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Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

asia.nikkei.com

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Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#251

Post by aembleton »

thaway2839 wrote: post #110
chmod600 wrote: post #77

There's no doubt that, for a lot of people, there is just a better convenience/quality trade-off. I had a good size Onkyo system for watching movies and I configured it meticulously. But it's hard to explain to others why there is so much ceremony and bulk, especially when watching habits degenerate from immersive movies to binge watching netflix serieses. Part of the experience with hobbies is some kind of sacrifice…

I think this is increasingly true of us as a society. We have been consistently elevating "ease of use" over every other objective and/or subjective quality. We've reached the point where easier is better, even if it is objectively worse. We are all settling for local maximum that are significantly lower than several other maxima because apparently making the effort to move further along the x-axis is now almost cons…

> We've reached the point where easier is better, even if it is objectively worse.

Maybe other peoples metrics place greater weighting on ease of use.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#252

Post by HelloNurse »

batiudrami wrote: post #188
cookingrobot wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought an Onkyo 5.1 receiver at a garage sale yesterday for $5. This house I moved into has prewired surround speakers and I felt like I should take advantage. What a hassle though, I can’t get audio flowing from the tv, can’t get it to drive all the speakers, it runs super hot. It really seems like a hardware hobby more than a way to enjoy movies so far.

Unfortunately a modern receiver is worth the money. A modern one will have Bluetooth and Wifi connection, so you can stream and control music direct from your phone or computer in another room. On the TV side, a modern receiver probably has built in chromecast. It will support eArc so your TV can control the receiver directly - when watching TV you don't need to use the receiver remote at all, it will switch sources…

> A modern one will have Bluetooth and Wifi connection, so you can stream and control music direct from your phone or computer in another room.

Watching any video or listening to hi-fi audio from another room is, to put it mildly, undesirably suboptimal: this is what I'd call an attack surface, not a feature.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#253

Post by Terry_Roll »

rob74 wrote: post #95
layer8 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I partly agree. Though once you do have a working setup and know which buttons to press, there isn’t a lot of inconvenience anymore, apart from being bound to the particular room. The problem for the industry is more that an important target group for them are A/V nerds who are never satisfied for long with their setup and are always looking for the next best thing to upgrade to, and which also serve as a multiplicat…

That's the problem though - the people who treat "listening to music" as an activity of its own are getting fewer and fewer. I listen to a lot of music, but I mostly do it while commuting, while programming etc., not in the living room. I even have a good old stereo that's served me well for over 20 years now (Sony, not Onkyo), but it mostly only serves as better PC speakers nowadays. I still play a CD on it occasion…

> the people who treat "listening to music" as an activity of its own are getting fewer and fewer.

I used to joke if I made it rich, I'd buy a night club and have my office facing the area where the DJ is doing their magic as I love listening to good mixes when coding and having a work environment which is almost like a recording studio is rare.

I've had access to a lot of hifi components some of it quite high end but not as high end as a pair of floor standing speakers that cost £125k today.I also knew a wizard of an electronics engineer who could get anything working, all of the manufacturers have/had their "problems" so most of it came down to branding and what the press said.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#254

Post by headsoup »

chmod600 wrote: post #77

There's no doubt that, for a lot of people, there is just a better convenience/quality trade-off. I had a good size Onkyo system for watching movies and I configured it meticulously. But it's hard to explain to others why there is so much ceremony and bulk, especially when watching habits degenerate from immersive movies to binge watching netflix serieses. Part of the experience with hobbies is some kind of sacrifice…

I think what should also be highlighted is not that we necessarily just prefer convenience, it's that we don't value effort and craftsmanship so much anymore because the 'cheap' systems produce 'good enough' products. Suits can be quality enough without being hand tailored. Home order meals are not the cardboard horrors of the past, they're ok enough to outweigh the effort of creating a meal from scratch, etc.

I think it's terribly sad honestly. I think the major, major downside is the gradual migration to a complete lack of knowledge of how to make things, except for the centralised, large, automated product makers.

We sacrifice our autonomy without realising it, while at the same time losing our ability to even discern and appreciate hand crafted skill and the value it provides.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#255

Post by rtpg »

Hamuko wrote: post #53
lynguist wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://jisho.org/search/onkyo Onkyo means sound. Also: Often when there’s To (actually Tō) in a company’s name, it refers to Tokyo’s To such as in Toshiba.

> it refers to Tokyo’s To such as in Toshiba. You mean it refers to "east"?

Toshiba is short for Tokyo Shibaura Electric.

