Onkyo TX-NR905 user reviews (black)

4.5 stars

"a near perfect AV receiver!!" on September 20, 2007 by Jon Shimamoto

Pros: Has about everything a receiver needs, a great value for the price...

Cons: Unit gets extremely HOT!!!

Summary: I just got the unit tonite, and I can tell you it weighs a TON (well, 65 lbs boxed, actually).

1. When used with a Sony PlayStation 3, a popping sound occasionally occurs. When starting DVDs, there is some static coming from the speakers (in fact, the manual warns you of this... it says there may be some noise when stopping, starting or skipping chapters when playing back movies) To be really frank tho, the popping sound is not that loud. It actually sounds like some muted staticy sound. a bit irritating but not a deal breaker for me. It is somewhat surprising tho. Did not have same problem with a Denon DVD player. Forums noted this seems to be a PS3 quirk.

2. The Reon upscaling seems to be okay, almost as good as my Denon DVD-3930CI, but definitely better than other receivers I have seen. The Denon however has added features which the Onkyo lacks (not surprising as the Denon has the more advanced HQV Realta processor. After playing several DVDs, my impression is still the same. I feel the PS3 is a smidgen sharper than the Reon, but the PS3 shows a bit more MPEG artifacts than the Onkyo. On a clean DVD, both look amazingly smooth and good, but the PS3 shows more noise on bad transfers. Oddly enough, the Onkyo seems to fail the "jaggies" HQV Benchmark test (it passes the rest). There are picture options to adjust macro blocking, edge enhancement, noise and type of source (video, film or auto)(I could not find any reference of picture options in the manual, you will find more info on these options in a inserted addendum to the manual). I noticed it is best to set the unit to pass thru if you have a player that can upscale. I set the PS3 to 480P but the text on the info screen is noticeably softer. I have not really played too many DVDs on it yet but it APPEARS to me that the Reon does not appear as sharp as the PS3. Note that the manual states it is best to use upscaling in the source device if possible iso using it in the receiver. My testing seems to support this unless the upscaling in the source unit is really poor.

3. The menus are better than previous Onkyo's but not as nifty as the Sony XMB on their ES receivers. In fact, the Onkyo OSD seems rather basic when the colors are not taken into account. The menu system is very simple, but the Onkyo is a very flexible receiver. Some menu items can be a bit sparse on info so setting up the unit can be a bit puzzling.

4. After having the Audyssey calibrate the sound, I must say I am really impressed with the audio. Played the remastered Fifth Element Blu-Ray and the audio is greatly improved from the SuperBit DVD with a lot more detail (played back the BR with Dolby True-HD). Due to the greater dynamic range, I find that True-HD is too soft on quiet moments while playing the movie and gets too loud in explosive scenes.

The calibration mike cable is between 15-20 ft. I do not know how they coiled it but it took me about 15 minutes to untangle the thing. The coil is rather small and the end with the mike is wrapped around the inside of the coil. The problem I had was that the coil opening was too small for the mike to pass thru.

Couple of irritating things, only ONE subwoofer output. Also, to me, the subwoofer output sounds like it was about 5dB too low in volume. There was absolutely no bass when calibrated. It could be from the ambient sound from my a/c was too loud. Will try to recalibrate later with the a/c off. Calibration takes a while, expect at least 20 minutes and another few minutes to save the info. Calibration takes a few minutes per position. It can calibrate up to eight positions (minimum three) so you can figure on how long that takes. (Recalibrated the audio. It seems pretty accurate. Six positions took about 20-25 minutes).

The Onkyo sounds solid with audio CDs. The audio is well balanced (not as sterile as my old Denon AVR-3803), a bit more warm and more open. When Pure Audio mode is enabled, the imaging is rock solid. Music seems to be three dimensional, especially on well-miked classical music. There is clarity in the instruments, very focused without sounding like a mish mash on stage. Playing SACDs is a revelation with this unit.

My older Denon was rated at 110wpc and the Onkyo is rated at 140wpc. Technically, 30 more watts should not make much of a difference but my old Denon definitely ran out of steam driving 4 ohm speakers (Originally Polk LSi15s, now a pair of Stereophile awarded Sony SS-M9s). The Denon would easily clip at moderately loud volumes. The Onkyo can get quite a bit louder than the Denon, probably because of the beefier power supply.

The display shows MULTI-CHANNEL out no matter what discrete format it has... Dolby Digital, True HD or DTS... they all show MULTI-CHANNEL on the display. If not for the PS3 info screen, I would have no idea what it was playing...

5. The HDMI signal seems to lose some sharpness. It appears that the HDMI output loses some sharpness when going thru the receiver. It looked to me that the picture looked better going directly to the projector (a Marantz VP12S3, btw which is 1280x720P, I cannot test 1080P upscaling since the projector cannot handle that signal).

6. The speaker banana posts seem to be mounted on a rather flimsy board. The outer most zone binding post was bent out of position when I was unpacking the unit. I was able to straighten it out easily but it felt like the post was mounted on a piece of tin.

8. The remote control is not great in layout. But it is a LOT better than my previous Denon in terms of ease of use. And finally, this remote has a button on the side to turn on backlighting. (Hooray!!! All the buttons are lit!!!)

9. the HDMI inputs on the back panel are labeled backwards. This threw me off. The inputs are labeled 4,3,2,1 from left to right. I could not get a picture for awhile until I noticed this. it should have been labeled 1,2,3,4..... The optical ports have little doors to cover the opening. the doors do not remove like normal optical plugs do. so don't go ripping them off.

Some of the jacks in the back are not labeled if it's input or output so keep the manual handy.

10. the OSD can only output to HDMI or the other displays, but not both at once. you have to pre-configure the output first using the front panel button if you are only using HDMI for your display. see page 54. You can only output to one of the two HDMI ports at a time.

11. the late night function (volume compression) only works with Dolby Digital formats, not DTS)

Popping open the lid shows that the toroidal transformer sits in the middle of the front of the unit, mounted vertically. Two other iron-core transformers sit outside of the unit. The heat sinks and power transistors are in the middle and the primary circuitry in the back, with the Reon video board sitting on the top back right.

The power transformers are massive!! no wonder this thing weighs a ton (well, 65 lbs). I really doubt the Denon 4308CI/3808CI has transformers the same size. My older Denon receiver 3802 transformer seems inadequate compared to this.

The 905 gets extremely hot!!! so hot, you cannot leave your hand on the top cover too long. Surprisingly, the heat is not coming from where I expected it to. The heat is centered over the circuit board area (the back third) of the chassis, not from the power transistors. I know the HQV processors get extremely hot as my Denon DVD-3930CI gets very hot over the video processor and requires adequate ventilation or the board fails. My guess the Onkyo needs a LOT of space around it too. Definitely do NOT put this unit in tight spaces!!!

This receiver weighs 15 lbs more than the new Denon 3808 and it is in the power supplies. larger power supplies means the unit should have better reserves for peaks. Anyone considering the Denon should really look at the new Onkyos first (I have heard that Onkyo's new receivers are selling like hotcakes and demand is far exceeding supply, the 905 is especially now hard to find).