New Onkyo TX-NR5008 & TX-NR3008 - Page 7

Thank you Willie for your input. You basically summed up my dilemma. I am sure just like everyone else here they want the most value/features/performance/reliability for the $1500-2000 price range. I am rebuilding my home theater a piece at a time. Eventually it will include Paradigm Studio 100 v5 fronts, CC-690 center, studio 20 rears, studio 10 front heights, and Mirage OMD 5 for the rear sides. I want to be able to add a(n) amp(s) to power my speakers. Luckily my girlfriend likes loud music more than I .

One reason I like the Denon is the ability to have a true preamp mode. My theory isn't about being green it is more technical reasons. I have a 20 amp circuit in this room. My worry is down the line when I add an amp that I will trip that circuit running an amp. I see the Onkyo has 11.6 amp draw and that doesn't include what an amp would draw. The nice thing about the Denon is (at least my hope) is when I amp the Paradigms down the road, that I can shut off the unused receiver amp and therefore reduce the unused amp draw on the house circuit. The added plus is I am not having an unused receiver amp adding to the temp of my enclosed audio cabinet.

I guess the major draw for the Onkyo is the unknown on how important THX Ultra Select 2 is. Is it more of peace of mind or will it be useful. My use for the receiver will be equal amounts of blu-ray movies, x-box 360 games and music usage.

Eldiablos,

Maybe someone else can speak to the benefits of THX. I've owned an AVR that had THX and one that did not. It wasn't a part of my purchase decision, but the AVR just happen to have it. I personally can't tell you how much is marketing and how much is performance. I personally didn't perceive any performance increase.


Willie

Shnapper,

I wouldn't recommend editing your if you are adding new information. No one will be checking back to see if you edited your original post. It is best just to post the additional information in a new posting.


Willie

Quick question: Why would you choose the 5008 over the 3008? Am I missing something, or is it just 5 extra watts?

Honestly and I'm no expert I wanted another receiver with a toroidal transformer. My Rotel RSX-1065 was great on the music side of life. So that is the reason I went with the 5008, hoping to hear good clean(High Current) 2 channel stereo when not watching movies.

I played Miles Davis Kind of Blue in Stereo (with sub) and in Pure mode. The B&W 705's are on the bright side to begin with, the 5008 didn't add any extra brightness qualities. I would say it's fairly neutral I usually run my tone at treble -2, bass +2, but even with tone set at NULL it sounds good. I also played Chick Corea Elektric band with promising results. I usually use GRP Digital Masters to audition any new equipment, plus I know these Cd's through and through.

So far without even attempting to use Audyssey I like the results in the musical department. I think there might be a few kooky things happening with the HDMI switching, no clicks or anything just longer delays and some random back and forth-on-off-on screen jumbles as the receiver decides what to do with what ever is feeding it...Hopefully that will be in the firmware update as well.. To clarify if you play a blu-ray the HDMI searches, then lights the signal on the TV, then kinda goes koo koo for a sec as the DVD switches to the menu or whatever.. Once playing it's all butter and looks really good with no stutter with the GUI/OSD active like I was getting with the Faroudja DCDI in the integra 50.2...

Now I just wait for the firmware update for the XT32 and I will run that ASAP.

I ordered my Onkyo TX-NR3008 and it should be arriving next week...

I was all excited about getting this new unit, but I'm kind of disapointed that it already has a problem after only a couple of days of being readily available on the public market...

I hope it's really just a matter of having the firmware updated and that the firmware will be available for download ASAP.

Hopefully that will correct the issue and make it seem as just a bad dream....

Any news on when exactly the firmware update should be released on the Onkyo website???

Thank you Willie. You have been most helpful with my questions. I read that THX is like a certification that promises a certain level of performance. On your receiver that you mentioned you had the THX. Is it also a setting like how you can set different sound fields?

The 3008 has 192K/24 Bit DACs

The 5008 has 192k/32 Bit DACs

Other than the numbers difference, not sure if the ear can hear the quality difference.

Massive Toroidal transformer for High current drive in the 5008 not in 3008

You should run it for 2 reasons. You will help us identify how wide-spread the problem is for one and the other yours may be from the second batch not even affected. I would give it a shot, you can manually turn Audyssey off if you do indeed have a bad unit.

Even though my NR3008 was bad I am still a huge Onkyo fan and may still pick up a 5008 given their price. The only thing that has me back to the Denon is it being installer ready, I could care less about any of the other features and IMO it not having THX has me leaning towards the Onkyo.

I´m from Sweden and I have the same problem with Audyssey on my 3008, waiting eagerly on the new firmware...

