Onkyo HT-S9400THX Home Theater in a Box HT Labs Measures

HT Labs Measures

Two channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.2% distortion at 106.3 watts
1% distortion at 113.5 watts

Two channels driven into 4-ohm loads:
0.2% distortion at 131.4 watts
1% distortion at 145.6 watts

This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing close-miking of all woofers) frequency response of the L/R satellite (purple trace) and subwoofer (blue trace). The passive loudspeaker was measured at a distance of 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input.

The satellite’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +2.56/–0.72 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The –3dB point is at 110 Hz, and the –6dB point is at 96 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 6.83 ohms at 6.2 kHz and a phase angle of –44.92 degrees at 111 Hz. Sensitivity averages 87 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz.

The subwoofer’s close-miked response, normalized to the level at 80 Hz, indicates that the lower –3dB point is at 20 Hz and the –6dB point is at 17 Hz. The upper –3dB point is at 102 Hz.

Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load was –80.11 dB left to right and –83.74 dB right to left. THD+N from the amplifier was less than 0.008% at 1 kHz when driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. The signal-to-noise ratio with an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with “A” weighting was –105.88 dBrA.—MJP

Video Test Bench
Video-wise, the HT-R990 tested wonderfully, even better than some AVRs that cost considerably more. The Qdeo video processor delivered excellent scaling (though I didn't have the opportunity to try the 4K upscaling), and it demonstrated exceptional deinterlacing for film and video sources. It also passed above white and below black with no clipping.

3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD 3:2 SD 2:2 SD MA SD VIDEO CLIPPING LUMA RESOLUTION CHROMA RESOLUTION SCALING
PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS EXCELLENT

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COMMENTS
techguy378's picture

At this price point there's really no reason Onkyo couldn't have included the 6 position Audyssey MultEQ calibration complete with subwoofer calibration. With Audyssey you really don't need THX. Audyssey does everything THX does better. I guess that's why Denon has better sound quality at almost any given price point than Onkyo.

AlexM's picture

Kim,

I have spent a couple months trying to setup the channel levels for HT-S9400THX. Audyssey's 2EQ auto calibration did everything wrong: the calibration sequence for the right and left channels was incorrect; the speaker distances came out completely wrong after calibration. Even after changing the calibration sequence the system sounded very inaccurate.

The firmware update from 12/20/2011 has corrected Audyssey's 2EQ auto calibration problems except for the subwoofer calibration. The channel level for subwoofer has come out +7. I had to manually adjust the subwoofer down to -1.

Bottom line: The real problem with this system is not the speakers, but the incorrect calculations for Audyssey's 2EQ auto calibration.

Onkyo HT-S9400THX sounds 4.5 stars after firmware update.

Naim Audio's picture

Disagree that you don't really need THX - it does fine tune things in my humble opinion.

beysic's picture

After only owning this for 2.5 years, the receiver failed. Sound output stopped and some of the menus like LAN, firmware upgrade, and Remote Controller were disabled (greyed out). One night it worked great and then the next morning it didn't. To my disappointment, it only had 2 years parts and labour and Onkyo wouldn't do anything. If you google 'HT-R990 no sound' there are other users complaining of the exact same symptoms just after their receiver goes out of service, or coming to that date.

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