Onkyo TX-NR609 Zone 2 Behavior Question

This was all I could find, I am looking at the 609 as well.

From what I can gather, Zone 2 will only play an analog source or whatever is coming through the network. From what I can figure, I don't think you would "lose" 7.1 in the main room. The zone 2 outs look to be completely separate.
I could be wrong on this last question too but I don't think Airplay is something simple enough to have a firmware update. I don't see it happening.

Then again, I could be wrong and I didn't help you in the slightest. Sorry. LULz

You can download the Onkyo 609 Owner's manual from their website and on p. 61 it indicates that you are restricted to 5.1 in the main zone when using the Zone 2 terminals.

For confirmation, you might try posting directly in the Onkyo 609 Owner's thread.

Re: Airplay on the Denon AVRs .... when using it you are restricted to Airplay "audio only" in both the main zone and Zone 2 (ie. just as with the 609 no independent Airplay to Zone 2). A much better option is the Apple TV2 (adding an optical to RCA converter) which can pass audio AND video and in the case of Denon AVRs and likely the Onkyo 709 and 809 ... independently to Zone 2.

zone 2 has two different sources, i listen to fm outside and watch tv inside with the volume on.

As an ONKYO dealer I can tell you this ( i have sold and installed a TON of 609's ) you can enjoy a full 7.1 surround experience and then play whatever you like in Z2 without turining your 7.1 into 5.1

It has a descrete amp for the zone with a completly diffeant set of speaker connections from the main surround channels.....The days of loosing 7.1 or having to decide to do 7.1 or 5.1 + zone are over

your answer for #2....you need to run analog's for the zone use.... FOR ANY SOURCE the zone can play any of the sources in the zone 2. Zone 2 has a seperate volume control as well when yuo select zone 2 on the remote then hit volume. It then controls Z2

Example:
Satellite receiver HDMI output to SAT HDMI input on onkyo
Sate receiver L/R analong out to SAT Analog in on Onkyo

The onkyo's dont convert ANY digital in's to the zone you have to spend more money for a higher end denon to do that right now, give it a year or two more for Onkyo.

PM me if you need more details I'd be glad to help you since Im an ONKYO nut and have been using them as the receiver of choice these days for a number of reasons.

Uh... I hate to contradict you on this since you are a dealer, but this is only partly correct. You can run Zone 2 and keep 7.1 on the main set, but only if you have an external amp to run the zone 2 speakers. This is fairly uniform across Onkyo models (I have a 708). From the manual:

I have a similar question but still not 100% clear based on info so far (although very helpful). I have a A, B speakers switch on my current (old) Yamaha - which only has 1 source but allows me to turn on combinations of the 5.1 surround for the TV (A) or the output to a 4 speaker set distribution box (B) which feeds music throughout the house and garden. I really want to be able to still have this functionality. It would mean I want the possible new Onkyo box to:

- feed TV audio to A and B (or now Zone 1 and 2) simultaneously (5.1 is not needed) - input by return channel on HDMI I guess (once I get the Onkyo since the current Yamaha is optical)
- likewise for the audio from my HTPC running iTunes (input via optical).

Having the 2 zones handle different sources would be a bonus, but unlikely to be used.

Does anyone have the definitive answer for me? Or suggestions? Thanks a lot.

Steve

Hey Vic (or anyone who may know the answer),

I have a question I hope you do not mind answering. i have an Onkyo TX-SR606 Receiver. Inside, I have four Polk RC-80 speakers and a Polk PSW 110 subwoofer. Outside, I have two Polk RC-80 speakers mounted to my deck ceiling.
For the first two years, the outside speakers worked fine when I was using Zone 2. Last year, I noticed that my outside speakers would cut out every so often and when they did, the power to the entire received would switch off.
Now, almost the moment I turn on Zone 2, the receiver switches off.
Do you have any ideas as to what could cause this?

Thank you for your help,

Clint

really hoping somone is still folowing this thread , i have the same setup as original poster , and when i run my zone 2 it converts my main into 5.1 and i loose my 7.1

however if i turn off zone 2 , my 7.1 on main , doesnt come back on , unless i go into settings and speaker settings , and re enable my rear surround speakers.

is it supposed to act this way ? , such a hassle , it would be great if my 7.1 would auto enable as soon as i power off zone 2.

