Customer Reviews

Onkyo TX-NR708 7.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver (Black)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

Synopsis: The TX-NR708 is a great value in this price range. It has THX Select 2, three 7.2 sound fields; they include 7.2 discrete HD/EX, Dolby z, and Audyssey DSX wide. There are connections for up to 11 speakers (excluding the 2 subs. Note that the 7.2 specification means that there are 2 preamp outs for 2 powered subwoofers). There are more than 50 listening modes to obtain the perfect sound for your room and source. For video processing, there are a total of 7 HDMI inputs (along with 2 component, 4 S-Video, and 5 composite inputs) 6 in the back, 1 in the front. Digital audio inputs: 3 coax and 2 optical. The remote is easy to use and setup for your other components. Menus are relatively straight forward, though there is a learning curve, depending on complexity of your particular setup. This receiver also has network connectivity with Upnp, and a webpage interface, making it simple to change fields without your remote, enhancing the TX-NR708 network's usability. With the release of future firmware updates, one can envision Onkyo adding features that will keep your home theater cutting edge. The power rating is 110 watts per channel, 8 ohm, @ .08% harmonic distortion, providing this receiver with enough power and clean sound for a small to medium sized room.

Setup

If you have all HDMI inputs, setting up the TX-NR708 is a breeze, given you already have your speaker wires run, of course. The binding posts are high quality and have a smooth feeling and, unlike some other receivers, it's easy to tell when the wires are secured. Since this receiver has binding posts for 11 speakers, connecting the speakers would have been confusing if I had not first researched the new Audyssey DSX and Dolby z sound enhancements, which are simply awesome in my view (more on that later). The drawback is that you need 4 more speakers to enjoy them. I extended wires and labeled them for testing later. If you do this make sure that you do not allow the wires to short. Tape them until you are ready to connect your speakers.

My setup, speaker wise, is nothing special. I use 2 large generic 3-way speakers, placed on either side of a 6' entertainment center for my fronts (not sure who makes them, but they have good balance and frequency response). A Polk CSi3 center channel sits above my 50" LG plasma TV. I advise you not to skimp on the front and center speakers. For surrounds and Audyssey DSX wides, two pairs of Sony SS-B1000 speakers serve nicely. For the heights, I thought I'd try a pair of Pyramid 4080 budget speakers, with wall mounts included. It was a perfect solution for the z channels, and they go down to a solid 100 Hz after being broken in. A BIC America V-1220 12-Inch powered sub provides all the low end punch I'll ever need. Placement for the `wide' and the `high' speakers can be tricky. Perfect placement (according to this diagram: [...] is generally not an option. From the diagram I mathematically calculated placement for my room, and was able to place them pretty close to where their sweet spots were supposed to be. The heights (Dolby z speakers) are about 5 feet above and 3 feet wide of my fronts, while the wide speakers (Audyssey DSX) are placed at ear level, about 4 and a half feet toward the center of the room away and 3 feet wide of the fronts.
Listening and Watching

The first thing I noticed when I powered up the receiver was an improvement in my satellite TV picture, especially in the text at the top of the screen. Next, I ran the Audyssey speaker setup and it balanced out all the disparate speakers perfectly into a seamless sound field. I popped in "The Transporter" movie (DVD), and tested the new sound fields. They were both awesome. "IP Man" is a good movie to test the z channels, as well, especially the final fight scene. The Dolby z field makes your room seem bigger than it actually is, expanding the front sound stage, while the Audyssey DSX field seems to bring the front action closer to you with more detail. At least that is the best way I can describe it. No doubt others will describe their sound experience differently with respect to these new fields. Whatever the case, these new sound dimensions provide a definite enhancement, in my view. And the discrete 7-channel DTS-HD Master in "Shoot `Em Up" does justice to that new Blu-ray sound format, as does "Hellboy II: The Golden Army."

The Dolby z field works well with THX and gives you a lot of versatility when it comes to sound conditioning. Perhaps in a future firmware update, Onkyo will allow you to put the z and width channels together, like they already do with some of their high end receivers. If so, one might expect a net reduction in the power output, since more speakers will be running at once, and the power will have to be divided between them; thus, it would be equivalent to 9.2 or even 11.2 surround sound coming in the form of new listening modes.

