Onkyo Oulet (ShopOnkyo) President's Day Sale - e.g., Refurbed TX-NR709 $320, TX-NR609 $240

I happen to own this sytem I bought late last year. I use wall speakers that were already with the current house so I can't tell you about the speakers, but the model is the HT-R591

Quote from Fadekyn : Ok, I am dumb when it comes to figuring it out. Do you happen to know what receiver comes with the HT-S5500? It's the 7.1 system

Quote from Roveldude : Crutchfield shows HT-R591 http://www.crutchfield.com/S-4gyM...S5500.html

Woah. $549 bucks? It's still in the mid $300's on Amazon. I was lucky and got the HT-S5500 for $234 new, but haven't got the room ready for it's set up yet.

Cool. TY to the 2 guys who tossed me a bone and helped me find out what the receiver actually is.

Onkyo products are not reliable...I've owned this product (new one) for a year and i had to send it to service center 9 times during the 1 year period. I was thankful to purchase square trade warranty...

Having known that this is a refurbished product, i would advise people to stay away from purchasing this product...

Something else I've been thinking about - I'm looking at the 5500 but waiting for another $250ish price like Amazon had in December.

The 5400 appeared on Amazon on Feb. 14, 2011, the 5500 on Feb. 13, 2012... Is there another replacement coming? Haven't heard. Would expect the 5500 to drop at that point.

Quote from coolguy_dude : Having known that this is a refurbished product, i would advise people to stay away from purchasing this product...

FWIW, there are a couple of ways to look at refurbs, one being that they had a second chance to get it right. It definitely won't make up for bad original engineering, but I guess that's a chance you take with most anything. Looking at the Onkyo Extended Warranty, it appears that as long as you re-up for the service plan before the original warranty runs out, you can get another 2 years, so 3 years total. Hopefully if it kabooms, it will be in the first year anyway.

I just ordered the TX-8050 which I have been looking at hard between Accesories4Less and Amazon the past few weeks. Was balancing the new with 2 year warranty for $260 compared to $200 with 1 year for the refurb. Anyhow, with $45 off with the coupon and $32 in Onkyo Points left over from my refurb HT-S7100 purchase in 2008 (which had HDMI problems of its own, since fixed through a very helpful thread at AVSForums) it made it $163 OTD after tax/FS. Should be a fun box with my PC, CD player, my little Polk Monitor 30's and PSW10.

Quote from Fadekyn : Ok, I am dumb when it comes to figuring it out. Do you happen to know what receiver comes with the HT-S5500? It's the 7.1 system

I see that several people answered you about the receiver with the HT-S5500. The thing to note is that most of those HTIB setups come with a receiver model that isn't sold separately. In other words, those receivers are only made for a HTIB setup. Typically, that's because they aren't high enough quality to sell on their own. You're getting a lower quality everything with most HTIB setups. THe reason I mentioned the HT-S7409 is because it actually does come with a receiver that Onkyo sold (and still sells refurbed) on it's own that was fairly well reviewed in its own right. If you planned to eventually expand beyond the speakers that come with the setup, that seems like a much better buy. Sure, the 5500 comes with the 7.1 speakers......but that means it comes with two more fairly low-end speakers than the 7409. And the 7409 has the ability to do 7.2 -- you coudl actually run two subs. Also, you could run two of the channels as a second zone. For example, you could have 5.1 or 5.2 surround sound in your home theater and run cabling to two bookshelf speakers on your patio or in a separate room and run music on those separately. You're getting a much more expandable system with the 7409 at the expense of losing two cheapie speakers. Add to that the fact that the blu rays that actually have 7.1 audio tracks are still somewhat limited, you're not really going to be using all 7 channels to their fullest until some point in the future anyway.

Quote from yatesd : For me...it seemed like the 616 was the best deal. As a new member it gave me $10 off so I netted $253 with no tax and free shipping. This was the cheapest refurb price I could find (plus it gave me some assurance that it was coming direct from the manufacturer). Also, I suspect most issues have been addressed via production changes and firmware. I've got a 1 year warranty, so minimal risk. I dare you to find something with this level of features for $250!

Quote from m32311 : tldr; Onkyo has slipped off. Quality of units is horrible. I've had 3 units in two years - none of which lasted more than 6 months. Warranty repair is painful (no updates or communications) and slow (3 months) Not knocking the OPs post in the least - kudos for sharing... This said, I am avoiding Onkyo from this point forward... If you are looking for a quality system on a budget, I'd look elsewhere (Sony has some durable budget systems on Amazon).... I've owned 3 Onkyo receivers in the past 2 years - each of which died after less than 9 months of use... 2 of these were new out of the box and one was a refurb replacement for the first crapped out one... These things just are not built to last... I was initially happy with the sound and interface for my Onkyo units, but I don't intentionally pay for disposable electronics - which is what I consider units that last less than a year... After the first one bombed, I sent it into the NY repair center and broke out my Sony that I purchased in 2000 (which is still kicking like a champ). It was more than 3 months before I got a unit back from the repair center... While at the repair center, I had to call every couple of weeks for an update on where my unit was as they just don't let you know what's going on with your repair (3 months in all).. One day, out of the blue, I am sent a completely different (newer) unit without explanation or notice... Of course, I was at first to have this newer unit - even though it was clearly a refurb... My happiness only lasted about 4 months, as it was about 4 months before this replacement unit bit the dust (again - from a failure in the HDMI out - which was the problem with the initial unit)... Like an idiot, thinking that I just had bad luck the first two times, I bought another Onkyo that was on a great sale... This unit lasted about 6 months... This time, the unit just would not start up... Keeping in mind - I have a lot of electronics, all of which are on Monster surge protectors, none of which were failing (only the Onkyo units). So... Take my advice for what you think it's worth... Perhaps you will have a better experience than I did, but this company won't be getting another penny from me...

