Build quality.Input flexibility.Ease of use. Conveys nuances as well as dynamic transients.

Discontinued status. Difficult to acquire.

This unit has a much lower noise floor than the Sony ES model I owned before the 939. The Onkyo sound is very addicting. The natural timbre and tones are present even in the midst of dynamic transients, in movies or in music. If softness and sweetness is present in the venue, that is what you will get. On movie special effects, i.e. explosions, you will not hear this amp clip. You get the whole enchillada!! You get THX processing with Dolby Digital and Pro Logic modes. Set-up is a breeze with either automatic set-up (with accompanying microphone) or manual set-up. You cannot screw it up. Factory presets are easily defaulted to if needed. Discreet components are used in place of IC chips. Hence, the lower noise floor. This is a 'high current' design amplifier section and it translates into feeling the bullets hit you in the chest, not just whiz past your head. Your house will shake, your ears will love you and all your friends will be envious. This is power under refinement with all the subtleties and cinematic experiences at your fingertips. I have never felt like I was running out of amp as with the Sony ES receiver. If music is as important to you as movies, this is your receiver. Even if you are not gifted with "electronic equipment savy" this is the one for you!! Not many left. Scarf one up at closeout prices and you will hit a home run!!

Similar Products Used:

Sony ES and Onkyo "5" hundred series. Harmon Kardon. Technics.

Build Quality
Warm Sound
Receiver Layout

Remote
Tuner a little weak
No DTS (although you can add a card inside, myself I donÕt care)

First I want mention that I was waiting for the 989 to come out before posting my review. I wanted to see what Onkyo have change in the new top of the line receiver.

I have the 939 for less then a year now and must say that the new 989 does not come close to the build quality of 939 although more channels and features but you can see that Onkyo did cut corners on the new one. No wonder Onkyo removed the Entegra symbol from it's name. Just put the two receivers side by side with the model # covered and ask someone who doesn't know Onkyo line which is the better one and they will point to the 939.

The 939 in a full Non Negative Feedback output where all the rest are REDUCED Feedback, this part is equal to the best audio amps. It have Pre-out and Pre-in connection so you can add a power amplifier and a pre-amplifier if you see need for. I will give the Amp and pre amp part of it a full 5.

The 939 is dead quite no hiss, no hum at any volume in any channel, in any mode. It has plenty of power to drive any speaker ,efficient or not to extreme loudness. The sound is very natural and it is very close to my Jolida Tube system, although will not equal. (Didn't find yet a receiver to beat my Tube gear).

The 939 comes with a microphone to balance the speakers, at first I could not make it to work no matter how quite the room was; I found out that the receiver found something wrong with my speaker cables, as soon as I replaced them everything works like it should.

The layout on the receiver is well design and very easy to use, you can see by the display which connection is active to what output etc. Also the display is very large so you can easily read it 15 feet away without a problem.

The only thing I will love to get from 989 it's the remote. The 939 remote is the weak part of the system, I love-hate it; I love the way it stand up, it's the only remote I never looking for; it is standing like a solder waiting for battle; I program it to work with all my system parts. I however don't like that it do's not have a lightup buttons, the audio selector button is mechanical that you move from side to side which I'm afraid that will quit one day. I will give the remote a 4.

The Tuner is good and easy to use and sound great on strong signals. It does not pull weak signal very well so I'll give it a 4 for the tuner part.

Conclusion;
This is great receiver that sound great in stereo and movies, and you can find it used at ridiculously $1,000 to $1,2000 price rang.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 5700, Marantz SR-19, and more