Even though I only listened to Winamp radio and network radio, the sound quality was superb. I listen to jazz mostly, so I cannot comment on rock or other genres. Additionally, one would expect the sound quality of CD's and higher quality input sources to be even better.

Ease of Setup: Menus.

For the most part, I found the TX-NR708 menus to be pretty straight forward. I had no problem assigning components to my inputs of choice, with one exception. That exception being the sound input for an HDMI source when it does not come from the HDMI connector. For some reason the TX-NR708 does not let you do it from their main I/O Assign menu; you can only do it by using the "home' button on the remote while in that particular source mode. This might be necessary, for example, if you want to use computer motherboard digital coax sound with your HDMI video card output. Since Audyssey did such a good job setting up my speakers, I did not need to change any of those settings. Keep in mind that the Sub crossover frequency is set automatically in accordance with the rest of your speakers. You can, however, adjust the LFE crossover setting manually if you want. There are menus for THX and other sound conditioning (such as Audyssey EQ and Dynamic Volume), as well, and you'll need to experiment with those to find out what best suits your particular listening preferences. There is also a menu for programming your remote, eliminating the need to reference a manual for a code list.

Remote Control

The remote control that comes with the TX-NR708 is very good. The buttons are well organized and, unlike my last receiver, it is the only one I need for the basic listening functions of all my components. Programming this remote for other components, such as your TV, satellite/cable, and Blu-ray player is made simple by an onscreen menu. And once you're all set up, the pre-programmed macro buttons simplify operation even more. Moreover, this remote is a great improvement over the one that came with my Dish Network receiver; the TX-NR708 remote is more powerful than the Dish remote, eliminating the need to aim and press a button multiple times to get the receiver to respond.

Network

The network features that come with this receiver are sweet. Being a computer technician by trade, I appreciate the added functionality. Most users probably will use the default DHCP setting for assigning IP addresses, but you have the option to set them manually as well. Be aware that it is a wired connection, so you'll need an access point, or a bridged computer and a switch to make use of it, unless you already have an available network cable wired to your entertainment center. In many cases, the v-tuner feature will make it unnecessary to use an external FM antenna to listen to local stations. Add Pandora, audio streaming from your computer, and other services, and you have just about everything you could ever want from a network connection for playing music. One thing I really love is the web page interface for accessing network fields on the TX-NR708. This makes it easy to change network settings via a computer keyboard, rather than the remote, which can make setup much quicker and simpler.

Heat and Power Consumption

The receiver runs cooler than any other receiver I have ever owned. Nevertheless, I placed a small 12V computer fan atop for additional cooling. With that extra small fan my TX-NR708 runs as cool as a cucumber. One thing I did notice, though, is that the receiver stays warm, even when turned off, or when in the standby mode, indicating that it is consuming power (probably because the network is still active in the standby mode). So in order to conserve energy, I have it plugged in to a surge protector strip along with my TV, and turn them both off at night.

Summary

I believe you would be hard-pressed to find a better receiver at this price anywhere. It is packed with features that even many higher priced receivers do not have. Whether you like listening to music or watching movies, the TX-NR708 has most everything the home theater owner will ever need--and then some. I highly recommend it and give it a solid 4.5 stars.

I've really been enjoying my 708. It runs cool enough to be fine inside my tv console with the door closed. Another thing I like is it comes with RIHD (disabled by default) which basically means it talks to my Samsung TV that also has RIHD. I can control the AVR volume with my tv remote. The TV automatically turns off it's own speakers and outputs sound to the 708 if the 708 is on. Otherwise, it just uses it's own speakers. Also, if I turn off my tv it automatically turns off the 708 for me.

Networking with Windows 7 was a breeze as well. All I had to do was make sure Windows Media Player allowed the 708 to use it and I was good to go.

Getting internet radio was also easy. I didn't have to do anything special to get it to work. It's nice to be able to listen to net radio without having my computer turned on. vTuner is nice since it has several local stations. I've always loved Pandora and this makes it that much better.

Switching inputs does take a few seconds but that's not really something I care about and wouldn't have really noticed if people hadn't asked about it due to issues with previous Onkyo models.

I use my fat PS3 to watch Blu-Ray movies and they look the same as they did before which is great. It seems to do surround sound just fine through the PS3 as well using Linear PCM. The analog tv signal also looks the same as it did before.

