Dbphd -
This "bad analog" thing is an opinion that seems to be catching hold on this board - since I have not used the analog inputs, I am not sure if this is an urban legend in the making.
FWIW Integra is Onkyo's upscale brand (the Lexus if you will) The 9.8 was built to be their statement/flagship unit. Each one is handbuilt. More urban myth is that they take a beating on each one. The 9.9 came out at the end of 2008. The same thing with a couple of nice improvements. Again for the moment the standards are standing still.
There is no doubt that it, and the equivalent units from Marantz and Denon are "game changers". They are the kinds of highly complex, feature rich units that the Japanese have always led the world at building. And judging from the number of posts here on HT (something I never saw much of the past few years) a lot of folks are trying to come to terms with all this new technology.
People generally refer to it as "lean" - but never anything "worse". It may be a question of a preference for analog - even thermionics - or simply a question of house sound. If Luxman built one people would probably be happier... And it may be that the Denon or Marantz might suit your tastes better. NAD also builds one.
I have run it with two amps (Anthem and Butler) and found it to be very amp dependent - which suggest to me that it is pretty neutral.
Which brings me back to the point I was trying to make - it is a great HT piece. It worked for me because I was starting with a blank sheet of paper. I built my system around it and it is spectacular for TV and movies. Music sounds just swell too - but I don't use it for critical listening.
FWIW it replaced a B&K receiver - the difference it made to the room was enormous, as is the quantum leap in the GUI. I attribute a lot of this to the Audyssey and the rest to better amps and HDMI sources. My ISF tech ran his high end scopes on the audio and the plot was very good for a difficult room. He had no interest in trying to better it.
But like a lot of people who built combined two channel/HT solutions relying on bypass switches and the like, you need more then an HT solution. That's where it gets tricky.
This "bad analog" thing is an opinion that seems to be catching hold on this board - since I have not used the analog inputs, I am not sure if this is an urban legend in the making.
FWIW Integra is Onkyo's upscale brand (the Lexus if you will) The 9.8 was built to be their statement/flagship unit. Each one is handbuilt. More urban myth is that they take a beating on each one. The 9.9 came out at the end of 2008. The same thing with a couple of nice improvements. Again for the moment the standards are standing still.
There is no doubt that it, and the equivalent units from Marantz and Denon are "game changers". They are the kinds of highly complex, feature rich units that the Japanese have always led the world at building. And judging from the number of posts here on HT (something I never saw much of the past few years) a lot of folks are trying to come to terms with all this new technology.
People generally refer to it as "lean" - but never anything "worse". It may be a question of a preference for analog - even thermionics - or simply a question of house sound. If Luxman built one people would probably be happier... And it may be that the Denon or Marantz might suit your tastes better. NAD also builds one.
I have run it with two amps (Anthem and Butler) and found it to be very amp dependent - which suggest to me that it is pretty neutral.
Which brings me back to the point I was trying to make - it is a great HT piece. It worked for me because I was starting with a blank sheet of paper. I built my system around it and it is spectacular for TV and movies. Music sounds just swell too - but I don't use it for critical listening.
FWIW it replaced a B&K receiver - the difference it made to the room was enormous, as is the quantum leap in the GUI. I attribute a lot of this to the Audyssey and the rest to better amps and HDMI sources. My ISF tech ran his high end scopes on the audio and the plot was very good for a difficult room. He had no interest in trying to better it.
But like a lot of people who built combined two channel/HT solutions relying on bypass switches and the like, you need more then an HT solution. That's where it gets tricky.