Onkyo TX NR709 Owners' Thread - Page 67

I thought about that one but I did shut it down. It had been ON before though. I'd hate to reset the whole thing again

OK, I tested more there's something fishy here...

* TV (Panasonic Plasma P42G10) was checked last firmware (1.213) and reset to factory.
* Onkyo NR709 was checked last firmware and reset to factory.
* The TV is connected to the AVR with HDMI (and CEC crap disconnected).

- A test using my minidisc connected to the AVR with optical connect. Shuting down or powering up the TV has NO effect whatsoever.

- My Dune player being connected with HDMI. TV shut down + 10 seconds and the AVR search for the signals. Can't find so sound off. Finds it again, and sound goes back. If I power the TV up, again, the same thing. Each time it two parts: loose the signal, catch the signal. It is VERY annoying as you imagine.

- Using my TVoverDSL box (belgian Belgacom) connected with HDMI, the same thing happen. So IMO the players are NOT the culprit. Either the AVR or the TV is the culprit.

Would an older NR709 firmware help ?
Don't have any...

EDIT: of course using anything but HDMI to transport audio cures the problem (BUMMER) but then I lose uncompressed High Resolution and multichannel audio which I do NOT want to lose. I'd have bought a 20cents Samsung crap othertwise.
Edited by thibsie - 11/27/12 at 4:41am

So when I get home to the unit, is there a "proper" order of disconnect/connect?

Unplug both the Ethernet cable and the AVR power cable.
Wait 1 hour if posiible (last time I got that, 30 sec was OK).

Just ordered the 709. Will be here in a day. Super excited.
Curious, can I run a center rear from the surround back left output in addition to front wides or highs?
Also what have people found to like more if not. Rear wide or high?

Got it in and all hooked up - so much stuff to learn up on and tweak!

Anyway - anyone have any word on the rear center plus front height channels - I have an extra matching Atlantic Tech Center that could be in rear with my rears for heights!

Never used more than 5.0 so I really can't help.
I don't even know what's best: front wide, front height, rear ... you can only have one of those of course (a pair).
And if you do, or if you use Bi-amp fronts, no amplified Zone 2.

I'll probably get another set of speakers and give it a try sometime.

New question - according to Netflix - the XBox 360 only supports up to 720p streaming - the Xbox then up-scales/up-converts this to 1080p.
Would I be better off setting my Xbox to 720p and letting the Onkyo do the up-scaling?
Anyone ever tried this? Which has better up-scaling the Marvell QDeo or an Xbox?

Link to Netflix specs for Xbox - http://support.netflix.com/en/node/262#gsc.tab=0
Edited by shaneb0422 - 12/3/12 at 4:06pm

Hey all, I've had my 709 for a little over a year now. But I have a question that I have not been able to figure out. Is it possible to split the audio and video using this AVR? For example, I would like to watch a Directv program through the receiver connected via HDMI, but listen to a different audio source(pandora or XBMC). Can any tell me if this is possible?


TIA,
Matt

Easiest is probably feed analogue RCA from the Source to the DirectTV Source Input, then manually select Analogue Audio (instead of HDMI).

For Pandora from the 709, you could feed the pre-outs of Z2 (playing Pandora) to the analogue input of DirectTv source. Obviously assumes you are not using Z2.

Sorry for all the questions guys - but I'm learning.

I love my receiver - but Audyssey...I'm torn on.
Does anyone else feel like it makes the sound...hollow-ish?
It's almost like the dynamics are taken away- the "oomph" of things are missing.
I have ran it multiple times - it seems a bit better now.
At times I feel like no audyssey and using THX cinema processing sounds better...

Maybe the smoothing of the bass/sub is what has done it - I will say that it definitely has pulled everything down to a more even stage. Like the eq'ing has caused the imaging to become better (which is expected).
Anyone experience anything peculiar with audyssey?

I will have to grab a mic to set the manual eq and compare.

I've done a bit of searching in this thread and cannot figure out how to run either front high or front wide. I had some extra satelite speakers laying around and hooked up all four for front high and wide. Run the calibration and it set all of the settings. Now when I go through the different listening modes there is only a selection for dolby PLIIz Height.. From what I have read the 709 can either run wides or heights. Just trying to figure out how to turn the wides on and the heights off. Thanks.