I haven't hooked up my PC through this yet but will get around to it and update my review.

Edit: RIHD has started causing problems. With it enabled I've had times when I would turn on the receiver and get no sound from the speakers. The only things that worked to get sound from the receiver again was to either A)unplug it B) turn off RIHD.

I've also had Pandora lock up the NET/USB input. It would get stuck at 100% buffering. With RIHD on, the only way to get use of the input back was to unplug the receiver and plug it back in. I now have RIHD permanently disable because it's just not worth the hassle.

I've now hooked up my PC through the optical input and it sounds great. The HDMI input is worthless though. My video card outputs to the 16 x 9 resolution my HDTV uses but the 708 is still scaling it to a 16 x 10 ratio which makes the tv cut off some of the top and bottom of the screen. I just went ahead and plugged the computer video back into the tv and only use the 708 for the sound and that works fine.

I won't go into details; I actually have not gone into much of what this receiver can do.

I set this up in one evening with 5 HDMI sources and 1 Component source as well as set up the internet radio, AM/FM radio, DLNA connection to media on a home server, and the automatic tuning. All of this goes to a single HDMI (upconverted) out to a 46" TV. My set up is a 5.1 system at the moment.

I almost had no problems installing the above and have connections to spare. I have not messed with any settings yet (so all is at the 'default' setting) and the sound is amazing. I previously had a Sony entry level receiver (fried by lightning) and had spent hours trying to set that up to get a decent sound; never understood why it was so hard to just turn it on, play a movie, and listen.

The On Screen Display is a God-send, although this also has my one complaint so far, it is weird that it only seems to come on intermittently - can't figure this out, I think it only is available with certain inputs or something? One other small complaint is that the Harmony Remote I have does not have some of the keys mapped correctly and so I am having to program this manually (but this isn't Onkyo's fault).

Anyway, I highly recommend, if this is in your price range (I paid $550), you'll have a ton of connections, lots of features (ie ethernet connectivity and OSD), and the sound is great without much fussing.

The NR-708 was a fairly robust receiver for this price range, and I was very satisfied with its performance, features and functionality overall...until it became unuseable after 4 months. At first it began switching inputs at random. But I was able to simply revert back to my original input choice. Then within a week it all the sudden became completely unresponsive to the remote or to any inputs on the front panel. In fact, it would not even shut off, and the problem could not be resolved by a reset or reboot. The reciever is now completely useless, and unfortunately I am finding several others online reporting the same problem.

February 1, 2010 update: My HR-21 problem appears to have been corrected by a DirecTV software update. Today both DirecTV channel 103 and 106 work through the Onyko TX-NR708 HDMI connection.

I bought this TX-NR708 to replace an excellent performing TX-SR804 to gain the new 3D capability with DirecTV's added 3D offerings. However, it will not pass the DirecTV's 3D HDMI output to my new Panasonic TC-PX65VT25 Plamsa. If I connect the DirecTV receiver directly to the Plasma input it works as advertized. However when I go through the TX-NR708 it produces two side by side frames much like the old stereoptican viewers my Grandmother use to have.

I called Onyko Tech Support to see what I was doing wrong. Unfortunately, the Tech said there is a known problem working with DirecTV 3D receivers. No estimate when a solution will come out. If you are a DirecTV subscriber stay away from this until DirecTv or Onyko finds a fix.

I chose the TX-NR708 because of its video de-interlace and up-scaling features. Who'd have thunk a modern flat panel Samsung PN63C7000 63-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV (Black) would display 480i as 480i? It looked awful! My old PRO-510HD would de-interlace 480i and display it really well. The TX-NR708 certainly resolved my Samsung's 480i issue.

The TX-NR708 can up-scale everything to 1080p - but interestingly not everything looks better at 1080p. I suppose it all depends on the source quality.

The sound is fine and the internet radio features are great. Also, RIHD works, in that my TV can turn on/off the receiver via the HDMI cable.

One issue to watch out for is the PC IN. The max supported input resolution is 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz - and it'll output it through the HDMI output at 1080p supposedly - but I never could get anything from the PC IN to come out anywhere. I did unassign the PC HDMI and PC Component inputs. If someone knows what the secret for routing the analog RGB PC IN signal out the HDMI monitor port please comment.

