Review
Quality receiver so far! (May 03, 2012)
| Ease of Use |
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(5/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
| Performance |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
Reviewed By: Peter O. - Spokane, WA
Excellent service from Vanns, quick shipment - everything was complete in the box, nothing was damaged.
Ill update with my full opinion on the receiver itself after Ive given it some more use.
Review
Excellent Receiver - Sterling service (April 16, 2012)
| Ease of Use |
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(4/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
Reviewed By: Mark T. - Arlington, Virginia
After considerable research, I replaced an older Onkyo TS-DX484 with a TX NR-709 and couldnt be happier. The clarity of the sound is excellent, the unit is loaded with features like Audyssey and THX sound, and the additional power over my previous receiver clearly helps in reproducing music, even at low listening volumes. The phono input - a dying option - was a selling point for me, as was the dual HDMI outputs - I have a projector as well as a TV monitor. No heat issues as with older Onkyo units either.
I do have to say there was a circuitry problem with the first unit I received, but Vanns was just fantastic about replacing the unit as soon as I presented the issue. Their service reps were uniformly helpful, courteous, and obviously wanted a happy customer. I loved dealing with them. As for the technical issue - low-level static in one of the channels - no manufacturer can produce thousands of consumer electronic units without some issues - but be aware there is a manufacturers service alert about several receiver models produced in late 2011-early 2012. Check the news releases on the Onkyo website for details. But after my own experience, I believe there is no risk purchasing this - or any electronic product - from the folks at Vanns.
Review
nice for awhile (March 19, 2012)
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(3/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
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(3/5.0) |
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(2/5.0) |
Reviewed By: Marc S. - Milwaukee, WI
I bought this receiver 9 months ago from Vanns and it was great. Good deal and shipping was fast. The receiver worked great for the first 9 months until the hdmi ports went out and stopped working.
Review
As good as it gets (February 15, 2012)
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(5/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
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(4/5.0) |
Reviewed By: James T. - Saddle Brook, NJ
The 709 is as good as the say it is. The manual good be better. It is not that clear at explaining somethings.
Review
Onkyo TX-NR709 (February 06, 2012)
| Ease of Use |
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(4/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
| Performance |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
Reviewed By: Cory T. - Gardnerville, NV
Upgraded fromm Denon AVR-1500, a well used but very solid receiver. Was looking for DTS compatibility, HDMI compatibility, powered 2nd zone, decent power and internet radio. The audyssey auto room correction was a nice bonus.
General impressions after 2 weeks
Very small complaints. Havent gotten around to turning off for comparison purposes the dolby loudness and dolby eq, but with them on, seems to keep action sequences from Watchmen, for instance from blowing my eardrums, while still allowing dialogue to be crystal clear.
Ive enjoyed the array of setup options, though they may be overly complicated for the average joe shmoe. On the flipside, for the most part the default settings seem to get the job done. Ive screwed around with various settings and havent managed to screw anything up yet. It appears to be easy to fall back to default settings if you did run into issues. I set each source to upconvert to 1080p, changed the Internet radio There is a nice function within the Network feature of this receiver, where you can store any pandora, last.fm, etc. channel into a favorites folder. This allows you to forgo logging into each service to find a channel, once youve set it up and saved it into your favorites.
Cooling I have this receiver in a very small less than .25 inches above receiver, several inches to each side, but moderately vented hutch and have yet to have any problems with cooling.
Downsides The only real gripe I have about this amp will go for probably any receiver I would have purchased, which is..... Ive got a logitech 880 remote which I love, way easier for my parents and visitors to use than anything else, but there are SO many options on this receiver that thus far I have had to leave out the receiver remote to accomplish select functions makes internet radio easier to navigate, changing sound processing modes, etc.. The receiver remote makes a good effort at utilizing macros and activities, but is REALLY busy compared to a logitech or solid universal remote. I didnt even daydream about getting rid of the logitech when I saw the included remote.
In summary An incredible value for the money. I kept my last receiver for 16 years because it sounded fantastic and was a great product. I wouldnt have upgraded it if I werent at least mostly convinced that this receiver will keep me happy for a reasonable amount of time.
Review
ALL THAT I WANTED (January 19, 2012)
| Ease of Use |
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(5/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
Reviewed By: Larry B. - Charlotte, NC
After extensive research and comparing this unit with comparable units from Denon,
YAHAMA, and MARANTZ I opted for the ONKYO 709 , features offered were the main selling point.
The ability to plug in my Panasonic turnable, and the Zone 2 feature really sold me on this unit.
I can listen to Quincy Joness walking in space on my deck while my wife can WATCH her housewifes of ? in the family room.
GREAT PRODUCT!!
Review
TX-NR709 -- Onkyo is still my choice (November 03, 2011)
| Ease of Use |
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(5/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
| Performance |
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(5/5.0) |
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(5/5.0) |
Reviewed By: michael a. pleskovich - gainesville, FL
When my old Onkyo home theater receiver blew, I was surprised to find so many superior replacements at Vanns for not much more than repairing & shipping the old one! Stepping up to the TX-NR709 is like waking up in the future. The list of features matches others costing twice as much. The sound is better in richness, depth, and of course, power. Speakers are optimized for any seat in the room using its Audyssey tuning microphone. Connections are HDMI simple and allow many additional components to run through, get upscaled or enhanced by Dolby and THX, and look & sound better than before. Because another component has wireless internet capability, it now brings internet radio to the Onkyos tuner as well as video streaming onto the big screen and surround sound. It is 3D ready before I am. Im awed that one unit could so significantly improve my whole entertainment system!
Review
Excellent receiver (November 02, 2011)
| Ease of Use |
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(4/5.0) |
| Value |
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(5/5.0) |
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(4/5.0) |
| Overall Rating |
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(4/5.0) |
Reviewed By: Craig M. - South Burlington, VT
Only had this receiver for a week, but so far, very happy with it overall... upgraded from an Onkyo TX-SR707. Purchased from Vanns - as always, they are great - fast shipping and good service. One complaint on how they shipped it though - it was not double boxed just shipped in its original box... so the box was a bit banged up by UPS... but the good news is the receiver seems OK, no worse for the wear fingers crossed it stays that way!
THE main reason I upgraded was for the new Dolby Volume feature on this rcvr... my 707 had the Audyssey dynamic volume feature the 709 does too ... however, that feature can *only* be used if you go through the Audyssey setupcalibration process w incl. microphone- I did that but was unhappy w the result - my paradigm studio 60s sounded messed upweird after the EQ modification of Audyssey. I undid that and never looked back.
The net is DolbyVolume JUST WORKS!!! no stupid speaker calibration of any kind required! DV also works on any.all movie soundtrack formats - DTS*, DD* - etc. I only care about DV for movies, but it can also work in stereo mode 2-ch as well.
Power and sound quality from this receiver are good.. Id say compared to my onkyo 707, this has a tad more power - but the high endtreble is possibly a bit harshedgy w this receiver vs the 707.. for some audio, this is fine, for some it can sound even better .. but for some stuff, it can be worse. I didnt spend the time to really compare them side by side, so that is just my initialquick observation. No biggie, I really like the sound from the new 709- works for me!
Love the networking feature and internet radio... I use that often the 707 had no network access. DLNA feature works well - very easy to stream mp3 tunes from my PC or NAS drive HD connected to my iConnect box
Btw -first thing I did was update the firmware -- be warned, the internet download time is not bad, but the process of updating does take quite a while near an hour to fully complete. Based on the reviews I saw, it seemed the best thing was to get the latest FW for this unit.
Definitely recommend this receiver... a lot of bang for the buck.
