Nothing not to like!
I decided to take the jump back from home theater to go for superior 2-channel audio when I found I was listening to more music than firing up the surround sound. I replaced an Onkyo 5.1 receiver and upgraded my Polk R300 front channels to a pair of Polk Monitor 60 series II, kept the Polk sub, and hooked up digital from sat and blu-ray..kept the analog input from my Onkyo single disc cd. I thought my Onk receiver did a nice job with straight audio...but this amp is the real deal. I'm an old dog audio salesman from the '70s, when Phase Linear, Marantz, etc ruled the world with the huge discrete amps...this little guy, especially at the price, reminds me of the sound from that golden age of audio. If you want straight up stereo, don't want to spend 4 digit money, and are filling up an average size room, go for it. You wont be sorry..it's taken every genre of music I could throw at it and sings crystal clear.
Update...have had the amp for 10 months now, couldn't be more...
Great sound.
I bought this amp to compare with my yamaha a-s500. They are both great. A feature i really like on the onkyo 9050 that i was initially skeptical of is the phase matching bass button. i call it the bass magic button. It brings to life all the lower frequencies without sounding bloated. On the yamaha i really like the variable loudness knob. The onkyo runs a lot hotter than the yamaha. Overall the sounds of these amps matched with there cd players make it tough to pick which is better. the onkyo 9050 and 7030 cd player run significantly cheaper right now. Either way they are solid choices. The important thing to note is that integrated amps crush hometheater receivers that i have heard. So buy one.
Great quality, a few issues.
I purchased this product to replace an ADCOM GTP-500II/GFA-555 pre/amp combo. My housekeeper moved one of my B&W speakers and shorted one of the channels on the GFA-555. The repair would be over $300, so I decided to downsize a bit and go for a modern integrated amp.
First, the bad: I cannot understand why the gorgeous silver version of this unit is not available to US customers. It is a knockout! That being said, the stenciled markings on the faceplate are difficult to read on my black unit, and there is no LED indicator on the volume knob! Also, there is no way to select the inputs directly via the faceplate or the remote - you need to press the input button on the remote or twist the input knob on the faceplate repeatedly until you get to the desired input.
Now, the good: The build quality is excellent. The aluminum faceplate and volume knob look great and feel good to the touch. The ergonomics are just about perfect, with the controls very easy to use. The...
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