Onkyo M-588F

[tom1040]

Bought this amp. I will pair it with the matching P-388F pre & DX-788F cdp-all with balanced connections. I hope it will sound good with the JBL S/2600 speakers. Anyone familar with this amp?

[robertbartsch]

...well not exactly. I did buy a 7.1 Onkyo receiver recently w/ 130 WPC, however.

I must say it was a mistake - not very conservatively rated on power and the controls and user manual are very poor. It is not a year old yet, but I am considering pulling it from my HT.

I thought Denon controls were poorly designed but Denon is hands and shoulders above Onkyo and they are priced only a tad more.

[2275xxx]

The M588F and P-388F combo was reviewed very positively in France at the time (Nouvelle Revue du Son).

[Woody Banks]

Robert
Holy crap! I thought the Onkyo was the one to buy from what I have been reading. I have been bidding on several Onkyo receivers (TX-SR875) this last few days. Please share more info on your purchase. I was trying to replace my Rotel with something that worked correctly, but I think I will hold off for a bit. :blink:

Woody

[robertbartsch]

Well OK, here are my gripes with my new 7.1 Onyko receiver that I have owned for 8 or 9 months now;

1. Pre-amp output signal is low. For the 2 main channels I am taking the pre-amp out signal from the receiver to a new Crown 500WPC x 2 power amp model XLS 802D. The full power from the Onkyo pre amp is not very strong, however.

2. The power amps in the receiver are not conservatively rated. My 10-year old Denon 5.1 is rated at 105 WPC x 5 and it seems at least twice as powerful as the new Onkyo which is rated at 7 x 130 WPC.

3. Level controls are ineffective. I have to turn the fronts and center channels to "-2" and the rears and surrounds to "+12" to balance the room accustics. All speakers are JBL with similar sensativity ratings - all powered into 8 ohm loads. All channels have 18 guage speaker wire that does not exceed 40 feet each.

4. The input controls are pathetic. On any one given source of program material, you need to adjust the input type or the sound is very poor. The cable box sound is particularily annoying. You must "hunt" down correct signal type (Concert, Music, 7.1, TXH, Stereo, etc.) to find the correct one and each cable source or other program material is likely to be different.

5. Auto balance feature a joke. Place the microphone in the center of the room and 30 minutes later you are supposed to have a balanced system. However, it is TOTALLY wrong - a waste of money IMO. Each time you power down the unit you must fiddle with the balance controls for 10 minutes to get them correct when power is turned on.

6. The sub bass channel, fronts and center channels pop and click at randon with various sources including the cable box, CD, Blu Ray, Tuner etc. This problem is documented in various HT forums. Apparently, many Onyko's do this and have caused speaker driver blow-ups. Very dangerous to tweeter diaphragms. Apparently there is some software fix that can be downloaded from the web but how this is installed is a mistery.

7. The system does not get very loud despite this:

A. Sub - Dayton plate amp - 500 Watts 18" JBL 2242
B. Fronts - 500 WPC - Crown 802D XLS power amp, JBL 3-way 15" 2225, 2426 compression drivers, 2405 slot tweeters
C. Center = 130 watts Onkyo receiver - 12" JBL 2206, compression driver is 2426
D. Rears - 130 WPC Onkyo - JBL 2206, 2426 compression drivers
E. Surrounds 130 WPC Onyko - Vintage JBL 4312 studio monitors.

...frankly, with very efficent speakers and over 2000 watts of power through 8 channels this HT should provide realistic and very high sound pressure levels with realitive ease. It is a decent system producing good quality sound when adjusted properly but it won't lift the roof. As a comparision, I have a 20 year old Adcom 200WPC stereo in the basement with a single pair of JBL 4312s (12" 3-way cones) and it provides a higher SPL than the entire 7.1 Onkyo system with 2000 watts.

7. I've run all JBL speakers on different receivers, different preamp/power amps and each speaker kicks butt with all the other electronic combinations that I have tried. Translation = this Onyko receiver is a dog!

8. The 3/4 inch thick paper user manual was written by a small child with limited brain power. It must have been written in Japanese first and then translated to English by George Bush#2. You need to read this several times before you can master the most simple procedures - nothing is intuiative on this unit.

[Woody Banks]

Tom

Excuse us for hijacking your thread. The Onkyo M-588F is a very cool looking amp. I bet they will make your S2600's sing.

Regards
Woody

[tom1040]

No problem. Does anyone have direct comparisons with this amp and the massive Onkyo M-510? I know the differences in power, however I was told that the M-588F was Onkyo's last good amp ( at least for the US market).

[tom1040]

Wow. Count me as impressed. Quite an upgrade over the M-508 with same gear connected pushing the S/2600 speakers. Bass slam is better, mid range is cleaner and the highs.....well everything is just so much more detailed. I heard bits that I never heard before on some tunes.

I will connect with the P-388F pre & DX-788F cdp when I get the balanced connection cables. Then it will be a Totally Balanced Configuration.:)

[tom1040]

Does anyone know what the effect would be of bi-amping the JBL S2600 speakers with two Onkyo M-588F amps? What exactly would be gained and would I need an external crossover to make the most of both amps.

The amps are rated @ 200wpc.

[tom1040]

No matter. I sold the Onkyo. Bought Mcintosh. MC402 amp C46 pre. :D