[sheriffwoody]

They seem very reasonable there.
My brother got the deal of the decade from those guys with the 616.

[JagoPlasma]

Originally Posted by Starry

exceptional-av.co.uk
i had ordered a 609 and they took my order but then emailed me to say there was no stoke left.
They offered me the 616 instead for £479. i just checked my email and it is £479 not £469.
There on the site at £599 though.

Thanks. Tempting but I think I'd rather take the risk at amazon.de if I could understand a word on it!

[sheriffwoody]

i just looked on amazon.de and they were about 460euros?

[JagoPlasma]

Originally Posted by tailwhip2000

i just looked on amazon.de and they were about 460euros?

€473 = £375

[PigeonLoft]

Originally Posted by JagoPlasma

Thanks. Tempting but I think I'd rather take the risk at amazon.de if I could understand a word on it!

Use Google Translate.

I'm tempted too. I'd be willing to risk the warranty situation, but surely any warranty within the EU is Europe wide anyway?

The power isn't a problem, if you change the plug. Is the power lead a plug in (to the amp) meaning change the lead, or permanent (meaning change the plug)?

Presumably on set-up, you can choose English as the language?

Can't think of any other problems, can anyone else?

What about firmware updates, are they pan European?

I can feel a waggle of the plastic coming on...

[ajbaker]

Originally Posted by PigeonLoft

The power isn't a problem, if you change the plug. Is the power lead a plug in (to the amp) meaning change the lead, or permanent (meaning change the plug)?

Looking at the manuals for the Onkyo amps, it appears to be hard wired cable, so it is a case of changing the plug on the cable. I'm guessing this will void the warranty.

Or use an adapter?

[JagoPlasma]

Originally Posted by ajbaker

Looking at the manuals for the Onkyo amps, it appears to be hard wired cable, so it is a case of changing the plug on the cable. I'm guessing this will void the warranty.

Or use an adapter?

Could use an adaptor but don't use a shaving adaptor as the fuse will blow

Edit: actually if you are lucky it may have a euro plug/uk plug adaptor like most electronics do now

(I know I have a spare from a black and decker drill)

[Starry]

Installed my 616 today and it sounds good as far as I can tell,
Had to keep the volume down as the kids were in bed.
One problem I'm having is that it won't let me input the codes
For control of tv/cable ect. It goes through the motions and tells me
What code to input but doesn't seem to except it, ie can't see it
Come up on the tv when taping it in.
Anyone got this to work? Cheers

[steverobertsbbc]

It doesn't display on the TV when you're programming the remote.

[Starry]

I see, the amp displays the code without me outing it in
Also once I've entered it the remote flashes twice wich means
It's complete. Just to check, how do I tell the remote that I want
To change cable channel? Thanks..

[Mike999]

Originally Posted by -mo-

Thanks Mike999, good luck and let us know how you get on. .......

Maurice

OK, it's a month since I applied the 1110-8106-0300 firmware, and I said I would post my experience with whether it had fixed the HDMI problem for me. It seems to have done so. Since I applied it, I've never had a problem with lack of monitor out video in any normal use. Mainly I use my Logitech Harmony to perform all the activity 'keypresses' each day for viewing, listening etc to various sources. But I've also used the Onkyo's own remote occasionally, and tested the sequence of actions that last produced the problem - it now doesnt. So for me - at least - the amp is working fine. Of course, if the amp only had the ability to save/export the config so I could list the settings I'm using, I could post them here. But it doesn't. Of course it would also have been more than useful when the amp wipes your settings during some firmware updates I have network standby set to 'On' by the way, and always have had. Anyone interested in other config settings, feel free to ask, for comparison with your own if you're still getting a problem. May still make no difference, of course, if the real problem is one of hardware tolerances on the HDMI board!

[fuzzballjunior]

I recently purchased the 616 from Amazon.de for an excellent price and am using an adaptor for the plug which works fine. I immediately applied the firmware update (0300) which seemed to go well. However, I am unable to stream apple lossless, video or photos over my Logitech server network. I understood that the latest firmware allowed for apple lossless to be played, so am I missing something? My video and photo folders have a red cross through them. I also lost the picture but had sound for a brief moment yesterday. I hope this isn't indicative of another problem. I'd appreciate some help to sort this out. Thanks.

