- THX Select2 Plus Certified
- Internet Radio and Cloud Music Streaming Service Connectivity w/ control via Onkyo Remote Apps
- MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) and InstaPrevue Technologies
- iPod/iPhone Direct Digital Connection through USB and Firmware Updates via Ethernet and USB
- Power Requirements AC 120 V, 60Hz
I have been dealing with Onkyo support and there have been two firmware updates since I got the receiver about a month ago but neither update has fixed the problem. I am still waiting on a response to see if this is a problem that can be fixed with a firmware update or I have had two units that are both broken the same way.
Looking beyond this problem, the receiver has a large number of features and I have not had any problems using it to watch Blurays and listen to music. I've got the UWF-1 wireless Lan Adapter and I've streamed music using Pandora on the receiver with good results. Have not tried to watch a movie with the adapter yet.
The receiver uses the older Audyssey 2EQ room correction which works OK but is pretty dated for a brand new mid-range receiver. One thing worth mentioning is that the 616 has two subwoofer outputs but they are identical. So whatever levels you set with the Audyssey 2EQ or even manually the correction only recognizes a single subwoofer. I turned on only my main subwoofer when I ran the the room correction and then turned on the second subwoofer afterwards and set the level manually.
I am hoping that Onkyo can solve the power on problem with a firmware update because there are multiple people who are having the same problem.
I have had 3 other Onkyo receivers before and I have always had good luck with them so I am hopeful they can get the initial issues worked out.
Update from October 2012:
I originally wrote the review in May, it is now October and and these problems are not resolved. Visit the Onkyo support forum at to see feedback from many users.
Onkyo seems unable to deal with the technical issues with this family of receivers. They claim that these problems effect only 0.3% of the users, but there are far two many installers seeing problems with every unit they install, or people like myself that get a replacement and it has the same problems as the original.
I've had Onkyo receivers for well over 10 years and I have never had issues with any of them until this model. My impression is that Onkyo understands audio issues but modern receivers are essentially computers, with network connections and apps that are out on the web. And on these issues it appears that they are overwhelmed.
I write computer firmware and software for a living, and I while I don't expect a perfect product, I do expect each new firmware release to address problems and actually improve the product over time. Too many of the releases don't seem to fix anything.
I needed to buy a new receiver for my son for his birthday, and for the first time I looked for a product that was not from Onkyo. I ended up with a product from Yamaha. And while it doesn't claim to have every feature in the world like this one does, it just works and works well.
Watch the Onkyo forum, and if it ever appears that the users are reporting that their problems are actually being fixed, then this product might be worth the risk.
For now, I can't recommend this unit.
Buy Onkyo TX-NR616 7.2-Channel THX Select2 Plus Certified Network A/V Receiver (Black) Now
First, my only major complaint, and the reason for only 4 stars. There is no printed manual supplied with this receiver. All you get is a quick start guide that's a few pages long, enough to get you running, but sorely lacking in any real information. I posted a URL to the user manual I found in the comments.The product pictures are accurate, and the speaker connections in the back fit common banana plugs perfectly. Included accessories are a remote (with batteries), a microphone for the automatic speaker configuration (haven't tried this since my rear speakers aren't placed yet), and AM and FM antennas. The AM antenna is cheap but works well enough. The FM antenna is just one of those little wires and it sucks. If you do any serious FM radio listening, you'll want to acquire a better antenna to use with it.
The OSD is a little primitive, but it looks decent enough and gets the job done. Pandora works well, the setup of it is easy, again the interface is a little primitive but it works, and I won't usually be using it anyway.
SOUND
I'm using this receiver with Energy 5.1 Take Classic Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black) and it sounds great. Full bass, detailed highs, the works. The audio is very clean at all volumes that I've tried. It has a plethora of audio settings that you can change, though I was unable to find a way to set the subwoofer frequency cutoff. I suspect that it's in there somewhere though, when I ran the Audyssey auto-configuration it definitely altered my subwoofer, so I imagine there's a way to do it manually too. Anyway, audio is subjective and depends a lot on the speakers too, suffice to say that I am quite pleased with the audio and there are no obvious deficiencies that I've found.
VIDEO
Video is great, clear and sharp. I don't have anything that needs to be upscaled, so I can't judge that functionality. I did have a problem with the component video input though. I hooked up my Wii to the component input and didn't get any video out from it. Upon doing some research, it seems the component input is quite finicky about input/output resolutions. It seems that the only way to get component input sent out via HDMI is to have it in 480i. Anything better and it doesn't go out HDMI, but only out the component outputs. Bit of a letdown, reinforces the 4 stars.
