Onkyo TX-SR607

I don’t have much to add from other reviews. This is a simply wonderful receiver. I can find only one fault with it (see below) and it’s not even Onkyo’s fault.

The feature set is quite complete, and it appeared to me that there was little reason to pay more for features in Onkyo’s more expensive models in the same line (e.g. THX certified sound). I was also very impressed with how easy it was to set up (with the auto speaker calibration) and a very effective universal remote control which worked with all of my equipment except my Playstation 3 (which doesn’t have an IR remote).

While I’m not a true audiophile, I know what good sound is. Also, I recently had a friend over who owns a $100,000 system to audition my set up. We both agreed that for a $400 receiver, the Onkyo produces a wonderful, smooth sound. My Onkyo replaced a well regarded Denon receiver which had cost over $1,000 new and there is simply no comparison in the quality — the Onkyo is far superior. I am using my Onkyo to drive some Magnepan speakers (which are excellent by the way) but are known to need a lot of good clean power to run effectively.

My only criticism is how opaque “surround sound” has become these days. Both Dolby and DTS have introduced quite a few artificial processed surround sound modes that to my ears do not sound very good. The receiver doesn’t do a great job making it clear whether you are getting the true surround sound from the source or a fake “processed” mode. To make matters worse, it actually requires some setup from your BluRay DVD player to get the right output (or it did at least from my PS3). You have a choice of allowing your player to do the processing and output a multichanel PCM signal or to allow the receiver to do the processing. What I found interesting was that BOTH of these modes were turned off on the PS3 by default so I was actually getting no true surround sound and it was very unclear why…anyway, none of this is Onkyo’s fault…but I mention it in the review to point out that you should make SURE you are getting the full output from your player. Listening to content in DTS HD from a BluRay player is simply magical…but I bet a surprising number of people who have the equipment capable of doing so are not hearing it…

Reviewed by : Dylan,   Jan 24, 2010