Onkyo TX NR709 Owners' Thread - Page 5

What cables or wires do I need to buy with this and from where?

Sorry for piling question on top of question here... I am a new owner and very happy with ALMOST everything. However I have had 2 incidents of picture but no sound. Has anyone else experienced this? If it's just a matter of occasionally having to switch inputs back and forth to get the sync back, I'm ok with it. But if some machines have random incidents with no fix except to turnn everything off and on again, well, I might return it.

jlaavenger - that's a loaded question. I would say you can get all your interconnects and speaker wire at radio shack or ebay for $150 or so. Others will tell you you need to spend $4000 at audio advisor.

extrafuzzyllama - I would say if you are buying new equipment, $200 is the least you could spend to get a significant upgrade. See if you like what you hear from the Onkyo. If you think you want better, save your birthday money for something in the $200 - $500 class anyway.

I just received the 709 from Amazon yesterday. When you open the box did the faceplate have some sort of peel away cover on it to prevent scratches? The one I received did not and it looks like someone might have washed the display with something because it looks like a residue is on it. I'm considering sending this back if I can confirm Amazon sent me an open box unit as opposed to the "new" unit I purchased.

Forum sponsor Monoprice (link at top of webpage) is a great place for quality cables and speaker wire. As the HDMI cables go for around $5 each, pick up a few extra in case you add more devices. Also pick up an optical cable or two just in case you experience an HDMI handshake issue with a cable/sat box and need to connect the HDMI directly to the TV with optical from the box to the AVR.

What gage speaker wire do you recommend? Will any interconnects sufice?

For distances < 80', 16AWG is usually recommended. Banana plugs (open or closed whichever you prefer) will make the job easier, especially connecting to the AVR .. Monoprice sells both types.

I just received my 709 today (well actually, my neighbor received my 709, stupid UPS driver). Anyway, after getting that all straightened out I got it all hooked up. I'm having a problem with Last.fm. When I select Last.fm I get a message that, "Currently, Last.fm Internet Radio Service on this device is not able to be connected in your country." I'm in the United States and Last.fm works on my PC and XBox 360. Is anyone else having this issue? I tried a factory reset and that did not help.

Last.fm is only available to European owners Found this out when researching my 270. No biggie as Slacker kicks @ss and is free!

I just ordered the TX-NR709 at Amazon for $585.39
They have the TX-NR809 $699.00

These were the best prices I could find by a good margin, so I snapped up the deal before the price goes back up.

Any idea what I could get for my old Onkyo TX-SR805?

Happy shopping.

as reading post above some of yous received your 709 far as some defects how is it working for yous compare to my disasters : heat ? no picture at times only sound , low volume output ? no 96khz only 44khz or 48khz?

I have no other issues. The no picture and no sound issues are sufficient to warrant a return/repair, but if it's just a handshake/sync issue that can be fixed by switching to an unused input and then back again, I can live with it rather than messing with a return. I have some other reasonably high quality stuff that sometimes fails to sync. On the 96khz issue, if you are certain that your source material is truly 96khz, then for my part I would say you have too many problems to live with on that unit.

Bummer?. I'm replacing my old denon with the 709, cause I need the pre-out for my active speakers (left and right). Furthermore i need the 12 volt trigger power for my speakers as well. But as far as i understand getting 12 trigger power from zone 2 will disable my 7.1 setup. Any ideas ?. Thanks all

Hi, according to Last.fm website: "Selected Onkyo AV receivers - radio only available to subscribers in US, UK and Germany". By this, I assume you can only get Last.fm to work on the 709 by buying a subscription -- too bad cuz I really like Last.fm on my XBOX. Oh well, I will try Slacker and see what I think.

I did a little research on this and it looks like virtually no blu-rays today are encoded at 96 kHz, so the 48 kHz you see is normal.

I replaced a Denon with the 709, which I just discovered does not come with a switched outlet on the back of the receiver like the Denon... The 709 is going into a cabinet and I assumed it had a switched outlet that I could use to power on the cabinet fans when the 709 was powered on.

