Onkyo M-508 is very powerful, well build problem free amplifier. Over 3 years of daily use, always a pleasure to use it. Amazing sound with McIntosh C-30 preamp. Excellent performance!

Can get warm if not in well ventilated area, has to be match with good pre-amp. Don't judge when just turned on, let it warm up first.

Has cool looking meters but that’s about as far as the good goes.

I remember years ago when the Circuit City’s were booming and everyone of them had the Onkyo M-504 and M-508 on display. I auditioned them even though I couldn’t afford one at the time. At the time I thought they were the bomb. Flash forward a few years and I was financially in a place where I could afford to start dabbling in high end. Since that time I have owned and acquired many amps. Recently I bought an M-508 off EBay dirt cheap that wasn’t working. Once I got underneath the hood, I found the ground wire from the socket had broken loose from the power board. I bought this amp remembering how well I thought it sounded and wanted to do a head to head comparison with a couple of vintage mid 90s amps I had. I let the amp warmup for a few days before I started any critical listening. The 2 amps I compared it to, were the Proceed Amp 2 and a completely restored Kinergetics KBA-280. Well, besides the cool looking meters, this amp is not even in the same league with the other 2 amps. The music lacked dynamics, detail and was very compressed and harsh on the top end. Bass was loose and mid bass very bloated. For 1/2 price on EBay, the Proceed Amp 2 will absolutely torch this amp in every listening category known to man. The comparison with Kinergetics really isn’t fair since the KBA-280 was substantially higher priced new and runs 140wpc Class A. Let’s just say the KBA-280 made the Onkyo sound like a 1960s transistor radio. For the life of me I don’t see how people are spending $800-1300 for one of these amps. I can think of probably 20 different amps in this same price range that are10x more musical, detailed and won’t give you a headache from listening fatigue. If you want to pay 800.00 for some cool meters this is the amp. If you want to listen to music the way the engineer intended, i would look elsewhere Associated equipment used: Classe CP 800 pre Berkeley Alpha II Dac Bryson BDP-3 streaming tidal Krell MD-20 transporte playing HDCD encoded disks. This is where the Berkely really shines. Proceed Amp 2 Kinergetics KBA-280 Krell KMA 100 monoblocks (not used in comparison) Snell B Minor and Platinum Audio Solo speakers All cabling is Transparent Music Wave Ultras PS Audio Powerplant 1200 and Power Director for AC line conditioning. VTI rack

Espectacular y excelente amplificador de potencia, igual o superior a categorias de Mark levison, Conrad Jhonson, Luxman y Mcintosh entre otros. Es el hermano menor de la gran M510, con un sonido muy dinámico y nitido. Son de esos amplificadore que una vez lo tienes no lo quieres vender. Junto con el Pre 308 hacen un binomio de oro, con decirles que también tengo un Mcintosh 2205 y me gusta más la calidad de sonido del Grand Integra. Excelentes aparatos muy recomendados, de seguro no te arrepentiras.

Salu2!

clean sound,reasonable base

low detail, just not hi-fi material

I had a chance to audition this amp - it is ok for this price range I decided to audition - at a slightly higher price range I found an arcam alpha 9 which was far superior to this amp in every way and then for a bit more I heard a bryston 3b st who put the arcam to shame - in fact I kept going up price wise but the bryston remained my favorite even when I tried a few of higher rank if you want a nice sounding amp this onkyo was suprisingly nice but my opinion is save up and get a bryston - no comparison

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similar - denon superior to it - arcam, classe, bryston, chord, rega, rotel

great amp, lots of clean power!!

speaker posts

hi, i have two m-508 amps and have had no problems at all. for the money nothing under $3000.00 or better will compare to the grand integra m-508 in it's class now today.if you can find one (this will not be easy) just buy it!!!!! my system componets are, grand integra p-308 grand integra m-508 x2 onkyo integra t-9090mkII onkyo integra eq-35 onkyo integra ta-2047 onkyo integra dx-c730 onkyo rd-511 (cd burner)

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denon poa-1500, onkyo m-504

Excellent design & construction.

Should have come with built-in blower

The two huge VU meter is a real eye catcher in my dim lite audio rack. Use only as a backup amp to my Nakamichi PA-7 but equally priased by guest who have heard it play with My B&W 802 ser.2. Now that we are at the Hometheater age I'm not shy to set it next to a my TX-DS989 receiver. This 12 years old baby is a keeper till it breaks. Truly a classic piece of the analog era!

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Nakamichi PA-7II amp.

Very good dynamik climbing, you don`t hear that often. Stabil and silky sound.

Some bad contacts, after a overhole every contact was welded, a better 220V cable, And the speaker connecting is very poor, i had them replaced for better golded oversized connectors. The sound inproved unbelivable to a higher level. recommended to all M-508 fan`s

For me is the M508, together with the pre-amp P-308, a Highlight, in the stereo world. There is for dat money not much around, more dan plenty off watts, combined with accuraty and fine detail. I`ll will never sell my beauty`s. My speakers are the B&O Beovox penta`s, nice dept, you cann see the artist threw your ears.

Very good dynamik climbing, you don`t hear that often. Stabil and silky sound.

Some bad contacts, after a overhole every contact was welded, a better 220V cable, And the speaker connecting is very poor, i had them replaced for better golded oversized connectors. The sound inproved unbelivable to a higher level. recommended to all M-508 fan`s

For me is the M508, together with the pre-amp P-308, a Highlight, in the stereo world. There is for dat money not much around, more dan plenty off watts, combined with accuraty and fine detail. I`ll will never sell my beauty`s. My speakers are the B&O Beovox penta`s, nice dept, you cann see the artist threw your ears.

Clear,, Pretty good Bang for the Buck, good power,,fair to good imaging Reliable..

Could use a little more Bass, can be bright with female voices

This is good amp for the money, I have own my 508 since 1989 and have had no problem at all. I have loan it to a friend to use with his apogee slant 8s which are very inefficent and he had no problem with the 508s likewise.I,ve notice that a lot of the reviewers here had trouble with the caps but I had no problem, Maybe it,s because the amp has been powering my Klipsch Cornwall Speakers most of those years, Cornwalls are known for there need for very little power. But again for the money you cannot beat the Amp........... J. S.

very lush sounding, cool looking amp

Does not like driving 2ohm loads

This amp is very cool looking to begin with. Big VU meters that turn red when turned on, then turn green when power stablizes. Rosewood side panels add to looks. I thought this amp was very lush sounding. Has plenty of power. Great for music and hometheater. A good match for bright sounding speakers.

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Yamaha, DBX