Onkyo TX-NR646 7.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver

This is my 5th Onkyo, and it's replacing the one that cost twice the price of this one. I presently have 4 stereo Surround systems in my home. I use everything from Pioneer, Yamaha and Onkyo AVR's. In the 60's growing up my dad was an audiophile, and so am I. In Germany stationed there in the 70's we had a smorgasbord of the best of the best HI Fi equipment on the planet and I got spoiled rotten. I still have some of it. It was all duty free too. Anyway, back to this NR646. It comes in at about 20 lbs. I'm running the full 7.2 system with Polk Audio RTI Series Floor,Polk Center back, Polk 15" sub. Polk RTI back and Klipsch for the ceiling. Setting up the network was very simple, using the remote takes about 5 minutes if you run the HDMI output into your TV. I'm running mine into a 60" Samsung 240mgh 3D. Anyway, just run a network scan and it picks up the network you want to use, input your password, and that's it. You can now stream Spotify, Pandora, so forth. Bluetooth, just hit the BT button on the remote, and connect your device. In my case I'm using my laptop to stream from my music files. Once I ran a BT scan it picked up the receiver in just a minute and out came led Zeppelin. But the difference was really amazing compared to what I had been listening to. And like I said from the start, I hauled out a monster. I can't remember how many times I've had people in my home just for music listening parties as we call them, because my system sounded so good to everyone. And this 646 at half the volume in a 500 sq. ft. room with these speakers, has this room literally shaking, and half my house rumbling. I honestly can not turn this all the way up. Setting this system up seemed simple for me. Maybe because I'm familiar with Onkyo and I've done it all my life. But if you'll just take your time if your new to this, it's really quite simple. Just always remember never turn on the receiver until after you have all the speaker wires plugged in. Your a lot less likely to cause a short. One thing I don't like is not having the front panel AUX inputs, but, there is an HDMI input on the front and plenty of RCA and HDMI inputs on the back, including the Phono input. That's one thing Onkyo does in this price range that Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer aren't doing. And being able to listen to records is still important to me. I still like my music. I want an AVR, but I also want my stereo. That's what this gives you. And you don't break your budget getting it. This is a really good AVR receiver. It really delivers on power and features. But I would encourage anyone buying this, or any other receiver to purchase a warranty or Square trade plan. Electronics of any kind can last for years, or a month. Surges in electricity, faulty wiring, who knows. I have a Pioneer Reel to Reel I bought in Germany 40 years ago, and it still works just fine. I've seen the negative reviews on this. But I know Onkyo. I've owned too much of their equipment and I know they make good stuff. But stuff happens. The most expensive receivers I've owned have been Yamaha's and Onkyo's and a Pioneer. The Yamaha lasted 3 years. And it wasn't as good as this. And neither was the Pioneer I just replaced this one with. If you were sitting where I am right now, and hearing what I am, you'd do one of two things, ask for another beer, or call the police because of the "noise". This is a phenomenal AVR. Don't let a few negative reviews scare you off. This receiver really kicks ass. And for this price, get the extra warranty and cover your backside, then sit back and enjoy all the features and pure sound. Because you will hear things you didn't hear before.. Oh, and use the setup mic for the best results for your speaker settings. Doesn't take long.. And you don't have to HDMI everything either. I add this if your like me and like to have the TV on with music playing in the background. Just run RCA plugs into the appropriate spots on your receiver. Just make your you have the main HDMI out coming from your receiver into one of the positions into your TV, and hopefully you have more than 1 HDMI hook up.. You need that for on screen display for the receiver...

I researched Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer and Marantz before choosing the Onkyo. The features I valued most are multiple HDCP 2.2 ports, Internet connectivity, Dolby Atmos, clear power and an IOS app remote. The TX-NR646 arrived one day late, amazon is going to compensate me, somehow? Anyway, I spent an hour reading the supplied documentation, so I felt confident performing the install and setups. IMO, a lot of frustrations can be avoided if people spent time reading the manuals. The setup was extremely easy utilizing the automatic speaker calibration method. Here on Amazon I read some negative reviews about the HDMI not performing the ARC operations. The default ARC (CEC, RIHD) setting is “off”. Change the setting and it works as it should. I’m using my DTV remote for basic functions utilizing ARC. I have had zero HDMI issues, the HDCP 2.2 ports work perfectly. I have a DTV mini 4K on one port and an 4K Amazon Fire TV on the other. The third 4K port may be used for a future 4K Blu-ray player. Not sure if a Blu-ray is necessary because I stream 90% of the time. I also have an Xbox one connected to the game port. Switching between ports is fast and without error. This unit replaced a Sony STRDH550, advertised as 4K, but the Sony didn’t have HDCP 2.2, so no 4K. I liked everything about the Sony, but I returned it due to the HDCP non-compliance. However, The Onkyo blows away the Sony in every way especially the power, this receiver has a ton of power with great precision. It is Loud & Clear; my neighbors can attest to this. Also 7.1 with, DTX:X Dolby Atmos is awesome. The features that the Onkyo comes with are very impressive. Too numerous to list here. I love experimenting with listening modes. Just when you think you have the best sound you find another setting that’s even better. One of my favorite features is the Onkyo IOS/Android App, I have tried both versions and I’m happy using the app, over the supplied remote. I have also read about people complaining about internet connectivity, again I have had no problems whatsoever, the unit connected in seconds. I promptly performed an easy firmware update. I have not tested the Bluetooth feature because it's not important to me. Just for your info, my system includes a Vizio M70-D3 display, this new Onkyo, Left, Right and Center are Bose speakers. I'm running the system at 7.1, including a 12” M&K powered sub-woofer, 8” 2-way, in-wall and ceiling speakers. In Conclusion for $399.00, you can’t find a better receiver/amp. I’m super happy with my purchase, time will tell if it’s reliable. Yes, I’d recommend this to a friend. UPDATE 8.17.16 Having issues with audio cutting in & out while using DTV 4K channels. I contacted DTV, its their issue the Onkyo is not the problem.

