Onkyo TX-RZ50 · problems & reliability report

Onkyo TX-RZ50 problems: what real owners report

29% of 103 verified Onkyo TX-RZ50owners don't recommend it, and 2 describe specific problems — based on real owner comments from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.

For balance: 61% recommend it. This page collects the complaints so you know what you're signing up for — read the full owner report for both sides. How we score

Trend
Recent owners are more negative than older ones — the last six months run 0% recommend vs 61% all-time. Whatever the issues are, they aren't going away.

Most common complaints

In owners' own words

“Not having two independent subwoofer outputs is definitely a non-small thing this unit gets wrong”
— @grantmoon624 on YouTube
“I just wish it had balanced outputs to maximize the Emotiva amp I’m getting.”
— @weduhpeople8504 on YouTube
“Onkyo’s removal of InteliVolume and dynamic volume left me so disappointed with this receiver”
— @speedracer9132 on YouTube
“por el precio la calidad de construccion deja mucho que desear”
— @natoliR3n on YouTube
“I hate my rz50 for all the handshaking issues I have. I need to have weird work around behaviors in order to not brick the image”
— MrRipley15 on Reddit
“Sorry but I have ptsd from my old onkyo rz50 , everyday there was something new wrong with it an I had to replace it a few times before just switching to Denon!”
— bossn9ne916 on Reddit
“Had bad experience with onkyo tx-rz50. I received it with one height speaker producing static sound and few months later it stopped working. Their support is bad”
— Huge_Craft_6591 on Reddit
“if you turn on Dirac, with or without Base Control, or Base Management, there is a horribly audible hiss which becomes straining over an extended period of time if you are watching a movie. For me, that is a deal breaker.”
— Major-Ad-8585 on Reddit
“I bought the Onkyo RZ50 a few weeks ago and returned it. I had a Marantz 7011 and now a yamaha a8a. The onkyo sounded terrible compared to my yamaha.”
— sittingmongoose on Reddit
“my RZ50 HDMI board failed with less than 50 hours of use on it. Amazon is refunding the purchase. The receiver was really nice till this.”
— tecky1kanobe on Reddit
“The RZ50 is going back. Kept having issues with the audio dropping while watching movies/TV. And IMO it sounded quite a bit worse after Dirac than without it.”
— DenseBathroom3202 on Reddit
“I have exactly the same issue with the hiss when Dirac is turned on on my RZ50. I had it with my previous B&W speakers and now also with my new Canton speakers.”
— rppjr on Reddit

Setup quirks & things to watch for

Not complaints — practical notes from owners that didn't affect the score.

“The RZ50 only supports a **single** sub output, meaning DIRAC can't optimize multiple subs even if you paid for the subwoofer license (DLBC).”
— sotired3333 on Reddit
“I just got my Onkyo TX-RZ50 as well. Dirac didn't work wired for me.”
— Soft_Ad8100 on Reddit
“i just use the rz 50 for processing for now until the new onkyo processor comes out or I get an anthem avm 70”
— Ripcord_mark_7 on Reddit
“I've seen this a couple times since adding the RZ50 to my HDMI pipeline... Some picture drops”
— MadMyers on AVS Forum
“RZ50 owner here that would love to see sound format prominently displayed instead of source”
— StopPlayingRoney on Reddit
“The DRX 3.4 could not hack it - but the sound cleaned up once I removed the L & R front channels from it (including C)... the amps are fine, but the power supply runs out of current. Running with external power amps, the sound quality was on a par with the older beasts...”
— dlaloum on AVS Forum
“I also had an RZ50 before the X6800H, but I didn't have any noise issues”
— AvailableShine8929 on Reddit
“Only turn on AVR when needed, and CEC works just fine”
— Happy_Bad-_- on Reddit
Weighing it up? The full report has the other side — what 61% of owners like about it, who it's for, and every sourced quote. Full Onkyo TX-RZ50 owner report →