Copy of Forum Post 10/31/2011

(Copy of post on The Home Theater Shack 10/31/2011)

10/09/2011

On Sunday October 9th, 2011 I went to Fry's and found the Onkyo TX-NR609 listed for $299.99. Brand new in the box! Not refurbished or a returned item discount. It was $299.99. I could not believe my eyes so I had to jump on it. I was able to walk away with a brand new OnkyoTX-NR609 with a 4 year service contract for $382.16. The cheapest I had found this receiver online was $380.00 and that was through Amazon. There were cheaper vendors but most of those were refurbished models.

I was so excited that all Sunday afternoon was spent setting up and connecting the new receiver. On Wednesday October 19th, 2011 I received a replacement battery for the Logitech harmony 880 remote. The addition of the OnkyoTX-NR609 required a reprogramming of the activities with the remote which was easy with the Harmony software. I will be fine tuning the remote over the coming weeks and will be looking/reading on custom uses of the Harmony 880 in system automation.

Notes on system changes since last post:
The OnkyoTX-NR609 upgrade caused a change in System Conductivity.
The current setup is:
Cable Box to AVR = HDMI for audio and video
DVD Player to AVR = Optical for audio and component for video
Game Console to AVR = Composite for audio and component for video
AVR to TV = HDMI for video

In my post from 10/08/2011 I noted that my next purchase was to be upgrading to clean power and surge protection. The purchase of the OnkyoTX-NR609 has shifted that decision yet again. I swapped out the old power strip for one with surge protection and will keep this for the time being. Now that the OnkyoTX-NR609 is in place that next minor system change will be to purchase a white HDMI cable (approximately 20 feet) and white speaker cable for the front left, center and front right speakers. This will help the cabling “blend" better on the wall. (I live in an apartment so in wall cables are out.)

My anticipated upgrade sequence is now:
1. Component rack or cabinet
2. Speaker stands for rear channel speakers
3. Clean Power (PS Audio Power Port Classic)
4. Surge Protection (Tripp Lite HT10DBS)
4. Subwoofer (Dayton Audio T003K 10” Titanic Mk III Subwoofer Kit)
5. Blu-Ray player (Panasonic DMP-BDT210 )
6. New front left, center, front right and rear surround speakers. (NHT SuperZero 2.0)

Minor system changes that will happen before next upgrade sequence:
1. Replacement battery for Logitech Harmony 880 (Purchased 10/16/2011 $12.42 Amazon)
2. Right angle male to female coax adapter (Purchased 10/16/2011 $2.89 Amazon)
3. Component video / composite audio cable for Wii (Purchased 10/22/2011 $3.89 Amazon)
4. White HDMI cable (20 feet)
5. White speaker cable (100 feet)
6. Onkyo UWF-1 Wireless LAN Adapter (Purchased 11/01/2011 $29.00 Amazon)