Onkyo TX NR709 Owners' Thread - Page 71

NM - driver update fixed it

Just sent my Onkyo 605 in for a trade up to a tx-nr 709. Its a refurb from Onkyo. Loved my 605 but my hdmi is dying after 5 years of duty. Anyone have experience with the factory refurb 709? I couldnt pass up a 300 dollar deal!

Just sent my Onkyo 605 in for a trade up to a tx-nr 709. Its a refurb from Onkyo. Loved my 605 but my hdmi is dying after 5 years of duty. Anyone have experience with the factory refurb 709? I couldnt pass up a 300 dollar deal!

Hi All,
I've been an owner of a TX-SR707 for a little over three years and it's starting to signs of the dreaded "no sound" problem. Although I'd like to jump ship to another brand, I really appreciate and have become used to a few features specific to Onkyos so I'm thinking about getting a 709. I've jumped around this thread and see some people do have issues but I'm not sure if it's very widespread. I know if you ask the owners in the 707 thread the majority will tell you to stay away but I'd like to ask all of you 709 owners if you think the 709 is a relatively safe purchase. Please share any other comments you may have.

Thank you very much!

This thread seems just about dead. Arent there any 709 owners out there that can give your opinion?

I've never had any problem with my 709. I've hooked lots of different stuff up to it in the year and a half that I've had it and nothing has shown any problem.

I recounted my experience with a 709 refurb over a year ago in this thread. The short of it is that the unit failed, and Onkyo replaced it. Not sure what info you're specifically after.

I bought one of the refurbs a few months ago. Had networking issues finally only solved very simply by my router support folks. Still getting deeper into it.

Thank you Gents! Seems like hit or miss with the 709. Im waiting to hear back from Onkyo, then having them ship the refurb 709 to me.

How do you turn off listening modes entirely? Direct only plays in stereo, and cycling through the options does not offer the ability to turn them off. I went into the main menu and selected the option to have it pass through for each type of connection and format, and it still won't turn off the listening modes.

Have you tried Pure Audio?

Trying to play games and watch movies with no processing. Pure would kill the video.

^^
Pure Audio would only kill "analog" video as HDMI video should still pass through to the TV.


DIRECT mode will pass whatever is being received, so if a 5.1 signal is received then a 5.1 signal is output.

It states that, but it is incorrect. I've tried direct multiple times with Blu-rays and games and it always pushes stereo only.

However, after going into the menus and setting it to pass the audio unprocessed, it booted into the proper mode today. Go figure.

What exactly do you mean by "no processing"? If the input signal is AC-3 5.1, it needs to be decoded so "no processing" would mean the front panel shows Dolby D. It's not performing any additional processing, it's just decoding. Similarly, if the input signal is DTS the "no processing" mode would be "DTS." The same goes for the various forms of DD and DTS. Any two-channel source would simply show "stereo" and uncompressed multi-channel would show Multich. Is that what you're looking for?

I'm sending HDMI from my iMac to my Apple TV using AirPlay Mirroring and the only audio I'm getting is center channel. My Onkyo is set to PLII Movie, is that the problem?

Correct. I guess I should have said additional processing. I finally figured out in the menus because all I could set it to was Pro Logic, THX modes, etc. I wanted those off so it would process things (and show) DTS-HD, etc.

So there is an hour left on the SC-1222-K deal and I'm wondering is the 709 more suited to my needs?

Here's a quicky of what I wanted.
-MultiEQ XT
Just because. I've never used Audessy but I hear great reviews of it. I hear it's better than MCACC so why not?
-PreAmps
7.2 RCA I think I can do that!
-Low Price
Right now this is 320 refurbished

I plan on using this with an amplifier. I listen to all my music from my laptop. I watch all my TV off my laptop. I rarely watch TV from cable.

Is there any reason to step up to the Onkyo 809 or the SC-1222-K if this is all I need? I'd originally only considered the 809 but now that I look at the 709 I'm not sure why I didn't get it before.

For anyone interested, a refurbished 709 is currently available at ShopOnkyo for around $310, with their free Club membership, and 20% discount for their Presidents Day sale.

Just wondering if you've had personal experience with refurbs from ShopOnyko? Is the site actually Onkyo's or another retailer? That $310 for a 709 has me pretty tempted to upgrade from my 607 I've had for 3 years with no problems....yet. All the problems posted with their newer receivers has me gunshy. Thanks for any input!

Ed

It's actually their website. I'm ordering tomorrow, but who knows how long it'll take.

Have you ordered from them before? I tried to find reviews/feedback on the site but found virtually nothing.

Anyone???

Thanks!

Ed

Nope I haven't. This will be my first time lol so I hope it goes well. I just remembered it isn't 2 day shipping like Amazon prime so I'm kind of disappointed. I wanted to have it in time for this weekend. I'll have my amplifier by Thursday. I didn't even realize I could hook up an IPOD using the RCA jacks until the receiver comes. I feel really dumb lol.

It's my first time actually calibrating with Audessy so I'm excited. I never used it before but now that I'm getting an amplifier and a new receiver I will try the MultiEQ XT and see how I like it.

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it! Too bad the sale will be over by the time you get it and posts your results back. I'd really like to see some feedback before I order from them.

