Sunday, February 7, 2010

For Sale! Onkyo TX-SR876 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)

Onkyo TX-SR876 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)







Product Description
Based on a winning design for high-definition home theater reproduction, the TX-SR876 is a comprehensive A/V processing ?hub? with a deep reservoir of amplification power to draw on. Reveling in its THX Ultra2 Plus certification, the TX-SR876 shows its class with a broad range of capabilities, phenomenal performance, and noticeable finesse. With its advanced HQV Reon-VX video processing - which enables upscaling to high-def 1080p - and supreme high-definition surround sound decoding, this receiver belongs in elite company. It's also one of the first receivers anywhere to employ ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) video calibration. From whatever movie, music, broadcast, or gaming source you choose, the TX-SR876 will impress time and time again.

Feature
  • 140 W/Ch Minimum into 8 Ohms, 20 Hz¿20 kHz, 0.08%, 2 Channels Driven, FTC
  • Burr Brown 192 kHz/24-Bit Audio DACs (PCM1796) for All Channels
  • HQV Reon-VX Video Processing with 1080p Upscaling of All Video Sources via HDMI
  • HD Radio Reception Capability
  • Powered Zone 2 (Audio and Video); Zone 2 and Zone 3 Pre-Outs

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CustomerReviews

Great Receiver
A first class product - have had it for 9 months. Sounds great and Reon Video processor does a super job - I have all content upgraded to 1080p to 60" Pioneer Plasma. Interface is pretty easy, but takes some time with the manual to understand things. Does run hot, so needs ventilation. Looks like this is being phased out so you can get them cheap. Always had good luck with Amazon and electronic purchases.

I like it
When I bought my XBox360 and PS3 last year, I started looking for a receiver that could replace my Harmon Kardon and Silicon Image DVDO scaler, with a receiver that had HDMI. All of my research led me to this unit. For me, the multiple HDMI inputs were very important, but it also had to take multiple legacy inputs (I have a laserdisc player, for example, with a large movie collection), and process them as well. So the REON was very important to me, and it would allow my to replace the DVDO.



In practice, I think the DVDO was a bit better at scaling/de-interlacing, but the convenience provided by all the features being built into one unit make up for that.



Secondly, I have to sing the praises of the Audyssey MultiEQ. After having used other auto calibration setups before, I would rank the Audyssey as the best that I've tried.



I've had the unit for almost a year now, and have enjoyed it. I placed a 120mm 12V fan in my entertainment center, and have never had any problems with it over-heating.



I took away one star for the fairly generic remote. In the price class, I would expect something better. Other receivers I've had in the past included two-way RF communication, LCD displays, or other features that set them apart in some way. The remote that comes with the 876 has nothing special about it.

Onkyo TX-SR876: Good unit! Lots of pros - some cons too.
I sold my older TX-SR800 THX Onkyo amplifier and replaced it with this unit mainly for the HDMI interfaces.



That part works great. I have hooked up my Blue Ray DVD player and my HD TIVO DVR to the new Onkyo TX-SR876. One HDMI output going to the HD TV. This is great.



Speaker configuration:

I strongly suggest owning or borrowing a tripod for the speaker calibration.

I also recommend running through (although it is not required) ALL the speaker `room positions' I believe the minimum is 4 positions.



Once calibrated you will immediately notice crystal clear separation of sound between all your channels assuming you are using a 7.1 setup.



Playing Blue-Ray DVD's or regular DVD's or CD's the sound processing is great.



Cons:

I am giving this review 4 stars instead of 5 because I have noticed and experienced one specific issue.

When watching regular TV, it is really hard to hear clearly. What I mean is - I have to crank up the volume to approximately mark 65-70 to hear a good strong loud sound. Then again if I happen to watch a HD programming like Fringe or Survivor, the sound is good. Swap over to the local news which is broadcast in regular non HD and you have the sound processing and volume issue.



