Onkyo TX-RZ70 11.2CH AV Receiver - Official Support Thread

[Trebdp83]

I've really enjoyed using Onkyo's web setup feature. It is actually essential as the "Limit Mode" settings in the Web Setup are NOT accessible any other way. Without them, one could not make the appropriate settings for HDMI 2.1 capable devices and also the appropriate combination of settings for certain older HDMI 1.X devices.

While the RZ70 features 40Gbps HDMI ports around back for the Main Zone, the Zone 2 HDMI port is 18Gbps and the front port is only 9Gbps. So, no hooking up a buddy's next gen game console to the front of the thing for 4K @120Hz gaming.

The RZ70 is great but the Spec Sheet for it not so much when compared to the Product Sheet of their other models.

RZ50:
TX-RZ50 Product Sheet

RZ70:
TX RZ70 Spec Sheet

 

[gene]

I've really enjoyed using Onkyo's web setup feature. It is actually essential as the "Limit Mode" settings in the Web Setup are NOT accessible any other way. Without them, one could not make the appropriate settings for HDMI 2.1 capable devices and also the appropriate combination of settings for certain older HDMI 1.X devices.

While the RZ70 features 40Gbps HDMI ports around back for the Main Zone, the Zone 2 HDMI port is 18Gbps and the front port is only 9Gbps. So, no hooking up a buddy's next gen game console to the front of the thing for 4K @120Hz gaming.

View attachment 68436

The RZ70 is great but the Spec Sheet for it not so much when compared to the Product Sheet of their other models.

RZ50:
TX-RZ50 Product Sheet

RZ70:
TX RZ70 Spec Sheet

Nothing wrong with the Front HDMI connection if you want something quick and easy to access. It's impossible to offer 40GBps support on the front port without a separate HDMI board. I think it's a good compromise and I noted it in my unboxing video.

 

[Trebdp83]

It’s fine for a quick hookup of an old PS3 or XBOX 360 in HD. But, at 9Gbps, not even the 18Gbps of HDMI 2.0, anything in 4K @60Hz will be color subsampled to 4:2:0 in 8 bit color. But, at least Onkyo isn’t pulling that s#%t around back like Sony.

While Denon and Yamaha don’t offer a front port on their flagships at all, they do have seven HDMI ports around back to Onkyo’s six and somebody could just connect a cable to the seventh port and have it on the ready for any temporarily connected devices with access to full bandwidth.

 

[gene]

It’s fine for a quick hookup of an old PS3 or XBOX 360 in HD. But, at 9Gbps, not even the 18Gbps of HDMI 2.0, anything in 4K @60Hz will be color subsampled to 4:2:0 in 8 bit color. But, at least Onkyo isn’t pulling that s#%t around back like Sony.

While Denon and Yamaha don’t offer a front port on their flagships at all, they do have seven HDMI ports around back to Onkyo’s six and somebody could just connect a cable to the seventh port and have it on the ready for any temporarily connected devices with access to full bandwidth.

I bought a 4 port auto switching 40Gbps HDMI selector from Gefen for like $70 that let's me connect all 4 of my game systems to 1 hdmi port on my AV10 in a remote location. No issue.

Nobody is giving you the Onkyo amp section for under $3500. To me that's a far more important concern.

 

[Trebdp83]

Hey, you don't have to sell me. I've been advocating for Onkyo around here for a few years now while many have left it for dead. The RZ70 sales price puts it in the lead concerning bang for buck. The RZ50 with a sales price of $999.99 is also not to be overlooked for those wanting to process eleven channels using external amps. Fix the Dolby Digital 5.1 rerouting nonsense, add Dolby Atmos over Airplay, DTS Play-Fi Transfer to Speaker and Tidal Connect support on all Onkyo models and things get better still.

 

[gene]

Hey, you don't have to sell me. I've been advocating for Onkyo around here for a few years now while many have left it for dead. The RZ70 sales price puts it in the lead concerning bang for buck. The RZ50 with a sales price of $999.99 is also not to be overlooked for those wanting to process eleven channels using external amps. Fix the Dolby Digital 5.1 rerouting nonsense, add Dolby Atmos over Airplay, DTS Play-Fi Transfer to Speaker and Tidal Connect support on all Onkyo models and things get better still.

