I used to be a staunch, diehard Onkyo fan, going back to when a college friend of mine first turned me onto the brand. In that time, I've owned a few of their pieces, including a TX-SR600 (which served as my first AVR for a small 5.1 setup I had in a studio apartment I was in at the time, and which I still have and run as a music hub in my wife's office/our workout room), the now-legendary TX-SR605 and a TX-8555 stereo receiver (still used in the separate two-channel rig in our upstairs loft area). When the 605 began to exhibit malfunctioning, namely with regard to an HDMI MONITOR OUT port that eventually degraded into weird blue "distortion" on the setup menu screen (to the point I couldn't see it really anymore, and until it locked up the setup system, forcing me to power the unit off and then back on), I decided to replace it (and I LOVED this AVR - robust, in-your-face power delivery regardless of its "rated" 90WPC and nice fit-and-finish for its price class) -- and, of course, I wanted another Onk.
I learned that, unfortunately, Sharp/Voxx/Premium Audio Group/Whatever They Call Themselves Now made some pretty big changes to the functionality of their AVRs, one of which was a deal-breaker for me: One was the elimination of the super-helpful "IntelliVolume" feature, which allowed you to adjust each source plugged into the amp individually on a preamp level in a range from -12dB to +12dB (almost like an old power amp's "sensitivity gain" control), and the other was the removal of showing both the input name and sound mode you were in at the same time on the front panel. Where on old Onkyos you would see, say, "BD/DVD" and then "DTS-HD MSTR" on the front panel, the newer Onks would simply show the input name and volume level, forcing you to press a button on the remote to confirm what the AVR was decoding (and then it wouldn't remain on that -- after a few seconds, it would return to the input name and volume).
This latter revision to their units was, as I said, a deal-breaker to me, because I like to glance at the actual front readout of my AVRs and see what's being decoded and what mode I'm in.
After some research, I ended up with a Denon AVR-X2800h, as the Denons DID offer units with a "Source Level Adjustment" (much like Onkyo's "IntelliVolume") and a front readout that showed sound mode (albeit very abbreviated with monikers like "DTHD" or "DTSHD," which I really don't care for) and input name simultaneously. I gotta say, though...after living with the Denon for about a year now, I MUCH prefer the Onkyo house sound, which I'd describe as much more aggressive, forceful and in-your-face.
I had my eye on the RZ30 ever since it launched, as it seemed the better fit for our particular needs with our current 5.1 setup (in the RZ lineup anyway), and I preferred its more robust build quality compared to, say, the 6100 and 7100 (I wouldn't consider a 5100 or lower). However, PAG/Voxx/Sharp still hasn't made that change to the software allowing is to see the input name and sound mode at the same time -- even though I actually spoke with a rep from the corporation via email about it and an actual petition was signed over at AVS to get them to make these changes via firmware updates -- and there still is no "IntelliVolume" equivalent; I could live without the IntelliVolume, I suppose, but the front panel thing I just can't.
At any rate, as I said, I'd definitely be interested in an RZ30, but I'm afraid it, too, would be a bit overkill for our needs (only 5.1, no intention of utilizing Dirac, et al) -- still, I really love the aesthetics of the amp and the apparent build quality, so I still have it on my radar...
Is the faceplate and volume knob of the 30 made of aluminum, as the pictures suggest?