My TV is 3D capable and using a 3D signal from a Direct TV HR-24 directly to the TV is fine (but shown in 1080i), and the TV's auto detect 3D circuitry works pretty well. But, going through the TX-NR708 does cause an issue where the picture shows as 2 side-by-side images instead of the alternating 3D frames. So, it appears to break the 3D auto detect feature of the TV - not a huge deal because there's a manual setting, but interesting to note.

Would liked to have a switched 120v output from this unit to power my subwoofer.. then it would have been 5 stars.

Its been 5 days now, I hooked this up with Energy Take Classic 5.1, Samsung LN46A850 and PS3 80GB Fat one. As of now, I am ok with 5.1, I think 7.1 is a hype (fact - no place in my apt :( ) and not many movies are with 7.1, but got this receiver just to be future safe.

o The sound is clean and crisp, I was expecting it will be loud.. but good enough for my small apartment.
o Networking - Works clean as expected. Sometimes it says cannot play - may be I didn't wait to initialize fully.
o iPhone,iPod - recognizes iPhone 4 well and plays in extended (on-screen) and standard (iPhone controlled) mode.
- Saves 100$ on that dock thingy.
o Video up-convert is good,didn't test with the 24p blu-ray yet for the the Onkyo infamous stutter,or its compensated by my TV (120Hz).
- will update on this once I test with that.
- 480p Netflix (PS3) looks better after up-convert.
- As per THX standard (from manual), the video should be untouched in the receiver.
o Able to decode DTS and Dolby in receiver very well. (have to disable Linear PCM 5.1 and 7.1 in PS3)
- But my PS3 (FAT ones) cannot send HD Audio format in bit-stream, so have to trust on Sony's decoding for HD Audio formats.
(Another reason for avoiding 7.1 till I get a PS3 slim :D )
o Audyssey setup was good and pretty fast (not like 30 mins as mentioned in manual). After this, able to hear distinct sounds from surround speakers. But still had to increase center channel after this, I needed more dialog sound.
o Sometimes the remote behaves strange, after a remote controller reset, it works fine.
o As everyone says, remote control operation this is a rocket science for my wife.. hope the macros in remote should help here.

Overall I like this receiver and Energy Take classic. Still playing with it...

When I bought the 708 in February, 2011 I read all the reviews and was impressed with the features and price. The reviews at that time gave no hint of what was to come. Almost every review was positive. I installed the receiver and was very pleased with the sound and ease of setup.

However, in early July, 2011 it began scrolling through all the sound options and was impossible to control, either with the remote or on the box itself. The only way I could turn it off was to unplug it. I called Onkyo and they admitted there was a problem with this model and agreed to fix it for free, even sending me the box and packing materials to return it. I sent it back and was without a receiver for over three weeks. I got the receiver back and set it up. It worked for exactly one week and then became uncontrollable again. I immediately went back to the reviews and discovered MANY others had had the same problems, some returning the receiver for repair two or three times. It was now obvious there was a major problem with this model. Rather than going through repeated attempts to fix the thing, I called the seller (Crutchfield). Even though the receiver was well beyond their normal 60-day return policy, they immediately and cheerfully agreed to take it back and give me full credit. Rather than take a chance on Onkyo again, I ordered a Yamaha RX-V671. I just received it and have not yet set it up.

Some thoughts:

The Onkyo 708: Don't buy it!! Based on the number of people who have experienced the same issues as I did, there is clearly a major problem in either the design or manufacture of this model. Perhaps heat was an issue, as throughout its life the receiver did get very hot, despite the fact it was in an open cabinet with plenty of breathing space. This being my first Onkyo product, I can't speak for the name, except to say it seems to have a good reputation. I was tempted to order the 709 as a replacement but, based on my experience with the 708, decided not to do so.

Onkyo customer support: Excellent. The minute I described the problem, the technician gave it a name, acknowledged it was an issue, and put in process the steps necessary to fix it. I was not charged a single penny, including for shipping. I couldn't have asked for more except, of course, to have the thing fixed. As noted above, it worked for one week and then did exactly what it had done the first time. However, I think this is more about inherent problems with this model than it is about customer support.