I can absolutely confirm (on my 709 - which has the same features for zone 2)

If you have 7.1 in zone 1 and you then connect 2 speakers to zone 2 and power it on

Then zone 1 drops to 5.1 and you can only get 7.1 back in zone 1 by DISCONNECTING your zone 2 speakers and re-running setup completely

The amp sees your connected zone 2 speakers as additional fronts when it runs setup

The ONLY way to get zone 2 without losing 7.1 in zone 1 is a seperate amp with a twin co-ax feed from the onkyo to it

I know this as I have tried it a number of times and ended up resurrecting my old Pioneer VSX-D811 for zone 2 which ironically could do 7.1 in zone 1 and stereo in zone 2!

You can have two different sources, e.g. watch a film in zone 1 and listen to internet radio in zone 2 - though zone 2 can only be an analogue source.

the way mine was behaving on the 609 is exact same as you say however, ifi have my zone 2 option powered yes/no option set to no then i have 7.1 but son as i change it to yes i loose 7.1

i dont have to actually disconnect my speaker wire but i have to go into setup change that option to no then go to speaker settings and turn on my rear sourround speakers again , then i get 7.1

so next time i want to use zone 2 , i have to re enter setup and select power zone 2 option to yes

then again i ahve zone 2 working but loose the 7.1

sad..... it cant auto detect and turn 7.1 on and off when the power of zone 2 is on or off
onkyo should issue an update to make it behave this way.

appreciate the reply ! thanks !

just called and talked to onkyo for 45 min on phone testing all this he told me it should auto revert back to 7.1 when the zone 2 is off , he also said there was different revisions of this unit and older ones had to be manually changed. newer ones will do it automatically
hmmm

- my 709 is only about 4 mths old and it has the latest (March) firmware and it does not automatically revert to 7.1 when zone 2 is powered off !

ok , weird what i seeing it shoudl

yua i jsut spoke with another tech as well , they said you ahve to go into settings and turn off powered zone 2 , then back to speaker config and re enable rear speakers ,


how hard is it for them to re enable 7.1 when zone 2 is off ?
firmware update should be able to fix this issue no ?

Yamaha is the only brand that automatically switches back and forth between 5.1 + 2.0 and 7.1 depending on the sourse. And they are the only brand that will share the audio from hdmi to other zones. It is called "party mode". Zone 2 is down-mixed to 2.0. And the op was trying to get away from yamaha. lol

i cant for the life of me understand why they dont make it so it auto converts back to 7.1 when zone 2 is powered off , even if it ment power cycleing the main it's alot eiser then what we have to do now, i asked the tech on the phone about the newest models and she said they respond the same way as the these ones do . so has to be a limitation somewhere why they can't make it happen.

I originally purchased an HT-SR800 system complete with 7.1 speakers. I installed this into my medial room with two additional speakers in the walls in my ajoining wet bar area. I wanted to be able to play iTunes or iPod music (Digital) in both areas. Lightening hit the unit and while fixing the receiver would be over $200 I opted for a new receiver (TX-NR609), which I purchased via AMEX points (no $$).

I loved the additional HDMI inputs and the internet radio options, but could not get the Zone 2 speakers to work in parallel (same channel/source) as the receiver in the ajoining rooms. The receiver switched to 5.1 and I was unable to figure out the reset to 7.1, even after running the speaker setup process from scratch.

I ended up paying the $200 Plus to get the original HT-SR800 fixed and will be purchasing an additional HDMI switch from Monoprice to handle the additional HDMI inputs I now have.

I found the TX-NR609 to be TOO feature rich for my needs. I entertain and come inside and outside the house and want the same source playing in both zones. I do not understand or want the separate source playing in two different zones while requiring a separate Amp for the second zone. This makes no sense to me.

Thank god for Monoprice for the additional add on components at a more than fair price to get my system setup for my needs.

Hi Vic. I am in the process of hooking up an Onkyo HT-RC460 and was all excited to connect my first HDMI cable ever from the Dish receiver to the AV receiver. Using mirrors and swear words to see and connect (wires are too tight to pull dish receiver completely out of console), I thought I could discard the old analog wires. Now given your reply, it looks like I need to rehook in order to feed TV sound to zone 2. I just wanted to make sure it was okay to have the two connections going into the Onkyo at the same time....Thanks.

