Onkyo Brings Dolby Atmos To $499 A/V Receiver

[dfergie]

Two of three new AVRs announced by the company at a suggested $499 and $599 are Atmos-equipped but not upgradable to DTS:X. The third receiver, priced at $399, lacks Atmos but features HDR-capable HDMI 2.0a inputs, HDCP 2.2 copy protection, and full-bandwidth 18Gbps HDMI.
The two Atmos-equipped AVRs will join two previously announced Atmos-equipped AVRS for 2015: the $699 TX-NR646 and $999 TX-NR747. Both of those models are upgradable to DTS:X via a firmware upgrade due sometime later this year. They also feature HDMI 2.0a, 18Gbps HDMI, and HDCP 2.2.
The two new Atmos AVRs drive 5.1.2 Atmos speaker setups but do not accept add-on two-channel amps to support Atmos 5.1.4 or 7.1.2.
twice.com

 

[jayn_j]

This appears to be a very confusing year to be buying a receiver. New receivers are featuring DTS-X and Atmos in varying speaker configurations. There is also HDMI and HDCP upgrades. Promises of future software upgrade paths that history says are iffy.

The HDMI and HDCP updates are going to be necessary. I expect that speaker configurations for Atmos and DTS-X are going to be dependent on personal choice. It is unclear to me at this point what will become the dominant configuration.

 

[jevans64]

I don't think anything will change in 2016 as far as mainstream receivers go. 2017 will probably be the year that Atmos/DTS:X for the home goes beyond 11 speakers and the room correction systems will actually be able to physically place the speakers in a room... represented as XYZ coordinates. At that point, a configuration won't matter. The main difference between Atmos and DTS:X today are just the Wide speakers... Atmos doesn't use them but DTS:X will. Dolby already can use DTS Neo:X height speakers in place of top speakers, so DTS:X will probably be able to use top speakers in place of height speakers. I still think the best compromise today is to mount top speakers right over the seating and designate them Top Middle and mount height speakers in back and front in a typical DTS Neo:X layout.

 

[jayn_j]

The reason I say confusing is because of the HDMI/HDCP upgrades that haven't rolled out everywhere yet. These will bite you in a few years. The 11 speaker thing is less important to me because it is just an additional feature, not something that has the potential of making the receiver useless downstream.

 

[jevans64]

Denon's x2xxW series have HDMI 2.0 and DHCP 2.2 and they will get a firmware update to HDMI 2.0a when it finally rolls out -- probably with the DTS:X update. I myself waited until Denon did the hardware HDMI upgrade on the X7200W to upgrade. I got the "A" version. The only thing I would knock today's receivers for is their puny amp sections. External amplification is pretty-much a must for anyone that doesn't have theirs set up in a broom closet.

I'm happy with the way my Atmos configuration worked out so far. My ears feel neglected when I'm listening to someones traditional 5.x or 7.x setup. DSU doesn't have as much impact on movies without an Atmos track, but it does add a little something to older movies.