[fuzzballjunior]

I've now discovered that the apple lossless files can play through the USB (F) without any problem. I also noticed that when I tried to play a file from the DLNA selection it wouldn't play but when I returned to the NET selection menu and scrolled over v-tuner, the song began to play. Very strange! I now realise that my server does not allow video to be played. I'll have to rely on my Apple Tv to do that. I'm guessing there is a simple solution here as the files can obviously be played. I just can't figure out how.

[Starry]

i cant get my 616 remote to pair with my ps3, any ideas?
thanks

[PigeonLoft]

Originally Posted by fuzzballjunior

I recently purchased the 616 from Amazon.de for an excellent price and am using an adaptor for the plug which works fine. I immediately applied the firmware update (0300) which seemed to go well. However, I am unable to stream apple lossless, video or photos over my Logitech server network. I understood that the latest firmware allowed for apple lossless to be played, so am I missing something? My video and photo folders have a red cross through them. I also lost the picture but had sound for a brief moment yesterday. I hope this isn't indicative of another problem. I'd appreciate some help to sort this out. Thanks.

I'm sorry I can't help you with your Apple problems, I have little experience of those formats. But you might be able to answer a few questions I have before diving in and buying from 'de' as you did.

I see the price as about £375 at the moment. Were there any carriage charges? If so how much (in pounds)?
How long did it take to arrive?
You say you upgraded the firmware, did you have any problem selecting which one to use?
Are the decals on the unit's front and remote control in English?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

[steverobertsbbc]

Originally Posted by Starry

i cant get my 616 remote to pair with my ps3, any ideas?
thanks

You won't be able to. The PS3 uses Bluetooth for remote, not infra-red.

[norcis]

I wonder is it worth having front height speakers? What are the benefits? I have 2xBX1 (back) in7.1 set-up, but I lack spacing at the back of the room and I'm considering selling those and staying with 5.1. Btw I'm very satisfied with MA BX series speakers!

Originally Posted by hydrasworld

Got mine on the weekend. Seems OK so far.

Points i note:

1) a bit slow from power-up to playing back from the net or usb
2) unable to turn of the damn white light behing the giant volume control know. most annoying for movies.
3) sounds just like my old TX-SR608
4) 4x less speaker posts than the TX-SR608
5) a new firmware was available, couldn't find a changelog though.
6) the android app works well. I could play musing stored on my phone via wifi and could use it to play flac and mp3 files stored on a 1TB NTFS formatted portable hard disk attached to the rear of the amp
7) there IS option for scrobbling tracks via last fm on the amp's menus (in the last-fm net app) but when playing back MP3 or FLAC files from a USB HDD the tracks are not scrobbled. (Very disappointing!)
8) the design of the unit means it won't collect as much dust.
9) it gets hotter than my old 608.
10) it smells very strongly of new electronics right now. I'm hoping the smell will go after a few more days.
11) looking though the vents on the top of the unit it is *very* similar in PCB layout and internal design to the 608.
12) finding the option to set the speakers to Front HIGH instead of surround back took me quite a while. I had to scroll down on one menu to find them which wasn't that obvious when looking at the tv screen.

I'm using it to drive 2x Monitor Audio BX6's, 2x BX2's (front height), 2x BXFX and a BX center and sub from the BX 5.1 package. It sounds awesome. Highly recommended combination IMHO. See my other posts for more info on my speaker thoughts.

If anyone has any questions please ask and I can try and answer.

[Starry]

how do i get my samsung to turn my 616 on and off? or is it not poss?

[fuzzballjunior]

Originally Posted by PigeonLoft

I'm sorry I can't help you with your Apple problems, I have little experience of those formats. But you might be able to answer a few questions I have before diving in and buying from 'de' as you did.

I see the price as about £375 at the moment. Were there any carriage charges? If so how much (in pounds)?
How long did it take to arrive?
You say you upgraded the firmware, did you have any problem selecting which one to use?
Are the decals on the unit's front and remote control in English?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Carriage was under £20 and it was delivered within 3 days, so excellent.

The firmware was easy to install. However, once you set it in motion it firstly reverts the machine to factory reset but this isn't clear from the TV screen info. It then asks you to install the latest update (which you think you've just done) so You just do it again and that's it.

