains in your ears before you start degrading your speakers.

About the 80hz vs full band i think you'll be fine with full band unless your manual specifically cautions you about this. Still you will properly not hear much difference since the small M1's wont be able too produce the low bass anyway.

Maybe just leave the frequency settings alone then until your get some speakers with a little more punch. If the M1's work without doing any tweaking that is hehe.

[mkohman]

3008 packed and ready to be picked up for delivery on monday tomorrow morning.. Sad in a way that its going but after hooking up my 608 again I am all smiles again Really the 3008 is just not worth the money for me the 608 can do everyhing I need . Can't justify keeping it and boing out of pocket of over £1,000.00 ...

[spaceape]

Originally Posted by mkohman

3008 packed and ready to be picked up for delivery on monday tomorrow morning.. Sad in a way that its going but after hooking up my 608 again I am all smiles again Really the 3008 is just not worth the money for me the 608 can do everyhing I need . Can't justify keeping it and boing out of pocket of over £1,000.00 ...

A wise choice imo. Save up for a separate amp or just keep your current av reciever.

The most power i've seen on an av reciever were from pioneer. At least according too the specs. Hard too trust haha. Not sure if there are any others more powerful..Actually i would love too know.

Check out their 7.1 channel line. The SC-LX83 190w/pr. ch. at 6ohms. SC-LX73 180w and the VSX-921 with 150w or the very cheap 5.1 VSX-421 with 130w. Pretty impressive if this isn't just marked jargon. http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/products/42.../overview.html

But there's also Yamaha RXA-2000/3000/3800/3900/RX-Z7 and properly a billion other brands and models (Arcam, Marantz, NAD, Denon, Harmon Kardon...).

Please investigate thoroughly yourself before getting another amp and don't trust what i write before checking out reviews and asking around. My findings were just done by a 5 minute google and i don't know much of recievers sorry but ask in this forum and im sure you can get some good ideas if you still want to pursuit this route.