Bought new Onkyo TX-NR6050, hope I won't regret

[Trebdp83]

I’d try running a factory reset and if that doesn’t do it, I’d call it and take it back. To run it, bring Setup>7.Miscellaneous>6.Factory Reset. You win some and lose some. I returned a Denon and a Yamaha to Costco. The Onkyo was the one that worked best and I kept. Results will vary for others of course.

 

[Mike Up]

What a piece of crap. I've done 3 resets and somewhat got repeatable results that cause the receiver to lock in direct 2.0 mode.

When you are in setup, just by going into different sections, locks it in direct. After every reset, going into different setup option and not even making changes would result in all audio modes "not available" and the speaker configurator locked out/greyed out.

I'm done with Onkyo! No wonder they're struggling so much. I guess I'll wait another year and get a discount price on the AVR-X2800H or AVR-S970H.

What a disappointment!

 

[Mike Up]

Thanks for the help everyone but definitely bad software. I feel sorry for the average joe who buys this Costco receiver.

 

[Trebdp83]

Lemons happen. Return it and get another receiver. The Denon S760H is comparable to the Onkyo TX-NR6050. Don’t let the power rating fool you. That one hits above its weight class.

 

[lovinthehd]

What a piece of crap. I've done 3 resets and somewhat got repeatable results that cause the receiver to lock in direct 2.0 mode.

When you are in setup, just by going into different sections, locks it in direct. After every reset, going into different setup option and not even making changes would result in all audio modes "not available" and the speaker configurator locked out/greyed out.

I'm done with Onkyo! No wonder they're struggling so much. I guess I'll wait another year and get a discount price on the AVR-X2800H or AVR-S970H.

What a disappointment!

I'd still suggest thinking no less than the 3800 on the Denon to get the better feature set over the two you mention. I've always wanted Onkyo to keep doing well (I have an older one that they upgraded despite problems beyond warranty, which I admired a lot).

 

[Mike Up]

Lemons happen. Return it and get another receiver. The Denon S760H is comparable to the Onkyo TX-NR6050. Don’t let the power rating fool you. That one hits above its weight class.

Thanks for the reply but I'd rather have a S970 or X2800H for features and inputs.

 

[Mike Up]

I'd still suggest thinking no less than the 3800 on the Denon to get the better feature set over the two you mention. I've always wanted Onkyo to keep doing well (I have an older one that they upgraded despite problems beyond warranty, which I admired a lot).

That's out of my budget and I don't want a 9.2 receiver or pay for the 9.2 capability.

I lost faith in most of the HT hardware. Yamaha has been delivering garbage for the last decade as I've tried 2 $1000 receivers from them that either had software or hardware defects and now this Onkyo. While new Denons are good, they had their HDMI issues. Maybe I should just stick to my tried and true OLD Denon receivers and just do video switching in the TV.

Thanks

 

[lovinthehd]

That's out of my budget and I don't want a 9.2 receiver or pay for the 9.2 capability.

I lost faith in most of the HT hardware. Yamaha has been delivering garbage for the last decade as I've tried 2 $1000 receivers from them that either had software or hardware defects and now this Onkyo. While new Denons are good, they had their HDMI issues. Maybe I should just stick to my tried and true OLD Denon receivers and just do video switching in the TV.

Thanks

Well the economies of scale often more determine what the best financial package is for 7.1/9.1/11.1/13.1 etc these days, usually the last two channels of processing more dependent on external amp implementation....but it doesn't go particularly backwards....more about what's the best bundle at a given point in time. As long as it covers your legacy needs and a reasonable amount into the future, it's good and you're not particularly paying for one vs the other....economies of scale blur that.

 

[Trebdp83]

Thanks for the reply but I'd rather have a S970 or X2800H for features and inputs.

Which features and inputs exactly? Those two aren’t worth the extra money over the S760H in my opinion and the jump to the X3700H and now the X3800H is ridiculous.

 

[Mike Up]

I just want a higher end receiver with more analog inputs and more features. I guess I'll just wait until Denon brings their price down to a reasonable price. Besides that AVR-760 is a pretty big downgrade in the amp section from my Denon AVR-2312ci. Since I listen to more music than movies, the amp section is a priority. The Onkyo TX-NR6050/NR6100 was roughly in the same category as my AVR-2312ci.

Even the AVR-X2800H is an amp downgrade but as I said, I don't want to pay for a 9.2 section I won't use and Denon doesn't make a 105 watt/channel 7.1 receiver. the AVR-X2800 is the closest.

 

[lovinthehd]

Why do you want more analog inputs? What are your analog inputs? What are your expectations of processing for analog inputs? Why even consider only something like old stuff like a 760 vs 2312? The amps differences are miniscule. Better to have full pre-outputs for all channels if amps are a particular concern. The number of channels per $ just depends where you step into it....

