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Onkyo Drops Networked-AVR Price To $399

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J. –

Onkyo is bringing down
the price of networking and iPod USB interfaces in its A/V
receivers (AVRs) with the launch of a trio of models priced at
a suggested $299, $399 and $599.

The features were previously available in U.S.-market Onkyo
AVRs starting at $899, the company said.

Separately, the company launched two new opening-price
HTiBs, which take the form of AVR/ speaker packages,
and a new iPod/iPhone
dock.

All products will be available
in April.

The two networked
AVRs are the $599
7.2-channel TX-NR609
and the $399 5.1-channel
TX-NR509. They
stream Internet radio
and networked-PC audio,
feature DLNA certification,
and provide
Windows 7 compatibility.
For these and future
networked AVRs, the
company will offer its first
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n dongle
to provide a wireless connection to
a home network. The $39-suggested
dongle will also enable remote control
of the AVRs from an iPod Touch or iPhone equipped with a free
new Onkyo app.

These two receivers and the $299 5.1-channel TX-SR309
also feature a front-panel Made for iPod/iPhone USB interface.

All three, which will be available at retail in early April, have
HDMI 1.4a inputs and outputs, HDMI Thru and HDMI audio
return channel. They also feature lossless Dolby TrueHD and
DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, an overlaid onscreen display
and new front-panel design.

The $599 TX-NR609 adds THX Select2 Plus certification
and Audyssey DSX and Dolby Pro Logic IIz post-processing
technology.

Other TX-NR609 features include Marvell Qdeo technology
to up-scale video signals to 4K resolution. It’s the
world’s first receiver with the Qdeo technology, Onkyo
said. Other NR609 features include six HDMI inputs (one
on front), a universal port for Onkyo-branded peripheral
devices, and Powered Zone 2. The TX-NR609 also features
PC-compatible analog RGB video input, letting
users send the video signal from a notebook or desktop
PC directly to the AVR, which carries the video signal via
HDMI to an HD TV.

The NR609 also incorporates Audyssey’s 2EQ roomcorrection
technology, Dynamic Volume, and Dynamic EQ
technologies and a new overlaid graphical GUI to enable
in-session settings adjustments.

For its part, the TX-NR509 lacks 4K video up-scaling
and Audyssey DSX and Dolby Pro
Logic IIz. It
comes with four HMDI inputs.

The opening-price 5.1-channel TX-SR309 lacks networking,
Zone 2 output and Audyssey equalization features.

In another introduction, Onkyo launched two new openingprice
HTiBs at a suggested $379 and $599 with a few more
features than their predecessors. The $599 price point gets
an audio-only iPod/USB port for the first time. Both take the
form of A/V receiver/speaker packages.

The company also launched a new iPod/iPhone dock that
adds compatibility with the latest Apple devices and can be
used with the HTiBs and AVRs.

The dock is the $139-suggested DS-A4, which comes
with remote, composite- and component-video outputs,
stereo audio outputs, iPod/iPhone charging and onscreen
display. The dock can be used with any receiver with stereo
inputs, but when connected to the RI jack of Onkyo AVRs
and HTiBs, the dock and docked devices can be controlled
from the AVR or HTiB remote.

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