I have worked on several new Onkyo receivers with AccuEQ. I am finding that this auto calibration technique is much worse than others on the market. While the others are not particularly great they are better than AccuEQ. Onkyo in the past also offered manual equalization for front, center, surrounds and subwoofer along with automatic setup. These manual equalization adjustments are now gone. No other multi-channel receivers are so limited in their manual adjustability while having such a poor automatic system. I would avoid these products until Onkyo remedies the situation by at least putting the manual equalization back in their units.
Onkyo Receivers With AccuEQ Are A Poor Choice
Related Posts
18 Comments
I totally agree. I’m in the process of upgrading my receiver, replacing my current Onkyo, and despite being so familiar and enjoying Onkyo receivers, I’m currently looking at Denon, as they are still one of the brands to keep Audyseey.
Sacrificing Audyssey over Dolby Atmos? Aka “feeding the consumers with the Next Big Thing”
I totally disagree. And just for the record, I’m willing to bet that I’ve been doing this longer than you have. As far as I’m concerned, none of the so-called electronic “Room Correction/Calibration” are worth a ****. There is no substitute for the room being built correctly in the first place, and proper acoustical treatment being implemented to further improve a properly designed acoustical space. If you’re dealing the typical residential living room/recreation room environment these room correction systems like Audyssey just make things worse. What they do for one very small location makes everything worse everywhere else. Its a fact of life/physics, not just an opinion. I’ve auditioned a number of AV receivers recently, several with Audyssey, several Onkyo with AccEQ and Pioneer’s MCACC. AccEQ is by far the easiest to use, and more practical. The results are much more natural and musical sounding as opposed to the rather synthetic results produced by the other systems. If that’s your cup of tea, go for it. I prefer it “real”.
I am no fan of any automatic EQ, but I have found AccuEQ to be particularly poor as stated. If you like it that is fine with me. I understand people get upset to hear that the gear they own is not as good as they thought. Here is a post of mine on auto setup in general https://www.homecinemaguru.com/will-automatic-audio-calibration-lead-to-great-sound-or-even-optimal-sound/.
I have worked with audio for 43 years on 1000’s of audio rigs and been in many post production mix theaters. I have also worked with people that play with Alanis Morrisette, Steely Dan, Don Henley and the like. I use very high quality instrumentation to confirm equipment performance.
Hi. Have you ever used YPAO? How is YPAO compared to AccuEQ?
I have used and own a Yamaha receiver with YPAO. I am not fan of YPAO, but at least Yamaha has more timbre adjustments for each channel. Many Yamaha units offer superior timbre adjustments than any other receiver on the market.
I have worked with all of the automatic setup systems on the market. The best I have heard is found in Arcam products. The negative to Arcam is that the manual timbre controls are essentially non-existent like AccuEQ. If you would never manually adjust timbre I would only buy Arcam.
Thanks for the tip.
Artto your post is rather peculiar.
1) “I’m willing to bet that I’ve been doing this longer than you have” – no follow up on this point which means absolutely bugger all anyway.
2) a) “none of the so-called electronic “Room Correction/Calibration” are worth a (expletive deleted)”
This is followed up with:
2) b) “The results are much more natural and musical sounding as opposed to the rather synthetic results produced by the other systems”
Much more musical sounding? So the others all sound discordant? You’re using a lot of undefined terms here, can you provide some scientific measurements to back up what you’re trying to describe with descriptions that don’t have any defined parameters?
Also if none of the electronic calibration systems are worth a ****, how can AccuEQ sound “much more natural”? You’re contradicting yourself, it seems like you’re butthurt just because a piece of equipment you own got negative feedback.
Stating for the record you’d be willing to bet something means nothing at all, note you didn’t provide details of your own experience in the industry, please post your LinkedIn profile or what company you work for. Challenging someone so you can wait to see what they say before you respond now means anything you say that is not supported by links means butkus.
