TX-NR636 7.2-Ch Dolby Atmos Ready Network A/V Receiver w/HDMI 2.0

I purchased and received the Onkyo TX-NR636 approximately 3 weeks ago. I am not and audio engender by no means, but I have DJ'ed in night clubs (electronic music), I have a production studio with studio monitors and professional gear. Take it for what you will, I like nice qaulity products and performance. With that said, obviously this is not your $3,000+ receiver. However, I run this with two (2) JBL ES30s left and right, one (1) ES35 Center - I think that is the model number, two (2) ES20s back left and right, and the JBL ES80 10inch Sub - again I think that is the model - sorry I will update correct model and pics. What I am getting at, is the receiver runs those speakers extremely well. Yes I have used other nice reviewers such as pioneer. But, I also run this to a BenQ Short Throw 1080 projector and gaming device. This receiver automatically picks everything up with no splitter. The output is excellent for both V&A, I have been amazed each day. I feel like it gets better as if it learns you!! Sounds weird, but true. I finagled with the speaker settings (easy process) adjusted to my likings with receiver (again easy to do). Well easy if you have some advance general idea about technology. The wifi and Bluetooth features work effortlessly and sound amazing. There is a controller application which works great as well. I could sit here and tell you more, but I have a hard time believing that here is a better receiver with so many options that performs as EXCELLENT as this one - this applies too both audio and visuals. My speakers bump - and sound superb. I have no reason to spend more money at this point. One last thing I really love about this receiver, not only did it sync all my gear, I only have to use the Onkyo controller, it pics everything up my channel, even controlling the cable tv box, on demand, etc. ok coming to a close. I give this 5 stars. For those that have bashed the product, I guess you got a defective product.... That can happen in the world of purchasing or you got a s***ty vendor. Hope this helps someone out there juggling that 3 process of elemination. Just buy this item and you will see. It's a good upper midrange product. Again, I feel I have a solid setup and this just really helped me too stop spending more money!!! SATISFIED!!!

A high end, good looking and good sounding receiver at a mid-price. But it comes with NO REMOTE! I finally determined thAt Onkyo advises you to download their remote app. Okay, I have two tablets, however neither my Nexus 7 (2nd gen) nor my iPad Air will act as such a remote. For my Android, the apparently Onkyo official app doesn't control this unit. In shopping for an iPad application, there is no apparent application. The free one which does not appear to be sponsored by Onkyo, states that a future version should control the NR636. The $15 version was tested on an earlier version. Therefore, Onkyo sold this unit for over a year with no apparent app and with no remote. FYI the rhapsody remote is no help in this regard. It doesn't have buttons for the functions you need. It will however operate the Onkyo for a visual remote, turning it on and off and selecting tha right input for your Directv/cable, smart TV apps and FM radio. For FM it will essentially just turn it on and switch to FM. I just hope you listen to one station. Bottom Line: Onkyo has a lot of nerve in marketing this receiver without a remote and without a rock solid manufacturers app in place. What were they thinking? Despite the above, I was particularly impressed by the fact that it is one of the only/few receivers to be two standards up when it comes to 4k Ultra HD TVs. In this regard, it already has the latest HDMI connections which allow for support of 4K TVs at 60Hz and 21:9 format, but it also is HDCP 2.2 copy-protection compatible. As I understand it, other 4k compatible receivers use HDCP 2.0 for their next level of compatability but not HDCP 2.2. This is important because it is not expected that the present connections will be useable with 4k TV in the near future and the 2.0 standard is supposed to have a short shelf life because the far superior 2.2 standard already has copy protection support. Therefore, when the 2.2 DVDs arrive (or some other storage means) which have super protection against copying "perfect" quality DVDs, only the 2.2 receivers will function and the older receivers will be of no use. This is projected based upon the fact that 2.2 compatibility is not a firmware upgrade, it is a hardware upgrade that will not have some form of adapter to use old connections. I assume this would be analogous to computer motherboards where the cpu socket changes and your high end motherboard becomes a throw away if you want to upgrade to a new cpu which is physically incompatible. There are some assumptions in this review but they are logical and likely correct so why not protect your investment. Very few other parts ot a receiver have changed over the recent years that affect sound or video (other than HDMI which can still be bypassed); so you should not throw away your money when an upgrade will render your "processing unit" obsolete.