My first ever receiver purchase. So didn't know what to expect. I am the type that reads up a lot of reviews before buying anything & I had my eye on the best seller TX-NR636. But then the NR646 was released with the promise of future DTS:X & I just bought it without thinking further. And to tell the truth I am really pleased with my purchase. Setup is easy. Connected the speakers, switched on, The Initial setup is simple & doesn't take much time. As I mentioned, this is my first home theater setup & I am slowly buying speakers as they become cheaper during deals. Current setup is 2xPioneer FS52's & 1xPioneer CS22 center channel. (With the final target of setting up a 5.1.2 eventually). Currently I have connected chromecast & STB to the receiver & had no issues with both. The sound is crystal clear with the right amount of bass. From the display side, the OSD & menu's are minimal. And also the cover art while playing Pandora is really pixelated. All in all I am happy with my purchase. Will update as I add more speakers & watch more movies. I have found couple of issues with this receiver. Just listing down so that people are forewarned before making the jump. 1) I am not able to setup ARC(Audio Return Channel) with my E series Vizio. Called both customer care & each blamed the other. So left it at that. Anyway I don't have any complaints with the sound through optical cable. 2) I have a Chromecast & I recently bought a Roku3 that is connected to the receiver. Audio & video is fine but after I switch off my tv & receiver, the receiver automatically switches on after about 2-3 minutes & starts playing whatever I was playing before. I need to turn off once again for it to stay off. So every time I am finished watching TV, I need to wait around for the receiver to auto switch on. That is a real nuisance. Customer care asked me to switch off CEC & with that it fixes the issue. But since I really need CEC I am tolerating the issue. 3) Wifi issues. Sometimes my internet goes down due to some issue with my internet provider. But after that happens, the receiver fails to detect my Wifi connection. On scanning, it fails to list any of the multiple wifi names (SSID) available. All my other devices remain connected without any issues. Finally I had to connect the receiver by LAN & disable DHCP to make it stay connected.

I love the performance of this receiver, however there's still some room for improvement. I have it hooked up in between an HTPC and a TV it's also got a cable box hooked up to it as well via HDMI. If I leave on my PC and my TV after a while the receiver turns it self off. When I power back on the receiver it sometimes says No Input even while the Windows Destop or lock screen is visible. In this state sometimes the icons in the system tray are not in a straight line. All I do is press the power button on the remote, then power it back up again and the No Input disappears and the desktop icons look as they should again. When the No Input appears on the screen it's in a small box and the resolution receivers notification pop up is also appears smaller than normal. Sometimes when I turn it on the resolution of the screen appears incorrect and I can see black bars on either side of the desktop. Powering the receiver off and on fixes this as well. If this can be resolved, I'd be happy to upgrade my review to 5 stars. On another note, in order for me to get proper performance out of my speakers in conjunction with my subwoofer, I had to turn on Phase Matching Bass. The Auto-Calibration set my subwoofer much too high as well so movies were over boomy and music was kinda distorted. I lowered the sub manually from the +2 which the receiver had set to about -7 and everything sounds balanced and beautiful! Update: 26/12/2015 I got an LG 4K TV and this receiver seems to have trouble switching back and forth between video modes - especially between 3840 x 2160 @60p and anything else. I get some coloured snow after I log into my desktop. A switch of inputs on the remote or a power cycle and it shows up. I launch a game at 3840 x 2160 and I get the same coloured snow until I switch the input to something else and back. Something is amiss here. Hope it can be addressed via a firmware update. I tried switching the input on the remote before I launched a 3840 x 2160 game, then launched the game blindly, waited a few seconds then switched back to the HDMI input my PC is connected to and got no coloured snow. On exiting the game without switching inputs I get the coloured snow instead of the desktop. I then repeated the same steps but switched the input before exiting the game, pressed enter to exit, waited a few seconds to give it time to get back to the desktop, then switched the input back to my PC's input and voila! No coloured snow! While I'm glad I found a workaround. This is unacceptable. Onkyo, fix this please. Maybe you need to adjust the timing or add some kind or delay or adjust something when the receiver is changing video modes. Update: 13/01/2016 Just adding that during video mode or resolution switches to 3840x2160 or when switching from 3840x2160 @ 60Hz to 3840x2160 @ 23Hz for example. I sometimes get a black screen followed by the Receiver displaying "Resolution Error" and the TV displaying "No Input" or "Invalid Input". In windows when this happens, the video mode would automatically revert because Yes wasn't clicked to keep using that resolution. If I try to set the mode again at this point, it works most of the time. Also, If the TV displays the Black Screen and the Receiver Displays "Resolution Error" and I switch either the Input on the receiver to something else, then switch back to PC or turn the receiver off then back on again, before the 15 second Windows resolution change timeout. It would usually display the correct screen at the new resolution and all I would have to do is click Yes to keep using this resolution. Update: 07/07/2018 My unit failed yesterday. I now get no sound at all and the receiver keeps freezing at 70% during DSP write then it shows Error 1-83!. I paid a lot of money for this receiver and it hasn't even lasted a whole 3 years!! I'm downgrading my rating to 1 star because of this known, widespread defect. Buyer beware!!

