[FL335i]

Alright guys, got my new 5009 Sat and spent sat evening and most of Sunday fidling with it. First impressions are that's it heavy and big. Fit and finish of it is spot on. After getting it wired up I went through and got the settings mostly setup being I'm coming from a 608 onkyo so i'm very familiary with the onkyo setup screens. Then I did a few Audyssey XT32 setups. Here is where I'm at.



1- Not very impressed with Audyseey XT32. I even tried my old 608's mic. Sounds very bright with it. I'm getting better sound with everything off and just turning the dynamic EQ on. on my 608, audyssey and dynamic EQ were tied together, so I can't compare vs before. I need to do some reading on this.



2- Picture. Much better, but i'm still fiddingling with the video settings.


3- Internet capable. It's nice having it access my computers music w/out having to turn the PS3 on. Sounds better too.


4- HDMI pass through. It's nice not having to turn the AVR on just to watch the news for 5 minutes at 6am. Wife likes this also. Great feature. Technology is supposed to make life better, not more complicated at 6am.



Overall it's a good receiver, but to be honest my 608 was doing a great job for the money This 5009 is upgrade, but bang for the buck the 608 was a better deal. I paid $2k for the 5009. I paid like $500 back in late 09 for the 6008. I can see why bakc then the 608 was receiver of the year. I guess the lesson here is I like my 5009, but you really DON'T have to spend $2k on a receiver to have good HT sound.



EDIT: I just read through the Auyssey FAQ section and realized I'm making some mistakes. 1- Use the mic that came with the receiver. 2- Don't adjust the subwoofer distances. 3- LFE should be set to 120, not 80. I thought it worked with the speaker Xovers.... it doesn't. 4- Don't adjust the speaker distances!! Here I am with a tape measure tweaking it. I should be running Audyssey ON and dynamic EQ on. I'll run some corrections tonight.

 

[FL335i]

ok, last night i gave things another shot. Much better this time. Used the mic that came with the unit, did not adjust any of the distances and did 3 seat positions. Oh, also set the LFE to 120. Sounds pretty sweet. Only thing I'm a bit worried about is how the system is handling the Deftech Bipolar towers I have.

 

[FL335i]

Re-configured a few more items this weekend and it's up and running beautifully.

only tooke me like a week or two to get configured but man is it singing. Decided I'm adding a actual sub or two. Should get even better.

 

[mjaudio]

With Audyssey and all other automated EQ's it's all about the set-up.


I see you read through the Audyssey FAQ, did you get a tri-pod or mic stand to properly position the Audyssey mic? 3 mic positions are good but at least 1 more would be better about 3 feet in front of the first calibration point with the mic a few inches higher or lower. Here is the mic placement guide by Audyssey: http://www.audyssey.com/sites/default/files/attachments/onesheet_howtomulteq.pdf


I used to think Audyssey was terrible until I learned how to do a proper calibration.


Here is a handy link for more Audyssey information: http://www.avsforum.com/t/795421/official-audyssey-thread-faq-in-post-1/5700#post_14456895

 

[FL335i]

I actually made a home made mic stand out of 16ga tie wire. Easily adjustable lol. it's almost invisible too.

 

[mcsoul]

Two good subwoofers in the 15" or higher range will make a huge difference.

 

[FL335i]

I think just one 15" is in my future.... Living room real estate and buget. Right now the Klipsch SW-115 or VTF-15H is looking good.

 

[mcsoul]

VTF-15H is a monster, one of those and your gtg.