Hi Triksson and welcome to the forums. Thanks for the response, it looks like this is a world wide problem then in the new Onkyo NR lineup. That is 2 confirmed reports for the 3008, I am curious if the 5008 has the issue but I assume it does.

Shnapper,

What if the 3008 was able to deliver the same sonic performance for $600 less MSRP.

A reason that you didn't mention as it relates to music is that the 5008 is using Burr Brown 32-bit DACs vs the Burr Brown 24-bit DACs in the 3008. Hopefully, there is a sonic benefit between the 2 implementations.

I guess in your setup the toroidal transformer was worth the extra money.


Willie

Has anybody else noticed that the range of the remote is worse than last year's models. I returned an NR1007 to upgrade to the NR3008, and one of the fist things I noticed is that the remote now needs a direct line of sight to function. Has anybody else noticed this?

I wouldn't worry about the amperage draw too much. I ran a preamp, DVD player, RPTV, 5 channel amp, 2 channel amp, 1 channel tube amp (for the center channel), 2 channel supposedly 1000w/channel amp for two subwoofers, Replay TV, and some other stuff all from the same 20 amp circuit. I could play DVDs at volumes that would make your ears bleed. And find it hard to believe the Onkyo uses 1,400 watts while not using its amplifiers.

Yeah, that number has to be with all channels running at near full output. 9 channels at 145 Watts/channel is about 1,300 watts or about 10.9 amps. It probably draws 1-2 amps while its channels aren't being used.

Thank you much for the info. That had been one of my big concerns was tripping the circuit every time I turned on my receiver/amp.

Onkyo TX-NR5008

Ok I ran Audyssey XT32 and got BAD results. Kinda bizarre really, the best way I can describe it is... Even when sitting dead center in my listening area it actually sounds hollow and if I'm listening from another room in my house. Kinda freaky really, I immediately went into EQ settings and disabled Audyssey and everything was back to sounding decent.

On a side note, I think the HDMI switching needs to be addressed as well, it's not super smooth, but like I said previously once the source has stabilized it runs very well........

i ran xt32 but i don't notice anything out of order, i am listening to a cd in stereo mode and before i was testing using a BD. I am disappointed in that you can't run high and wide without disconnecting the surround backs and putting the wide channel speakers into the surround back amplifiers. kinda like Denon if you want to use your back surrounds you have to change wiring and rerun Audyssey and vice-versa oh well. I am currently running in the high/wide option....

Change reciever to mono so it only comes out of the center channel and put something with heavy dialog. You will hear it if your receiver has the issue. Sounds like words are being spoken through a tin can inside a tunnel.

Easiest way if you have an iphone is hook it up and enable and disable audyssey (you can do this easily without it causing hdmi handshake issues) so you can hear the difference in realtime almost.

I just finished the XT32 setup, and the sound is horrible. Everything sounded pretty good before. I thought that turning off Audyssey Dynamic EQ would fix the problem, but nothing has changed. What am I missing?

EDIT: Never mind. I was adjusting the wrong Audyssey menu item.

So does it sound ok now using Audyssey MultEQ XT32??

All the horror stories have blown my bubble on waiting for my 3008 to arrive... I'm not happy anymore...

How quickly will Onkyo come up with a solution?

With the Audyssey EQ setting ON, it sounds horrible. After doing a quick set up with a tape measure and my Radioshack sound level meter, it sounds pretty good...but I'm anxiously awaiting the firmware update to fix the issue.

Someone (owner of the new 3008) from the German HiFi-Forum reported, that Onkyo had sent him the latest firmware update for the 3007 as a replacement for the defective firmware of the 3008 (MultiEQ Xt32). Reportedly the 3007 firmware version on the 3008 worked and sounded fine...
Surprise...surprise...

Link: http://www.hifi-forum.de/index.php?a...postID=144#144

Onkyo NR3007 has MultEQ XT and not XT32, I wonder if the 3007 firmware removes the additional features of XT32?

Either way that is a poor solution IMO.

I hope that's not the final solution, but only a temporary work around.

sterryo,

I'm not following this. If the AVR has 9 amps why is it making you jump through hoops for the high and wide channels?



Willie

the problem is the high/wide normally share the same amp, so in order to power both onkyo makes you put the wides into the back surround preouts or speaker terminals...

Certainly, but the XT version works, while the XT32 does not...
More interesting is the fact, that the 3007 firmware did work on the 3008.

gurkey,

That fact slipped right past me. The 3008 has features and possibly some hardware that is not on the 3007, so it is interesting that the firmware works in the 3008. Are firmware updates not cumulative? Evidently the 3007 and 3008 share enough code that this is not a problem. Maybe I should just get a 3007 since I have no use for 3D.


Willie