Onkyo A-9211 Amplifier

An Onkyo A-9211 amplifier stands out from its competitors... because of the "finish" colour. That's why we wanted to see it immediately, to push its buttons and turn on the switches. This device shows how important the little things are. For example, its front panel' rounded corners. You would not notice them at once, but they make the device seem finished combined with the other elements. That is because of the Onkyo's developers' willing to make the device as easy and comfortable as possible. On the one hand, there are all the necessary functions and tunings, on the other hand, there are no excess possibilities. For example, the recording selector allows listening to music and recording the music from different sources at the same time. The Onkyo developers considered this as an unnecessary option and gave the selector' functions to the input selector. There is no Mute button in the device; the option is available, but only from the remote control. It is reasonable as there already is a turning-off speakers' button on the front panel, which does exactly the same. It should be noted that Muting in the Onkyo A-9211 does not really "mute", but turns the sound off, which we believe is not that useful. There is a small glowing button on a volume switch, which starts blinking in a Muting mode, which turns off by a second pressing the same button or by pressing the volume button on a remote control. When we connected speakers, we found out that the inputs are too close to a power cord. It is not a good neighborhood even if it does not affect technical or ergonomic properties, but here it makes it impossible to connect the wires to the terminals. It is doubly unfortunate as there is lots of space for outputs on the rear panel. The remote control is multipurpose as it was designed not only for an Onkyo A-9211 amplifier, but for the tuner, CD-player and for two recorders. By the way, the recorders tuning is independent, the are A-deck and B-deck buttons on the RC, while some other models have a selector button instead, and other buttons are mutual. What about the tuning options, for some reason there is no fine adjustment button, though there is one on the amplifier.

The Onkyo A-9211 showed its snooty nature by a sharp, clear bass in a Dinner at Woolfle's play. Even while playing Tchaikovsky' Waltz of the Flowers, it was trying to escalate tension by dynamic, almost harsh sound of the winds. In a certain sense, an "optical" sharpness promotes the accuracy of localization of the instruments. It is probably this, why Onkyo accurately defines a place for an each performer. The instruments feel free in the borders they have been placed into. In the Julsang/Torsten Nilsson (Adolphe Adam) the solo vocal is played with some kind of impatience, anticipating the choir to break into. This is what the amplifier likes. It is not shocked by the sound contrasts, but it gives the details as well as the expression. The "silver" Onkyo tried to lower the sound of an already low bass in Two Ships (Miller Anderson), translating the lows to some kind of a wade infrasound. Onkyo A-9211 is as dynamical as a dashing driver, that cannot stand traffic jams. So the operating room goes!