Bases loaded

The last two receivers, from Denon and Marantz, both ultimately hail from their common owner Sound United. While the brands differentiate, they have had an increasing amount in common since they came together. And as we reviewed this Onkyo receiver, Onkyo too was due to be joining Sound United, along with sister company Pioneer. But the merger was stopped at the 11th hour, which from our view was a good thing, as it will avoid all four brands converging in their product lines. Sometimes a different approach is refreshing, or innovative!

As with nearly all receivers today, this is a networked receiver which connects to your router and the internet. The very first networked receiver I ever reviewed was from Onkyo, and I remember that well, because I was all at sea. Back in those days I had broadband, but it was the kind where my computer plugged directly into an ADSL gateway. I called up the distributor. I needed a router, apparently. What was that??

These days, of course, all the fancy AV receivers feature network connectivity, and most have multiroom connectivity. But they tend to lock you into one system. Not so the Onkyo TX-RZ840.

Equipment

It’s the way