Onkyo TX-NR818 "official" owner's thread discussion - Page 10

Going through the manual for the NR-818 it says that you have to connect the TV or projector to the HDM main out on the Onkyo if you want to be able to display the OSM (on screen menu) as it only works on the HDMI main out. So I guess this means that if I connect the Sony directly to my TV I won't be able to see the OSM so I'm curious, since you connected the Sony directly to your projector, how did you set up the system without the OSM? Did you use the display on the Onkyo for that?

You need to stop confusing people.  The question was about Audyssey, which has nothing to do with the surround modes.  Audyssey has TWO curves, reference/movie or flat/music.

 

Surround modes are a completely separate animal and can be applied with out without Audyssey.

I cannot clarify the Onkyo half of this but in the 4311, Audyssey, Audyssey Flat, and ByPass L/R are individually selectable in all Sound Modes. There are separate customizable settings for bass management in Stereo Model. And, for the serious tweak geek, the 4311 is Audyssey Pro-capable. So for an additional outlay of around $700 you can create whatever custom Audyssey curves you want.

Might I suggest that if you are confused about something such as the Audyssey modes on the 818 that you might want to refrain from posting as if you know what you are talking about .

Bill

"audyssey" settings and "post processing" settings (such as the matrixing modes and the "sound enhancing" modes) have always been different things on EVERY avr...

I ordered the 818 yesterday. I currently have a 7.1 arrangement, but I'm interested in trying 9.1. I have an Denon 4306 that I was going to use as the additional amp, but I'm not sure how that works. When using an external amp how do you keep the volume levels in sync? Thanks.

Kerry

Kerry,

Are you referring to using the 4306 as an external amp for the 818? If so I would skip that and just use the amp section in the 818 and add a 2CH external amp (for 9.1 capability).

Bill
Edited by Bill Mac - 6/7/12 at 8:04am

I was going to ask the same thing and also piggy-back with another question...will you be able to use WIDES+HEIGHTS and does MultEQ calibrate these additional channels?

Edit; I just looked up my question about using H+W in the manual (imagine that), and seems do-able. Sorry, but I have never used pre-outs before.
Edited by Patrick Murphy - 6/7/12 at 8:39am

Thanks for answering Bill, and I'm sure I'm being dense here, but how does any external amp know what volume the other channels on the 818 are outputting? Also, I would rather not spend additional money, and I have the 4306, so that is why I was going to use that.

Kerry

Think of it this way... the amps in the AVR are exactly the same as the external amp, the external amps just need their own power supply and connection... no different than what's built into the 818.

The preamp outputs are set relative to the internal amps when you run Auto Setup via the internal trims in the 818... inside the 818, the preamp outputs are connected to the AVR's amp inputs..

It would be the same as if you used your 4306 as an external amp.. however, you have to configure the 4306 as a straight "amp" to do so.. which would entail bypassing all processing and turning the volume knob on the 4306 up to unity (0) and leaving it untouched..

IMO, it's never a good way to gain extra amplification.. extra heat, energy, making sure the unit stays at unity, etc...

I've also been wondering for a while how to keep the volume level on an external amp in sync with the receiver or do we just set it to a fixed level and let the receiver adjust the output levels?

Wow that audyssey target curve discussion just got a little crazy that's all. I too want to keep surround modes separate from this discussion. So if I understand it correctly...

The 4311 and 818 have the same audyssey target curves available, that is an Audyssey XT32 thing.

I will have mine tomorrow. I am comparing it directly to an Anthem MRX 300 and hoping for the best. I love the feature set and video scaler in the Onkyo but last years 809 left me a little on the sound quality so it was returned. It sounded pretty good for surround sound content but it's music handling left quite a bit to be desired at least with my speakers (KEF IQs) very compressed sounding. Does anyone know if the 818 has better DACS than the 809 or is any perceived upgrade in sound quality on the 818 going to come from the upgraded room calibration features?