But really it's short for The To in Tokyo Electiric, And the Shiba in Shibaura Manufacturing, two companies that were fused together.

source: https://gogen.info/company/electrical-manufacturer/toshiba/

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#256

Post by headsoup »

christoph wrote: post #105
chmod600 wrote: post #77

There's no doubt that, for a lot of people, there is just a better convenience/quality trade-off. I had a good size Onkyo system for watching movies and I configured it meticulously. But it's hard to explain to others why there is so much ceremony and bulk, especially when watching habits degenerate from immersive movies to binge watching netflix serieses. Part of the experience with hobbies is some kind of sacrifice…

Weirdly in the last couple of weeks we’ve been clearing out our house and I found three(!) Onkyo home cinema amp boxes in the attic. I don’t own a single Onkyo amplifier anymore. Every single one got returned due to a serious fault (from suddenly producing no sound, to literal smoke coming out of it) within a year or 18 months, and typically swapped for another, slightly newer model Onkyo amp - rinse & repeat yearly.…

I'm still rocking my 20yr old Onkyo amp. Maybe they're out of business because lots of people are still using their old equipment happily? Anecdotes, huh.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#257

Post by thirdsun »

muro wrote: post #243
batiudrami wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately a modern receiver is worth the money. A modern one will have Bluetooth and Wifi connection, so you can stream and control music direct from your phone or computer in another room. On the TV side, a modern receiver probably has built in chromecast. It will support eArc so your TV can control the receiver directly - when watching TV you don't need to use the receiver remote at all, it will switch sources…

This matches my experience, too. Setting up eARC and especially getting PS5 to use all speakers while being connected only to the TV took quite a bit of time, though.

Why wouldn't you connect the PS5 to the receiver?

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#258

Post by thirdsun »

christoph wrote: post #117
leokennis wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think “listening to music as an activity” and “buying, tweaking and upgrading expensive audio setups” are two separate activities that often overlap but do not require each other. As an example, I fiercely enjoy sitting on my couch with my eyes closed listening to full albums of the White Stripes or Stars of the Lid or Boards of Canada or Sufjan Stevens on my AirPods Max, streamed via Bluetooth from my iPhone. Ever…

It’s exactly this. “Audiophiles” are a weird bunch. Much of what they claim to hear is scientifically proven as total nonsense. Audio Science Review is a great place where they scientifically analyse audio equipment. The quality of speaker wire for all meaningful measurements is utterly irrelevant for instance. Realistically, as long as you are enjoying the art, how you are enjoying it should be irrelevant. I often m…

> It’s exactly this. “Audiophiles” are a weird bunch. Much of what they claim to hear is scientifically proven as total nonsense. Audio Science Review is a great place where they scientifically analyse audio equipment. The quality of speaker wire for all meaningful measurements is utterly irrelevant for instance.

You are talking about the extreme kind of audiophiles that aren't really representative of the community, which covers a wide spectrum of people. It's like saying all developers are socially awkward loners. Merely a stereotype.

> I often make the point to people that a terrible movie will be terrible no matter how you watch it - HDR, 4K, Atmos won’t make a difference. A crappy movie, will always be a crappy movie.

Of course. Noone would argue against that. However a great movie really shines on good equipment. Imagine watching Blade Runner 2049 on a laptop display. No amount of convenience is making that experience worthwhile in my opinion.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#259

Post by dagw »

thirdsun wrote: post #258
christoph wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s exactly this. “Audiophiles” are a weird bunch. Much of what they claim to hear is scientifically proven as total nonsense. Audio Science Review is a great place where they scientifically analyse audio equipment. The quality of speaker wire for all meaningful measurements is utterly irrelevant for instance. Realistically, as long as you are enjoying the art, how you are enjoying it should be irrelevant. I often m…

> It’s exactly this. “Audiophiles” are a weird bunch. Much of what they claim to hear is scientifically proven as total nonsense. Audio Science Review is a great place where they scientifically analyse audio equipment. The quality of speaker wire for all meaningful measurements is utterly irrelevant for instance. You are talking about the extreme kind of audiophiles that aren't really representative of the community,…

Imagine watching Blade Runner 2049 on a laptop display. No amount of convenience is making that experience worthwhile in my opinion.

I watched most of the 'classic' movie canon (including the original Blade Runner) on rented VHS tapes and a cheap CRT TV, and many of those where among the most 'worthwhile' movie watching experiences in my life. A great movie will 'shine' on any equipment.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#260

Post by distances »

girvo wrote: post #236
christoph wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weirdly in the last couple of weeks we’ve been clearing out our house and I found three(!) Onkyo home cinema amp boxes in the attic. I don’t own a single Onkyo amplifier anymore. Every single one got returned due to a serious fault (from suddenly producing no sound, to literal smoke coming out of it) within a year or 18 months, and typically swapped for another, slightly newer model Onkyo amp - rinse & repeat yearly.…

My Yamaha 2.0 amplifier is “buggy” in that it sometimes fails to turn on, so I have to pull it’s power cable and plug it back in to get it to turn on again. But it’s also 6 years old, and was a cheap model. I’m still trying to find a decent amplifier for my home setup that’s not some 7.2 giant monstrosity but I’ve not had much luck.

Commenting as I didn't know about this option for stereo amplification until a couple of years ago: I'm using Alientek D8, a "full digital" amplifier. It's great -- tiny, affordable, superb sound quality. Digital inputs are optical, coaxial, and USB (works as an external sound card).

To get more sources such as Chromecast, computer, and Blu-ray player I have a HDMI splitter (Portta HDMI Switch) that can extract audio from the HDMI signal before passing it forward to beamer/television.

I'm very happy with this setup.

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