All info is in English on decals, along with manual etc. Only the plug is euro. I just use an adaptor and it's fine.

I've still no clue why mine won't play Apple lossless files via the network. Can someone please help? I purposely converted all my Aiff files to Apple lossless so that they would play. It's very frustrating.

[Tony_T]

Originally Posted by norcis

I wonder is it worth having front height speakers? What are the benefits? I have 2xBX1 (back) in7.1 set-up, but I lack spacing at the back of the room and I'm considering selling those and staying with 5.1. Btw I'm very satisfied with MA BX series speakers!

I'm using a BR setup: BR6's, BR-LCR, BRW10 and 4 x BRFX.
My sofa is against the back wall but I decided to stick with the conventional 7.1 setup with side and rear surrounds. Sounds good to me...

[Tony_T]

Here is a summary of my current issues with this amp:

1. Hybrid Standby

Hybrid standby for HDMI thru does not function correctly.
When 7-2 HDMI through is on (set to CBL/SAT), the function works fine initially in that the Freesat PVR signal is routed through when the amp is switched off.
When the TV/Freesat is switched on the following day, the TV displays the message ‘No Signal’ for the HDMI input.

Experiment:
Turn TV, Amp & Freesat off.
Leave for 5 mins, turn on TV, then turn on Freesat.
Initially, ‘No Signal’ is displayed then as Freesat initialises Humax flash screen is shown followed by TV picture. It looks like this problem only occurs after an extended period.

My initial solution was to reset the amp, I then used the ‘unplug’ method which at least avoided losing my speaker settings. More recently, I’ve resolved the issue by navigating the setup menu using the amp display.

2. A/V Sync

Difficulty in getting 4-3 A/V Sync function to operate.

When 7-2 Audio TV Out is set ‘On’ there is an echo when both TV and Main speakers are operating due to the delay in the main speakers.
4-3 is greyed out making it difficult to sync the sound audibly.

Turning the Audio TV out off then back on seems to fix it.

Indecently, I don’t understand why there should be sound sync issues. I never had a sync problem with my old amp where the sound was processed via optical.

3. Audio TV Out

Using the BD/DVD input connected to a Samsung BD-E5500 Blu-ray player with 7-2 Audio TV Out set to ‘Off’, hitting the ‘Display’ button on the remote displays the following information for the Cars 2 Blu ray:

DTS-ES Matrix

[Audio] BD/DVD
Input: HDMI 1
DTS-ES Matrix 48kHz
6.1 ch
Output: DTS-ES Matrix
7.1 ch

On Chapter 7: Party for example, the background music can clearly be heard from the rear speakers.

By turning the Audio TV Out to ‘On’ the following is displayed:

<TV Speaker>

[Audio] BD/DVD
Input: HDMI 1
PCM 48kHz
2.0 ch
Output: TV Speaker

I would have expected the sound to be fed through to the TV with the sound via the amp to be decoded properly. However, this is not the case. The amp only appears to be producing 2 channel sound. Using the above example there is a clear difference with no sound from the rear speakers.

For my setup (Freesat, Blu-Ray, PS3 & Xbox all connected to the amp via HDMI and 7-2 HDMI Through set up for the Freesat) the main side effect of this is that you cannot play the PS3 or Xbox via the TV speakers as this setting will affect the sound processing for the blu-ray player.
The Freesat is not really affected as the sound is fed to the TV when the amp is in hybrid standby (when it’s working – see above).

4. Audio Return Channel

On the 7-2 HDMI screen, the Audio Return Channel option is greyed out.
Looks like I might need to have a swap around of HDMI leads to see if it makes any difference.

[Tony_T]

Ummmm...

After swapping HDMI leads unsuccessfully (I have 1 new '3D' lead, the rest are old) I decided to look at the sound settings on the TV.

There was an ARC option which was switched off.

Looking at page 16 of the PDF instructions it looks like I've found the solution.
Turning the HDMI Control on sets the HDMI Through, Audio TV Out and ARC to auto.

Initial testing seems to indicate that all my problems mentioned above in 1,3 & 4 might be solved.

It'll be interesting to see if it all still works tomorrow....