Ed

There are a lot of reports of people ordering Onkyo refurbs. I've only seen ONE person do it personally and that was from A4L (accessories for less). My friend had a bad experience though but I think this has to do more with driving speakers as hard as possible rather than actual normal listening conditions (we're in a fraternity house so generally we're trying to play music as loud as possible). However, I think under normal conditions you'd be pretty fine and the prices are pretty damn good. 310 dollars for a receiver with preouts is pretty hard to beat. My HT-RC360 was 320 bucks, and it's now 300 dollars at walmart with no preouts and Audessy 2EQ. If you wait on this deal (assuming you're buying Onkyo), The next receiver up is the 717. This has a lesser version of Audessy to the 2EQ. It seems to me the trend in electronics in general is to strip away features while charging more. My TV's next model up stripped away full backlighting for edge lighting, I had to jump on it and get financing just to make sure I didn't have to pay more for the edge lit model.

You'd either be stuck with the underwhelming 717 (I'd rather have the 709), or the 818 which will cost you upwards of 600 dollars (assuming you're lucky enough to hop on a deal and thereceiver is in your area), or pay upwards of 800-900, or jump on an 809, which also doesn't seem like it's going on sale again for a good while. The 809's current price point made it cheaper for me to purchase a 709 + external Crown XLS1500 Drivecore series amplifier for the same price as the 809, except the amplifier will put out a LOT more power to my tower speakers and will drive them the way they were meant to be. You could save some cash too and buy a weaker Pro AMP that's cheaper as well, or go with a used one (the warranty is transferable on crown amps), and get one for around 150. I just wanted the headroom, though.

I hate to recommend things to people I haven't actually dealt with myself, but this seems like a great deal. A cheap receiver with decent Audessy and preouts. If you need more power add an amplifier. Unless you're using non HD sources and might want the extra video processing power, I don't see a reason not to jump on it. I'd jump on the 818 for the MultiXT 32, but apparently it's a stripped down version of it so meh. Also, Onkyo has a trade in deal. Even if this receiver craps out on you next week, and you're too lazy to deal with the RMA process, when the warranty is up, you're allowed to trade it in for money off a new receiver. If I can't sell my HT-RC360, I'm going to try it next year.

I'm finally at the point though where I'm done shopping around and this AVR should fit all my needs. I'll say again, my friends HT-RC360 worked fine until he tried driving it really hard. If you're a normal music/video watcher, you'll be fine, if you're trying to bump this thing as loud as you possibly can before your ears bleed (this is what I've been doing), then I'd say you're asking for your refurb to fail and you probably should take advantage of the preouts as it may extend the life of your receiver since it won't be working as hard/generating as much heat.

That's my opinion though, I'm new the the whole AVR, HT stuff but I hope it helps.

Edit: Just scroll up, some people have bought refurbs and made posts about them. A search of refurb, refurbished, or B-Stock should help.
Edited by tential - 2/18/13 at 9:08pm

Hey Tential-THANKS for taking the time. I'm still thinking about it. I got as far as putting it in my cart but got p.o. when I tried to register my 607 to get another $5 off and it wouldn't recognize it's serial # which absolutely correct. Kinda silly, huh? If I decide to get off the fence I'm going to call them to take care of that & also ask some questions--like is there a period of time that it can be returned for a refund if its defective. Couldn't find anything about that. Gonna "sleep" on it tonight. My 607 is working perfectly and that makes it harder to make a decision, lol .I primarily want to upgrade for a bit more power, the better Audessy and 3D pass through.

Ed

They're out, although Im hoping they get a few more in

You wont notice a 10-20 watt increase which is most likely what you'll be getting. I dunno about 3D because I don't have a 3D TV and I rarely watch 3D (does anyone really watch 3D more than 5% of the time they watch their display?), and the better audessy is a HUGE reason I'm picking the 709 as I want to try it. However, I have no problem calibrating a system myself until it sounds good to my ears. That's what really matters is that you like how it sounds. The biggest reason I'm upgrading to the 709 though is because the 809 is too expensive. For the price of the 809, I'm able to get the 709, AND an external amp (it's a pro amp but I hear great reviews from lots of HT mags using it in HT setups), so why not? Also, if you miss out on the 709, and they get sold out, you're stuck with 717. That's a lesser version of Audessy. So either way you'd be getting screwed at a 300 dollar price range. The only way to get this value would be to spend about 500 dollars. If you're lucky and wait long enough you might get this value at 450, but because of the newer receivers losing features, you will only get a good audessy with the 818. That's hit 600 once so far, but I highly doubt it'll get to 450 for a long time and you might even miss that sale.

For me, the 709 is offering the best price point, and the best upgrade path from a price to performance ratio. But if I wasn't listening at high volumes, then I'd probably not be worried about upgrading either until something came around that really tickled my fancy, like the 450 dollar deal on the 809.

My HT-RC360 is working perfectly as well. That's why I'm purchasing this receiver. I can sell my current receiver, for 200 dollars hopefully, purchase this new one for 320-310, and I'm upgrading for 110 dollars.

Also, from what I've read, people have been upgraded models if the unit is problematic. They just end up shipping you a newer model which is pretty good so at WORST, you might end up with a 717. If you were adamant that you bought the 709 for the MultiEQ, they may give you an 809 if they still have them left and you're really nice on the phone. Also, Onkyo has a trade in service they don't advertise. If you trade in an old receiver out of warranty, broken or working, they give you money off a new one. So now that I know this I'm not too worried about buying onkyo. Worst comes to worst, I'd have to go back to my old receiver for 1 year (til it's out of warranty), then upgrade again. Lots of options, and I hear it's also a flat rate off, so even if you have a lower end model you'd still get a good amount off.

Well crcostel is correct, seems like they are out of 709s for now. Snooze ya lose! Oh well, at least I can sleep tonight......maybe.

Let us know when you get your 709 set up!

Ed

Ha I will, assuming of course I receive the confirmation email. They take awhile to send but then again maybe I might have ordered too late.