Is the 976 a worthwhile upgrade to my 7 y/o Onkyo?

In my family room system, I'm running a Golden Ear 3d Array XL for my front stage and currently no rear surround speakers (though I plan to add some). The receiver is a 7 year old Onkyo RC270 that was $849 list and I paid $399. When I listened to the Golden Ear on the sales floor, it sounded pretty amazing. It sounds "fine to good" at my house, but no better than "good." On the sales floor, it was powered by a high end Yamaha receiver. My question is whether the 976 will be dramatically better for my uses which is largely listening to 320 kbps streaming music and watching Netflix and TV via FIOS DVR. I'm just wondering how much better the DAC is on something like the 976 compared to my old Onkyo and also how much better the rest of the electronic upgrades are and whether they will make a significant audible difference. And yes, I realize I'll need an external amp as well. I have a dedicated theater room with an Emotiva XMC-1 and such, so I have some grasp of the benefits of a high end receiver. I use the family room system far more than I do the theater, hence the potential upgrade. Thanks for any feedback.

I think you would hear an improvement. I was expecting to take a big hit in SQ when I bought the 975 for the move from two channel to the 3.1 system currently in place. For 90% of my use I find the 975 to be an improvement. Tony has said similar things after replacing a Rotel unit with the 975.

Unless you feel the need for an Atmos/DTS unit the 976 should be solid choice performance wise at a great price point. Outlaw's customer service is the icing on the cake.

I would think that a more powerful amp would benefit the array to some extent. The RC-270 is a little weak in the amp section. I have the RC-260 and it is OK for the living room but has a hard time filling my room with decent sound. Is it worth it to invest upwards of $1500 to improve the system? If so the 976 and an Outlaw model 5000 would be a good choice.

I tend to agree with the above -- the reason that the Golden Ear 3d Array XL sounded "great in the showroom" was almost certainly a function of how much smaller most audio shops are so that you are significantly closer to the speakers than in your living room and what the rest of the gear in the demo was consisted of. The additional headroom of the Yamaha receiver probably helped give better dynamics to essentially all the peaks that are feed to the speakers but if their source was something much better than what you are accustomed to or they had some amazing subwoofers either of those things could make it impossible to compare to what your living room is ever going to sound like..

By switching over to the 976 and adding even the Outlaw Model 5000 you get an amp that is rated as delivering 100w into EACH of the the five channels as opposed to the Onkyo receiver which is only rated to deliver that with two channels loaded... http://outlawaudio.com/products/5000.html

I would have a hard time saying whether or not the result would be "dramatically better" without knowing all the details BUT I've never seen a situation where more power was not a good thing for even the most modest home theater. Toss in the potential for 7.2 and future of 4K and this should be a slam dunk...

When my 1980's vintage stereo receiver finally died I replaced it with an Onkyo TX-75xx (I forget the exact model). It was noticeably worse than the Technics it replaced. So I bought the RR-2150, plugged it in and viola, I had my sound back. The difference was very noticeable

Another big factor is your home vs. the audio store room acoustics. Are you using the array as a center channel or as a stand in for the whole front stage? If the latter is true your room acoustics may have an even larger effect because you can't really rearrange the LCR very much. The array specs say it is 91 db efficient which should allow you quite a bit of headroom even for smaller amps, but...the power specs are for two channels driven only and you will likely get less than 100wpc if using more channels. You don't indicate if you are using a subwoofer but if you are not a decent sub could help out with headroom issues because it reduces the amount of power your receiver has to use to produce lower frequencies which allows more to be available for the array.

Thanks for the feedback. To answer a few questions:

Yes, no problem with bass reinforcement since I have an Epik Empire (dual opposing 15s) https://www.cnet.com/news/the-king-kong-of-affordable-subwoofers/

Yes, I am using as it was designed, as an all-in-one LCR solution.

The imaging and clarity in the store was particularly amazing. That was probably due in part to the fact it was an 8 foot wide demo "room" with an open back, but my setup is still symmetrical albeit about twice as wide.

I rarely listen to this system at reference levels. I would think that the power of the amp would be less critical in light of this, but maybe I'm wrong?

I would probably re-purpose an Emotiva XPA-3 Gen 1 from my theater system which delivers 200 watts per channel. I suppose I could just swap that amp with the Onkyo and see if there's any improvement and then decide to make the jump to the 976 perhaps.

In seeing your room I would lean towards room size as being the biggest challenge. Try moving your listening position closer to hear if it makes difference. The sound dispersion of your room may just be so wide that you are not getting the full effect of the array. Also the fact that the room opens up to another space is also going to affect the ability of the system to fill your room with sound. There are also a few reflective surfaces you may need to deal with. Even if the Onkyo only provides 65 clean watts per channel (it likely does better) you should get plenty of sound pressure in a reasonably sized room somewhere around 109 db spl which is very loud.

I just ordered the 976. I will post my impressions once received and setup.

I noticed an immediate difference in sound and video when I upgraded my 9 year old Denon 3808 CI AVR...purchased for a discount at $1500 back in 2008. It was a 2nd only to the Flagship Denon AVR. Video was brighter, more detailed and more natural. I no longer had to adjust the picture between the different sources...I now leave my Panasonic TV on THX Cinema no matter the source (Apple TV, Fire TV, Apple TV Gen 2, TiVo, Blu-ray). Sound is more defined and accurate, with a wider and more spacious sound stage. With your new set up, you will be amazed...no doubt!

Sound is more defined and accurate, with a wider and more spacious sound stage. With your new set up, you will be amazed...no doubt! [/quote]

I agree with your observations. My 976 sounds fantastic with music. I am seeing more and more comments like yours which is a good thing.

the irony to these and other music SQ comments, some say HT gear can't "do music" like 2 channel equipment.

Like you all, I disagree.

Merry CHRISTmas to all

The hobby needs less audiofoolery and more rational thinking!