I quoted you both here so that Yatesd would definitely see this story. I hate to burst your bubble....but the year warranty is worthless to a certain extent. I've never heard a positive story about Onkyo's warranty service. On the other hand, I've heard plenty of stories like the one above. I bought an Onkyo receiver because it has the features I wanted at the best possible price. I really wanted a Pioneer Elite.....but to get one with the same features as the receiver I got, I would have had to have spent a lot more money. I knew going in that if I did need warranty service, it would be a big pain in the rump. Since I only spent $236 on the receiver, I figured I could gamble and hope (like you did) that it wouldn't have any issues since it was refurbished. That's been true for me. However, if you do need warranty service, you can expect to pay for shipping to the service center (not cheap on a 25lb receiver) and to wait for 3 months at least. I don't know anyone who got faster service than that from Onkyo. And, unfortunately, I've heard a lot of stories about receivers that came back after 3 months and died again 3 months later. So I would avoid any receiver or system that has an overwhelming number of complaints about problems in the reviews. I haven't done a lot of personal research into the 616, but every time a thread comes up about the 414 or the 616, it seems that a lot of people complain about the overheating/HDMI issues. I'd be warry of those models. Someone above said that the 818 and above didn't seem to share the same issues, but I don't know much at all about those receivers.

Hope that gives the next person reading a little food for thought anyway. I have been very pleased with my Onkyo receiver. I'm just glad I didn't need service in the warranty period as they aren't known for their customer service.

Quote from goulet : Something else I've been thinking about - I'm looking at the 5500 but waiting for another $250ish price like Amazon had in December. The 5400 appeared on Amazon on Feb. 14, 2011, the 5500 on Feb. 13, 2012... Is there another replacement coming? Haven't heard. Would expect the 5500 to drop at that point.

This is the time of year when all of the new electronics come out. I don't know that a new model is coming.....but the electronics industry has certainly trained me to expect one sometime soon.

Quote from coolguy_dude : Onkyo products are not reliable...I've owned this product (new one) for a year and i had to send it to service center 9 times during the 1 year period. I was thankful to purchase square trade warranty... Having known that this is a refurbished product, i would advise people to stay away from purchasing this product...

Just want to add this: Onkyos warranty doesn't cover for shipping costs. They have only one authorized service center in CA.

The product is quite heavy...The total package is 76lbs...Onkyos warranty is just squad to me...

Quote from coolguy_dude : Onkyo products are not reliable...I've owned this product (new one) for a year and i had to send it to service center 9 times during the 1 year period.

Which product is "this product"? Thanks.

Quote from coolguy_dude : Just want to add this: Onkyos warranty doesn't cover for shipping costs. They have only one authorized service center in CA. The product is quite heavy...The total package is 76lbs...Onkyos warranty is just squad to me...

I don't think anyone's warranty covers shipping back for repair.
What's 76#? An entire HTIB? I don't think I'd send the whole thing back if the receiver failed.

I've been wanting to buy the 7409 for quite sometime now and waited for a %-off sale. I read about the hdmi issues before, but figured that that should be fixed in a refurbed unit.
I have not heard about the heat problem for this particular receiver though.

No I am hesitant to pull the trigger. My budget is under 300$ and I really want the network functions. So this is probably pretty much as good as it gets, right? Someone make the decision for me please

Just a note on the quality issues. I've heard the same thing about the 616. However, I've heard that after the 616 model, and you get to the 717 and 818, the quality is pretty good.

I learned my lesson though, don't go cheap when you buy a receiver if you're serious. My next receiver is 450-600 dollar price range and if I plan on paying 450 it's only for a GREAT deal receiver not for a cheap receiver. If you skimp out and get a weak receiver, you'll most likely be driving it too hard and something will fail when it heats up. Also, don't leave your receiver in a cabinet. Open air saves it a lot. I haven't hard problems with my current receiver other than that it isn't enough power for my needs. My friend bought refurbished and just sent it back for the SECOND time. IMO, if they don't give him a good unit fast, I'm going to try and get him an upgrade and give him my receiver though hopefully that works.

Quote from thorag : I've been wanting to buy the 7409 for quite sometime now and waited for a %-off sale. I read about the hdmi issues before, but figured that that should be fixed in a refurbed unit. I have not heard about the heat problem for this particular receiver though. No I am hesitant to pull the trigger. My budget is under 300$ and I really want the network functions. So this is probably pretty much as good as it gets, right? Someone make the decision for me please

If you're talking about the HDMI board being cooked by the heat underneath, that's what happened to my TX-SR606. Replaced the bad caps and added and exhaust fan (yes, I know you shouldn't have to do this), and it's working fine after 3 years. Had I known, I would have added active cooling from the start.

Sounds like a great deal for $300. Will this have been the biggest mistake you've made in your life?

Quote from m32311 : tldr; Onkyo has slipped off. Quality of units is horrible. I've had 3 units in two years - none of which lasted more than 6 months. Warranty repair is painful (no updates or communications) and slow (3 months)

I've always found it somewhat strange that they always have so many refurbished units available all the time, but if you think about it they must come from breakdowns so it doesn't exactly scream reliable.

cheaper on amazon!

E.g.
616 - http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR...B0077V88W2
515 - http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR...B0077V88VI

etc.

Quote from tomz17 : cheaper on amazon! E.g. 616 - http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR...B0077V88W2 515 - http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR...B0077V88VI etc.

616 - $284 @ Onkyo after -20%, $379 Amazon
515 - $250 @ Onkyo after -20%, $290 Amazon

Huh?