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(More customer reviews)I've owned a lot of electronics, all makes and many models. I had not upgraded my core system for many years, and knew it was time for a change. I'm a fan of Onkyo (I have another Onkyo AV receiver in the living room) and was looking for one with network connection and more power. Man does this deliver. The quality, feel and look is all top-quality. This may be a 7.1 system, but it powers 10 speakers, two subs, and three different zones/rooms! That's 11 speakers plus two subs (13 total.) Remember that Frasier episode from a few years ago where he purchased a new soundsystem, and his living room looked like a speaker Stonehenge. Seemed farfetched at the time - but now it's clearly possible. If you use full sized speakers you would have a draw-dropping first impression. As it is, I have 11 speakers and one sub, varying sizes and makes - that's impressive enough.
The sound? Wow. I played Aero by Jean Michelle Jarre - a 5.1 audio DVD. It knocked my socks off. The audio resolution and depth were amazing. The receiver also has numerous listening modes - so many it takes over two pages in the manual to list them. Different Dolby modes, THX and many more. There's a diagram on the front panel that displays the speakers that will be used by each mode. As you change them, the speaker display changes - pretty simple. Want only two speakers? Four? Eleven? Simple.
So here's my experience, from unpacking to turn-on.
Packaging: Extra-heavy duty. Double-thick box, form fit foam. The box will take a lot of abuse in shipping. See my included photos.
Unpacking: Typical anti-static and foam wrap, tape and scratch protection. Heavy unit - will take two people to unpack unless you are comfortable moving heavy weight.
Installation: I find it easier to make a temporary platform at around the same height as the shelf the unit will sit on - I've always done this. In this case, two storage boxes put it at about the perfect height. This way I can attach all cables and simply slide the unit in place. When we're talking this many wires it's a big help. The RC180 includes a manual (thick!), quick start (handy!) and a sheet of decals to mark your speaker cables. At first I thought - "yes, like I'll need these!" Man did they come in handy! The labels were a real timesaver. Again, see the photos.
My BluRay player uses a network connection, and so does this unit. I had a single network cable in the room, so had to add a hub to split the connection. I can't use wireless in the home - it's an older building, lath/plaster/steel mesh. It works like a Faraday cage, and kills signals. The RC1800 uses a wired connection anyway, as does my BluRay player. If you already have a wired connection in the room, keep in mind you may need a hub to add more outlets.
It took around an hour to hook everything up, from unpacking to sliding the unit in place.
BEFORE I put the unit in place, I ran the speaker test. This allows you to verify correct placement. Again, it came in handy. I had the upper left front and upper right front speaker connections swapped (there are SEVEN speakers in front - Two Upper front, Two front, Two wide front, and one center!) Fixed that, then slid the unit in place.
Turned it on again, verified all the AV connections. You can customize pretty much all the connections. For example, I have my DVD set to use component in 1 and digital audio coax in 2. My VCR (yes, I still have a VCR) uses the VCR input, and I have the TV set to use optical in 2. This allows a lot of customization and personalization. Next I named all the inputs, so the display shows whatever text I want.
Then I ran the Audyssey setup. I love this system. My other Onkyo uses it as well, and it's great. The RC180 uses a more advanced version. It tests the standard three listening positions, and has an additional optional three positions for more fine tuning. I only needed three. This took around 15 minutes to run. It tests every speaker, including the subwoofer, then writes the data.
Next I customized the remote control. It's a universal remote with some cool options. There are programmable shortcut buttons (my music, my movies, etc.) as well as the standard controls for all your devices. It's interactive - you follow on-screen prompts (it uses your TV for the display.) Basically you enter the first three letters of your make, perform a search and select the make from an amazingly comprehensive list. You also select the category of the device - VCR, DVD, etc. You then go through a train and error selection process of codes. You're instructed step by step. My DVD took three tries for the correct codes. The BlyRay and VCR did it in one. After you are finished with that, you can program the shortcut buttons (My Movies, etc.) With one button press it will turn on selected devices, press play, etc.) Works perfectly. I press MyMovie and the TV turns on, the Onkyo turns on, the BluRay turns on and plays.
My only gripe is the net connectivity - the remote control takes a lot of getting used to, as the functions for net use are counterintuitive. The unit has built in support for several web based radio services. One of the included services, vTuner, is free. The others require a subscription (Sirus, Pandora, Rhapsody.) The instructions for vTuner setup were problematical. You're instructed to go to a URL and use the unit's MAC address to register. vRadio won't accept the MAC address - they want a unit ID. The vRadio instructions for finding the unit ID are not even close. Basically the Unit ID and Mac address are the same thing, but vTuner won't take it. Still fighting that. You can use vTuner without it, but you won't have favorites, playlists, etc.
Update: Figured it out. They do indeed want the MAC address - however, without any spaces, dashes, colons. Just the letters and numbers as one long string. Find the MAC address under the network setup - ignore the instructions from vTuner.
Streaming from your computer? The RC180 automatically detects the computers on your network with media servers running. I have three PC's running Windows media player - it found all three of them. I'll add more details on in-house media streaming in the future - I need some more hands-on to make an honest evaluation. My main PC is based on Windows 7. The instructions for connecting to the media player are for Media Player 11 (Vista / XP), not Windows 7. Windows 7 uses Media Player 12 - so you need to use the DLNA instructions, not the Windows Media Player instructions. One big mistake I made was attempting to connect to my computer before allowing access to the Onkyo. This stuck the Onkyo in a loop while it kept trying to connect. Eventually it gave up and I was able to get it all to work. You really need to create playlists to make it easy to use.
From what I see so far, I can't use my iTunes library. The Onkyo requires DLNA compliance, and iTunes is not - that's why you can't use iTunes with many devices over a network, including the PS3.
Followup: I can't stress how important a great center speaker is. I had an anemic speaker with a 4" woofer. It was basically a spare JBL studio speaker - great quality, but it was rated at 50 watts. I replaced it with a BIC center speaker that has two 6" woofers and a large horn - and handles 175 watts ( BIC America DV-62CLRS 6-Inch 2-Way Center Channel Speaker ). Wow! What a difference. With the old speaker, the Onkyo would not go past 70% volume - the Audyssey setup detected that feeble little speaker and limited the maximum output. Really annoying, since the rest of the speakers were pretty decent, but any more volume and that speaker would have been so much scrap. The center is mainly used for voice, but don't overlook it! Now I can crank to 100%!
More followup: It detects and streams audio from my Iomega StorCenter Pro ix4-200d 2 NAS (A network storage devide.)
Click Here to see more reviews about: Onkyo HT-RC180 7.2-Channel A/V Surround Home Network Receiver (Black)
The THXSelect2 Plus Certified HT-RC180 combines the latest home-theater functionality with home-network capability to create a compelling mid-range centerpiece. A rear-side Ethernet port enables the HT-RC180 either to receive and output audio tracks playing on your PC, or to bypass your PC and directly stream internet radio stations such as Rhapsody and Pandora. The HT-RC180 provides five HDMI1.3a inputs to handle a range of high-definition video and audio sources. HDMI compatibility also enables the receiver to upscale any video input to 1080p via Faroudja DCDi Cinema. This 110 W-rated receiver also features Audyssey DSXand DolbyPro LogicIIz, two new surround-sound formats that expand the spatial dimensionality of games and movies. On top of all this, you also have Audyssey room-correction and equalization technologies working to create a well-balanced soundstage, no matter the volume level or the shape of your room. Among the other highlights of the HT-RC180 are a customizable remote controller and a proprietary Universal Port that enables single-cable connection of peripheral audio devices.
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