I will have my reviewer test for routing issue on RZ70.

I heard the RZ50 has the nanny problem I noted about power tripping but haven't confirmed via my own testing.

 

[Trebdp83]

When checking the Web Setup one day listening to music, I noticed my NR6050 was in Protected mode. I forgot to get a screen capture of it before I cleared it.

Pic of an RZ50 in Protected mode from another forum post:

Pic of my NR6050 in its current state listening to music somewhat loudly. No issues since I clicked on "Clear Protect" some time ago. I'm sure I put it there tinkering with settings and changing out speakers and devices as often as I do.

 

[dlaloum]

When checking the Web Setup one day listening to music, I noticed my NR6050 was in Protected mode. I forgot to get a screen capture of it before I cleared it.

Pic of an RZ50 in Protected mode from another forum post:
View attachment 68437

Pic of my NR6050 in its current state listening to music somewhat loudly. No issues since I clicked on "Clear Protect" some time ago. I'm sure I put it there tinkering with settings and changing out speakers and devices as often as I do.
View attachment 68439

This is I think the first posting where I have seen the protection mode triggered in an actual in use setup (rather than a bench test).

However, in this case, it seems likely that it was a furfy, triggered potentially by temporary shorts, while cabling / setting up?

 

[Trebdp83]

Couldn’t say and had no idea mine was in Protected mode. It hadn’t been so and I only noticed it when checking its temperature one day. Cleared it and have not seen it in Protected mode again. I’m not going to try and get it back there, either.

 

[dlaloum]

Couldn’t say and had no idea mine was in Protected mode. It hadn’t been so and I only noticed it when checking its temperature one day. Cleared it and have not seen it in Protected mode again. I’m not going to try and get it back there, either.

Measured actual power use in my setup peaks at no more than 4W.... in a large cathedral ceiling, open living space....
So yeah, even in protection mode, it is possible that you simply wouldn't even know that power is constrained!!
(And even knowing this and having measured it.... I am running 440W@8ohm RMS power amps for my front L/R... )

 

[Brian Smith]

Gene,

When is the Denon A1H going to be tested? I'm surprised it has been out so long without a review from you guys. Can't wait.

 

[PENG]

Measured actual power use in my setup peaks at no more than 4W.... in a large cathedral ceiling, open living space....
So yeah, even in protection mode, it is possible that you simply wouldn't even know that power is constrained!!
(And even knowing this and having measured it.... I am running 440W@8ohm RMS power amps for my front L/R... )

Unless you use an oscilloscope or something, there is no way you can tell what the peak really is if you use the typical multimeters and/or those "kill a watt" kind of meters. I am sure you know that already though..

 

[panteragstk]

It seems they file for bankruptcy every few years. Plus historically they have had poor reliability and/or customer support. It seems the only reason people are interested in Onkyo is because of the low prices.

I was interested in getting one also because of the low price. I owned an Onkyo for about 15 minutes - bought one, drove home, halfway there I drove back and got a refund.

Have they truly “turned” it around? Will they stop filling for bankruptcy? How can they keep it up financially before filing bankruptcy AGAIN if they sell for much lower than the other brands like Yamaha and Denon/Marantz?

I'm not sure how their support is now, but when my 809 had the dreaded dead HDMI board issue, they repaired mine at zero cost to me. Paid for shipping both ways.

It still works, and if their support is still that good, I wouldn't hesitate to get one of their AVRs again. I have my 4800 though. Shouldn't need to upgrade for many years.

 

[Tankini]

I'm not sure how their support is now, but when my 809 had the dreaded dead HDMI board issue, they repaired mine at zero cost to me. Paid for shipping both ways.

It still works, and if their support is still that good, I wouldn't hesitate to get one of their AVRs again. I have my 4800 though. Shouldn't need to upgrade for many years.

Same here, I had Onkyo THX-NR818 135 X 2 @ 8 Ohms. They sent me a Box with packing materials. Plus free shipping label's. With Instructions to leave the shipping label with my return address inside the box. Two week turnaround. Mine lost sound no matter what input was used. They replaced a defective network chip. Plus extended the warranty to 2018. Sold it off for 400 bucks. Should have kept that AVR.

