Onkyo announces two new flagship AV receivers

Onkyo will complete its 2011 AV receiver lineup in September with a duo of models aimed squarely at the high-end of home cinema.

The TX-NR5009 and TX-NR3009 are both 9.2-channel AVRs with THX Ultra2 certification, meaning they're deemed powerful enough by the George Lucas-founded company to drive a surround sound system in a dedicated movie room and at neighbour-bothering volumes.

The top-of-the-range TX-NR5009 (follow up to the TX-NR5008 claims a power output of 9 x 220W, while its TX-NR3009 stablemate offers a slightly less boisterous 9 x 200W.

Audio features shared by the two AVRs include support for DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD audio codecs, DTS Neo:X processing and automated room equalisation/correction courtesy of Audyssey technology.

Meanwhile, standard-definition imagery is buffed up by the onboard HQV Vida chip to HD, with a second stage of video tweaking allowing upscaling to the next-generation 4K resolution - not that you have a 4K TV yet.

Media maestros

Beyond their main movie duties, the new Onkyos double up as home entertainment hubs. Each is network-enabled, offering Spotify, last.FM, Napster and Vtuner integration as well as DLNA-powered media playback over a home network.

And Onkyo's musical heritage means a wide range of file formats, including FLAC, WMA Lossless, WAV, AAC, Ogg, and, of course, MP3, are catered for.

Buyers of the TX-NR5009 or TX-NR3009 shouldn't have a problem connecting the rest of their hardware, as the receivers sport eight 3D-capable HDMI inputs and two outputs.

Other ports include two USBs and an Ethernet jack. However, those with a wireless network will have to use Onkyo's UWF-1 wireless LAN adaptor, as Wi-Fi isn't built in.

While these new AVRs will ship with backlit remote controls, both can be operated from your Android device or iPhone or iPod touch, thanks to Onkyo's free app.

The price tags of the TX-NR5009 and TX-NR3009 reflect their power and feature sets - the former will sell for around £2,700, while its sibling comes in at £2,000. We expect to clap our eyes, and ears, on them at the forthcoming IFA 2011 tech show in Berlin.