So I have to constantly adjust the volume depending on what I am watching.

I never had this problem with my old unit. My old TX-SR800 was `powerful' I never ran the volume above mark 60 (honestly I did only once and rattled everything in the house forcing paintings to fall off the wall. Let's just say that was a one-off test).



You could rectify this `volume' issue by manually configuring the speaker calibration levels on the Onkyo TX-SR876. You can crank up the levels on all the speakers and you will NOT have the problem of having to turn the volume up high. BUT I have noticed when doing that it impacts the sound and clarity. Especially when watching DVD's and Blue-Ray the sound will be effected because the separation of sound between all the speakers will not be balanced and `fine-tuned'.



All in all this is a great amplifier with great features for a great price. Some quirks but nothing one can't live with.



High Expecations, bad delivery
Well, I can't speak to the performance of the receiver. I was looking forward to receiving it and I did receive it ontime. Only problem was that the box looked like it had been through the war and back. Holes, massive damage and very little left of the integrity of the box. But I brushed that aside as I've received worn boxes before but everything inside has been in good shape.

Well, not this time. I opened the box to find the receiver wrapped in 1 layer of bubble wrap. Not even enough to reach the sides of the box. The receiver had more than enough room inside the box to move freely about the cabin. The bubble wrap wasn't even taped to the reciver. It was sort of thrown in as an afterthought. There was no sign of any of the original packing materials in the Onkyo box.

I pulled the receiver out and began my inspection. To my dismay, I found a rather large dent on the front right corner of the receiver. It appeared that the receiver was dropped from about 4 feet and landed on the corner. The damage prevented the front panel door from opening, making it almost impossible to use the receiver. Continuing my inspections I found that the blue light around the volume control only half worked and the reciver made a lot of clicking noises - not a good sign. The front panel also was pushed out so that the input selection buttons were almost fully recessed behind the panel, making it hard to select an input.

Out of general interest I decided to see what condition everything else was in. Ah yes, the microphone for balancing the speakers. It was in at least 4 pieces, which I assumed happend when the reciever crushed it, while moving around the box.

So needless to say, it went back less than 2 hours after I received it. I put in about 3 days worth of newspapers to better pack it and taped the box up as best I could with about 1/2 a roll of heavy duty packing tape. The final kicker was that I had to pay for shipping - so now I'm out the cost of the receiver and the cost of shipping $75 - until Amazon refunds it all, hopefully very soon.

Not sure I'll buy again from Warehouse deals, but I might give them one more chance.

Onkyo delivers outstanding sound!
I finally won the war with my spouse to replace my old A/V receiver.

What is it with women and the whole: "We already have one and it works fine"?



Anyway, I can't believe I waited so long to upgrade. Wow...this unit is first class. The sound coming out of this machine is out of this world. Basically after researching for months...I opted for this model as the best combination of quality components for the price. Plus it is consistently well rated no mater the websites you look at!



I was surprised upon reading that a few people said the unit stopped working properly after sometime. I suspect that their setup does not allow for the TX-SR876 to be sufficiently and properly ventilated as it does get hot. Of course it is expected given the amount of power that this unit packs. If you keep it in a small enclosed space and allow it to heat up too much...you're asking for problems. I learned this the hard way with one of my first A/V receivers. Keep it well ventilated and this unit will keep your ears wanting more!!!

Very pleased!!!



UPDATE

I still love it. However, after running it non-stop for an extended period of time I started to worry about potential heat issues. Therefore I researched online and bought the CabCool 1201 Lite Single 120mm Fan Cooler Kit for Cabinet / Home Theater. I didn't do the whole set up of screwing into the back of my entertainment cabinet but rather simply laid the fan on top of the unit and it has kept it nice and cool.



I highly recommended this receiver and the fan as an added assurance as it should keep the TX-SR876 working well for years to come...






More Info: For Sale! Onkyo TX-SR876 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)

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