Onkyo TX-SR307 AV receiver

The heart of the Home theater system is the AV receiver. A device that has that taken the word “multitask” to unimaginable heights. Right from powering your speakers, to decoding and splitting signals, the AV receiver is very important in your HT system. And Onkyo is one major global player in this field, they have a good presence in India too. Today we have their mid level model called the TX-SR307, let’s see if this is a good ‘first AV receiver’ choice.

Design
The product comes clad fully in a black chassis with a highly populated front and back panels, typical to the genre of the product. The front panel has a large volume knob on its right end, while the power button is located on the opposite, left side. In between, is a large alphanumeric LED screen, lights up in blue fonts. Below that, are 2 row of small black buttons for accessing various functions.

The reciver has a total of 4 HDMIs, all of the passthrough type, which means that digital multichannel audio canot be decoded through it, a separate audio connection needs to be run from source to this for surround sound. This is the common arrangement with lower priced AV receivers. All the cool brand new format, uncompressed audio decoding is only in higher end models, but of course we still have support for Dolby Digital and DTS, plus loads of DSP effects in built the receiver.

There is also the famous and very useful Audyssey feature set, which consists of 3 tools for acoustics, audio dynamic range and loudness correction. The Audyssey 2EQ is a great feature, tried and tested by us. The microphone needed for its use, is supplied.

Specs

• 5.1 AV receiver  with 65 watts per channel
•  DTS, DTS Neo:6 5.1, DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II
• 3 HDMI Inputs and I Output for Video
• 3 Digital Audio Inputs (2 Optical and 1 Coaxial)
• HDMI Pass-Thru (Version 1.3 Compatible with 1080p, Deep Color, and x.v.Color)
• 192 kHz/24-Bit DACs for All Channels
• Crossover Adjustment (40/50/60/80/100/120/150/200 Hz)
• Audyssey 2EQ™ to Correct Room Acoustic Problems and to Calibrate Speakers
• Audyssey Dynamic Volume™ to Maintain Optimal Listening Level and Dynamic Range
• Audyssey Dynamic EQ™ for Loudness Correction
  

Performance
This no frills model of a receiver has a singular purpose, that is to correctly amplify and send audio to your 5 home theater speakers, which we planned to gauge. The results were impressive, and in typical Onkyo style. The sound was in your face a bit, but not spiky and irritating. The entire frequency response was quite even, this included the lower mids and lows, we actually routed the front speakers as ”large” so as to get bass in through it and not through the subwoofer. The bass was tight enough. The overall loudness was decent. It wasn’t shatteringly loud like higher end ones, but as an entry level model, 65 watts per channel is very satisfactory.

Conclusion
At a price of Rs. 25,000 I would have to say that it’s a tad expensive, as Onkyo themselves have full fledged Home Theater in a box for a bit more. It’s a new model, and surely has a very clean and even sounding response, plus the basic features of any entry level receiver. It is definitely recommended as a beginner’s venture into home entertainment but only if it gets a bit cheaper, or a discount is availed.