Bought my first ever "real" receiver with my then girlfriend, now my wife, like 10 years ago and it was the Onkyo 605. It's been the best thing ever and everyday I marvelled as to how I lived without something like that. It's now being used in my office/media/game room connected to my computer and has never had any issues – I am still in awe of how steady and strong it is – it does get hot but never had any issues.
Then I decided a while back I needed something with more HDMI inputs for the actual TV room and the 605 only has 2 in. So I went and got the Onkyo 808, it was everything I could ever dream about... It lasted 1 year until I started having issues with it simply NOT turning on, or turning on and no audio and having to manually turn it off which then became having to unplug it and plug it back in. Sigh it was so amazing when it worked. I got it fixed and then it started doing it all over again, issues with the HDMI now. It sits, covered in plastic in my basement, forgotten. I have since then tried to figure out where Onkyo went wrong… was it different manufacturing, was it trying to save a buck or two.. or did I just get lucky the first time and unlucky the second.
My wife spent days yelling at me since I could get anything to work properly, like it's my fault of course. She also complained about the size, the huge sub, the 35 speakers, all the components that never got used and the wires, etc. I went on Amazon and on a whim, found.... wait for it... a Yamaha soundbar/subwoofer combo the Yamaha YHT-S401BL to be exact. I cannot begin to tell you how good it sounds, especially when I simply added two slim L/R speakers to the single soundbar. The bass from the built in sub is great, it works, it’s small, it’s silent, my harmony-save your marriage-remote works flawlessly with it – all wires hidden/inside wall, 3 HDMI in, which is all we need for the TV room, Cable box, HTPC and a bluray player which never gets used. Had this for 3 years and no issues.
I am done with expensive massive receivers… no longer see the point.