The Official Onkyo TX-NR509 Receiver Spot!

[solarrdadd]

Keeping in line with releasing new A/V technology, feature packed, affordable for the masses, Onkyo has released some of it's newest models for 2011. Included in this line is the TX-NR509 A/V Receiver. Yes, you guessed it, that "N" in the model is for networking as this receiver is network ready for home network music streaming, internet radio, network firmware updates, DLNA, just about anything network--this will do it!

here is a shot of the front & back of the receiver:





very nice. here is a link to the official Onkyo TX-NR509 model page

it's available at lots of places including amazon & newegg. i purchased mine at newegg and got it for $343.99 with free 3 day shipping. this is beyond just simple entry level, Onkyo has stepped up entry level means by giving you a receiver that supports iOS devices with direct USB plug & play, iOS control app ready, HDMI 1.4a 3D ready, internet radio, home network ready, SACD/DSD support, Audyssey 2EQ & Dynamic Volume, Dynamic EQ, Zone 2, Windows 7 support and more...and they call this entry level, huh!

i sold my TX-SR308 receiver which i loved but more than anything, wanted network support so i could listen to my hi-rez FLAC files and WMALL music on my NAS with or without my tv on. when i saw this was released and at the price, i had to jump on it.

it pumps out 80wpc and that's more than enough for my small basement offices secondary HT setup. i'm powering 3 Axiom M2v3's for fronts and a pair of ceiling mounted QS4v3's for surrounds (on brackets) and an Emotiva Ultra Sub 10 to round out my 5.1 system in my office (my small secret hiding place). the supporting cast are an Oppo 83 & a HD Cable DVR; everything video is HDMI.

i have not done the actual calibration program through Audyssey yet (i will later) as i just wanted to make sure the most important features work, you know, like it powered up, sound came out of the proper speakers, video showed up on the tv like it was supposed to, you know, stuff like that!

the first thing i did after checking for sound and picture output was to do a firmware update that i knew was available for the receiver. i selected update in the setup menu and away it went. i didn't have to do a thing except wait for it to say it was complete and do a power restart by pushing the power button on the receiver and it was done in less than 5 minutes.

i did test an SACD/DSD 5.1 and it worked fine, sounded great too (Steely Dan: Gaucho), HBO on HD Cable in 5.1, The Fith Element blu-ray Lossless audio & streamed music from my NAS--Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 96khz/24bit & Rush, Moving Pictures 96khz/24bit and everything looked and sounded as incredible as it should have.

the front USB is where you plug your iOS device in and listen to music from it. it's a very basic overlay and like the networking feature, it does not give album art but does give info like artist name, song name and album name on your tv & on the screen of the receiver which having it show up on the receiver face is nice so you don't actually have to have your tv on to listen to music either from your iOS device, your network or internet radio. everything can be navigated and operated from the receiver screen; this is a plus! oh yeah, yes it does charge your iOS device while it's plugged into the receiver--whether the receiver is powered on or in standby mode...sweet!

another nice feature is 7 channel audio. now, while the amp section inside the unit doesn't support more than 5 channels it does offer pre-outs for the surround back l&r channels so you can get an external amp and drive those two back channels should you ever want them so your not necessarily paying for the amp power now and not using it; get the amp when you want or need it...cause you just might not!

then again, you just might!

for anyone that has a small to small-medium area, wants lots of the newest features listed and not want to spend a lot of money, i do highly recommend this receiver. and hey, who made up the rule that you have to spend a lot of money go get great, modern features; i'm here to break that and a few other rules with the Onkyo TX-NR 509 Receiver.

Thus far, no regrets, everything works! i'll keep you all posted as i move along with it. you all know i'm a big Onkyo fan owning the 5507 pre-amp and recently selling the TX-SR308 receiver and before the pre-amp i had the incredible, TX-SR 805 (in a class by itself) receiver so yes, I do love me some Onkyo. they have always done right by me.

Ok, excuse me while i go and register this great receiver with Onkyo. I'll ieep you all posted.

[Hillside Trece]

Thanks for the post, Solar...I still don't know what to make of the new faceplate design Onkyo is going with. Upon first glance, I don't like it especially compared to the concave-style faces in the previous generations; someone mentioned the new design looks too Sony, and that's true -- and NOT where Onkyo wants to be, by a long shot (when discussing AVRs).

Their new stereo receiver has this faceplate design, too, and I'm glad I bought my TX-8555 when I did for my two channel system, as I still don't know if this new look will grow on me...but, in the plus column, this is also the design the company is using with their new high end hi fi separates, which it definitely complements, so I'm not sure yet...

As for the 509, it looks like a great model for that level -- I had a TX-SR600 which put out 80 watts X 6, and although it was good once you got it rocking, I won't personally go back to anything under 100 per channel in the future.

[ZoetMB]

One of the things I've never liked about Onkyo receivers, even the high-end ones, is that they never include digital optical or coaxial outputs. I have a stand-alone CD-R unit that takes digital in so I need/want this.

