Which AV amp / manufacturer for long term reliability?

DeadKenny

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Going through amps every few years with faults of a dry joint or similar nature. Are there any to recommend that last for ages? By ages, I mean over 5 years, ideally 10 years would be a good life span. Not necessarily specific models, but if a particular manufacturer is known to be reliable over the long term, that will do.
 
Any answer would need to be based upon the conclusions drawn from owning an AV receiver for at least 5 years. This in turn would give you a reliable or unreliable manufacturer five years ago. The products being built now are not guranteed to have the same build quality of yesteryear.

Yamaha seem to consistently produce well made reliable products.
 
You'll get replies from people who have had a bad experience with just about every make of amp suggesting to avoid at all costs. Then people like me who've owned some amps for 6-7 years (my Denon AVR3805 continues to be used in my second room, though I did have a previous Denon AVR1801(?) that failed after 4-5 years).

I think that bar any well known issues all you can do is make sure that any amp is well ventilated and not used in a highly humid and/or dusty environment.

Also, IMHO amps are all built down to a price so cutting corners on parts that might not last for 20 years is to be expected. We all want the latest features, more power and all for less cost than the previous model. Equally manufacturing methods are such that repair is often not practical/cost effective like they may have been years ago.
 
Yamaha seem to consistently produce well made reliable products.
Yamaha and Sony are off my list from experience

As for new models, I'm not really fussed about the latest features. I can (and have so far) live without all the HDMI funky stuff and not even bothered about HD audio as my kit really can't do it justice. I don't need internet radio, streaming and network support. I've got plenty of gadgets that already do that. Just the same old coax/optical basic surround 5.1 kind of amp that will handle a fair amount of inputs and lasts. Would be nicer to have the new stuff, and HDMI maybe is easier to hook it all up these days, but not essential. Really I only need what was on the market 5 to 10 years ago.

I have to look for 5 year warranties for AV kit (and same with TVs also as have similar hassles with unreliability - 3 TVs in last 6 years! - 4 if you count one I had to return shortly after purchase due to yet another similar fault), but I find kit often fails just after 5 years, if not before.
 
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my Yam 757SE hasn't missed a beat since Jun05 and has been in daily use ever since
 
my Yam 757SE hasn't missed a beat since Jun05 and has been in daily use ever since
My current one is the 757SE also... same fault as the Sony I had before with the centre channel cutting out.
 
My current one is the 757SE also... same fault as the Sony I had before with the centre channel cutting out.

Two amps from two different manufacturers and the same fault, now that is a million to one chance, I would look elsewhere for the fault.
So many TV's in so few years, what do you do, beat them up?
Never had a TV that lasted less than 8 years, any main stream brands.
AV amps in the past, Sony (15 years old now with a friend going strong), Cambridge Audio 540R retired, 8+ years old but nothing wrong with them. My son still has one running.

Nearly all my kit ends up going into retirement still working OK.
 
You'll get replies from people who have had a bad experience with just about every make of amp suggesting to avoid at all costs. Then people like me who've owned some amps for 6-7 years (my Denon AVR3805 continues to be used in my second room, though I did have a previous Denon AVR1801(?) that failed after 4-5 years).

I think that bar any well known issues all you can do is make sure that any amp is well ventilated and not used in a highly humid and/or dusty environment.

Also, IMHO amps are all built down to a price so cutting corners on parts that might not last for 20 years is to be expected. We all want the latest features, more power and all for less cost than the previous model. Equally manufacturing methods are such that repair is often not practical/cost effective like they may have been years ago.

I could not agree any more if I tried.

I have had Denons since well before I joined this forum, they have never failed. I don't mistreat my kit, am careful with handling and I always observe basic hygiene routines for switch on/off coming from my old hifi days.

I also suspect TVs are worse. Old CRT TVs were dire for dry joint issues because of the warm up cycles. My wife was the only one who could slap an only Sony Trinitron we had in a way that would make it produce a picture that would last for an evening.

I don't know whether surface mounting technology makes a difference to the longevity of boards these days, perhaps it does but tech moves so fast nobody ever gets to find out.
 
The Sony amp was a known issue, many had the same problem

http://www.avforums.com/forums/av-a...y-str-db940-center-channel-switching-off.html

I'd read similar on the Yamaha more recently.

Someone said the centre channel issue on these amps may be because the circuitry for that channel is typically in a literally hot spot being often between the left & right circuits, or something like that.