Basically, I need an automatic way to power on an AC outlet when the 709 is turned on.

Anyone have any recommendations on how I might accomplish this?

Thanks.

I don't think this is it. It doesn't even get to the point that it asks me for a username and password, so the Onkyo doesn't know if I have a subscription or not. It makes no sense that you can stream Last.fm on an XBox in the US, but not on an Onkyo.

Anyway, I probably won't be using these radio services that much because right now I have the 709 temporarily hooked up in my office to a pair of 30+ year old Infinite Slope bookshelf speakers and I am streaming MP3's from my PC and it sounds AWESOME! Can't wait to actually get it hooked up to my home theater (I've been waiting on banana plugs which should come in the mail today)!

I had this exact same problem when I upgraded to a Yamaha RX-V2065 in my bedroom. I got a cheap surge surpressor from Wal-Mart (Phillips brand) that has some switched plugs on it. When I turn on the Yamaha, it automaticlly switches on the other outlets.

For everyone with the 709 do you have any main HDMI output failing?
I read some reviews on amazon and most of the bad reviews are because the main HDMI output failed. I am a bit nervous now.

I sold two 805s in the last two months. I got 325 for my lightly used one and 415 for one new in box.

I've noticed something, I have to turn up volume to -10 or more to get a good surround sound and not much more to push max volume is +16. Otherwise, I can barely hear the movie at volume -30 or above. Is that normal or something wrong with my setup ?

I have a firmware-related issue with my TX-NR709 receiver and LG television (the receiver needlessly changes resolution, which switches the TV out of Just Scan mode). I filled the Contact Me form in Onkyo's international website, but haven't had any response for them. Is there a better way to get my request forwarded to product management?

BTW, I don't have any issues with the HDMI failing or with the volume settings. However, there were a couple of times where I had to turn the receiver off then on to overcome an HDMI handshake issue.

i am seeing tons of HDMI handshake problems ,trying to get in touch with onkyo, then agian a long wait on phone with them lately

Hi all. I live in Suriname, South America, and received my 709 2 days ago. I owned a TX-NR807 before this which suddenly stopped giving sound. Anyway, I am very happy with the new receiver but have a question regarding the Onkyo iphone app. When I received the receiver and started the iphone app, the network tab was showing all available internet radio options (vtuner, pandora etc) correctly and also working correctly. After this I put the new firmware on my 709, which included at least 2 more internet radio options. On the iphone app these extra stations also appear but whenever I click them I get the wrong internet radio stations sometimes. For instance when I click "DLNA", I get Pandora, as if with the extra radio stations the list got screwed up. Anyone else having this issue? I tried reinstalling the app but no luck. P.S. on the receiver itself everything works fine.

This happened to me all of a sudden about a week ago; it happened while I was watching TV (the STB is connected to the receiver and uses the passthrough feature). After panicking I was able to update the receiver's firmware and the problem has yet to resurface (knock on wood).

If anyone is interested, here's my user review of TX-NR709:

In terms of functionality and features nothing in the TX-NR709 price range even comes close. Onkyo packed so much into it, that it's only logical that they had to make compromises when it comes to sound and amplification quality. However, my non-audiophile ears cannot detect any such compromises. In fact, in direct comparison to my previous Denon and Yamaha receivers in stereo the Onkyo sounds better, and it sounds *much better* and more detailed when it comes to surround sound, possibly thanks to the excellent Audyssey room calibration system that my previous receivers lack.

The main reason I preferred the TX-NR709 over lower end receivers and those from other brands is future compatibility. I don't intend to purchase a new receiver in the next 5 years, so I wanted something that doesn't make me regret not paying more for a feature I might need later on. Examples include dual HDMI out (I'm thinking about adding a projector to the TV), 4K support for higher than FullHD resolution (not that I see much need for that, but who knows), 4 ohm speakers compatibility (if I upgrade my speakers, I don't want the receiver to limit my choices) and a learning remote control to reduce the clutter on my coffee table. Audyssey MultEQ XT room calibration (which also calibrates the sub-woofer) rounds up a very nice product I'm not likely to regret. Well, at least not if it continues to work reliably.

