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I could really use some ideas for my Onkyo TX-NR609

Secret Rival said:
Thank you, appreciate that. Would I be correct in that you would need active speakers to hook up direct like that. I'm not saying i'd want to do that, just trying to understand because
I have never used the mobo, except for hookups to what I realize now are powered units with inputs. I think I understand a bit better and it looks like I'm in for a receiver, unless I have a backup in the scrap pile for now. Thanks for clearing that up! And another thing I realize is that your right about the lower end units. I might just have to spend the cash for quality and in that case, you might be right about going for good stereo with a decent subwoofer. Thank you for helping me out with that, Operandi!
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Yeah you'd need active speakers to go from the lineout of your motherboard, essentially the amp/s are built into the speaker. I have KRK V4 S4s studio monitors for my desktop now till I get around to building something from scratch. There are some home audio active speakers out there and more coming out, and there are advantages from a design perspective but they are all pretty high-end, aka expensive and your upgrade path is limited to pretty much nothing.

Start 2.0, add a sub later. If you didn't buy the Klipsch yet ELAC is supposed to be really good for buying something new. Otherwise buying higher-end gear is the way to go, or if you really want audio beyond your pay grade DIY.
 
I was looking through Ebay and the used prices of everything have skyrocketed. A few years ago you could buy a used pair of EV Sentry 100A's and a Crown D-75 power amp for around $100. That combination was the broadcast industry standard in control rooms of radio & TV stations for decades. As of this morning you'll pay a minimum of $500 for that same gear in good condition. Last Fall I wanted a new power amp for one of my workstations and ended up buying a cheap Chinese made tube amp from Parts Express. After replacing the junk Chinese tubes with real vintage Telefunkens it sounds great but the tubes cost a few times what the power amp did and what I paid for them was actually a steal at today's prices. Two years ago Newegg had Polk Monitor 40's on sale for $99 a pair including free shipping. Changing two capacitors in each of the crossovers cost me $30 and transformed them into fantastic nearfield monitors. They cost a lot more on Ebay at the moment.

From the cost perspective look on Craigslist for used stereo receivers, you may luck into a steal. Personally I go after used Pro audio gear because it's a far better deal for the money.
 
I am partial to cerwin vegas cheap, plentiful good sound fairly wide sound stage for what they are
but if you can score some older infinity's those are also considered good
 
Is the receiver confirmed dead? What happened to it?
 
Could be the units psu going bad, no hurth done in opening it up and check for a poped cap or a burnt something...
 
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OneMoar said:
being a Onkyo either the HDMI board died or the primary's died
as for a amp you don't need a monster the cheap TPA3116 based amplifiers will do more then you think
I literally have this https://www.amazon.com/AOSHIKE-DC12V-24V-Subwoofer-Amplifier-Bluetooth/dp/B07BKYL3GC screwed to a piece of plywood driving my Sansui SPX8000's and a ISOBARIC passive sub all being driven by that little board
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You know, that a really cool piece of hardware...
That could drive my 90w clarion sub and w/e passive speakers id want...
Though, I have no need of it and the sub will keep quiet for longer...

How is sound quality on these?
 
djisas said:
You know, that a really cool piece of hardware...
That could drive my 90w clarion sub and w/e passive speakers id want...
Though, I have no need of it and the sub will keep quiet for longer...

How is sound quality on these?
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for a 30 dollar amp excellent just make sure you use a 18/24v psu rated at at least 3A it will operate at 12 but you won't get full power
plenty loud enough to clip my cellphones fantastically bad mic https://photos.app.goo.gl/A5RRo2ynFT3jfkZB6
I bought the thing as a joke to give to somebody but ended up keeping so on my desk it sits in all its scrap plywood and sharpie glory

you can get versions prettied up inside a enclosure for 45 bucks
whatever you do do not start it at full volume or you will not have ears or speakers its more then capable of blowing out your average crappy passive speaker
 
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thesmokingman said:
Is the receiver confirmed dead? What happened to it?
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Actually, it's not dead, just on life support. Apparently, the fan is not working, so I put a super huge fan on top, and it's been on ever since, at least 4 hours now. If it dies, it certainly won't be from over heating! At least I'll get to check out these speakers tomorrow. I have a few mutts hooked up to it now and it sounds really good. What do you all listen to for speaker checks
I have a few Frank Zappa songs I like - Camarillo Brillo is great for checking out tom tom and hi hat sounds (50/50 is the song for hi hats, Ralph Humphrey was great on that album).
Duke of Prunes from orchestral Favorites is another good one, the guy was a genius.
 
