# Brand "reliability reputation"



## randyc1 (Jul 20, 2011)

WHICH NAME BRAND ,..ONKYO , DENON ,YAM ,MARANTZ ..ect ...HAS THE BEST RELIABILITY RECORD ??


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2011)

They can all fail. With today's cheap electronics filled with gobs of technology, it's better just to get an extended warranty, if your that worried about it.

Not sure what is next for AVRs that can make the one you got dated in 2.5 years, but they keep updating them so fast, I'm not sure it really matters any more. For home theater, I think getting 6-8 years out of your AVR and player is good. You'll probably want to upgrade after that amount of time anyway.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, your AVR will probably be dated before it breaks, unless your unlucky and get a bad one. I don't know who YAM is, but Onkyo and Marantz have refurbished gear, so some of them fail. I'm under the observation that Denon is not as good as they used to be. I probably wouldn't go with them.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

They all have lemons no worse then others depending on the model. Bang for buck for the last few years has been Onkyo and with the pricing you can get on refurbished units through Accessories4less they are hard to beat.
The thing I look for is weight, if the receiver weighs less than 30lbs stay away.


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## Theresa (Aug 23, 2010)

Yam=Yamaha
I think consumer electronics have a planned obsolescence of about two years. Things just start to break after that. Its a shame, I would like to use my equipment longer than that and its nice that Emotiva has a 5 year warranty but just think of having to lug, especially if you have poor upper body strength, a heavy amp to UPS.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
Yamaha has been on a good streak. Pioneer has been quite solid as well. Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo have all had some issues, but bear in mind Onkyo sells the most AVR's in the US, Europe and Australia. As a corollary, you are more likely to read issues about them. 

I will say that my Onkyo TX-NR3007 was the first AVR I have ever owned that has needed Repair since I started this Hobby my 1st Semester in College when I purchased a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7's. I have owned well over a dozen AVR's in that time including every Brand you list. The last 2 AVR's prior to my 3007 were both Onkyos that I sold to friends who live locally and both have had zero issues and both are close to 4 years old. My TX-NR3008 has been fantastic.
Cheers,
JJ


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2011)

Theresa said:


> Yam=Yamaha
> I think consumer electronics have a planned obsolescence of about two years. Things just start to break after that. Its a shame, I would like to use my equipment longer than that and its nice that Emotiva has a 5 year warranty but just think of having to lug, especially if you have poor upper body strength, a heavy amp to UPS.


Doh. I've read/heard them called Yammy before, but not yam. Next year, they will be known as Y.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Theresa said:


> Yam=Yamaha
> I think consumer electronics have a planned obsolescence of about two years. Things just start to break after that. Its a shame, I would like to use my equipment longer than that and its nice that Emotiva has a 5 year warranty but just think of having to lug, especially if you have poor upper body strength, a heavy amp to UPS.


As a servicer I would disagree. AVRs are more reliable in terms of the amplifier and preamp stages than ever. There are more problems with the digital circuits in some than in less complex designs, but overall, most AVRs are quite reliable. There are always going to be dogs, models that just have lots of issues. My experience is that in recent years Yamaha has had fewer of these than others, and in general higher reliability.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

lcaillo said:


> My experience is that in recent years Yamaha has had fewer of these than others, and in general higher reliability.


I have a Yamaha RXV995 that was Yamahas flagship receiver in 1998 and it is my Livingroom receiver and still to day works as good as it did when new. My previous Yamaha E300u digital surround processor that I bought in 1989 is in a friends hands and is also still working perfectly.
I agree that Yamaha is definitely one of the Top manufacturers.


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## Guest (Aug 18, 2011)

My old Yamaha broke about a year ago. It wasn't top end. I think I got it in the mid 90s.


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

My previous AVR, a Harman Kardon AVR7000, was a factory refurb and was used and abused for almost a decade. Still worked good when I sold it last year.


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## Superior Audio (Feb 27, 2008)

Jungle Jack said:


> Hello,
> Yamaha has been on a good streak. Pioneer has been quite solid as well. Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo have all had some issues, but bear in mind Onkyo sells the most AVR's in the US, Europe and Australia. As a corollary, you are more likely to read issues about them.
> 
> I will say that my Onkyo TX-NR3007 was the first AVR I have ever owned that has needed Repair since I started this Hobby my 1st Semester in College when I purchased a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7's. I have owned well over a dozen AVR's in that time including every Brand you list. The last 2 AVR's prior to my 3007 were both Onkyos that I sold to friends who live locally and both have had zero issues and both are close to 4 years old. My TX-NR3008 has been fantastic.
> ...