 

[gene]

Gene,

When is the Denon A1H going to be tested? I'm surprised it has been out so long without a review from you guys. Can't wait.

Not planning on testing the A1H any time soon. I wish I had an assistant to do measurements on my AP. I'm completely slammed RN.

 

[dlaloum]

Unless you use an oscilloscope or something, there is no way you can tell what the peak really is if you use the typical multimeters and/or those "kill a watt" kind of meters. I am sure you know that already though..

I'm depending on the power amps peak reading LED... which is probably only a rough indication anyway...

According to Crown the LED's are:
Signal Presence: -40dbu (on whenever something is playing - often flickering) - 0.06W@8ohm
-20db below clip (have seen this light up on occasionally, but very very rarely) - 3.4W@8ohm
-10db below clip (never seen this come on) - 50W@8ohm
Clip - 440W@8ohm

Yes, I don't have proper equipment to measure "at the speaker"

But this gives me a damn good indication that most people's assumptions about power requirements are massively flawed!

 

[PENG]

I'm depending on the power amps peak reading LED... which is probably only a rough indication anyway...

According to Crown the LED's are:
Signal Presence: -40dbu (on whenever something is playing - often flickering) - 0.06W@8ohm
-20db below clip (have seen this light up on occasionally, but very very rarely) - 3.4W@8ohm
-10db below clip (never seen this come on) - 50W@8ohm
Clip - 440W@8ohm

Yes, I don't have proper equipment to measure "at the speaker"

But this gives me a damn good indication that most people's assumptions about power requirements are massively flawed!

As I told you before, the talks about the high current thing is flawed too, majorly!!! Now I realize you were relying on those LED meters, but those things are likely not actually measuring watts as it would be too complicated for the relatively low cost amps. Even the more expensive Mc amps only measure voltage and current electronically and multiply them so you get the so called "apparent power", that is, VA, not watts, and you won't get the real peak either though really good as it does it in one single cycle. You can read about it in their manual.

Like some would say, people don't realize how little power they actually need in real world listening, and/or there amps clip more often than they realize..., both claims are/can be true!

 

[panteragstk]

Same here, I had Onkyo THX-NR818 135 X 2 @ 8 Ohms. They sent me a Box with packing materials. Plus free shipping label's. With Instructions to leave the shipping label with my return address inside the box. Two week turnaround. Mine lost sound no matter what input was used. They replaced a defective network chip. Plus extended the warranty to 2018. Sold it off for 400 bucks. Should have kept that AVR.

I still have mine. Not sure what I'd do with it at this point. I guess it could be my back yard amp or something, but then I'd have to find a place to put it.

Not super useful anymore since it's limited to HDMI 1.3a

 

[bigjohns97]

For anybody running 7.1, or 7.1.4, this Onkyo exhibits the same obnoxious behavior as every other new Onkyo and DD 5.1 signals will have the Surround channel info output from the Surround Back speakers and the Surround speakers will be silent.

If it also behaves like my Onkyo, DTS 5.1 signals will have the Surround channel info duplicated to the Surround Back channels when running 7.1. The DD behavior is laid out in the manual while DTS behavior is not mentioned and took the Onkyo rep I contacted by surprise.

For those running Full Range Front Speakers, spend the extra money and get the Denon AVR-X6800H for the additional configurability. It has “2ch Playback” settings , “Bass Extraction LPF” and “LFE Distribution” for those that want separate settings for two channel signals in Direct and Stereo modes compared to two channel signals or multichannel signals using upmixers. It has the four Sub pre outs and supports their “Directional” feature. Denon/Marantz also have the “LFE+Main” feature that Onkyo’s “Double Bass” and Yamaha’s “Extra Bass” cannot touch.

Just purchased the rz-70 and will be testing this whenever I get it deployed.

How did you confirm this was happening?

 

[Trebdp83]

It is a characteristic of all current Onkyo models and my 6050 does it as well.

Onkyo TX-RZ70: