A year ago, I had to buy a new CD player because the Pioneer player I had finally died. I bought the Onkyo. I LOVE the way the player sounds in my system. I posted in here about cleaning discs because the Onkyo seemed to be very particular about skips. Several of you said I should take it back under warranty. I did, right before the one year warranty ended. It’s being repaired (or possibly replaced) now. It got to the point where it would barely play ANY disc without skipping. Here’s the irony - as a substitute player, I connected up an el cheapo $20 Sanyo DVD player. The Onkyo sounds better, but HERE’S what gets me… THE SANYO HASN’T SKIPPED ON ANY DISC! Rant over….
Unless you absolutely need a changer, I recommend staying away from them. I owned a 390 some time back, and it was very touchy on discs. A look inside will tell you why: loads and loads of imprecise plastic. OTOH, my ancient Onkyo Integra DX-706 still works just fine....of course it was, like, $800 new! (I paid $50)
The only issue I ever had with my 390 was when a disc popped out of the tray and got stuck inside. Held the unit sideways with tray open, disc fell out, and the unit went back to playing discs without so much as a nod or a wink. I did have an issue with a single-play Onkyo unit (C7000R or very similar), and dealing with Onkyo's service contractors was trying. They wound up replacing it. I eventually sold the 390 to a former colleague, who AFAIK also had no issues with it. Good luck...probably best if it gets replaced.
I had two. One lasted about 4 years of pretty regular play. Another lasted about 6 years of lighter play time. I had no trouble playing any discs on them at all. Thought they sounded wonderful. But when they quit playing, they quit entirely. I cleaned the laser on both to try to save them but neither one ever worked again.
I listen to almost all my music on cd changers. They do break a lot; usually the changer mechanism. For a combination of sound and reliability, I'd rate the Onkyo 390 the best of the bunch.