NETWORKING
The receiver has a hard wired ethernet port in it, but does not include built in wireless networking or bluetooth. You can purchase an adapter for either of these; however, you probably won't have a need for bluetooth. Onkyo has apps for both Android and iPhone that allow you to control the receiver as well as stream music to it from your device. Network setup is nearly foolproof, it's configured to use DHCP out of the box, as soon as I plugged in a network cable, it was online and working. No setup from me needed at all. Of course, you may need to make security modifications to your firewall or router depending on your setup.
ANDROID APP
I have used only the Android version, but it is an excellent companion to the receiver. The app doesn't do quite everything that the real remote does, but it does most. You can select the input source, use a directional pad for things such as changing the radio station and navigating OSD menus, change speaker levels, and, naturally, change volume. It will also stream music that's on your device to the receiver, so you probably won't have any use for bluetooth. Using the app also allows selection of network streaming options such as Pandora, vTuner, Slacker, etc. without turning on your TV. It is possible to select these using only the on-unit display, but it's not easy, you really need to use either the OSD on your TV or the app to do it effectively.
One thing to note, you'll probably have a firmware update waiting for you when you connect it to the internet. It warns you that it takes up to an hour, "HAH," I thought, "They always over estimate these things, I have fast internet, how long can it take?" Yeah, it really does take an hour. The download was fast, the flash, not so much. Don't do the firmware update until you have an hour to spare.The sound was good on this unit and I loved the feature per price ratio but it has to actually work to be of value.
The 616 was very easy to setup and sounded great but it took only a day or two to realize that this receiver was not ready for prime time. The main issue I had was the video output would not work unless I unplugged the power to the unit and plugged it back in. Once I found the Onkyo forums I found that this is a very big problem for a lot of units. There were people who had purchased 3 units to install for customers and all 3 had the issue. Others had issues with the remote not working to turn on the unit. After several firmware updates one of them finally bricked my receiver completely. I had no picture or sound. Not surprisingly, I found others with the same issue from the last firmware.
Onkyo support was a train wreck. I called and they were supposed to call me back and never did. In the forums they seemed to do little to help other than to say, "Another firmware update will be out soon." To Onkyo's credit, they did offer to replace the unit but by the time I shipped them mine and received the replacement it would have been a couple of weeks and I would have been past my 30 day window to return it.
This receiver may be a good one in the future but for now, it is a NO. There are forums with tons of customers who are just as frustrated as I am as they feel like forced beta testers for Onkyo. If you enjoy gambling, give this one a shot as you just might get one without a problem.
Want Onkyo TX-NR616 7.2-Channel THX Select2 Plus Certified Network A/V Receiver (Black) Discount?
I had a bad experience, very bad experience with two Onkyo receivers. A 609 and its replacement, the 616. Let me qualify this evaluation by giving my own background. I've spent a lifetime in the computer business and would be considered an expert on Windows systems. In the old days, it was DOS! Helping me with the setup of the Onkyo's was a young bright neighbor 20 year old who had done the setup of several home theater systems prior to our install. I was using the Onkyo's to front end a new Panasonic 47" TV, two Martin Logan Motion 4's and a Velodyne powered subwoofer.I first ordered the 609, because I knew that it was approaching the end of its life cycle, but the specs on the new line of receivers was pretty much the same as the old and I thought that much or most of the value in these machines is in the software that has been developed for them. Old software beats new every time.
The 609 came and together we spent the better part of a day setting up the unit. It came with a 100 page manual! It wouldn't connect with the Internet regardless of what we did. Onkyo support finally advised us that we had a defective Ethernet port and that we should return the unit for a replacement. Two man days shot. Compliments to Onkyo support for being reachable without too much difficulty and to Amazon, for making the return so easy.
I went back to my computer to order another from Amazon and Amazon no longer was stocking the 609. So I ordered the 616. It has a 140 page manual which I printed out in anticipation of its arrival. 2 days via Amazon Prime. A winner. After the better part of a day, we had everything working except the subwoofer and zone 2. After a second day with the help of Onkyo support we had both problems fixed.