And even though most AV receivers have an analog audio output for recording, none of them have tape loops anymore. I still want to be able to monitor at the recording device to make sure the cable connections are good, etc.

Also, IMO, any receiver that wants to call itself a "networked receiver" should have WiFi built in. If Sony can do it for their 570 Blu-ray player, the receiver manufactures can do it too. And whatever happened to Ethernet over HDMI? It's part of the HDMI 1.4 spec and as far as I know, not one manufacturer has implemented it as yet.

I see this receiver has component and composite video, but no s-video. That doesn't quite make sense to me. What would be more logical to me is that low-end receivers have legacy connections and high-end receivers don't, because it's more likely that someone who spent a lot of money on a high-end receiver has also replaced their older peripherals. Personally, I could live with only one composite, one component and one s-video connector and that would be more than enough (although it wouldn't be for someone who still had a Betamax player, a VHS deck, one or more Laserdisc players and some game machines with analog video, in addition to HDMI sources). I'd probably only wind up using one of them and that only to support an old VHS deck.

(But that's just me.)

[Hillside Trece]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

One of the things I've never liked about Onkyo receivers, even the high-end ones, is that they never include digital optical or coaxial outputs. I have a stand-alone CD-R unit that takes digital in so I need/want this.

And even though most AV receivers have an analog audio output for recording, none of them have tape loops anymore. I still want to be able to monitor at the recording device to make sure the cable connections are good, etc.

It's funny you mentioned "tape loops" and CD-R recorders; I just discussed this on another audiophile forum because I was in the market for a graphic EQ for my two channel system, and my Onkyo TX-8555 which runs that system doesn't have a TAPE LOOP...

Indeed, it's been awhile since I've seen any product with a TAPE 2/MONITOR loop and I am trying to figure out a way around this to connect an EQ to my two channel setup...and I too have a CD recorder, a professional grade TASCAM.

With regard to your standalone CD-R burner: If it has DIGITAL IN, of course, why couldn't you just connect your CD player/changer to the DIGITAL IN jacks, as I do? Are you trying to record more than just one digital source?

[solarrdadd]

last night before going to bed i turned on the receiver with the remote app from my bedroom on my iPad2 and set the volume and selected it to play all from my NAS so that i could run a little bit of a stress test and also make sure the app was working properly. my girlfriend told me this morning that i left some music playing in the basement. i said that's great news cause i turned it on from the iPad while laying in bed to performe the test. she thought that was kinda cool!

while it wasn't an incredibly loud volume (and i don't listen to things at incredibly loud volumes either) i did test for 2 things. one was that the unit would fail or quit from a fault of running for more than 6 hours straight. the second was to see how hot the unit would be from being on at a volume that i would be using real world for an extended period of time.

well it passed both test with flying colors. it was almost barely noticable temp wise and considering it was on for 10hrs non stop and the fact that it's an Onkyo and in the past, they did run hot, this was a good thing. they have come a long way in how they build and heat sink their amp sections. yes, i know it's a small amp section but i'm still happy to see how cool it actually is here at 10am EST considering i turned it on yesterday at 11pm!

so far, everything is working out just fine. i can see from some of the post that some of you are not happy about the unit with your reasons given; i respect them of course. as an owner of the unit, and my needs for my small secondary HT it is more than enough and it's got all the features i could want and need in it for it's intended use. i still highly recommend this unit to anyone. price to performance, dollar for dollar, so far i see this unit as incredible buy.

glad and proud i went with it. this is todays Onkyo!

[Hillside Trece]

Great feedback and input, Solar! I for one totally respect your decision to go with the 509; it's not that I don't like it, just from surface glances at the images you provided, it's just that I don't know what to make of their new design for the faceplates and chassis yet -- it does, to me, in some ways scream "Sony AVR" and that's NOT a good thing. On the other hand, I love the way this new look appears on Onkyo's high-end stereo separates, which they have just launched...

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by Hillside Trece

Great feedback and input, Solar! I for one totally respect your decision to go with the 509; it's not that I don't like it, just from surface glances at the images you provided, it's just that I don't know what to make of their new design for the faceplates and chassis yet -- it does, to me, in some ways scream "Sony AVR" and that's NOT a good thing. On the other hand, I love the way this new look appears on Onkyo's high-end stereo separates, which they have just launched...

nope, not a problem buddy. i use it for my secondary system in my basement office. i'm not a live and die guy in this thing like so many people are or claim to be. i want nice things that work first and are as simple as possible. price is always important to me as well. for it's use it offers way more power than i need so im covered there and plenty of features that i wanted.

i know it's not gonna be for everyone and in most cases not for most of the folks here cause of the entry level lable, onkyo brand and other reasons too. but like i said, i'm easy to please, i love the onkyo brand and it does what i need it to do and i didn't have to spend a ton of money. i got one last kid in college and money is important.

i'm very happy with it, the looks of it are fine by me because i'm not looking at it when i'm watching a movie or listening to music. it's not ugly but for some it's not what they want to see in a receiver. i don't want tuna with good taste, i want tuna that taste good!

i just put up this thread to let folks who might have been or are interested in the unit what i think about it as an owner. everyones comments are welcome as long as they are civil to each other!

