thought of reposting my non technical and non-expert impression of the Onkyo 809
some interesting things about the 809
1. When doing calibration, Audyssey Mult EQ XT will prompt you to set your subwoofer gain so that it will
read 75db only, problem is that to achieve 75db(actually around 76db sya), the gain of the Ultra is set to
only around 830 o clock halos zero na yung gain.
2. Calibration is a breeze. It becomes faster by 50% and it uses 8 mic positions.
3. After completing the calibration, two options can be chosen for the Audyssey EQ activation, one for
Music and one for Movie.
4. When the gain is set to produce 75db, resulting level calibration for the sub is exactly at zero(not sure if
the same for all situations though). Distances measured for left and right front are the same and so are
for the surrounds. The same is true for the level calibrations.
5. Apart from the THX Loudness Plus, it has an option to use Dolby Volume(these acts just like Audyssey
Eq) so you have more flexibility on chosing your SQ preference.
6. The 809 greatly improved the HF part, the center channel and the surround.Panning has become more
pronounced. SQ became richer and the details improved a lot
7. It does not heat up unlike the 807 or 808 perhaps. While this is so, it comes with two built in fans inside
that pushes hot air out of the top vents.
8. It has a couple of HDMI outs that allows you to choose either Main, Sub or both and has tons of HDMI Ins
8 if im not mistaken.
9. It has a couple USB slots(1 in front and 1 at the back) that allows you to play even FLAC files directly.
Whats nice, when playing via USB, the display panels would display the title of the song and the artist
and sounds better compared to playing music via the NMT.
10. It has a very nice looking front fascia, very elegant and minimalistic, only downside but depending on
preference, the volume knob is now lighted white instead of blue.
11. For video, there are several options to choose, it has ISF day, ISF night, Direct and Custom among
others, it comes with 4K upscaling thought this may not matter yet considering panels should be 4K too
Overall, the 809 is a huge leap compared to its predecessors and is fully packed with features that can only be present in more expensive models of other brands.Only downside is that it is only MultEQ XT and not XT32. If you are willing to shell out an extra 1K to 1.5K USD, then you may want to go the 3009 route, apart from the XT32, i think all the rest are basically the same in the aspect of things that matters to your basic needs-5.2 channels, HQV upscaler among others.
People have different view about what is excellent sounding, Yamaha fanatics would surely profess about how good it is, Onkyo would and perhaps Denon folks as well. Prior to getting my previous mid level receiver(807), i did listened to several brands, there is one that really sound very nice but price is very high, there is one that is of the same price level as the 809 but does not look appealing(yes i have strong consideration for the physical appearance and build), there is one that sounds good but does not have the slam im looking for and there is one that has the slam but overpowering naman
Onkyo is known for that slam and finesse combined, very powerful and fast paced parang in your face ang tunog , this would not appeal to people na laidback ang gustong set up kase mapapagod sila pakikinig.
The 809 met my expectations-SQ, build quality, aesthetics and price thats why to me this is the best. There will always be something out there better than the 809 but I dont like the looks, the added features that spiked the cost up and surely hve nit met my expectations.
Get a 3009 or 5009 and thats a different story overall,
