Onkyo TX-NR686 (1 Viewer)

[Jim517]

Does anyone own this receiver ? Have you been happy with it ?

I'm thinking of buying one for our family room setup.

Thanks.

 

[Jim517]

I guess no one owns it

 

[filper]

I have the 585. I am very happy with it. Plenty of power for my needs. Easy set up. Phono input and Dolby Atmos to boot. I managed to get it for under $300 USD equivalent.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. I'm considering the Onkyo 686, which is $249 now, and the Denon AVR1000H for $299.

Does anyone have an opinion about these 2 ? Is either one for "4k ready " ?

 

[morasp]

https://www.cnet.com/reviews/onkyo-tx-nr696-review/

TheNR696 was the choice of c/net.

 

[Jim517]

I have the 585. I am very happy with it. Plenty of power for my needs. Easy set up. Phono input and Dolby Atmos to boot. I managed to get it for under $300 USD equivalent.

I don't know if the setup is the same as yours, but I have a question. I renamed HDMI 1, but I can't figure out how to get to HDMI 2, to re-name it. The manual and onscreen menu doesn't say. Any idea ?

Thanks.

 

[morasp]

I have the SR494 ( 2019 model) which sounds very nice. The Denon X1500H arrives tomorrow for comparison.

 

[filper]

I don't know if the setup is the same as yours, but I have a question. I renamed HDMI 1, but I can't figure out how to get to HDMI 2, to re-name it. The manual and onscreen menu doesn't say. Any idea ?

Thanks.

Sorry, no.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. After the audio calibration was run, I don't see anywhere that shows if the speakers were set to small or large. Am I missing it ?

 

[filper]

I do not recall how the Onkyo did the set up, but the manual is quite comprehensive.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. I will check it again.

 

[filper]

On the 585 there is no small/large setting. You need to manually tell the receiver the lowest frequency that the individual speakers can handle. I set mine to 10Hz above the speaker specs (50hz for my make).

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. I'm confused about the "LPF of LFE" setting. Is that normally set the same as my speaker crossover setting ?

 

[filper]

That you may want to experiment with that. I would say leave it at the default of 120. I am not a pro. I think it is designed to prevent doubling up on the lower frequency outputs between the main, surround and the subwoofer. I am sure there are reams of chatter on the net about it.

 

[JohnRice]

Thanks. I'm confused about the "LPF of LFE" setting. Is that normally set the same as my speaker crossover setting ?

Generally you want to leave the LFE at the default. Typically that reduces the range of the LFE channel.

As far as the LPF, I'll give my suggestion, which nobody wants to follow. One of the major purposes of a subwoofer is not just to reproduce frequencies the main speakers can't, but also to remove the low extreme frequencies that are at the low end of their capability. This improves their performance, and reduces the power demand on the receiver. I usually start, at the minimum, with double the -3dB spec on the main speakers. Often, you actually want it higher than that. There are a lot of variables, but most likely your subwoofer is far better at reproducing 60Hz than your speakers are, so you might as well pass it off to them.

In my main HT, my speakers (very large, full range speakers) are flat to 35Hz, and I set the crossover for movies at 85Hz. In my living room system, the speakers are flat to about 50Hz, and I eventually set the crossover to 125Hz. Originally it was at 100Hz, but that bump to 125Hz really cleaned up demanding movie passages. At 100Hz, there was a muddiness in the crossover area, but moving it to 125Hz totally cleaned it up.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks guys. The auto calibration set the speakers to 50 hz. and the LPF at the default of 120 hz. It doesn't make sense having such a large gap, does it ? I changed both to 100 hz. for now. If I leave the speakers at 100 hz, should sub be set to 120 hz ?

Speakers - Sony Core bookshelf, down to 53 hz.

Sub - Dayton 12 "

 

[JohnRice]

It's not an issue of a gap between the two. The LFE channel is, by default, up to 120Hz, so it should usually be left at that.

The sub itself should ideally not use a crossover, which means using the LFE input or a bypass setting, if it has one. If it doesn't, then you want to set the crossover on the subwoofer to the highest setting. The receiver is controlling the crossover, so the subwoofer should not also be controlling it, which results in something called "cascading crossovers" which is bad. Most subwoofers either have a LFE input and/or a crossover "bypass" setting, which turns off it's own crossover and leaves it to the receiver.

Otherwise, I suggest keeping the speaker crossover at 100Hz.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. On the back of sub, I have the crossover turned all the way up. You're suggesting I leave the LPF set to the receiver's default of 120 hz. correct ? Then the speaker's crossover should be set to 100 hz. or 120 hz. ?

 

[Jim517]

Mistake

 

[filper]

Thanks. On the back of sub, I have the crossover turned all the way up. You're suggesting I leave the LPF set to the receiver's default of 120 hz. correct ? Then the speaker's crossover should be set to 100 hz. or 120 hz. ?

The sub and LPF settings should be good. I have my speaker crossover settings lower at 50Hz as I listen to quite a lot of multichannel music on SA-CD and DVD-Audio. For movies John's suggestion of 100Hz is fine given the speakers you have. If you wish to have more localized sound for anything below 100Hz then lower the speaker crossover settings to no less than 70Hz for your Sony speakers. Again, I am not a pro.

Experiment. Determine what sounds best for you.