I purchased the Onkyo TX-NR636 to replace an older Onkyo receiver that my family bought along with Bose Speakers around 15 years ago. The old Onkyo was still working, but it had no HDMI ports, and with the purchase of a new Apple TV2 we finally reached the point in which HDMI ports became a necessity. The TX-NR636 has a generous set of HDMI ports and overall was very easy to connect to my existing system. Sound calibration was a snap. Only two issues resulted in four stars instead of five: 1. Although the receiver has connections for older, non-HDMI devices, we discovered that the receiver could not convert its HDMI input to communicate with our old SONY plasma TV through a component connection. This was not mentioned in the product description. We ultimately decided to replace the old SONY TV with another newer TV in the house that did support HDMI, but this resulted in a delay in setup and if we hadn't had another TV, we would either have had to return the receiver or buy a new TV. 2. The iOS app for the receiver has been very handy. We have our equipment out of sight in a closet and so it would have been a hassle to use the IR remote control. I highly recommend that Onkyo spend time improving the app, though. It took a while to get it to connect to our receiver, and while it is good at turning the receiver on and off, switching between inputs, and managing volume, it doesn't do a good job with emulating the remotes of devices connected to the receiver. I trained the Onkyo IR remote to work with my TV and BlueRay player, and the IR remote can turn the TV on and off, but the app cannot do this. Fixing this would be high on my list.

Personally I am in love with this unit. But then I was in love with my TX-NR509 until approx 2 years later when the HDMI board failed and I had to send it in for repair. Other than the few minor scratches the repair people put on the outside case, they seemed to fix it as if it were better than brand new. The only reason why I updated to this 636 was because of the built in Wi-fi and Bluetooth. I also updated because with the 509 I needed an extra small amp to amplify sound to send to the back surround speaker. This unit has both a right and left speaker output for the rear surround. I felt this to be a much improvement. Also, this unit's graphical interface for all the settings is real nice. The 509 had more text based menus and readouts. I love that it uses a mic to listen to the speakers as it sends white noise to each one to determine various settings. I read comments about someone was unhappy with the fact that the unit doesn't provide separate equalizer settings for the sound. It does provide a few different settings for bass control and one for treble. With the way that the unit sets up it's dynamic EQ sound settings, honestly, I don't see why you need anything else. The only real thing that I'm extremely worried about is, as I have had the unit in operation for only a few months now, it still is beginning to exhibit signs that the 509 did a short while before it died altogether. Items such as when the TV is turned off, the unit will usually detect that and it will automatically turn off but, a few times now, the TV has turned off but the unit has remained on and I have had to turn it off manually. Also, It is starting to stay on initializing for a minute or two when switching to the NET mode. When it was brand new, it used to hardly go to initializing at all. But I did find that after you give the unit complete time to "boot up" and then choose the NET mode, it seems to go there without much initializing time at all. So...here's hoping there are not HDMI issues. Also when it was new, it didn't take much time for the HDMI to initialize at all and now it takes a bit longer. So, all in all, the unit is wonderful as far as how ONKYO engineers how different items such as music and movies should truly sound. I have my unit in a small single wide manufactured home. But for the size of my living room and kitchen area and the 6 speakers attached, it really calculated for all that and it truly fills my room with sound and performs absolutely amazing! I'm going to hang on to the 509 at least for the next 6 months or so before I try to sell it just in case the 636 fails the HDMI board. I'm not so sure that ONKYO will be willing to do another HDMI repair program for free and I certainly don't want to go through that again. As far as the person that mentioned he felt there was too much remote control button pressing....I say...that's what remotes are for. You can't expect an electronic unit just to perform every task you want automatically and have it remember it all every time to turn on the system. I found you do have to use it alot while playing music but then, I switch around songs and the items I use to listen to music any way so it doesn't bother me. I feel, if you're just using it to go along for nice sound with your TV set and you're not playing with the volume or other settings all the time, I don't see where you have to mess with the remote at all. I switch between the receiver remote and the Dish remote for operating the TV depending on my viewing modes. But I love the fact that through the HDMI board, if I put a Blu ray disc in to watch, that is pretty much all I have to do, even if everything is completely turned off and shut down. I open the disc tray and put the disc in and as soon as I close the tray and the blu ray begins to load, the 636 turns itself on and my TV on without touching another button. I absolutely love that functionality. Honestly, the only other button I have to push after inserting the disc is the play movie button on the screen and maybe adjust the volume a bit after the movie starts. I don't touch either remotes after that. Then when the movie is done and I remove the disc and power down the blu ray player, the 636 powers itself down and the TV. Awesome in my book. I would definitely recommend this unit to a friend for all of it's outstanding features. But, I would warn them of the possible HDMI failure issues which I will be happy if after two years plus operation, that issue never shows up and the unit continues to function just as well as it has since it was new. Maybe I'll upgrade my review at that time.