Correct. You can physically connect more speakers that can be active at one time. If I recall, the 709 only supports 7.1 active at the same time. If you enable dolby PLIIz Height it will disable a pair of your back or surround. If you select wides, then a pair is also disabled. I have 9.1 speakers but only 7.1 can be active at once in Zone 1. If you run a Zone 2, you'll lose 2 out of your config also.

To switch on your dolby PLIIz Height you can use the remote (SP Layout button), select one of the music mods or select on the front of the receiver.

For me personally, I have the two dolby PLIIz Heights wired up and positioned but never use them. I prefer the in-wall back L\R and L/R Surrounds. www.dolby.com has a great explanation and diagrams.


Enjoy!

Ok thanks for the info. I tried changing the configuration with the remote with the SP Layout button but when I press it it says "not available" on the receiver. Is there another way to change it? Also is it possible to bi-amp the mains and run either front high or wides since the bi-amp runs off the rear surround?

Nope not with 709, I believe the higher end models gives this capability, but with 709 you only have an option to switch between rear, front high or front wide.

For audio my preference is wide, I have not tried height. For movies now that we are seeing more titles with 7.1 encoding I go with rear speakers.
Edited by atlind01 - 12/6/12 at 8:09am

Do you have to use the banana plugs with this receiver?

I just bought one of these new at Best Buy for $399, it was the last one at any best buy in the area. Was really torn about this and the Denon 2112/2113.

I haven't actually opened it yet, thought maybe I could sell it for more, but I think I'm gonna keep it. Ordered the Energy Take 5 pack speakers to go with it from newegg for $129 shipped (was torn between the regular energy's and micros which are $2 less right now) and a BIC V-80 sub (I know it's not the best, but the size was just right for the spot I have for it).

The speakers and sub are still in the mail, so I don't know if they come with any speaker wire or plugs. So I'd like to know if I need to go buy/order some banana plugs to plug the speakers in, or if there is a way to do without?

Thanks!

No. Banana plugs not required. Direct wire via the screwdowns on each terminal work just fine.

Well, turns out my 709 didn't last as long as I expected/hoped.

My 14 month old 709 just stopped all audio output after working splendidly with all of my sources on a daily basis. Video is fine, but no audio on any of the 7.1 speakers from any input (all HDMI, no changes and same ones that always worked) and no audio in Speaker Setup->Level Calibration. Reset didn't do anything except clear my customizations/configs. It started acting odd about a week ago - no audio, but either switching inputs or powering off/on and all would be right for the evening. Tonight; crickets. It is still under warranty, but the nearest service center is one state and 27lbs of shipping hassle away.

Any tips appreciated!

thanks Howardru. One more question, is it possible for one input to take the video from HDMI but audio from analog? My laptop has HDMI out, but I think it only sends video, so I have to hook up the audio to the headphones out. With my old system I plugged the video directly into the TV, but it would be a little more convenient to only change the input on the receiver.

I had something similar happen with mine a few weeks ago. Have had it for about 4 months now and all was working fine. Was playing a game and a crackling sound started to come from all the speakers then a loud pop and no sound on any inputs. Turned it off unplugged it tried everything and no sound. Took it to a repair center and they said all was fine with it. They said they replaced the display board but that is not what could have caused it. Never got an answer on what caused my problem.

Your HDMI port on your laptop should carry both Audio and Video. That's the beauty of the specification. If yours doesn't then perhaps something is not setup correctly.

To answer your question, not sure if you can map an analog audio to HDMI digital. I know you can do this for RCA video w/ analog audio or optical audio.

Thanks again Howardru, after some investigation, turns out I can enable the HDMI audio output on the laptop! It just wasn't on by default. So that will work great. However, I do have two more questions for the forum.

1. My new Energy Take 5.0 speakers will arrive today, and the V-80 sub has already arrived. So I'll be setting it up as a 5.1. However, while I was waiting for the speakers, I tried to plug in my old ones from the sony HTIB, and they sound eeh ok. One was actually broken. So my question is, is it worth it to setup two of my old satellites as the front high for 7.1? Or am I better off just going with the 5.1 with good speakers and tossing the crappy ones? I am planning to get a pair of the the Energy CC-5 once I get my new house and set them us as primary left and right and then take the Energy Takes and turn those two into the front highs (unless it's better to set up the rear back?)