Yes, as that is the only way to hear the Dish audio in Zone 2.

Thank you.

Hello,

I just went to Fry's today and bought the Onkyo HT-RC460 for 299. out the door with the 4 year warranty and I am at 420.'sh or so. I went with this unit to up convert a older Mitsubishi VCR I have to HDMI, into my new Sharp LCD 70" TV. So I could start using HDMI instead of the old analog Pioneer that I have had for the last 15 years, that has served me all to well and still does.

I wanted the 7.1 system for the surround sound only, as I don't have plans to convert any part of my house to separate zones anytime soon. I have decided to get a new speaker set up from Onkyo, a 7.1 system, but after reading the posts prior to this, I don't know if I even need it to get the best sound out of my new receiver. Going to 7.1 was just a zone plus option choice, is that what I am hearing then. 7 Speakers won't do anything but affords me the option of turning 2 of them into a zone 2 other then zone 1 ?

I am a layman when it comes to Audio, but I catch on fairly fast. Should I take back the 7.1 and get a better quality 5.1 system with up conversion ?

Thanks for any input.

I'm not quite sure what everyone's on about regarding the partyzone. I'm no expert but my 609 plays both zones the same source no matter what source i choose.; a few different hdmi sources and mainly network source (dlna from a computer or internet radio which is the two ways I exclusively listen to music). The only problem I'm having is adjusting the sound (modes, bass, treble etc) on my zone 2 to make it sound a bit better. I only have 5.1 sound though so cant comment on the original thread. cheers

There's no issue passing network sources to Zone 2 .. but there is with HDMI.

With a 7.1 model you can go either 5.1/Zone2 or 7.1 (ie. 5.1 + surround back or front height). Note however, that the 460 can only convert componet video 480i resolution to 1080p HDMI (ie. cannot convert 480p).

I am having an issue with getting what I want out of Zone 2.

I have my apple TV connected via HDMI so I can stream music directly from my iPhone and have it play on my speakers in the main room. I understand that zone 2 only plays from analog sources (which I still think is a frustrating restriction to put on... but I digress)

My 2 options I was thinking about were as follows

1. Buy a optical audio converter box that will take an optical audio signal and downgrade it into a RCA hookup to plug in the back of the receiver for zone 2. So plug the optical audio into the back of the apple tv and have it run through the converter box into the back of the receiver. I have tried this and it did not work

2. Change the configuration and plug my 2 zone 2 speakers into channel 6 & 7 respectively. (I don't need to be playing 2 different sources for the most part) Problem here, is that it changes the sound configuration and you miss certain sounds that are designed for the 7.1 sound selection.

I am running out of ideas. The only way I can get sound out of zone 2 is to plug in my iPhone or iPod directly into the receiver witha USB cable. I am even trying to play sirius radio from the net and that is also not playing in zone 2.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I can get the speakers in zone 2 to play without having to hardwire my music source directly into the receiver?

Thanks

If you have Zone 2 powered on, there is no reason the analog input from the ATV should not be an available Zone 2 source.

Sorry to bump such an old thread but it doesn't seem like the OP's question was clearly answered. This is the first google search result on the question so I think its best if the answer is posted here rather than in a new thread.

The OP's question that I'm interested in is "will Zone 2 play the same source (at the same time) as Zone 1 regardless of whether its digital or analog?" Web searching seems to indicate that it will probably only play both at the same time if it is an analog signal (which I think means any literally analog signal or a usb or network source), but another poster in this thread says the opposite:

Playing a source to both zones with independent volume control is the only useful way that I see of utilizing zone 2. If it can't do it with an hdmi source then the zone 2 feature is pretty lousy imo.

One thought I had was to take the analog VCR/DVR out and loop it back into one of the analog inputs then select that input for zone 2 - whala! Wouldn't work though - the manual says you won't get analog out on VCR/DVR out when using a digital source.

Anyways, can anyone really clear up how zone 2 really works? Is there any way to implement a "party mode" with this thing?