Oh no, not another audio format. Does this mean we have to buy new receivers or preamps? No worries, Onkyo has you covered with the new TX-NR1009, the first home theater receiver with DTS Neo:X.
What’s DTS Neo:X? I had to look it up too. It’s an 11.1 surround format that produces“a semi-spherical sound field using an 11.1 speaker configuration adding height/wide speakers to create a natural, immersive, spacious and lifelike 3D surround soundscape,” says the DTS website. BTW—the technology’s signature sound was unveiled earlier this year at NAB and was created with milk, lentils and water balloons.
Aside from offering the new 11.1 channel processing, the Onkyo TX-NR1009 packs in THX Select2 Plus, Marvell Qdeo and IDT’s HQV Vida video upscaling, Audyssey’s MultEQ XT audio room correction, and a host of streaming media services such as Pandora, Slacker and vTuner.
Not for the Soundbar Crowd
There are a ton of ways to configure all the speaker and zone options of this system. For home theater enthusiasts who wish to explore expanded ambience with height and wide loudspeakers, they have the option of using Audyssey DSX high or wide channels, or Dolby ProLogic IIz height channels.
On the power side, the TX-NR1009 offers 135-watts per nine channels. Each of the amplifier sections employ the company’s low-negative feedback Wide Range Amplifier Technology (WRAT), three-stage inverted Darlington circuitry, and the High Current Power Supply (HCPS) uses a massive transformer. In addition, TI Burr-Brown 192 kHz/24-bit DACs are used on each channel to ensure that all digital signals are converted perfectly to analog sound.
For custom home theater control, the receiver has bi-directional Ethernet and RS232 ports for control, IR input and output, two 12-V triggers, firmware updates via Ethernet and USB, GUI Navigation via HDMI, powered Zone 2, and Zone 2/3 preouts.
The Onkyo TX-NR1009 will be available from Onkyo dealers in June for $1,399.