I have held off on writing a review of this receiver for a bit as I really wanted to have it for a while and use it in real world scenarios. So, here goes: I love the receiver! To my ear, it produces great, continuous power delivering great sound! This product was a big upgrade for me as it replaced a 15 year old Yamaha 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS receiver. As you can imagine, that receiver didn't even function as a Video receiver. It was pretty much audio only with mainly Optics for Digital sound. Although I was very happy with the quality and longevity of this brand, I didn't really find another currentYamaha receiver in my price range that had everything I wanted. I review purchases like this very carefully and read a ton of reviews. Quite honestly, I had never really known much about Onkyo. This particular receiver in its price/feature range actually ranks very high amongst many reputable reviewers out there. Of particular interest to me was the fact many stated that other competitors had a hard time competing with this receiver due to the amount of technology/features packed into this unit while maintaining a similar quality of sound. That caught my immediate attention! Also, I have found many of the reviewers on Amazon here to be extremely helpful too! Some of the guys here are very nice, knowledgeable, and helpful! At any rate, I am no audiophile, but I am extremely happy with my purchase and the quality of this particular unit. As I said, this was a big upgrade for me providing many current technological bells and whistles not to mention the newer audio formats. I love all the connections. I am currently running a 7.1 configuration. I hear all the speaker sounds distinctly with plenty of power for my uses. I have tried Dolby Digital Atmos. It sounds great! I recently installed the firmware update for DTS:X but have not tried it yet. I really don't have any complaints. I don't mind the software OS as some others and even reviewers complain about. I do think the remote control it comes with is outdated. I do agree with that complaint; however, I have a more expensive programmable universal remote I use so I rarely have the need to even pick up the remote it came with. Bottom line: I am very satisfied with this Onkyo receiver!

This is my second or third Onyko avr and was somewhat hesitant to pull the trigger on the 646 after reading quite a few bad reviews. Never had any problems with my 605 as it still works great, zone 2 and everything else! Needed 4K and Bluetooth and all the other goodies the 646 provides. Set it up with zone 2 speakers on the porch which run off the Onyko Dock I used with the last unit, works perfect, also hooked up a front set of height speakers for Dolby Atmos DVDs and the 5.1.2 setup sounds awesome! I ran this 646 the past few days day and night, unit stays cool and runs without a glitch. I updated the latest firmware. Still no update for the Dts:x which is the reason I only gave 4 stars. I will update this review if anything goes wrong in the next month or two. This avr is a bargain and I'm loving it! **update** not even 5 days gone by and the audio is muting as I flip channels, must change source for the sound to return. Will try one more week before I send this paperweight back! Down to three stars and still no Dts x update...emailed Onyko support yesterday and received a very timely response but was told there's no fix for the audio delay problem. I switched the HDMI cable from the AVR to the DVr with a new one to no avail...I really like this unit and hate to send it back only to get another lemon! Update...2 months old and sound still cutting out when switching tv channels,even tried usung optical cable for tv sound..,no change. Drop one star...still no DTS x. UPDATE....end of summer and still no dts sound update! Relays still kick on and off when switching channels, all outputs set to DIRECT to no avail. Wish I had bought a Denon! Never again Onker!

