# Onkyo 609



## kenbola (Jan 24, 2012)

I am looking for a true 2-zone receiver. The 609 would meet all of my needs. However, I just read the following review:
*Only complaint is that I use the zone 2 feature for outdoor speakers but this unit only outputs analog signals to zone 2. This is limiting and inconvenient and doubles the cabling required to use this feature. I would have been better off with an A/B speaker switch instead of digital zone control since I would rarely play on zone 2 anything other than what is on zone 1. *
Can anyone confirm (or understand) why zone 2 only plays analog sources? Does this mean you cannot listen to an IPOD or INTERNET (ie, Pandora) on zone 2? If it only plays analog on zone 2, what would you use zone 2 for? a cassette deck or some other outdated technology. :dontknow:


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

Every source I own has two channel analog out and I use them _all_ almost on a daily basis, hope you dont consider my gear too outdated! :laugh:

Ipod, not sure dont own one, a headphone jack is two channel analog in minijack form. Pandora is provided by either a blu ray player (all have analog audio out) _or_ by the AVR itself (IE you automatically have Panadora in all zones of your AVR if its so equipped)


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

Oh to answer your second question, I use my zone 2 for everything I do in zone 1. Except the projector in zone 2 is fed component and the speakers are fed two channel analog, verses everything HDMI in zone 1. The Oppo blu ray player provides pandora and netflix plus obviously movies and music on disk in either zone. I also use the monitor out (composite video) on the AVR in both zone 1 and 2 for video support when I dont want to use the projectors in either zone 1 or 2. So the Oppo is always connected by either HDMI, component or composite for video. Either HDMI or two channel analog for audio.

Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided not to allow the HDMI and their analog cable (with component and analog audio break-outs) to fit together in the back of the console at the same time, so I do have to swap cables when I game in zone 2: hdmi cable out and the big analog cable goes in.


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## kenbola (Jan 24, 2012)

Ty-
Thanks so much for the quick response! I feel soooo much better now! Just to make sure understand, since the onkyo 609 is an internet receiver, it will be able to deliver internet audio (ie Pandora) to both zone 1 and zone 2, correct? And for any external sources, if the HDMI does not deliver audio sound, then just connect an additional pair of RCA audio jacks, correct?


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

TBH I never used my TX-NR3007's Pandora feature, I always used a blu ray player as I liked the on-screen Pandora navigation better than the Onkyo's. That having been said, if FM radio works in zone 2 I would imagine any internet source you tune, within the AVR, would also work in zone 2. 

Speaking of FM radio, heres a bit of trivia for ya: Did you know main power (zone 1) must be powered on just to change the radio station in zone 2 with an Onkyo AVR? Yep, found that one little quirk very annoying when I owned the Onkyo, luckily the Marantz design doesnt require zone 1 power for any zone 2 function, but I digress... 

To your second question, neither my former Onkyo nor my current Marantz will convert HDMI audio to two channel analog audio (even if the digital source is two-channel), so yes I would _count_ on running two-channel analog cables for each and every source, its not a loss of quality its just an extra cable .


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

Oh, and one other thing to consider about multiple zones, cable companies do not like you using multiple outputs on their cable boxes, theyd much rather charge you for a second box (which seriously complicates recorded programming if youre a DVR user and juggling recordings between two boxes). So if you plan on feeding one display HDMI (like a zone 1 AVR) and another display component (like a zone 2 AVR) youll likely need to pay an extra $25 a month for a second cable box. An HDMI splitter (even powered) is unlikely to work with your cable box also, it didnt for me anyway. Just my experiences with Comcast and their DVR.


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## kenbola (Jan 24, 2012)

Ty- thanks again for the terrific info. You have really helped me 
I have a small home audio/TV mounting business. Most of my customers want at least 2 zones- a TV room and outdoor speakers is pretty much standard for my installations. That being said, I am always researching 2 zone receivers. Years ago all we had was A, B, and A+B buttons! Now it is more sophisticated. From my standpoint multi-source/multi-zone should be exactly that--- without a lot of "glitches". Ie, you mentioned zone 1 has to be on to operate zone 2- that is a silly glitch (but one my customers can live with). Keep in touch!


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