Honestly, my very first Onkyo blew the sub out and the AVR was in the shop for close to 3 months waiting on a part. The sub amp was also taken out when the sub out went. My next Onkyo, I bought used, worked great untill a close-by lightening strike which would have taken out anything (and did) and took out the main front 'A' channels and all others except 'B'. Sold it. Bought a Denon that was busted from CC when they closed their doors. Sent it in and worked great till I sold it. Far as I know, still working fine. The Denon I replaced it with is running as I type this and no network card failure (knock on wood) and everything works great. Zero complaints and love to give the praise it deserves.




lcaillo said:


> As a servicer I would disagree. AVRs are more reliable in terms of the amplifier and preamp stages than ever. There are more problems with the digital circuits in some than in less complex designs, but overall, most AVRs are quite reliable. There are always going to be dogs, models that just have lots of issues. My experience is that in recent years Yamaha has had fewer of these than others, and in general higher reliability.


See above.



TypeA said:


> My previous AVR, a Harman Kardon AVR7000, was a factory refurb and was used and abused for almost a decade. Still worked good when I sold it last year.


Cool.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Lots of folks have opinions about the reliability of a brand. Most of that comes from a very limited sample, and most opinions are based upon problems that individuals experience. One must be careful to separate what is reliability from what is personal experience. A bad service experience is not the same as poor reliablity. EVERY brand has new product failures. MOST individual receivers (or TVs or whatever) will last many years. All brands also have "dogs" or models that have have systematic and repeated problems on a large scale, either due to design issues, supplier problems, or production problems. 

So how is one to know whether the problems with a particular brand or model are pervasive or isolated random failures? It is difficult. Take Onkyo AVRs for instance. The volume of product is enourmous. They have some of the best value products on the market and in some areas they are a very large part of the market. Naturally, we will hear of more problems. Not easy to sort out whether they really break more than others, at least for a consumer. Manufacturers will rarely acknowledge a problem nor give out statistics.

My recommendation for consumers is to never buy a new model that has just been released. Be very careful about buying refurbs. Most are fine, but models with serious design problems or parts problems may simply be recycling the original problem. I suggest asking people who service lots of the brand and similar brands and getting their views on the brand and model you are considering.

My experience is not that great recently, but over many years, there are trends in brands. Clearly Yamaha stands out in terms of reliability and service support. Their feature sets lack in many cases and may not be the best value in terms of "bang for the buck." Onkyo has been somewhat less reliable, and more difficult in terms of service support and parts, and that has been a pattern over many years. It may be slightly worse these days than in the past due to the complexity of digital AVRs. Keep in perspective that with the exception of specific models with significant failures, we are only talking about a few percent difference in failure rates over the warranty period.


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## randyc1 (Jul 20, 2011)

lcaillo said:


> Lots of folks have opinions about the reliability of a brand. Most of that comes from a very limited sample, and most opinions are based upon problems that individuals experience. One must be careful to separate what is reliability from what is personal experience. A bad service experience is not the same as poor reliablity. EVERY brand has new product failures. MOST individual receivers (or TVs or whatever) will last many years. All brands also have "dogs" or models that have have systematic and repeated problems on a large scale, either due to design issues, supplier problems, or production problems.
> 
> So how is one to know whether the problems with a particular brand or model are pervasive or isolated random failures? It is difficult. Take Onkyo AVRs for instance. The volume of product is enourmous. They have some of the best value products on the market and in some areas they are a very large part of the market. Naturally, we will hear of more problems. Not easy to sort out whether they really break more than others, at least for a consumer. Manufacturers will rarely acknowledge a problem nor give out statistics.
> 
> ...


 Thanks for the Info,...I was thinking of buying Onkyo TX-NR 3008 ??


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Find someone who services a lot of Onkyo to get an idea about what kinds of issues that model might have. Also, find a dealer that sells Onkyo and other brands and installs them and get their views. Search online for problems with that model, but keep in mind that more popular models will likely have more people reporting problems. Models that are not as popular are less likely to have lots of complaints.


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