Secret Rival said:
Actually, it's not dead, just on life support. Apparently, the fan is not working, so I put a super huge fan on top, and it's been on ever since, at least 4 hours now. If it dies, it certainly won't be from over heating! At least I'll get to check out these speakers tomorrow. I have a few mutts hooked up to it now and it sounds really good. What do you all listen to for speaker checks
I have a few Frank Zappa songs I like - Camarillo Brillo is great for checking out tom tom and hi hat sounds (50/50 is the song for hi hats, Ralph Humphrey was great on that album).
Duke of Prunes from orchestral Favorites is another good one, the guy was a genius.
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The fan is probably standard size, likely easy to swap, maybe a 80mm unit...
I'm an headphone's kinda guy and I will listen to most anything and nothing in particular, ranging from quality classical music, orchestral music to some good old psy-trance and anything in between, whatever is on soundcloud...
 
djisas said:
The fan is probably standard size, likely easy to swap, maybe a 80mm unit...
I'm an headphone's kinda guy and I will listen to most anything and nothing in particular, ranging from quality classical music, orchestral music to some good old psy-trance and anything in between, whatever is on soundcloud...
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Me too, I like a lot of different music, I was a teenager when good metal bands were coming out in the '80's, and I pretty much go backwards from there, with a brief stop in the 90's for some Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and a bit of Pearl jam (1st 3 L.P.'s). Love Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd (highly underrated band), Black Sabbath of course. Zeppelin and Beatles were pre teen times for me. Stones from the beginning through Mick Taylor is awesome. Steely Dan is a great speaker testing band also. I think I named everything I listen too! the 60's and 70's also really had some great one hit wonder bands, I got a whole list of songs like that I just keep adding to, great time to be young.

I'll rip the cover off and see if a fan replacement will work, or maybe I'll be lucky and the problem will be staring me in the face. Either way, a nice quiet fan on top should work for quite a while. :toast: Oh, and the fan looks to be 120 mm, you can see it through the top, looks just like a computer size 120 mm fan ;)

:D:eek:
receiver CPR, heart paddle.png
 
the HDMI board on these units is notorious for going up in smoke if overheated and the preamp primary mofsets are not much better
if I remember correctly onkyo uses a fixed speed 2 pin 80mm fan
 
OneMoar said:
the HDMI board on these units is notorious for going up in smoke if overheated and the preamp primary mofsets are not much better
if I remember correctly onkyo uses a fixed speed 2 pin 80mm fan
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I have been looking at so many 120 mm fans lately, probably anything close to that size looks like a 120 to me so you're probably right. ;)

I guess I'll find out soon enough. maybe I'll just keep that dopey fan on it a while.

Actually, looke 120 mm :D pic in a second - hard to see but maybe you can make it out in the pic.

not the best perspective, but the mount holes line up, I have to get the top off, but either way I think I have an 80mm around, appreciate it, thank you!

fan receiver.gif
 
if possibly I would either put a 140mm in the top (drill a couple holes and just use std pc fan screws) or two 120s
these units really hate life if they get hot and they run hot from the factory
that being said from what I have seen once is one to many times both the units I had where very flakey right up untill they died even after cooling them down
the failure point is usually the HDMI board (the dts chip really needs a heatsink on it) OR the preamp/main amp mofsets burnout from overheating or incorrect speaker wiring
if you do end up putting a fan on it Please get a peel and stick heatsink from amazon and stick it on the DTS chip
 
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Even though the video died on my 608 the audio is still fine. I haven't turned it off in 5 years. When the audio finally goes poof I won't be replacing it with another Onkyo even though the audio quality is excellent (especially after calibrating with the included Audyssey mic).

​

 
It's safe to assume it's an industrial fan, probably a Nidec or similar. A couple pc based fan brands also make industrial fans.
 
trickson said:
IMHO it is the only way to go. I took the CC and just went ballistic I spent well over 25K on computers and sound equipment.
And NOPE I am just getting started.
I figure I can not take it with me so before I go I am going to run the CC's to the max! LOL still haven't maxed out the Alaska Sky miles card it''s at 30K And climbing! LOL

And no some one told me once how much I had I forget so don't ask. LOl.
Been retired since 2008.
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These R-41M Kipsch are really nice, I'm happy I went this way! I wouldn't have minded some polk or the others mentioned, but this worked out well, Thanks again!

I'm now going through song after song to test them - they are also larger than I thought!
These will do just fine! :toast:
 
trickson said:
OH man if you want speakers well all I can say is Klipsch!
Nothing further follows!

P.S. There is NO such thing as a decent sound bar! They all SUCK! You will NEVER get sound the way you want from one.
Take it from me a true audiophile Klipsch or if you can't afford them Polk audio PERIOD!
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trickson, I have to say, you helped me get a nice set of speakers, i'm really digging them!
Curious what you know about the Altmos front speaker that supposedly bounce the sound up, then down.
I'm not even sure if the book shelf speakers are okay in a 7.1 set up - use them in the middle and get rear surround and front towers?

Any advice would be great. I'm using the 2 R-41M as stereo with a center. Still need to put the woofer on, but I wanted to hear them seperate.
I'll keep my eye out for deals - the $60 each for the 2 was well worth it.

Thank again ;)
 
I am not a fan of any audio processing with speakers
with decent set of speakers properly positioned
it should be nearly impossible to tell where the sound is really coming from this is sound stage and for theater the wider the better
 
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