Price Paid:  $349.00 from Wackey Wheatley In C

Summary:
Great amp for the money. I bought it in a pinch while I save up for my new Rotel RB-1080 Power Amp and Rotel RC-1090 Pre-Amp during the coming winter. Good response with my PSB 800s. I collect Vintage Pioneer gear from the 70's so most of my equipment is much older than most people who visit this site. I will review the Rotel equipment when I get it.

Strengths:
Good power and response.

Weaknesses:
Only one set of speakers.

Price Paid:  $240.00 from J&R Music World

Summary:
I bought this 2 Channel Amp to Bi-Amplify
my AR9 Mains the same as another reviewer
with this same amp and speakers had done.

I bought this amp to use to power the LF
side (sub side) of my AR9's and planned on
using the internal amp of my TX-DS787 to
power the HF (Mid/Tweet) of the AR9's.

I ran the Preouts of the 787 into the 282
and deconstructed my Bi-Wire cables and
set them up for Bi-Amping and when I was
done and switched everything on I was very
dissapointed. Running tone controls flat
no Boost no Gain in Stereo or just running
in Direct Mode, there was no more bass
than when I just used the Receiver and Bi
Wires to drive the AR9's. The main reason
for Bi Amping was that the TX-DS787 simply
can not handle the dynamic loads the AR9's
place on the Receiver, I suspect there are
very low impedance dips when the 9's are
playing very dynamic music and movies that
caused the 787 to go into Thermal Protection.

Anyway.. I decided to try something else
instead. I had purchased a brand new amp
off ebay that was meant to go in the AR
ARS-500 Sub (the Carver Sunfire TDC 500
Watt RMS Amp).

I decided to temporarily wite the Sunfire
Amp up to the LF side of the 9's and use
the M-282 to drive the HF side and use the
787 as a Pre/Pro only.

WOAH was I blown away! This is no Krell
amp we know that much. But I guess the old
addage is still true about recievers thier
internal amplification simply can not
compete with a full fledged external power
amp.

The Sunfire Amp Drives the subs so hard
that I could literaly blow them out of the
enclosures if I so wished.. (This is only
temporary untill I get my monster sealed
sub finished) The biggest suprise though
is not the Bass, but just how much cleaner
the Mids are and the Trebbel is now.

I don't have to use very much relative
volume anymore to acheive 80-100 decibels
and it's cleaner sounding through the
whole frequency range. The AR9's image
very well, even before. Now they are no
less than steller. It's honestly like I
bought a whole new system that I am hearing
again for the first time.

Now imagine what a truly good power amp
will do for me.. That's the next move!

Strengths:
Affordable Price and very good build quality.

Weaknesses:
Onkyo tends to over rate thier amplification output. On the 787 it is very over rated, I feel the 282 is much closer to thier actual specifications though.

Similar Products Used:
TX-DS787 internal amplification

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Bought this amp to power passive Subwoofers. I got a real good deal so i figured i wouldn't have too much to lose. Am very pleased with this amp, While it's not as good as my Adcom GFA 7000, It's fine for application it's being used for.

Strengths:
Value for money, Works very well for my application. Drives my 12 inch subs quite well.

Weaknesses:
None for what its being used for.

Similar Products Used:
Adcom, Denon, Parasound,

Price Paid:  $249.00 from J and R

Summary:
I bought this amp in order to BI-amplify my AR9 loudspeakers. I currently use them to power the woofer. With all honesty the bass is excellent. It has really blown me away at what 100 watts (140 peak) of amplified power can do to a 250 watt handling speaker. My setup consists of an Onkyo TX-DS656 receiver (2) Onkyo M282 both by-which are connected to the front speakers BI-amplified. I have AR11 Surrounds and an AR4C center. I like my bass extremely tight and controlled on music and not boomy (except for movies). I find sub-woofers, whether built into the tower or external to sound to boomy for new recording and decent for old recordings. So, oh so often I found myself changing the settings on the subwoofer level or the tower (I have had both a power tower and various subs in the past) for Jazz, Current R&B tittles and currently recorded rock and jazz and then adjusting again for Movies. To make a long story short these are excellent power amps. They give out modest power and really control bass. I would not recommend it for all setups, because as experience has shown me if you do not have the knowledge to tweak your set there are pieces that mate extremely well with others. I am going to be honest, when I first hooked up the amp I was not impressed at all. It was not as robust as I thought it would be and I did not get a good bass response. After checking my wires, I noticed I had a bad sub y cable. I bought a new cable and WOW. I also made some adjustments in my decibel range. 1+ for the bass from 0. This amp is only $300.00, but it is well worth the price primarily because of what it has done for my sound. The dimensions of my room are 19' by 13' and my ceiling is 13' high. It literally rocks my living room and to top it off my woofers are directed out to open space. I also want to add this unit has a detachable power cord, gold plated input and outputs RCA plugs. I do intend on getting the Marantz MM9000 and using my M282 as the amp to power my front woofers and my rear woofers, and use the Marantz to power the Mid/Tweeters of the fronts, surrounds and the center. An EXCELLENT AMP.

Strengths:
Cold plated RCA, detachable power cord, bass handling at loud volume levels.

Weaknesses:
None so far

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo M502 and 504

Price Paid:  $250.00 from ABT Electronics

Summary:
I bought this to upgrade for TX-DS787 receiver to 7.1
sound. I am extremely pleased with this. It is well
worth the $250 price, and one can easily notice the
difference between 5.1 and 7.1 with movies such as
Gladiator, Cast Away, and Se7en. If you own a TX-DS787
or TX-DS797 you should not hesitate to get one of these.

Strengths:
Build & sound quality, 5-way binding posts, 12v trigger & signal detect power on, pre-amp out.

Weaknesses:
A little bit too big for a 2 channel amp.