Sonic boon
Streamable formats over a local network include MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, FLAC, WAV, Ogg, AAC and LPCM, which covers most audio bases (photos and videos are not supported). You can also play sound files from hard disks and memory sticks attached to the USB port, which also accepts iOS devicess and not just the newest models.
Also available in silver
Its performance with Blu-ray sound is slick and substantial, from the grittiness of gung-ho alien invasion flick Battle: Los Angeles or the swirling, engrossing surround mix of Tron Legacy. More understated cinematic fare, such as The Road, is conveyed with smooth and compelling quality. Given its sturdy feature set on the pure audio side, too, it's no surprise to find its music handling is also admirable, especially with lossless and uncompressed sources but also with the likes of AAC and MP3 (at fair bitrates) or Spotify playback.
Verdict
Overall the TX-NR609 is a hugely adaptable receiver that acts as a high-calibre AV hub for home cinema and HD video upscaling, as well as masterful radio and music listening, which enlivens even modest sized speaker systems. ®
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COMMENTS
In professional audio we call those 'China Watts'
They are often absolute maximum instantaneous power, which is a figure that tells you almost nothing at all about the amplifier.
In this case it looks like it's probably not full china wattage, but peak power.
Amplifiers should also never draw their max. rating because that would usually be clipping, thus trashing the whole system.
I am still amused by the fact that no hifi parts uses professional connectors, and few have any balanced connections.
Optional title!!!
Probably 160W /peak/ to any of the speakers, but obviously not all of them at once.
I'm afraid Billy Bremner beat you to it
Speakers on the ceiling, speakers on the door
Speakers on the dashboard, speakers on the floor
I'm surprised you haven't realised that having a visual cue alters how we interpret sounds. For instance, when a car drives past on screen and goes out of the left edge of the shot, we instinctively expect the sound to proceed from front left to rear left as in real life, the car would now be behind us.
Music alone doesn't have that issue; we expect it to come from a static point, which as an audience is generally in front of us. You're still wrong about the hi-fi world settling for two speakers, though; quadrophonic systems have been around forever, for the same reason as 5.1 and 7.2 sound systems exist in cinemas (and I'm glad you've never heard of 22.2) - immersion. Having speakers in front and behind puts you in the middle of the music.
As for why you want two subwoofers: I believe the explanation is that a bi-directional system generates the bass more evenly, providing a smoother effect. (Of course you can also crank them both up to full power and destroy your enemies, assuming you do not live on a geological fault line.)
I've got the further up, but older, 806. And while I get a Phono stage, it's not that hot. It's just not worth looking for them on A/V amps these days, as they're such minority requirements the money doesn't get thrown at them even when they are present.
You're much better off buying a separate Phono preamp, like the ones from NAD or Pro-Ject, and not worrying about internal phono stages at all.
As for recording, I can't remember the last time I recorded audio, rather than ripped it - the MiniDisc recorder got removed from the hi-fi stack on the last tidy up because it had been so long since it was turned on. But still, it's a pity.
Q Acoustics 2000
I use a Q Acoustics 1000 set with my Onkyo 608, which were What Hi-Fi's best budget buy pretty much until the 2000 series replaced them.
The 2000 series can be bought as a 5.1 pack for around £500 - sub, centre speaker and four satellites. The satellites are small enough to use as rear surround if you fancy 7.1, so you can buy either an extra pair of satellites for around £110 or a pair of the floorstanding speakers (2020 or 2030, I forget which) for ~£160.