Heavy duty and nice unit, but felt like this receivers confusing menu interface was dated from early 2000's, it was extremely difficult to use (and I'm very tech savvy) I purchased this unit because I needed the dual HDMI outputs for projector and TV. I got it it work well, but it took way too long, instructions really didn't help much. The remote is like a rubix cube trying to just switch inputs was so difficult, then switching outputs was another astronaut job! I hated this, and felt the Onkyo was so primitive. It did provide good power for my Monoprice speakers, the bass was outstanding. Sounded superb.

Edit 28-AUG-2020: I made an incorrect statement below. Would you believe that after 2 years I discovered this unit does indeed have HDMI pass-through? You can choose to pass-through a specific input when the unit is "off", or just pass-through the last used input. This feature is off by default, but it's there! Finding that feature after a couple of years was like an early Christmas present. Lesson learned: go through ALL the menus when you get a new receiver! Original Review: There is a lot to love about this receiver! It has all the features you’d expect, setup is easy, the on-screen display works well, the remote app (I’m using it on Android) actually works (Unlike some other receiver remote apps… I’m looking at you, Marantz), it has a phono pre-amp (!!!!), a second audio zone, is a great price, and is just a great all-around receiver for home theatre and hifi audio use. I will also say here that I used to have my LaserDisc player connected to my modern Samsung TV via a DVDO upscaling unit, as this was the only way I could make the LaserDisc output look acceptable on a modern TV. I’ve done away with the DVDO unit now because this receiver converts analog to digital video extremely well. My Laser discs have never looked so good, actually! Huge points for this one, Onkyo! Also, huge points for having a built-in phono pre-amp. This is hard to find on home theatre receivers these days and to find one on a unit in this price-range is refreshing! All that being said, I can’t leave a review of this unit without discussing some of the annoyances and quirks. As stated, this is a great receiver, but there are a few things that I wish worked differently. HDMI HANDSHAKING: This may just be a problem with TiVo, but when I switch the receiver to the hdmi input dedicated to my Tivo Bolt, sometimes (about 10% of attempts in my completely unscientific calculation) it just doesn’t work. Switching the input away from TiVo and back to it doesn’t fix it… I have to power-cycle both the Samsung TV and the receiver to get it to work. It always works when I do this, but I don’t know what the issue is that requires this tap dance in the first the place. The problem did not occur when running my Tivo Bolt through my Yamaha or Marantz receivers to the same TV. This isn’t a huge problem as there is a simple remedy, but it’s annoying when it happens. Of course, I can’t say for sure this is a problem with the receiver itself… it could be something with my set-up. ZONE 2 AUDIO: As far as I can tell, you can only send analog audio sources out the zone 2 line outs. This is disappointing. Considering this receiver is quite capable of converting analog video to digital video, why doesn’t it work with just audio as well? So if you’re playing an HDMI source, for example, you get nothing out of the Zone 2 line outs. Perhaps there is a way to make this work that I just haven’t found yet, but if so its buried in menus somewhere. I didn’t find anything relating to it in the normal on-screen setup menus. NO PASS-THROUGH HDMI WHEN THE RECEIVER IS IN STANDBY MODE: Onkyo certainly doesn’t claim that this unit has that feature. I’m just mentioning it here because it’s a nice feature to have (my Marantz does this). This lets you watch an HDMI source while the receiver is off, and just use the TV speakers. I wish it did this… but again not a deal-breaker. NO LINE OUT/RECORD OUT AUDIO: That’s right… hooking up any kind of tape deck to this thing is going to be particularly problematic because there are no REC OUT or LINE OUT audio jacks except for the single ZONE 2 analog line out. I am using the ZONE 2 out with a stand-alone switchbox to get around this shortcoming, but that’s a bit of a kludgy solution. LACK OF INPUT SELECTIONS: This one is a little hard to describe, because when you look at a picture of this device it has a ton of inputs. The issue here is it has way more physical inputs than logical input selections. For example, one single input selection (let’s say “CD”) can have up to 3 physical inputs connected to it: Analog audio, Digital Audio, and HDMI. To connect all my equipment, I had to double and triple things up this way, and then set the input names to reflect all the devices on that logical input selection. So, for example, I have one input named “MDD/DCC/Bray” – and entering these names is sort of tedious in itself. Which one actually comes through the speakers depends on the priority setting and which devices you have powered on and that are sending a signal. It gets confusing, trust me! TOO FEW DIGITAL AUDIO INPUTS: There are only 3. So I had to forego connecting certain items digitally and use plain old-fashioned analog instead. 4 or 5 digital audio inputs would be a more acceptable number. All of these are minor issues, however. I would definitely recommend this unit to anyone who’s looking to put a home theatre system together and doesn’t want to spend a fortune. The addition of analog video inputs, the phono pre-amp, and the plethora of audio inputs makes this ideal for folks with older gear as well. Bravo Onkyo… good stuff here!