How come Receivers/Amplifiers stink?
-
In our new house (well, built 2005) the basement seems to be pre-wired for surround sound speakers. Cool. Not only inside where the TV and couch would be for a 7.1 audio setup (one day…), but also two speaker lines on the outside for a 2 channel porch speaker set up. Again, cool!
That being said. we don’t have the TV or inside speakers set up yet, but I wanted to get the outside speakers set up, so planning ahead for future interior audio needs I bought a single receiver that has a nice 7.1+ zone 2 (aka the porch speakers) setup. In other words, you can use the single receiver to play audio inside, as well as separate sourced audio for another room, in this case the porch. Heck, here’s the link: Onkyo TX-NR6100 7.2 Channel THX Certified Network AV Receiver https://a.co/d/3qpOc2F
I have initiated a return.
Why aren’t there any receivers/amplifiers with good user interfaces???
I have to connect the receiver to the TV via HDMI, and ordered to have any siblings of a user-friendly menu for settings. Why not on the unit itself????? Come on Steve Jobs! Do something. It’s so clunky to set up a receiver settings, it seems. There is even a 127-page manual that comes with it.
Oh I’m returning the unit because I could never get sound to come out through a zone 2 setup… only through the primary output, I tried every configuration in the book and verified the sound of the speakers worked with connecting to the normal 2.1 channel set up, but not using zone two output.
Instead I’m just going to search for a very simple 2.0 amplifier that I can use as a source for the outdoor speakers, I will worry about a receiver or whatever for the interior set up later…
-
Maybe I’ll just get this for the porch speakers
-
@89th Each zone has it's own Volume and Mute controls. You probably had zone 2's mute turned on and didn't know it.
You are correct that no receiver has a great UI.
@mark said in How come Receivers/Amplifiers stink?:
@89th Each zone has it's own Volume and Mute controls. You probably had zone 2's mute turned on and didn't know it.
You are correct that no receiver has a great UI.
You could be right. I've scoured the full settings menu from end to end, it's very odd. I'm going to check the google to see if anyone else has had an issue.
-
UPDATE
So I purchased this Amazon Echo Link Amp. Presuming you don't mind using Alexa, this device is perfect. The packaging was elegant and simple. The hardware was uber simple. The set-up took maybe 4 minutes. Very easy to use and worked immediately.
Sure it's for a 2-channel system, so it's meant for porch speakers, or turntable speakers, etc... but I'm very happy I swapped out the larger receiver for this device. Love it.
https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Link-Amp-amplify-speakers/dp/B0798GJVTR/
-
And if anyone cares, aside from being able to use your phone to speak (or manually select) what music you want to listen to, I have also set up an Echo Show 5 next to it so that guests can use the touchscreen interface (or their voice) to control the music too if I'm not around to do it. Pretty cool.