 

[Trebdp83]

Unless we’re talking about two really big rooms, I’d not worry about power. Movie watching at high volume with low or even no crossover will tax the receiver far more than some spirited music listening using an appropriate crossover and subwoofer.

It sounds like 24/192 is getting the most attention here for music on the Firestick. Start letting some of the analog stuff go on into the other room. Or, just let most of it go altogether and get two S760H receivers. At a current price of $399.99, it is a real bargain. I ran five 4ohm speakers on the thing and it was fine.

Though a 2021 model, the S760H is a perfectly capable machine. Frankly, the equipment listed for both rooms doesn’t necessitate a monster of a machine. There will be issues going into a new receiver with the new HDMI and HDCP specs if one has let more than a few models go by without an upgrade. Those issues are more easily tolerated with “low end” models and Costco’s return policy is very convenient.

I feel I need to be fair to Denon here. I love em’. Had Denons exclusively since the mid 90’s. But, tried switching it up with an Onkyo a few years ago to save a few bucks. Upgrading more often has become necessary if one wants to keep up with the changing audio/video formats. This wasn’t as big a deal decades ago. While the X3800H is pricey, adjusted for inflation, it is only a couple hundred dollars more than the 3803 and is far more feature rich. You know, I think that is backwards and the couple hundred bucks is in the X3800H's favor. Some like myself might be less inclined to drop that kind of coin on a new receiver now compared to then and look for bargains. Then, we can afford those OLED TVs. Hey, if I’m gonna’ spend it, I’d rather SEE the difference than try to convince myself that I can actually HEAR the difference.

 

[Mike Up]

I just read in the manual there is a reset that is done by pushing buttons on the receivers faceplate. Manual said to do that reset when erroneous issues happen.

I was doing the reset from the setup menu tab miscellaneous. Where the reset was a feature under the miscellaneous tab.

Not sure if it will matter or not as they are likely the same type of reset. I'll see.

 

[Mike Up]

Back when i was purchasing the Denon AVR-3803 and Yamaha RXV2095, I was young, kidless, wifeless, with few responsibilities. Times have changed, toys are not a priority on the food chain so cheaper toys are the way things are now.

The 760 denon is a good deal but I want something comparable to the $800 MSRP (I paid $600, today would be $775) AVR-2312ci. Going down to a lesser AVR-x2800h was something I reluntantly was accepting to do, to gain more HT formats. The TX-NR6050 didnt seem as big a trade off. If Onkyo doesnt work, I'll just keep using AVR-2312ci in my living room.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Mike Up]

Well sorry about the negativity on the Onkyo receiver. I honestly feel if a paper manual was available, it would help so much more.

Using a phone to read a manual is just something that's not productive. You can skim quickly between pages with a paper manual where you can't with a phone as you are very limited on a phone's small screen where the words are large enough to read.

Running back and forth to the desktop is non-productive. You need the manual in front of you while using the receiver. Even TVs that don't have paper manuals usually have the manual built into the television where you can read it on a large screen TV.

Now add to that, Onkyo seems to put the very important things in very small fine print and even with that, they leave it incomplete in the manual/brochure.

I'm sorry about losing my patience with this Onkyo receiver on the forum, as I have other things going on. This was suppose to be my escape for some enjoyment.

Anyhow, found the solution to the problem.

I was doing some searches and found the problem on a really old Onkyo and the person went through the same thing as me somewhat. It turns out it was a HDMI feature to send audio to the television as well as the receiver. With my Denon, it was an either OR. The receiver didn't not play audio when the audio was sent to TV. The Onkyo does! It however gets locked into 2.0 Direct music mode! Making other music modes *Not Available* . While not stated in the vintage Onkyo post on that forum, it also locks out the Speaker configuration.

Now I did turn HDMI audio to TV "OFF", it still locked in 2.0 DIrect mode. All I can think is that the TV and Receiver communicating somehow locked this "HDMI Audio to TV" mode in. Now I did have a power outage which may have helped as well today but as of now "everything is working correctly"!

So I'll keep it as I have 3 months to return it if it screws up.

