The "Official" Onkyo TX-NR3009 Owners Thread - Page 8

I would have stuck it out with my 3009 but I gambled on Amazon with a "used Good condition" 5009 for 1468. Well, it showed up yesterday in a pretty roughed up box in Brand New condition. The description said may be repackaged and possible minor cosmetic damage. It came brand spanking new! Never been turned on. I usually get these Rwceivers at great pricing (cost) but that is still a great price for a brand new 5009! A few weeks ago I tried getting a 3009 for 1165 with the same description and it never made it. The item was considered damaged because the box gave way and it hit the ground. Warehouse deals on Amazon is a big gamble. Sometimes you loose, sometimes you win BIG!

I have always used Antec Component Coolers on top of my Receivers and never once had an issue. Knock on wood of course. :

That's good to know, but doesn't the 3009 already come with built-in fans?

Anybody???

You can see the interior of the TX-NR3009 in this YouTube review done by AV Land UK. You can see it at around the 3:20 mark.

The purpose of mounting a fan on top is to suck air out, not blow it in. Heat rises and all that, so if you mount a good sized fan on top, sucking air out it will work almost as well as mounting a fan underneath blowing up. My personal preference is to not have any of the fans I have used blowing into the units.

Yes there are fans, but they only come on at high volumes according to the video.

I lost a pretty good deal this morning. Vann's had an open box TX-NR5009 with the full manufacturer's warranty and all accessories for $1425.00. I put it in my cart and did some research on Vann's open box items for a couple of minutes, but it was sold out when I came back. If I see it again, I will pull the trigger right away.

That's a real good price. Hope your able to catch it next time

Ever wonder why audio manufactures don't attach fans to the top of there receivers?
It's because those vents on top of the receiver allow heat to escape from the unit.
The last thing they want you to do, is cover those vents with a fan, that blows
hot dirty air back down into the circuitry.

Ever wonder why audio manufactures put fans underneath there receivers?
It's to blow hot air up and out of the unit.
Remember the natural progression for heat is to rise.

That was a great price. Close to mine. I bet theirs was a true open box though. The one from Amazon was brand new for 44 more. I just checked Amazon and one in similar condition was at 1753 now. I know they screwed up. I'm happily using the 5009 this weekend. Maybe much longer.

Well actually I said that if you place a fan on top SUCKING AIR OUT would be the best. So you're saying that a fan on top of the unit sucking air out of the vents where heat naturally rises is bad and that it will block the vents? I fail to see the logic in that.

I have yet to open up a receiver or any piece of audio equipment to see fans underneath everything blowing air up through all the boards and circuitry. I've seems fans side mounted, rear mounted (mostly on pro amps), and in receivers (in the few I've looked in) the fans have been either side mounted or mounted in such a way that they blow air up, but without blowing onto the boards or circuitry.

^ ^ ^

I agree. I even tried with the fan blowing down. The unit runs cooler with the fan blowing out. "SUCKING AIR OUT"

I can only say that the cooler on top avoids clicking sound. When I did not have any coolers on top, I had the clicking sound (like a rele) after 15-20 minutos at high volume. The top of the receiver was very hot.

I have noted that new onkyo 5010 has video and audio separate from each other. Has it something to do with heat in 5009???


My cooler takes the hot air from below and exhausts it to the top...

Yes, from what is happening, i think its a heat issue. Its shutting off its circuits to protect itself.

I actually spoke to Onkyo about the clicking sound, I think I deleted the conversation, but they said that the clicking issue had something to do with electrical switching or some such thing, but that it was due to the unit protecting itself from the heat. They said that the the only times the unit should click like that are switching between sources and if the unit is regulating itself to deal with the heat.

Why do some folks find it necessary to turn up the volume to near ear splitting levels?
I listen to most movies at -30db, well below reference, and it's loud enough for me.

No wonder some owners are experiencing heat related problems with there receivers.
Turn the volume down and save your equippment and your hearing.

Just sayin...

Coolcat, I've found with smaller monitor speakers, they are more fulfilling at lower volume levels. In contrast, I have jbl 3677s that were made for small cinemas with 2) dts 10s and 11 sealed subs. They just don't come alive til you get on the volume then it sounds/feels like IMAX. I usually listen around -10 and up but when there is a lot of reserve on tap it doesn't sound as loud as it is. Again, I have had a lot of speakers and I definitely liked the monitors in that I didn't feel like I had to crank them to enjoy the overall presentation.

