Review by Richard C. Drew
Rating:
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.)

Review by Nicholas E. Johansen
Rating:
The Onkyo HT-RC180 has lots of features, plenty of speaker connections, incredible sound and a sturdy, heavy case, all of which would suggest that this is a quality product. Indeed, upon initially opening up the box and setting it up, it blew away my Sony STRDG820 7.1 Audio Video Receiver – Black, even with the same pair of cheap Sony SS-B3000 speakers. The sound was crisp and the definition was unlike anything I’d ever heard. I’m certainly no audiophile, but the difference was that noticeable — this thing cranks out some really nice sound. Music sounded fuller, and movies — even without a center channel — sounded convincing and clear. The video quality wasn’t any different on my 56″ Samsung 1080p DLP, but that’s to be expected. Sound quality and features is why you buy a more expensive AV receiver, generally speaking, and this thing delivers in spades. I can only imagine what it would have sounded like had I been able to test it with a full 7.1 setup (alas, it died before my other speakers came — more on that later). Features such as the media server streaming and the ability to use up to 13 speakers make the Onkyo HT-RC180 a fully-loaded AV receiver. The media streaming was a bit awkward to navigate with the remote — if you have an Xbox 360, a Playstation 3 or a dedicated media streaming hub, they’ll do the trick much better — but it functioned fine, and connected to my network without hassle via the ethernet port on the back of the unit.

Despite its great performance, I would not recommend the Onkyo HT-RC180. Why? After just a month of use, it broke. One day, with only 2 bookshelf speakers connected, using the auxillary jack in the front with an iPod, the unit shut itself off and the standby light started blinking. After an internet search, I learned that this is a somewhat common problem with Onkyo receivers, something called amp protect (or circuit protect) mode. The unit will no longer power on, even with no speakers attached. Considering the load this thing was handling when it died, I find its demise to be rather suspect, and an indication of questionable build quality. A call to Onkyo was fielded by someone in the USA — a positive — who was very nice, but only suggested that I take it to an Authorized Onkyo Service Center. There is one such place in PA — more than 200 miles away from my location — and the customer service representative indicated that I would have to pay for shipping to the service center myself, even though the unit was still under warranty. This receiver weighs over 40 pounds, so even shipping/packaging within state would be forty or fifty dollars. Since Onkyo proved unhelpful, I called around local service shops to see what their estimates would be on repairs, and I was quoted around eighty to a hundred fifty dollars. For a month old product that retails for $700, I find paying extra money so soon hard to swallow.

I may have just gotten a lemon, but the internet posts I’ve seen indicate that I’m not the only one who has had these types of problems with Onkyo products. I was disappointed, given that the sound quality was impeccable, and Onyko had a pretty solid reputation. Unfortunately, the build quality and service they provided for my HT-RC180 left a lot to be desired. I would highly suggest that you check the location of service centers in your area or buy an extended warranty from the retailer if you do end up purchasing an Onkyo product. I understand that not every unit is perfect, but in such instances, I expect the company to bend head over heels to fix the problem. Onkyo did not do this in this circumstance, and, as such, I would seriously consider purchasing another brand of AV receiver, especially since there are some good offerings from Pioneer and Denon in the same price range.

Review by A. Scarfone
Rating:
The Onkyo HT-RC180 is an excellent addition to a home theater setup. I’ve wedded the receiver to a 42-inch 1080p Vizio, Polk Audio RM705 5.1 speakers, a Tivo HD, standard DVD player, and Wii. This unit is a beast. As another reviewer mentioned, it is about the same height as a DVD box and is over 17 inches deep. I had to purchase a new TV stand to accommodate it, but it was worth it.

The unit comes with a beefy manual, but I’d recommend tackling it piecemeal instead of working through the whole thing. Here’s what I did to get up and running in about 90 minutes and then the tweaks and observations I made over the next few days.

What To Set Up Immediately

1. Use the quick set up guide to aid in hooking up the cables. It’s pretty straight forward and he back of the unit is well labeled. The receiver is very heavy and easy to drop, so I set mine on a chair adjacent to my stand, attached the cables, and then slid it into place.

2. Once you’ve hooked up all the cables, immediately plug in the microphone and use Audyssey to calibrate your speakers. It can calibrate for 3 to 6 seating positions and takes about 15-30 minutes depending on the number of speakers and seating positions you’re calibrating for. I calibrated for my 3 primary listening positions and that worked well for my 5.1 system.

2. Next program your remote. In a separate manual, Onkyo has included remote codes for most TVs and components. Use the instructions in the main manual for how to actually make this happen. You’ll also need to assign the HDMI inputs (if you used them) to the proper remote buttons. It’s all pretty straight forward.

At this point, you should be able to start enjoying your media. It took me about 90 minutes to be up and running with my system.

What To Set Up Later

1. The “My Movies”, “My TV”, and “My Music” action buttons at the top of the remote are infinitely handy (I wish there was a “My Games”, too). I have them setup to turn on the appropriate components with one touch. And turn them off with one touch. Definitely explore this feature. It’s a time save for sure.

2. Hook the Onkyo up to your home network. My network wasn’t adjacent to my home theater. I moved it and ran an Ethernet cable from my router to the receiver. I now have the built-in Pandora interface running on my system. All of the Pandora functionality is there and displays beautifully on my TV screen. It’s free, but I’ll likely upgrade to the yearly paid service because this far surpasses using the radio and I see myself using it a lot. Unfortunately the Onkyo will not interface with iTunes as is, but you can set it up to stream Internet radio with vTuner (there’s a rather tedious online interface) and it has Sirius capability.

3. Once you’re on the network, you can go into the settings and update your firmware. It was a quick download, but the writing of it took a while. It took my system 30 minutes or so (your mileage may vary).

4. Further audio adjustments. I’ve been making minor tweaks to the audio post-Audyssey calibration and my Polk Audio speakers sound great with this receiver. I’ve gotten the subwoofer to sounds perfect, not “boomy”, and the system really sounds alive. Try tweaking everything for each of of your inputs. It may take some trial and error, but I now have high-quality (and appropriate) sound from all of my components.

General Observations

1. My Wii looks better with the receiver’s up-sampling than it ever did hooked directly up to the TV. Sounds great too. Very impressed.

2. I love that the Onkyo automatically adjusts to the correct audio settings for the media you are watching/listening to and displays that information.

3. Single remote! I finally have a decent remote that even works well with Tivo.

4. The display of the unit is really clean and doesn’t glow in a bothersome way.

5. It runs relatively hot, but is doing well in rather tight accommodations. I’ll update this review if I notice any overheating.

6. The 5 HDMI inputs are really handy. My 2-year-old Visio TV only has 2 and now that no longer matters.

7. I generally just love this unit. The sound is great. The video is great. The remote is well designed.