Onkyo 7.2 Channel Black AV Home Theater Network Receiver - TX-NR808

Comments about Onkyo 7.2 Channel Black AV Home Theater Network Receiver:

Bought this to replace an old very expensive Sunfire system. This unit outperforms any other brand I've owned. Very easy setup. Very easy to make adjustments. Sounds sweet. My wife loves music and I love movies. It was a perfect fit for both.

Comments about Onkyo 7.2 Channel Black AV Home Theater Network Receiver:

(From a previous review submission that I had posted elsewhere:)

Bottom line: the sound is exquisite. Mind you, my 808 is pushing some excellent Monitor Audio RS6s (5.1 setup), and they speak to one another spectacularly. Tight highs and sweet lows.

Onkyo has created an AVR that is sensitive and capable of detecting subtle nuances. Here are three examples:

Dark Knight (Blue-Ray): crisp sound and noticable improvement visually. The very slight pixelation of my five year old Panny plasma was made indiscernible by the 808's wonderful Faroudja DCDi. Furthermore, the rumble of Batman's tumbler is awesome.

Pearl Jam: Immagine in Cornice (DVD): upconverts to 1080p impeccably. You are surrounded by the audience to amazing effect. Goosebumps. Beautiful.

Red Dead Redemption (first gen X-Box 360/ no HDMI): Sound vastly improved. Can't say I noticed any visual distinctions, but that's not surprising as it is not HDMI. Having said that, audiophiles will certainly enjoy hearing the gentle grinding of dust and dirt under the protagonist's tarnished leather boot. Gun blasts are deep and penetrating.

Overall I am very pleased with this product. I've not experienced any of the problems that I had read on certain retail websites or AVS--i.e. there are NO BUGS! Even the networked sites are quick and fun to play with.

To quote The Dude: "It really tied the room together" (Coen 1998).

Comments about Onkyo 7.2 Channel Black AV Home Theater Network Receiver:

The reciever works great as my home theater power house and delivers the music quality I demand as well. However, I love the convenience of accessing all of my music from my iPhone, iPod and through a wired ethernet connection to my PC. I was skeptical about how the reciever would access and allow the remote to interface. Very pleasantly surprised. No glitches running my PC music (using Windows 7 and Media Player). I did not buy the special accessories for the iPod, just used the USB port and it works great.

CD music delivers great quality sound. I have not had a chance to use the Phono input as my turn table is on the blink. I used the Audessey to set up my sound adjustments. It was very easy and the difference in the sound quality is quite amazing. My sound consultant highly recommended this unit for that feature as well as going with the beefier model (808 rather than the 708 eries). The unit weighs about 13lbs more than the 708 model and also has a 4db signal to noise ratio dfference, he emailed the product mgr at Onkyo/Integra. He confirmed that the 808 is beefier, both physically and electronically, particularly in the power supply. So i expect a noticably higher performance in the real world than from just the few additional watts on the specs.

I use this receiver with Vienna Acoustic fronts and centers and have a Hafler Amp I built to power the fronts from pre-outs from the Reciever. That worked fine but i wished the unit had a switched power out so I do not have to turn my power amp on separately. I have yet to upgrade my TV 61" Sony WEGA (too good to just replace before its time) so I have no HDMI inputs, only DVI and component video. Why do I mention this? Unless I am missing something and I don't think I am, the receiver will not send a component analog signal to my TV from an HDMI "in" signal. Just get a blue screen until I use the component inputs. I have also used an HDMI to DVI cord which works fine with my DVD player but will not work from the Reciever's HDMI output to monitor connection. This will be a problem if you have lot of components and an older monitor because there are only two component video inputs. Not a problem if your monitor has HDMI though since there are more than enought of those. I am trying to put off buying a new TV until 3d shakes out and becomes more affordable as this reciever has the new HDMI 1.4 for 3d connections. Overall I am very satisfied and would recommend it as it delivers quality as well as the newest features. If anyone knows of a fix for the HDMI to comnponent issue, please post.

Service and delivery comments:

Preordered product at great price. Delivered as soon as Onkyo manufactured the product. Great feedback on the unit via chat and phone.