2. I also use a Monsoon Vulkano box to access my cable DVR when I'm not home. Problem with that box is it doesn't have HDMI in, only component. And for some unorthodox reason my cable box will only send out the Component signal if HDMI cable is not plugged in. It can careless if the TV and/or receiver are actually off, it will not send out Component unless I unplug the HDMI. Real PTIB. So I was hoping that maybe the Receiver could send out Component from the Monitor ports even when the input is HDMI, but that does not seem to be the case. So I guess my only hope is to buy a powered HDMI splitter and an HDMI to Component converter? Any better suggestions?

Thank you!

1. Don't waste your time with the Sony speakers. As I said, I have Dolby IIz Height installed (Bose VCS-30 Surround Speakers which I'm embarrassed with) and never use that mode. My Polk L/R are are about 4ft high and the 2 heights above them haven't seemed to make much of a difference when I used them once or twice.

2. The only non-HDMI outputs I can see are YPB Monitor out. Never heard of the Monsoon box but it looks like you have the cheapest model. Two models have HDMI (1.2 only). Not sure what you're trying to do, but i just upgraded my Tivo HD to a Tivo Premiere 4 last weekend. Now I have 4 tuners, DVR to DVR to PC to IPad and IPhone movie transfer and viewing.

Ok, got my Energy Take speakers plugged in yesterday and ran the quick audyssey setup, something just doesn't quite sound right yet. Granted I haven't mounted the speakers where they really need to go, just put them on the TV stand for now just to get going. So I was going to wait to run the long audyseey setup till everything is mounted. But especially in Dolby D it just doesn't sound good. If I go to music channels on the cable box, and switch the mode to NEO 6, that actually sounds pretty good, but regular TV shows sound like I'm doing something wrong. How much difference do the wires make? Turns out the one I ordered was the pretty thin kind, looked better in the picture, so I wonder if I need thicker wires. But as is, I was expecting a lot better. My 10 year old $100 cambridge soundworks set that I bought used with a passive sub for the bedroom sounds better. I guess will work on mounting and running advanced setup to see if that helps.

I wasn't going to say something in an earlier post but....

Let me read back a bit....you spent $129 on a "pack" of speakers. And you're expecting Symphony hall?

Really?

No, but they were originally $599, so got to be pretty good and cross shopped them with Martin Logan MLT-2 and some Definitive Technology ProCinema 60, and some Boston Acoustics older speakers. The Energys were the most recommended in these forums. So I went with them. Just surprised that initially seemed like my Sony HTIB speakers actually sounded better. Hopefully it's just the placement and settings I gotta play with

Let's hope so.

Remember, when running the Audyssey, the FIRST measurement is the most important to get correct. Don't feel like you're stuck with the setting that it comes up with because you can manually override the settings. I think I tweaked some distance measurements from the seating area to certain speakers. I think Audyssey also set my DSW Pro 600 to something different than the standard 80Mhz cross-over, so I manually set it back. There's also some setting in the 709 for audio listening modes. Press the HOME button right below the round dial in the middle of the remote and play around with Audio and Listening Modes.

Also, have you updated the firmware yet? Be safe and do this over USB as certain versions over this summer would crash via net upgrade. Do all these upgrades before you start calibrating.


Enjoy!

Thanks again, yes, first thing I did was upgrade the firmware, after reading all the horror stories I was ready with the usb drive even before I got the receiver lol. I did go into the home and then audio, and it seems if I turn on dynamic volume, that makes things sound a lot better. Not quite sure what all the other things do like dynamic EQ or Re-EQ do or Dolby volume, if I turn Dolby Volume on it turns dynamic off and vice versa, dynamic seems to sound better. Definitely doesn't sound good without any modes in Digital D mode, strange. I haven't ran the long version of Audissey yet till I actually mount the speakers to their actual places this weekend, right now they are just sitting on the TV stand, so maybe that'll make a big difference.

I have two more questions for the forum:

1. Does anyone know how to make the Onkyo remote control my Comcast Cisco RNG200N HD DVR? I tried the codes it gives me but neither works at all.

2. Anyone know if it's possible to have the box send out Component Monitor Out from HDMI in?

Thanks!

Checkout page 85 of the user manual. There's a Input/Out matrix explaining what is possible. Here's my online version.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3293653/Onkyo_TX-NR709_En_web.pdf

I have another quick question, what type of account is required to use the Spotify App with this receiver? Spotify has three account options: Free(which I don't believe will work), Unlimited and Premium. Do I need the full Premium account or will the Unlimited account work?

Thanks again,
Matt