I am no audiophile, and a n00b home theater enthusiast. I found an Onkyo 636 at an unbelievable discount (unused display model) and I picked it up. I have no hope of getting a new receiver anytime soon. Can you offer any suggestions for getting the most out of my device? I have a complete BIC setup (DV62si F/R, DV62LCR-s center, DV51si Adatto surrounds). It does sound nice, but there are times when I feel that the mid-bass is missing from the front center. The AccuEQ repeatedly puts the center crossover at 100Hz, but the matching L/R speakers are put at 40hz. I’ve manually adjusted the center to 80Hz, and the L/R to 70Hz, and my sub is set to 90Hz. It sounds balanced to my untrained ear, and I can’t localize the bass…but I know that I need advice. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Setting up audio well requires care. I would read this info on my site https://www.homecinemaguru.com/setup/audio-setup/. I would also try turning off AccuEQ. I have found many systems sound better with it deactivated instead of on.
Thanks, those are great tips!
Hi Guys
wow very interesting subject here, I am not Audiophile person but I love music and i am trying to make the best out of it, I am thinking to buy Onkyo Rz900 also thinking about Marantz Sr6010 . some people say onkyo Weight is more that marantz like 20lbs more ( 40lbs) and thats a good thing , also I want to know what exactly is AccuEQ? does that mean I can’t calibrate my speakers manually? like can i just turn it of and go to speaker settings and adjust it myself? cause i have done it on my Pioneer receiver and I like my calibration . I just want to know is with onkyo can i go to speaker settings adjust speaker level , distance,HZ and all of those by myself?
Thank you.
Alen.
Alen,
AccuEQ is their automatic calibration software. It adjusts all of the settings. There are other manual settings in these Onkyo units, but they lack any speaker timbre controls.
I would look at the manufactures listed at the bottom of my blog. I find the least problems with these. Others have issues with major software bugs and durability problems. I was working on an expensive receiver from a manufacturer not on the list today. It also lacked good timbre controls and boosted the LFE 10db more than it should when set to 0db. The number of software and hardware problems people are not aware of is rather staggering.
I’ve acquired an integra DTR 40.7 w/ Accu Eq
I dubbi if something change but I got manual adjustement available, when, as far as I understood, you stated there’s no manual correction.
AccuEQ is always the same in the entire onkyo/integra line-up?
Your model does have a small amount of EQ capability. I would use this instead of AccuEQ.
Manual Settings are back in the Onkyo 2016 models at least (I own one). However, you can not review the automatic EQ settings – only turn them off. You can however, manually adjust every setting for each speaker: Cross Over, Distance, Levels and EQ.
Blah blah blah… everyone has an opinion I just upgraded from a Yamaha RX-A3060 to an Onkyo RZ3100. I’m sorry but the Onkyo blows the Yamaha away!!! The imaging and sound quality are far better. I absolutely love it!!! But that’s just my opinion.
Massive fart.
I realize this is 8 years past the original post, but I have an Onkyo TX-SR393 and have found it to be an outstanding all-around receiver. As far as the AccuEQ – for the user above saying “sounds better turned off” I believe you’re confusing features – AccuEQ is a calibration feature, not something that stays on to modify sound. I initially tried to do everything manually, but could not dial-in the sound completely to my liking – but recently decided to run through the AccuEQ calibration and it made an immediate difference. I have a odd space in the basement with a wall on one side, open to the rest of the basement on the other plus furniture and other obstacles in odd places – it’s clear to me AccuEQ compensated for all of those things, to include “virtual” speaker distance positioning to help with phasing and reflections given wall on one side and not the other – the result was an extremely balanced and much more pleasing sound. There are multiple manual settings and adjustments for each speaker in this model as well, if you want to continue to nuance the sound a bit – which differs from what the original poster suggested was now missing in Onkyo models (they aren’t in mine). With their WRAT (Wide Range Amplifier Technology) this receiver can also adequately adjust for speaker impedances anywhere between 4 ohms and 16 ohms, which I have found on multiple sets of speakers. Great bang for the buck on this receiver.