I don't consider -30db a lower volume level.
It's freaking loud!
You guys must be near deaf if you have to crank up the volume to -10db or higher.
Also I don't like small speakers.

Do you watch movies in the THX mode?
Is it the best setting for movie watching?

What did they say about attaching a fan to the top of a 3009?

They said a fan on top of the 3009 sucking air out is fine, it will help keep the unit cooler. They did not recommend blowing down into the unit as you and I both have hazarded against (both of us in this thread btw) and I didn't ask them about putting a fan underneath.

Also, I generally watch movies at -15 to -10 although at certain scenes I'll go -5ish. It's not about being deaf (at least for me), after you run room correction, -0 should be reference levels. This is the point at which, in my room, a person can hear all details of the recording (movie or music) of whatever is playing (as I'm sure you know). So at those levels (-15 to -10) I'm getting the majority of the soundtrack, albeit probably still missing a few details at the very bottom and very top, which is the whole point IMHO of investing all this money in electronics and speakers. I'm trying to reproduce movie theater quality sound and get as close as possible to live music, which both happen to be well above what -30 would sound like on the AVR.

This doesn't mean that I watch everything at these levels, but when I watch very dynamic blu-ray movies or when the mood strikes me to listen to music as it was meant to be heard and recorded I turn it up. This is just my reasoning for having it that loud at times YMMV.

I'll also mention that many classical pieces are extremely dynamic and can get whisper quiet and then explode into a big peak and without having it up to near reference levels you'll miss tons of detail during those quiet parts. The same goes for certain movies. Again YMMV and other people just like things loud, I'm just trying to get the full effect of the recording.

Fuzz summed it up very well. I'd just add that in my system, I built it so that my ears would be the limiting factor not my system tappin out for whatever volume I choose to listen. -30 on my system sounds very subdued. But admittedly I am the IMAX type for many a movie.

I listen at loud volume because speakers sound there best when played loud. You dont feel the bass or hear the crisp highs at low volume compared to higher volume. To me -10 to -15 is good for movies. Feels like your in the theater. Sometimes i listen to stereo music in direct mode at -0 to -5. It gets your heart pumping lol. To me -10 is not that loud when i've been in clubs and it sounds like there playing music at 100db. You can hardly conversate with someone. Im still young and my ears are still good. High volumes dont bother me yet.

Now I have the cooler, and clicking was gone, I am sure the 5009 was protecting from heat, which is dissapointing, as other onkyo's didnt suffer from that problem (I had an 805 and a 5007 before). As I said, its curious that 5010 has video and audio channel separate from each other (5009 and 5010 are very similar, but 5010 is trying to correct previous problems for sure)...

With the cooler on it, the 5009 reaches 49 C degrees when pushing it to 70.5 absolute volume playing stereo biamped in my monitor audio gx300. The ambient temps are typical of summer here in Spain, about 30 C degrees. If the cooler was not on it, it would reach about 70 degrees for sure...

When playing films dont have the problem, its only when I push volume playing mp3's in stereo, especially dance music with low tones...
Edited by vmanuelgm - 7/24/12 at 2:24am

I watch TV & DVD,Blu-Ray at around -20 to -25db. using Paradigm speakers in a 9.2 setup. The temp on my 3009 never goes above 30c.

When using a multichannel configuration, such as dolby or dts, I have no problem at all, its only when I play music from my pc, using windows media player and high volume, with stereo option. The temps get higher and higher until the receiver starts clicking internally. When I bought it around october last year, I sent it to onkyo service in Spain, but they didnt find anything wrong (I dont know if they tried it at high volume and biamped with tower speakers). Got it back with its clicking, until this month, when I purchased the cooler and clicking has gone. If the cooler had not helped me, I would have sent it to rma again...

So after all these months I am sure that this 5009 (which has a toroidal transformer that 3009 does not) has heat issues when biamping powerfull towers and playing at high volumes..

So I won't need to attach a fan, since I'll be setting the volume on my 3009 at -30db, when watching movies?

At that level i dont think you will need a fan.

I have my 3009 about 2 inches off the floor and dont run into heat issues. Its physics...heat rises while cooler air drops.

I am running fans on top blowing out.