[Grahamriches57]

I bought the 616 early in June as I wanted to upgrade from S-video to HDMI after 7 years. The installers of my original system set it up for me using HDMI balloons over Cat5 cable under the floor. Everything was fine for a couple of days. Then I could not get a picture. The installers came back and the picture came up straight away. The next day no picture again, so they came back and replaced the barons and everything was OK again except for a couple of intermittent problems.
We then went away for a month. When we came back there was no picture again. Te installers came back and have now gone away to get some technical information as they think it might be a 'handshake issue' between the Onkyo and the Pioneer plasma I bought in 2005. Pioneer do not make plasma's anymore so that might be an issue.
At the moment, the installers have plugged the balon directly into Sky and that works so my wife can at least watch TV. That works fine as does the Blue ray and the hard disc DVD player.
So it is an issue between the Onkyo and the Plasma. The installers think it might be a problem that the Plasma only attempts one handshake. However, as the plasma seems to work with everything else, I am wondering if it is the Onkyo. The installers did the latest update on it on Monday.
Can anybody help!
Many thanks Graham

[billytkid]

Hi all,

I'm quite tempted to buy this amp (despite the issues) however I've got two quick questions I hope you can help me with:

1. I've got a 6.1 speaker setup - can I keep my speakers like this (hopefully so as they're all plastered into my front room walls!)

2. My amp is kept in my basement so everything is controlled via IR - does the OSD allow all settings to be changed? (currently I have to keep going up and down stairs when playing with the settings on my old and breadking sony amp)

thx

Will

[Morganwg]

Originally Posted by Starry

i cant get my 616 remote to pair with my ps3, any ideas?
thanks

It can be done, I use my onkyo 809 remote to control my ps3. I think it depends on how new your tv is and what level of hdavi control it has got, mine is 2yrs old, panasonic v20, there is a setting in one of the tv menu's for hdmi control or whatever the brand of tv calls it, this would need to be switched on, as well as hdmi control on the ps3. Firstly the tv remote should be able to control the ps3, then you can get the onkyo remote to learn the commands from the tv remote, thats how I did it, so I can use the onkyo remote to play music, start games and navigate the xmb on the ps3. You will have to look at the onkyo instructions for how to do this, but it is quite easy. Let me know how you get on and if you need any help.

[Starry]

Originally Posted by Morganwg

It can be done, I use my onkyo 809 remote to control my ps3. I think it depends on how new your tv is and what level of hdavi control it has got, mine is 2yrs old, panasonic v20, there is a setting in one of the tv menu's for hdmi control or whatever the brand of tv calls it, this would need to be switched on, as well as hdmi control on the ps3. Firstly the tv remote should be able to control the ps3, then you can get the onkyo remote to learn the commands from the tv remote, thats how I did it, so I can use the onkyo remote to play music, start games and navigate the xmb on the ps3. You will have to look at the onkyo instructions for how to do this, but it is quite easy. Let me know how you get on and if you need any help.

thats good news and explained in terms i understand ill try it later and let you know how it goes... thanks

[Timd78]

Well I bought mine from amazon Germany and it went perfectly. Arrived in 2 days and apart from the plug which I used an adaptor on is identical to the uk model. It even defaults to english.

If it goes Wrong I will just send it to germany. Hopefully that wont happen.

[Starry]

what does thx ref mean on the on screen volume @82?
thanks

[Nobbler]

Just a word to you guys that have bought from Germany...the warranty is not valid in this country. If kt goes wrong, you'll need to produce a bill of sale for warranty repairs. Genserve will not fix it...well they will but you'll have to pay for it.
You can however get it fixed under warranty by sending it to Germany at your own cost.

[PigeonLoft]

Well I dived in, mine arrived from Germany three days later and after adding an adaptor, I'm delighted with it. Hopefully nothing will go wrong with it (I've been lucky with my Onkyo's so far), but if it did, I've saved so much over purchasing one from the UK, that I could fly it to Germany first class, and put it up in a hotel with an en-suite sauna!

Seriously, Onkyo need to look at this, they seem to be taking the mick out of their UK customers. I hope my next Onkyo purchase (I'm sure there'll be more) is from the UK, but I'll be looking elsewhere too. We're used to paying a bit more in the UK, but £210? Ridiculous...