I'm adding this here for visibility. I just purchased this item and haven't received it yet, but am considering returning it. I bought the TX-NR616 2 years ago and have am awaiting a response from support. We'll see what happens. ***UPDATE*** 12/17/2014 Well, it's been two years. A number of things have transpired over the last 700 odd days. The first 1 1/2 years were all good and blissful. A few months ago, the remote app stopped working altogether. I'm not a layman when it comes to computers/netowrking, I get it. It's not a network problem, it's a receiver problem. A week ago, the HDMI problem came about just like everyone else writing reviews. Unplug, wait, plug in, wait, reset, wait, reset again, wait, unplug, wait, over and over again. MAYBE, might get it to produce sound. More often than not, it does nothing. I've sent an e-mail to support asking them to call. The receiver is convienently about a month over the warranty period. How much do we want to be that Onkyo will say, "Too bad, so sad". Maybe time to spend some money on the competitor. I'll update if Onkyo get's back to me. Not sure this brand name is worth much anymore. ***************** I really don't understand how so many people can continue to bash this receiver. There WAS a known issue that was fixed with the latest round of firmware fixes. I bought this about a month ago after I read all the negative reviews, and before I did ANY setup, I ran the firmware update. When the USB firmware update came out, I downloaded it and ran that. I have had no issues what so ever with this receiver. The Android app leaves room for improvement, but is quite functional. I use it to control Zone 2 on the main level while the receiver is downstairs. It's actually amusing to watch peoples faces when I open my phone, hit a few buttons, and music starts playing. The app allows you to use any of the inputs for Zone 2, so whether I want to fire up a playlist from Rhapsody or just play individual songs it's only a couple of clicks away. The Audessy setup is just blah. Not sure it does much more than setup frequencies and speaker distance. Nice add-on, but hardly instrumental. 7.2 sound is what you would expect. I have a number of Blu-ray's that implement 7.1 as well as some known good 5.1 soundtracks. All are represented as they should be. I'm using front height speakers instead of back surrounds because our setup doesn't have a wall behind us. It's open, but sound quality is still nice. I've had no issues with HDMI pass through. I've used it with a PS3, regular Blu-ray player, and a DirecTV box. All worked just fine. I have not tried passing 3D through the HDMI yet. I do like that it has 2 HDMI outputs. A main projector can be the focus of an area and another smaller TV can be placed inside a basement bar for example and show the same content. When you're entertaining, that makes it easier so everyone isn't trying to squeeze into the same area. The remote is a little difficult to understand as it constantly requires you to hit the receiver button to change sound settings or get into the menu. My opinion is that this should be the default. The power is rated @ 100 watts per channel and it seems to be about right. I had a Yamaha before this and sound levels (number wise) seem similar as far as how high the volume needs to be for the same effect. Movies rarely if ever get to 65 on the dial as it gets quite loud. Pros: Cheap Many great network qualities 8 HDMI ports and 2 HDMI outputs THX (although a lesser version) Audessy setup Powered Zone 2 Line out Zone 2 Line out Zone 3 Cons: Firmware update took a long time for both network and USB Remote layout could use some work Remote function requires me to hit the receiver button often. Bug?? Audessy setup 7.1 drops down to 5.1 when Zone 2 powered is used simultaneously Bottom line is this receiver AT THIS price point is hands down one of the best you'll find. For the average Joe, let's get real. The home theater that most of us will setup will not require anything more than what this offers. Money would be well better spent in getting better speakers (this receiver will handle 4 & 6 ohms as well). I am by no means new to home theaters, but at the same time, I won't spend $10,000 on a setup either. To most people, probably 99%, you'll be extremely pleased until the next round of technology comes out and makes it obsolete. 7.1 will be around for a long time.