Crutchfield/Amazon: Both are great. My wife and I have been loyal Amazon shoppers for many years. Most of our online purchases are from Amazon. I ordered this receiver from Crutchfield (at a price higher than Amazon) because a friend suggested I might need their tech support. I did, and it was excellent. But what impressed me even more was their willingness to stand behind the product and take it back for full credit long after their 60-day return policy had expired. Amazon has always had a fine return policy and perhaps would have done the same thing, but I sure appreciated Crutchfield's response. There is one thing that concerns me, however. Many sellers, including Crutchfield, have stopped selling the 708. It is still being sold by Amazon. In fact, just this morning I received a promo email from Amazon offering several Onkyo receivers for sale, including the 708. I would hope Amazon would review the record of this model and stop selling it, thus saving others the problems many have already experienced.

I purchased the TX-NR708 on Jan. 1st, 2011 and now less than 5 months later I'm sending it in to be serviced for a second time (at $30 each time for shipping). The first time was after just 6 weeks when the unit would not power on (just made a clicking sound when attempting to turn it on). This turned out to be a faulty 12 volt relay. Now, as many others have reported, the unit's IR receiver is no longer working.

In each instance, I first called Amazon who referred me to Vann's (the actual retailer) who referred to Onkyo. When I called Onkyo to report the first problem, the tech support representative barely spoke English and was very rude (he actually hung up on me after saying `it was company policy' when I asked why I would be responsible for the shipping charges to send the unit to Onkyo's closet regional service center on a unit that was only a 6 weeks old). However, when reporting the second issue to Onkyo, the representative was at least understandable and much more pleasant. But when I asked how many problems it would take to be classified as a `lemon' he had to transfer me to another representative who told me only after the unit had been serviced for three `known issues'. I asked if any of the two issues I already had would qualified and she didn't know and could only offer that I keep good records of my issues. I guess I'll find out when the next problem arises.

Now, even if the unit didn't have quality issues, there are two features of this product (or lack thereof) that if I had known before I purchased it, I probably would have passed on it:

1. Up-converting of the video signal is done on a global basis, not on an input by input basis. I only wanted the up-converting to be done on my two s-video inputs (Wii and VCR) and not my two HDMI signals (TiVo and Blu-ray). Being able to up-convert my Wii and VCR signals was one of the reasons I purchased this product. But I wanted a straight pass-through signal for my TiVo and Blu-ray HDMI signals.

2. Even when setting the video input signal to pass-through (no up-converting), there is still some video processing going on so that the volume level can be displayed on the TV when changing the AVR's volume. This is nice, but at the expensive of a noticeable degraded video signal. Fortunately, the unit does allow one to completely disable the video processing of the video signal (which disables up-converting as well). But I'm disabling a feature that I'm sure is a good part of the selling price.

To be fair, here is what I like about the unit:

1. Plenty of video inputs and each one has an HDMI, S-Video, and Composite connector.

2. An Ethernet connection, making firmware update fairly easy (though there hasn't been one in over six months).

3. Best sound quality of any AR/AVR I've own before (granted, this is the first time I've used a 5.1 speaker set up and the TR-NX708 is by far the most expensive AVR I've brought).

4. Easy calibration process for the individual speaker volume levels.

5. I am able to use the unit's remote as a universal remote as it controls all my components (TiVo, Blu-Ray, TV) except the Wii (which I don't use anyhow, only the kids do). It even turns off the TiVo unit, which the TiVo's remote doesn't even do (without going deep into its menus).

I've only had the receiver a few days so I'm still in the learning phase. Sounds great, runs cool and has a ton of features for the price. I am, however, fighting an HDMI handshake issue between the Onkyo and my new Samsung HDTV. It takes multiple power cycles of both the Onkyo and the Samsung before the Samsung will finally "see" the Onkyo and connect to it....otherwise, the Samsung displays "searching for signal" then finally "no signal". Neither Samsung nor Onkyo tech support were helpful with this issue. If a factory reset doesn't solve the problem, they're pretty clueless. My research shows this in not an uncommon problem when trying to connect two devices from two different mfgs (Samsung especially) through HDMI . I'm going to try a workaround while I wait for a firmware update to hopefully fix the problem.

Update: Turns out the HDMI problem is with the Samsung. The 708 is working perfectly so far so I'm upgrading it to 5 stars.