[dloiphone]

^How do I go about to make sure it's off?

And it shows this

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by dloiphone

^How do I go about to make sure it's off?

And it shows this

that DD light means that's what your sending from your input (you didn't mention how your inputing from the blu-ray player to the 509, i.e. hdmi for both, component & optical) so when you press display on the remote it will show on the receiver the input codec and the frequency for most tv channels that support DD 5.1 it would say 48khz and Dolby Digital 5.1 because that's what the cable channel is sending in via HDMI.

does this issue happen with any other movie? some studios movies, the lossless audio track is not the default track that plays upon start up of pressing play in the menu. you need to press the display button on your player to see what codec it says it's sending out. if your player says it's sending out DD5.1 then you need to hit the audio button to change to Dolby TrueHD.

if the display from the player says Dolby TrueHD then I would suggest that if the 509 says DD then press the movie/tv button on the remote several times and see if that brings up Dolby TrueHD. sometimes random button pressing can cause it's share of problems too so be careful and mind what you press. let me know how you make out.

[dloiphone]

Solarrdadd I guess that was the problem. I switched the audio track and wahla it displayed the golden sound. I'm connected ps3>hdmi>receiver>hdmi>tv. Any way to make it the first track at start up and not have to change it every time?

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by dloiphone

Solarrdadd I guess that was the problem. I switched the audio track and wahla it displayed the golden sound. I'm connected ps3>hdmi>receiver>hdmi>tv. Any way to make it the first track at start up and not have to change it every time?

nothing you can do about that. as i mentioned before, it's a studio issue on how they made the disc. several other movies are the same way. you just have to watch once it starts after pushing play and the studio name and other credits start that the codec your expecting is showing up. otherwise you'll have to go into the player audio menu and switch to the codec you want.

glad i could be of help. it's a very nice little receiver for the money, don't ya think!?! I love mine in the bedroom, perfect!

[dloiphone]

I'm loving the receiver. I got it as a package deal with some Jamo speakers and im loving the full package

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by dloiphone

I'm loving the receiver. I got it as a package deal with some Jamo speakers and im loving the full package

outstanding, glad to hear it because it's a real nice, feature packed receiver for the money. it does a lot for a little, covering all the basics and then some.

[dloiphone]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

just pick yourself up a cheap 2 channel amp and the 509 will give you 7 channels. you can find one on craigs or ebay for dirt. the 509 has the pre-outs for channels 6 & 7 you just need an amp, speakers, some wiring, interconnects and your rolling!

Wow thanks for the tip!! Didn't know that. Can you point me in the right direction for an amp? And exactly where I plug it in?

[dloiphone]

Hopefully someone can help me. I'm trying to get audio from my samsung un55c700 to my receiver through the hdmi. Once I turn on the receiver and set it to input I get no sound but the audio on my tv goes off. Any ideas???

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by dloiphone

Hopefully someone can help me. I'm trying to get audio from my samsung un55c700 to my receiver through the hdmi. Once I turn on the receiver and set it to input I get no sound but the audio on my tv goes off. Any ideas???

if your refering to ARC (Audio Return Channel) feature via hdmi you need to enable it in the menu of the 509; have you done that already?

[gelat]

SOLARRDADD:

Everything was working fine for 16 months or so. I had an XBOX, Samsung 52" TV, airport express.

There is no sound at all, on any channel, even white noise on the speaker levels screen

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by gelat

SOLARRDADD:

Everything was working fine for 16 months or so. I had an XBOX, Samsung 52" TV, airport express.

There is no sound at all, on any channel, even white noise on the speaker levels screen

sounds like your amp is gone or a fuse before the amp is blown. i'd contact onkyo customer support to find out the steps in getting the unit serviced. the unit has a 2 year warranty so, take advantage of it, that's part of what you paid for.

keep us posted.

[dloiphone]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

if your refering to ARC (Audio Return Channel) feature via hdmi you need to enable it in the menu of the 509; have you done that already?

Pretty sure I have already but ill double check. What input on the 509 should it be set to? One thing I know for sure Is that when I turn the receiver on when tv is on, the volume on tv cancels out, and I'm able to see on my screen that I can put the volume up and down using my Samsung remote utilizing anynet with the 509 so I'm confused if I missed something.

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by dloiphone

Pretty sure I have already but ill double check. What input on the 509 should it be set to? One thing I know for sure Is that when I turn the receiver on when tv is on, the volume on tv cancels out, and I'm able to see on my screen that I can put the volume up and down using my Samsung remote utilizing anynet with the 509 so I'm confused if I missed something.

since i don't have a tv that supports ARC i don't use the feature so you are gonna have to read the manual for both devices and/or hope someone here does use that feature and perhaps they can help. i am sorry i can't give you a better answer, but, i just don't know having never used it in that way.

best of luck, i do hope someone is able to help you. if you do get this issue resolved, please post it here to help other folks that might be in the same bag your in now.