This is a great receiver that I would expect to pay a few hundred more for for the Dolby Atmos capability alone! I am not a techie but I have it connected to a 5.1 set up consisting of an Infinity ( A really rather large one) and Four JBL speakers two tall floor standing speakers (think old radio shack mach 2s) and two mid-sized (not small) two-way surround speakers in the back paired with a JBL 12 inch floor powered sub-woofer. This receiver drives them all with well balanced sound and incredibly crystal clear dialogue. It does the best job on movies of all the receivers (harman-kardon, sony, marantz (high end - two grand) that I have had in the past. When I bought it I didn't know anything about dolby atmos and didn't know that I needed either ceiling or atmos ready speakers to take advantage of it. I bought two SKH-410 Onkyo dolby enabled speakers to add to my 5.1 set up and wondered how in the world they were going to make any kind of noise in a 5.1 set up. It seems that Atmos doesn't work on channels anyway, it's embedded in the existing signals (don't ask me how - I told you I'm not a techie). The speakers sit on top of your floor speakers and shoot the sound up to the ceiling and down to create a really neat aural experience that has really improved my over all movie viewing experience. I watched Transformers Age of Extinction in Atmos and it really blew me away! I have a duct running down the center of my ceiling (7 1/2 foot ceiling - they recommend 8 minimum) and it hasn't interfered with the sound experience at all so those speakers work great and do indeed create a complete audio experience. Ceiling speakers are best but you can't put them in the ceiling of my basement media room. Overall I recommend this receiver highly as an amateur and I really love the capabilities it has (read the product description before you buy and go to Onkyo USA and read the manual too)

this unit is a great - if it works. Had it for 3 months. One of the hdmi inputs(cbl/sat) stopped supplying sound. troubleshooting by swapping components/inputs. Was still covered under manufacturer warranty. Onkyo support gave me the nearest electronic repair place - almost 4 hours away and would take 2-4 weeks to have repaired with all shipping on me. Meanwhile I have no entertainment center. Will never buy Onkyo again just because the support. I understand sometimes these things happen, but how they take care of you makes all the difference. Onkyo needs to take a page out of Logitech's support process. I can only thank myself for getting the square trade amazon offers. Updated 5/20/2016: Got the unit back and in service for 6 months and the hdmi port went bad again. Bought a pioneer for the kids movie/game room vsx-830 and while it may not be the exact same sound quality according to the specs, it works and has every bell and whistle you can think of. . . . FYI - Amazon modified my updated post significantly.

**Please click on HELPFUL if you found this helped in your product search.** This replaced an earlier Onkyo unit that I had for many years. The automatic speaker optimization software was something I thought was a gimmick, but honestly, I can now hear each speaker, much better than my earlier model where you had to do that manually. Who knew, but the automatic feature really does work. The receiver is clear, even at high volumes, has enough power to shake the room if you like heavy subwoofer bass when listening to your favorite movies. I love having the connections to run everything through the receiver through HDMI cables for optimum sound and video quality with easy set-up. It also features a 2nd zone so I have mine wired to speakers on my screened porch. It has a ton of inputs, including bluetooth and connects to your smartphone effortlessly. I highly recommend this receiver and especially at this price and the number of features.

He tenido bastantes Receivers, Pionner, Arcam, Rotel pero este ultimo fue sustituido por el Onkyo y sinceramente suena bastante mejor, ademas no es tan dificil de programar y no pierde nunca sus programaciones, la respuesta a mi gusto es mas amplia y poderosa ademas de tener mejor diseño. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

I like the mic calibration. HDMI inputs works fine.

Es mi segundo recibidor reemplazó a un Pioneer vsx 520 y con las mismas bocinas se escucha muchísimo mejor, el sonido es más preciso y los bajos con más fuerza. Está a muy buen precio en tiendas departamentales lo vi en lo doble que aquí.

Got this for 600$ and the sound is amazing, Atmos is so hot

Easy to set up. Works great. Lots of features