All I can say is that I'm really pleased that is all the problem was. It was mentioned in the manual here,

"5. Hardware Audio TV Out (Default Value: Auto) You can enjoy audio through the speakers of the TV while this unit is on. • This setting is fixed to "Auto" if you set "1. Input/Output Assign" - "TV Out/ OSD" - "HDMI Out" or "HDMI" - "HDMI Out" in the "Quick Menu" to "MAIN" or "MAIN+SUB" and set "HDMI CEC" to "On". If you change this setting, set "HDMI CEC" to "Off". • Listening mode cannot be changed while "Audio TV Out" is set to "On" and audio is being output from the TV. • Depending on your TV or input signal of the connected device, audio may not be output from the TV even if this is set to "On". In such a case, audio is output from the speakers of the unit. • Audio is output from this unit if you operate the MASTER VOLUME dial on this unit when audio that is input to this unit is output from your TV speakers. If you do not want to output audio, change the setting of this unit or TV, or reduce the volume of this unit. On When this function is used Off When this function is not used Auto When the "HDMI Out" setting is "MAIN" or "MAIN+SUB" and the "HDMI CEC" setting is "On" • In this case, it is fixed at "Auto" and cannot be changed. "

Pretty vague but it's there in red saying listening mode can't be changed. They honestly needed to make this statement more informative and highlighted and even mentioned in the troubleshooting guide, but they don't.

Thank God for the poster of that vintage post about his old Onkyo receiver or I may had never seen this.

I think unplugging the receiver would had helped as well because it seemed to lock in with the Television on even after multiple resets.

Thanks everyone for trying to find a solution!

 

[Mike Up]

BTW, Costco now has the Denon AVR-S760H for $400! That is a bargain for sure.

 

[Trebdp83]

BTW, Costco now has the Denon AVR-S760H for $400! That is a bargain for sure.

I know, that’s why I mentioned getting two of them. You are the first I’ve come across to have had that issue with a brand new Onkyo receiver. It is definitely a glitch as setting the audio output to the TV should not result in any output from the receiver. But, mine has done a few other silly things that resulted in a factory reset.

Don’t apologize for being frustrated with it. Onkyo and every other maker should apologize for not shipping paper manuals anymore. I have several manuals downloaded to my phone and Macs. Make sure to download the Onkyo Controller app to your phone. The web setup feature using a Mac or PC is very convenient. It can be done on a Smart phone but really benefits from the extra real estate of a monitor or TV. Have fun with it, come back around with any questions and welcome to the forums. Yeah, I know, you joined a long time ago. But, now you are really in it.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not a bad idea for the avr to have a copy of the manual you could throw up on a tv screen out of the box. I just use a laptop so manuals are easy, far easier to search via pdf than manually for me....and a lot of non-audio stuff doesn't come with printed manuals any more. I can't imagine using an avr manual on a phone, tho....maybe my tablet but I'd still rather use the laptop.

 

[Mike Up]

Here's the thread that saved me from taking back the Onkyo!

 

[Mike Up]

Ok, I've been playing with this receiver quite a bit and it's very different from the Denon as would be expected.

MUCH SIMPLER! But at the cost of some features.

One thing I found is that every input can't have it's own speaker levels like the Denon AVR-2312ci. It can temporarily but only for the fronts, center, and subwoofer. No rear channel level. Since it's temporary it must be just to compare. However the Onkyo can take the stereo input and play it through any pair of speakers setup. The Denon couldn't. This is a great feature for listening plus it helps to see how close timber is on all the speakers.

I noticed one thing I'm not fond of it but there's trade offs. The network feature for Pandora, Internet stations, etc loses the On Screen Display and everything must be seen on the receiver's front plate. The music information as song as such is displayed on the on screen display but no music modes or information related to the receiver output or such. I thought it glitched at first but seems this is normal to need to read the receiver's front plate display for any receiver output information as music mode, or format, and channel information.

Not sure if this is normal but Dolby Surround sounds phenomenal!! Using it on a stereo input, it sounds nearly as clean as listening to stereo but with surround sound. With all my other receivers, Dolby Prologic IIx sounded compressed, less dynamic, colored, and lifeless compared to the Stereo signal. In fact it sounds almost as good as Dolby Digital but obviously without the actual discrete channel steering. Highly impressed how much better it sounds than Dolby Pro Logic IIx(z)!!

Also with Dolby Surround, gone is the dedicated Music mode/ Movie mode/ and Game Mode. No more front soundstage width adjustment or any of that. Just one ON/OFF for center spread. Much simpler and better sounding!

I still have fine adjusting as speaker levels sound a bit off but I did copy levels over from the Denon. Perhaps internally their levels are bit different. I plan on using my Radio Shack Digital SPL Meter again.

I hated the Denon Audyssey MultEQ XT on the Denon, it made music harsh, bright, crappy sounding. I tried for a month to make it sound good but gave up and setup everything with Radio Shack SPL meter and tape measure. Sounded great again, like the previous Denon AVR-3803. Not sure about this AccuEQ w/ AccuReflex. I've heard good and bad. My brother in law hated Audyssey MultEQ XT on his Marantz also and calibrated as I did. I'm thinking of just leaving the AccuEQ off and not adding stress fighting with it to make it sound good when it sounds so good WITHOUT it on.

My only important question is why no On Screen for Network music or is this just the way it is?