The amps are well ventilated, not enclosed, I dust frequently. I do tend to leave on standby and use remote to power on, but then that means I'm not touching the amp and potentially chucking a static charge in it. Though the power buttons these days are just the same as using the remote. I'd have to power off at the mains to fully switch off.

The TVs - faults on CRTs (Sony again), then went LCD (Samsung), intermittent fault developed within either the PCB or power board but out of warranty and try as I might I couldn't get the replacement parts though it would be dead easy to replace either of those boards and used to be cheap. Again not the only one to have the same problem. Replaced with another and gambled on another Samsung, delivered and it had an intermittent fault causing it to reset. Replaced with another and so far been okay but I've made sure I've got a 5 year warranty but expect it to fail before that.

Going back, I had an early Sony widescreen telly that lasted a very long time. Never had a fault but I replaced it to get a bigger more fancy one. That's when the Sony problems started.

Also had a Sony VHS machine I bought way back in early 90s and that was going strong up to 5 years ago after my parents inherited it. It probably still works fine now but they've moved on to the modern world of Sky+ and DVDs :D
 
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Going back, I had an early Sony widescreen telly that lasted a very long time. Never had a fault but I replaced it to get a bigger more fancy one. That's when the Sony problems started.

As expected we've already got a range of people with the samebrands saying they are reliable and some with problems. :D

Regarding the Sony TV, I had a similar widescreen Panasonic (one of the first with 'ITV Digital' (ie Freeview) in it. I remember it cost over £1,100. If Sony or Panasonic tried to sell a 32" screen today at that sort of price then no one would buy it...it's become a race to the bottom IMHO.

You can get a Sony 32" for under £300 these days, but I doubt it'll last as long as my old 32" CRT did (my Dad inherited it after I upgraded). To be fair for a quarter of the cost (less if you allow for inflation) then you shouldn't really expect it to last more than 5 years (assuming 20 for the CRT), but I've got flat screens that are 7-8 years old still going strong, so I consider I'm on borrowed time being realistic.
 
My old Dell monitor is still going strong some 10 years+. I dare not replace it even though it's not widescreen. Nice good quality IPS monitor and faultless, yet I've seen many more recent Dells last a few years at best. Dell's attitude out of warranty is "bin it". They told my parents exactly this when their's died after a year (1 year warranty). They wouldn't even take their money to repair it. Local repairer wanted £100 to fix it.
 
As expected we've already got a range of people with the samebrands saying they are reliable and some with problems.

And not one mention of onkyo unreliability. When I clicked on this I thought there would be post after post bemoaning heat issues and dodgy HDMI boards. In truth over the years an onkyo is the only amp ever to fail on me. Having said I'd buy another in a heartbeat from the UK market leader and almost did with the recent 818.

The ultimate expression of confidence in their products comes from Canadian operator bryston. They offer 20 odd year warranties on their kit which makes the yamaha 3 year extended deal seem a bit limp. But a bryston processor means mortgaging the kids. In addition to the wife and house.

Technology moves so quickly I would not consider holding onto an amp that long. I couldn't even address the question and make a suggestion. There is no reliable answer other than to take care of the kit whomever you buy from as has already been said.
 
My next options were Pioneer, Onkyo or maybe Denon but the latter is getting into expensive territory. Not that I mind paying for quality but they come with way too many features I don't need so I feel I'm paying a lot for more than I want.

Alternative is I get the soldering iron out and see what I can fix, but I'm not sure where to start to try and diagnose what may or may not be the right dry joint, if it is one at all.
 
Unfortunately, all our AV Amps, Tv's etc, use Electrolytic Capacitors in their circuitry, which use a wet electrolyte and dries up over time. Apparently for every 10 degrees increase in temperature, the life of an Electrolytic Capacitor is halved. Keeping your equipment cool is also a factor in prolonging its working life.
 
And not one mention of onkyo unreliability. .

It's something I'm vaguely aware of, but since I don't have direct experience of owning an Onkyo amp I didn't think it fair to comment. Though perhaps the older models do come under the heading of 'known issues' that I mentioned earlier, since they aren't for sale any more the OP doesn't have to worry about getting one of those.

I nearly bought an Onkyo processor earlier this year, but did some research and came across some issues with the particular model I was looking at, though even this issue had been resolved on later models and could be repaired FOC anyway provided it was sent in to be fixed. My concerns lost me the sale though, so I didn't end up with an Onkyo (yet).
 

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