The Anthem sounds great for both movies and music but is very feature limited and does not have nearly as good a video processor. Here to hoping the 818 sounds better than the 809 so I can have a good sounding receiver with all the bells and whistles.
Edited by BiotypE - 6/7/12 at 1:35pm

I'm very curious as to comparison...audyssey vs arc. Not knowng what your settings were on the 809 my hunch says your compressed comment was related to rolled off highs and too much bass....and just needing adjustments.
I doubt any difference in DAC is audible.

Look forward to your comparison.

I will be sure to post a comparisons. (Sound quality is so subjective) ARC did a really great job in my room. I am interested in finding out how the upgrade to audyssey stacks up myself.

I tried everything under the sun with the 809 and its audyssey implementation and just could not get it there.

My 818 arrived a couple of hours ago, here's my initial impressions. Only had time to do a quick setup, not the fully audyssey. Even without doing the full setup its definitely a step up from the Sony STR-DG1100 it replaced. I have Polk Audio RtiA3 and CSiA6 up front and old RTs in the rear (will upgrade to FXiA4s when I've recovered from getting the 818). In particular the feeling of immersion with my setup is fantastic, the rears have definitely benefited from the 818 the most - much clearer and the soundfield seems less directional, more open and I'm noticing a lot more subtle background sounds - that's without audessey, so very happy so far.

On the video front, I turned off upscaling to 1080i on my DirecTV box and let the 818 upscale to 1080p with low edge, low mosquito, low random and med block NR applied. This has produced a significantly better picture (also made me realize how much of directv is only 720!). As others have said, DirecTV never looked so good! I also love the auto lip sync, finally it doesn't matter which channel I'm on, the audio matches. I also love the IntelliVolume feature, now I don't have to adjust the main volume going from DirecTV to PS3.

Now I need to get back to work. I'll explore more and do the audessey setup tonight and post my results from that.

Couldn't the differences in sound quality be more due to the analogue section rather than the DACs? I'm only wondering, I have no idea what the comparison is between the Anthem and 809. I'm thinking of upgrading to the 818 myself because of the feature set (mainly for the DLNA/Networking features and 3D pass-through) but I am also a bit concerned about losing sound quality from my current 805. I would already be giving up the analogue multichannel inputs, power to all seven channels simultaneously, and the ability to bitstream DSD.

The biggest difference will be what the room correction (audyssey vs ARC) does to the sound.

Brandon,

What do you mean, that you are giving up "power to all seven channels simultaneously"?

I mean the 818 doesn't drive as much power as the 805, is that not correct, or did I miss something?

Ah, well I don't use audyssey, so that wouldn't be relative to me I guess.

IMPORTANT FIRMWARE UPDATE NOTICE



06/07/12 - A firmware update will be available from 6/8 for the following models:
TX-NR414, TX-NR515, TX-NR616, TX-NR717 and TX-NR818

*********IMPORTANT NOTICE********

WITH THIS FIRMWARE UPDATE YOUR RECEIVER WILL BE RESET TO FACTORY SETTINGS. INITIAL SET-UP MUST BE PERFORMED AGAIN INCLUDING AUDYSSEY CALIBRATION. PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF YOUR SETTINGS AND PASSWORDS BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THIS UPDATE.


This firmware version corrects the unexpected instances where a portion of the internal memory may stop working.

If your receiver is connected to your home network you will see the firmware update information on your TV tomorrow (6/8/2012).

You may also download the firmware update from the Onkyo website via USB. The update will be available on our website tomorrow (6/8/12).

It says in the manual to use a hardware connection not wireless also remember to

Set the “HDMI Ctrl (RIHD)” setting to “Off”.
•
Turn off the controller device connected via Ethernet cable.
•
Turn off Zone 2.
•
Stop playback of contents from Internet
•
Radio, iPod/iPhone, USB or servers, etc

For updating its firmware. Page 97 in the english manual.

Mine should be here saturday or monday.

New 818 owner. Arrived today, will do setup tomorrow. Hope it is a good step up from my 807. Any suggestions nefore setup?

The 818 is 135 watts, The 805, 130. I guess what really puzzled me is the use of '7 channels simultaneously'. They both have 7 powered channels, right?
Edited by Patrick Murphy - 6/7/12 at 9:21pm

Just got my 818 today. I think my ears just had an orgasm. I haven't even ran audyssey yet and it blew me away.