Onkyo just announced an upgrade to its TX-NR1008 receiver, and it's a doozy. The upcoming TX-NR1009 9.2-Channel Receiver will be a standout, as the very first home theater receiver to include DTS Neo:X multidimensional audio technology.
DTS Neo:X is what DTS calls "the next-generation of immersive 3D entertainment for home theater enthusiasts and industry audio professionals." The technology boasts a semi-spherical soundfield using an 11.1 speaker configuration. That said, the TX-NR1009 supports up to nine loudspeakers. That means you can have 5.1-channel setup with extra surround back- and front-height speakers, surround back- and front-wide speakers, or front-height and front-width speakers.
Any way you set it up, it offers a whole lot of audio, adding a little height and width to speakers to create a lifelike 3D surround soundscape. It also means that you can get a fairly immersive soundstage without rear speakers if placement of rear speakers is problematic in your particular room.
Besides DTS Neo:X and THX Select2 Plus certification, this 9.2-channel receiver includes a few other new features over last year's model. Those features include Marvell Qdeo and IDT's HQV Vida video upscaling and processing circuits. The Vida can upscale 480i/p, 576p, and 720p video sources to 1080p HD. Qdeo, on the other hand, can do full 4K (3840 x 2160) upscaling of 1080p sources.
Other perks include a 135-watts per channel amplifier section, Audyssey's MultEQ XT audio room correction, ISF and Dolby ProLogic IIz support, Wide Range Amplifier Technology (WRAT), three-stage inverted Darlington circuitry, the High Current Power Supply (HCPS), and TI Burr-Brown 192 kHz/24-bit DACs.
The TX-NR1009 features plenty of connection options, including an Ethernet port so the unit can be added to your home network for access to web radio or streaming services, such as Pandora, Slacker, Napster, Sirius XM, and much more. Other options include one front- and seven rear-panel HDMI inputs, dual HDMI outputs and front and rear USB ports, which can accommodate an iPod or the optional UWF-1 USB LAN adapter. The TX-NR1009 also has Windows 7 and DLNA support, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, and comes with a bidirectional, preprogrammed, and customizable RI remote control.
"Onkyo's application of DTS Neo:X allows the top-tier enthusiasts to significantly expand their home theater system's sound stage with new combinations of channels," said Paul Wasek, Onkyo's marketing manager of. "When combined with its new higher resolution video capabilities, the TX-NR1009 becomes a powerful tool that far exceeds the capabilities of our competitors' offerings even at several times the price."
Onkyo says that the TX-NR1009 will start shipping this month, with an MSRP of $1,399.
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