Onkyo TX-NR809

This receiver replaced my Onkyo 705 which is moving to an upstairs entertainment room. With this, installation couldn't have been simpler. Simply set this next to my other receiver and reconnected the wiring. As this uses all the same remote codes as my 705 there was no need to re-program my learning remote.

The reason for my purchase was primarily the iPhone and network features. First of all, while the Onkyo wireless USB seems so simple (no wires...), don't waste your time and money. Despite being fairly close to my wifi I could do no better than 34% connectivity. With this, the wireless radio stations skipped and stopped playing continuously. About forty bucks in parts from Lowes and a couple hours in my crawl space later I had this hard-wired with Cat 5e cable to my modem, and what a difference! Now the streaming audio is continuous and flawless. If you can't hardwire I would consider buying a better USB tether than Onkyo's.

The iPhone app was a bit of a pain, took it a while before it would "see" my receiver on my iPhone, worked instantly on my wife's. Seems to disconnect every so often, but so far I've been able to get it to work again. And when it does work it is amazing. I can turn on my Zone 2 from upstairs, change the volume settings, or play songs (or playlists) from my iTunes library right through the receiver. I had previously connected my 705 to my computer, but the sound quality with this 809 just blows it away. No more muffled sound; music is now a much more vibrant CD-quality. I can even see the song titles on the receiver face or on my TV! Online support for the app is next to impossible to find- if you have problems go to the hardware and network settings and make sure the settings are "enabled." Also, input the IP address to a web browser, you should be able to "see" your receiver there too if it's online.

While I was optimistic about the various video chips that this offers I didn't notice much of a difference from my 705 which had its own upscaling (I think it used a Faroudja chip). In fact, some of the features seemed to make the picture look overly "digitized" and I left them off or turned to the low settings. Still, a very good picture.

The Audyssey MultiEQ seemed to adjust the receiver settings perfectly. This seems much improved over the 2Eq available on the 7 series and below. After spending the 20 minutes going through the full setup everything seems appropriately balanced.

*Note: You check for discount for the Onkyo TX-NR809 at: Networkav-receivers.blogspot.com/p/onkyo-tx-nr809.html

Bottom line: at the current pricing for this receiver (below the 709 even!) you can't go wrong, and you won't be disappointed. Very powerful receiver, great remote, and excellent sound, and ample connectivity options to include networking.

About five months after purchasing and installing the ONKYO TX-NR809, the BlueRay DVD image began to flicker with the screen ocassionally going black. I changed cables. No difference. I hooked the BlueRay player directly to the TV. It played fine, but without benefit of the receiver and speakers. I also hooked up a different BluRay player. Same problems. The problems got worse with the screen ultimately simply staying black. I reset the receiver as recommended by ONKYO's technical support staff during a telephone call. Nothing worked and eventually the ONKYO reciever HDMI froze up so I could not change the HDMI input source at all.

Onkyo techical support then told me I would have to unhook, box up, and pay to ship the unit from Sonoma, where I live to Huntington Beach, California (My out of pocket cost $42 to ship the unit though it was only five months old and still in warranty).

I did that. Three weeks later it was shipped back to me with what I was told was a replacement HDMI card. I plugged it in. I could switch HDMI input sources fine, but the BlueRay DVD still flickered and the screen would go black for seconds and minutes at a time. I changed the HDMI cables again. I changed BluRay to a different ONKYO HDMI input source. Nothing worked. It still flickered and all this despite, the replacement HDMI board put in by the authorized repair shop in Huntington Beach. They believed they had solved the problem. It did solve the HDMI lock up but not the BluRay DVD flicker, black screen problem.

I called Huntington Beach (again) and they were nice enough to say they would pay for FEDEX ground to ship it back to them (again), but when I suggested simply swapping out the defective unit for a replacent to simplify everything in the way HP typically does for its printers, they could not do that or authorize it. They suggested I talk directly to ONKYO, which I did. The technical support person with whom I spoke was polite, but he said ONKYO policy did not allow for changing defective units even though it was less than six months old and I had already spent the time and money to unhook it, set up a temporary way to play everything without the receiver, shipped it to Huntington Beach, gotten it back (after three weeks) and hooked it up, only to discover it still did not work. I asked if I could speak to a supervisor. He said yes.

I was switched to a line that just kept ringing till I finally got an answering machine that said I would be called back in 24 to 48 hours if I left my name and phone number which I did. I never received a call back.

$900 is not the end of the world, but ONKYO seems to treat customers like an inconvenience. Hold times are long and they have no ability to quickly rectify their product problems when they crop up. Why they cannot do with a $9000 product what HP does wiht a $250 product is mystifying.

I expected more from them and their product. Perhaps I should have simply stuck with a much cheaper Panasonic which worked flawlessley for more than seven years.

No more Onkyo.

I wanted to upgrade my old Onkyo system SR-604 to a newer system. I have been reading about many different brands such as marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer etc. The TX-NR809 is one of the top models that Onkyo offers in their Mid-range AVR selection. I had the chance to test and play around with it in one of the stores locally and I just loved the Sound quality of this system.
I have connected the NR809 to the following Speaker system:
Polk Audio RTi8s as main
Polk Audio CSi3 center
Polk Audio PSW 505 sub
Polk Audio RM7400t Surround
The setup is very easy, Audyssey Auto-setup and On Screen display information guides you to setup the speaker system based on your configuration.
The On Screen set up is very easy to use and gives you many different options to tweak the settings in the AVR. you can actually change the setting for everything.
This system is THX certified and it offers many different DSP modes as well.
I am using Onkyo UWF-1 Wireless LAN USB Adapter to connect the system to internet. Just make sure that you upgrade the firmware to the latest one. it can be done once you have connected to the internet. using the OSD you can upgrade the firmware, it will take around 1h but it will add some new internet radio stations and correct some bugs.
The remote control is universal and it can be programmed once you are connected to the internet automatically, just type in the brand name and model nr and Bang, it is programmed. I love it

The video up conversion on this system is great as well. it supports up to 4K and I think it is future proof.
One of the features that I like about this system is that you can connect a USB flash drive with your music files directly to the system. The system supports and plays the following formats: MP3,AC3,FLAC etc.
I love music and playing music on this system makes me really happy, the system is very powerful and if you have good speakers you will love this unit.
This system has many features to offer, if you are looking to buy an AVR in this range I think you would need to spend a lots of money to get the same things with same quality with other brands. I would recommend this system to everyone, you will not regret it.