I don't have many issues to report, but there are a few.

HDMI handshake. Occasionally when I turn the receiver on it reports that there's no signal from my HTPC. However, when I turn it off and then back it suddenly does see the signal. I guess it's the infamous HDMI handshake that some people refer to. Upgrading to the latest firmware seems to have no affect on this issue.

Feature clutter. There are too many needless surround modes. Going through all of them takes a long time. It would have been nice to be able to remove them from the menu altogether. The modes I'd be happy to get rid of include: Orchestra, Unplugged, TV Logic, Game-RPG, Game-Action, Game-Rock, Game-Sports, Theater-Dimensional, Neo:6, Neo:6 Cinema, Neo:6 Music. Luckily they don't usually display in one list and are also dependent on the mode button the user chooses (there are separate sound mode buttons for Movies, Music, Games and THX), so it's not that difficult to avoid the un-needed modes.

Confusing volume-related options. Here's a list of what's available:
- Dolby Volume (on/off - "automatically adjusts the difference in volume levels which can occur between different contents or source components")
- Dolby Volume Leveler (off/low/mid/high - "maintains the perceived loudness of all contents, coming from different channels or input sources.")
- Dolby Volume Half Mode (off/on - "Dolby Volume applies a bass and treble attenuation to the audio when the system gain exceeds reference level.")
- Audyssey Dynamic EQ (off/on - "enjoy great sound even when listening at low volume levels")
- Audyssey Dynamic Volume (light/medium/heavy - "This setting affects volume the most. It quiets the loud parts, such as explosions, and boosts the quiet parts so they can be heard")
- THX Loudness Plus volume control technology ("enjoy even subtle nuances of audio expression at low volume"
- IntelliVolume (set in 1 dB steps - "set the input level for each input selector individually".
Some of these modes are easier to understand than others, but overall my head is spinning. I have no idea how to best utilize these modes and whether it's a good idea to combine them or not. My solution for now is to turn them all off.

Phono source cannot be configured to use an external phono amp (which I have, a NAD device which is superior to the circuitry built into the receiver). It would have been nice to be able to switch to phono using the dedicated button on the remote, instead of having to use another source option. At least there's an option to rename it, but the name is only displayed after I choose the source.

Low-res splash screen turns LG TV out of Just Scan mode. Granted, LG is just to blame as Onkyo for this issue. However, if the receiver would stick to 1080P in all cases (including when it starts up and displays the splash screen) the TV would stay in the Just Scan aspect ratio instead of switching to 16:9. The result is that I have to manually change it back to Just Scan mode, otherwise the desktop is displayed truncated with the Start menu button and the Windows Taskbar mostly out of the screen.

I'm extremely happy with the sound, functionality and features of this receiver. I don't think I have it long enough to judge reliability or dismiss the bad reviews, I can only hope I won't experience them. As for the issues that I listed, I don't consider them to be significant enough to really affect my overall satisfaction from this product, which is indeed very high. If you're not bothered with these issues/nits and the TX-NR709 fits your budget then I can highly recommend this receiver.

will a TX NR709 be a good replacement for my 3808CI that died today?
looking for a decent replacement, but don't have enough for the TX NR809...

thanks in advance!

I actually upgraded from a 3808ci and I didn't have the room for an 809 (too tall to fit in my shelf). For my purposes, the 709 is an adequate replacement for the Denon. I didn't take full advantage of the all of the features on either receiver let alone push each one to their limits, but I am quite happy with the 709.

I actually wanted a Denon 3311 (I didn't like the aesthetics of the 3312) , but they were impossible to find when I was shopping around. The 809 was nice, but was overkill for my needs.

Detailed picture inside of Onkyo 709 here:
http://soundnews.ro/2011/08/27/onkyo-tx-nr709-review/

Review translated into English.

Does this unit use banana plugs to connect the speaker wires at the back of the unit?

Hi jlaavenger, yes it does.