Onkyo TX-NR1000
The Onkyo TX-NR1000 was the company's flagship home theater receiver of the mid-2000s. It sat at the very top of the lineup with an original MSRP of $4,999. As Audioholics noted in its coverage of the period, that was twice the price of Onkyo's own TX-NR905. It also earned a spot in CNET's "Best audio/video receivers of 2005 (so far)" roundup.
The TX-NR1000 used a modular, card-based design. It was marketed as the first hardware-upgradable receiver, and owners could swap in newer A/V connection cards as formats changed instead of replacing the whole unit. In practice the upgrade path was thin. One owner on AVS Forum noted that the only upgrade card Onkyo ever offered for XM, Sirius, and HD radio was a $350 - $400 item.
The NR1000 put out 150 watts across all seven channels into 8-ohm speakers. It carried THX Ultra2 certification and supported the then-current THX, Dolby, and DTS processing modes, including Dolby Pro Logic IIx. It was heavy - one seller described it as too heavy to move - and it had a large reservoir of 33,000 µF of capacitance. The receiver included FM/AM and internet radio, HDMI input and output, and support for i.LINK-ready sources. A silver version was offered as the TX-NR1000S.
Owners remain impressed by the TX-NR1000's raw power and build quality. As one forum comment put it, Onkyo never built another receiver that matched this one's power and build. The HDMI implementation, though, was widely regarded as poor, and the high original price combined with a lack of sustained manufacturer support left some early adopters frustrated. By the late 2000s, the receiver could be found on the used market for a fraction of its original cost, with asking prices ranging from around $200 to $1,400 depending on condition and era. Capacitor replacement kits for the unit are still sold as repair parts.
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