The next morning I found that the `pass-thru' for the TV wasn't working. We did a factory reset, which fixed that problem and then went through the setup of all the other features again. Things worked fine for a day. Then I noticed that the subwoofer wasn't working again. To make the story short here's the deal. The continually reoccurring problems involved 1) getting the subwoofer to operate, 2) getting zone 2 working, 3) getting the TV pass through to consistently operate. The next night, I went out to dinner and a house guest tried to watch TV and not knowing how to operate things pushed some buttons until she gave up and couldn't see anything.
The following morning I found nothing at all was working through the Onkyo. No TV, no cable, no internet, no nothing! After a reset and the better part of another day things seemed to be working. But by now I was getting an uneasy feeling about the 616. As we became more familiar with the menus and set up process I was amazed that such a poorly thought out, illogical group of commands that bore no logical relationship to our prior experiences could have been designed by anyone. The names on pick lists made no sense. For example, we got out of one problem when Onkyo told us that we had to choose stereo rather than direct. In another setting the correct choice was "last". These words and choices were like from a foreign language and I wondered if the manual had been in Japanese and subjected to a poor translation. But the manual had no instructions on the kinds of problems we were encountering. And every day there was a new problem.
I started noticing that the remote wasn't working anymore. I put in new batteries and that didn't help. Until I noticed that a workaround was to turn on the 616 at the unit and then the remote would function for a while. I also noticed that the TV pass through had also decided to stop working. And then I found a work around for that also. The work around was to turn on the Onkyo to cable, get the picture on the TV and then I could turn off the 616 and the pass through would work for a while.
I know I should have realized this earlier, but these work around fixes were continually evolving and I would end up being the only person in the world to operate this equipment. It was then that I realized that I had to return the unit. Once again, Amazon is the king in this process. But here are my ratings:
Amazon customer service, through automation: 5 stars
Onkyo customer service via phone: 4 stars, as they were usually helpful
Onkyo receiver performance: 1 star, I wouldn't wish this product on an enemy
Onkyo software/hardware design: 1 star. This reminded me of something produced by a classroom doing its first design effort ever.
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When I purchased this Onkyo 616 I was fully aware of the potential problems that came with it. But that little voice in my ear told me "It won't happen to you. Your Onkyo receiver will be the perfect product".Day 1. Setup system. Oh man, good decision. Works like a charm. Star Trek BluRay was awesome.
Day 2. I discovered I could not power on the receiver from standby mode and I had to physically cross the room to power it on. Hmmm interesting.
Day 3. Investigations revealed that if the "Network Standby" was enabled, the Receiver would not fall into a coma and it would respond to the remote power on. The solution worked.
Day 4. Powered on the Receiver with the Remote...eureka it still works! BluRay selected, hang on where is the display? No HDMI. Completely disappeared, cannot review the setup on the TV so I feel like my arms have been chopped off. Need time to think, and don't mention it to the wife!
Day 5. Back from work. What did I change? Aha I enabled "Network Standby" on Day 3. So on my hands and knees working my way through the settings on the receiver display I managed to disable "Network Standby". Fingers crossed. Restart the receiver and bingo HDMI working again. THANK YOU GOD! But the "Power On" problem has returned.
Day 6. Updated Firmware: First initial releases through the Network. Error message half way through download. Noooooo. Waited for 15 minutes, but error message persisted. With trepidation I turned the receiver off and on. Download restarted and successfully updated. The "Power On" problem has been RESOLVED.
Day 7. Updated to the final Firmware release (to resolve HDMI) by USB as advised by Onkyo site. Instructions are not clear in the manual on how to do this, but forum resolution gave the answer. Latest October 2012 Firmware release installed, but I am frightened to retry the "Network Standby" switch to test the HDMI problem. If I ever get the courage to enable it, I will update this review!
Connection through USB cable for iTouch is perfect. But for my Samsung Galaxy SII it is useless, it reports No Storage! Also I cannot stream wirelessly to the receiver unless I use the Onkyo Android app and even then I cannot stream MP4. Music quality streaming from my Samsung is very poor. Music quality streaming from my Windows based PC is excellent, and I could listen to it all night.
If you buy this Onkyo Receiver (or any in the 2012) range I would strongly recommend you perform the complete firmware upgrade path before you even think about setting the system up or you will find yourself having to repeat the entire speaker setup exercise (not that the auto setup is that difficult). Get all of the potential worries out of the way and then enjoy the discovery process.
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