Onkyo TX-SR507 5.1-Channel A/V Surround Home Theater Receiver (Black)

Lots of settings for an enjoyable listening experience. I have only one disappointment. Onkyo advertises that you can play a separate source on zone 2 speakers. When I hooked up my I-pod on the optional connecting dock, I could not get it to play on zone 2 speakers. Went back to the manual and found that zone 2 will only play analog audio, not digital. No where will you find that fact until you purchase the receiver and read the manual. With all the new products putting out digital audio I find this very disappointing. So now I had to buy a speaker splitter so I can enjoy my I-pod in another room. If Onkyo ever upgrades zone 2 to all audio I would then give it a 5 star rating.

I am replacing my 17 year old Onkyo receiver and bought this after a bit of research. Much improved over the years and sounds better than the old unit. I love the sound and the easy setup. The instruction manual is great.

I have a variety of components, some HDMI, some composite video, some digital video, etc. As mentioned in other reviews, this unit will only output the same format that is input. This means that if you have composite video in, you will need to output composite video. For my situation, this meant a variety of output cables and additional button pressing when switching between components (e.g. cable box to DVD player).

Considering the cost of cables, I decided to go with the TX-SR607 because it converts all inputs to HDMI output. This means no adjustments to the TV input when switching components and no additional cables. Wish I knew this before I ordered the product and thought I would share my experience.

If all of my components were HDMI I would certainly choose this receiver.

I finally broke down and decided to put my faithful ol' Onkyo SV-525 out to pasture (or into the garage, to be exact) and replace it with an AV receiver with HDMI so I could take full advantage of my Samsung LCD. I did some research and settled on either Yamaha or Onkyo; my old Onkyo has treated my very well, and I used to have a Yamaha shelf system that kicked out way more sound than it should have so I don't think I could have made a wrong decision, as both seem to be outstanding. The main differentiator was the Zone 2 operation, as I run a pair of speakers out on my patio; the 507 offers Zone 2 at $349 while the first Yamaha model to offer Zone 2 is the RX-V665 at $549. I was still debating but when I saw the 507 offered for $299, it was a no-brainer.

When I hooked it up, I immediately popped in a CD to test it out and - uh oh - it sounded horrible compared to my old one! No low end, very hollow mids - it sounded pathetic. After making the knee-jerk decision that I should have gone with the Yamaha, I gathered myself and decided to run the Audyssey calibration. What a difference! All of sudden, I was in the middle of a Dave Matthews concert as opposed to hearing it from my car out in the parking lot. It senses the power and range of each speaker, including the sub, and decides what and how much to send to each speaker; after it saves the settings, you are free to tweak it as you wish.

I use it quite a bit for music and concert DVDs and whether in the stereo mode or one of the surround modes, this receiver creates a soundstage that is much bigger than my old unit. With the center channel disabled for CDs, the music is strong and powerful. On a DVD, the 5.1 puts you right in the middle of the performance - very smooth mids, crisp highs and it does a great job blending the lower range in with the sub when using the LFE output. Sound-wise, I am very happy with this receiver. I am running 2 Yamaha in-wall 150W dual 6.5s for the L and R channels and a 175W BIC FH6 center, also with dual 6.5s and a horn tweeter. For the rears, I installed 150W 6.5-inch BIC Muros, and my sub is also BIC, the V1020. (I highly recommend the BIC America speaker lines as well - not commercially sexy or flashy, but they are consistently near the top of consumer tests and deliver great sound for about half of what you'll pay for the better-known popular brands.) Anyway, the Onkyo drives them very smoothly with a lot of power and depth.

As far as the video, it seems to perform very well, too. I am running digital cable through one HDMI and upscaling DVD through another HDMI. Signal seems to be passed through cleanly, as the picture looks great on both. The only modification you may want to make when hooking up would be to run an additional RCA cord from your cable box to an unused audio input on the receiver in order to allow you to listen to the cable audio through Zone 2 - you cannot select an HDMI source to send to the Zone 2 speakers, but this will solve your issue. Run the cable sound to, say, the CD input on the receiver and then select CD as your Zone 2 output.

I'm not a gamer so I can't really attest to the gaming modes, but if they are anything like the choices you have for video and audio, you should be happy. I do like the fact that they included Zone 2 controls on the front of the unit - this is a nice improvement, as on my old one you had to use the remote for adjustments. Do note, though, that when you switch on Zone 2, the surround function will be disabled and both zones will be in stereo mode. Not a big deal to me but if that is a deal-breaker for you, you'll have to drop the extra cash on the Yamaha. Another nice addition is the front mini-jack input that enables you to plug in an iPod without having to buy the dock or take up an input with RCAs just to used a iPod once in a while.

As I said, I don't think I could have made a wrong decision between the Onkyo or the Yamaha - both are excellent. Crutchfield suggested that the higher current of the Onkyo would result in a cleaner sound, but supposedly that can make it run a bit hot as well. (I haven't noticed any problems yet as far as that goes.) I will say that, if you have a lot of gaming devices and other video devices, the Yamaha may be a better choice for you, as it offers more HDMI inputs. But if you are only going to use 4 HDMI inputs and are not interested in 7.1, this is an excellent option. You don't often find a powered Zone 2 option on a receiver in this price range, either. For the money, you will not find a better quality receiver; if you don't mind spending a little more, think about last year's Onkyo 606, this year's 607 or HT-RC160. I got 14 trouble free years out of my last Onkyo and expect I'll do the same with this one!

I am very pleased with this Onkyo TX-SR507 receiver. It replaced my Onkyo TX-SR607 which cost twice as much and now had been struck by a lightning surge. This new receiver has better balanced sound than my previous more expensive receiver. The HDMI inputs were a welcome addition and made operation of my system flow much easier with less cables. I could have wished for one more Optical Audio input but I was able to use the Coax Audio input which performs almost as well. The automatic audio setup process worked much better than on my old system. I only needed to make some small tweaks to get the sound I like. The smaller physical size was also welcome making it easier to place in my entertainment center. Anyone need my old Onkyo TX-SR607 for parts? If so email me at [...] and we will talk.

I replaced an older Yamaha (non HDMI/HD) receiver with this one. The Onkyo was easy to set up although it took a while to figure out how to set all the options I needed. Sounds great. My biggest complaint is with the manual and Onkyo support. Since I am new to HDMI devices I had alot of trouble in making all my components work since my old DVD player and new Onkyo iPod dock are not HDMI. Two emails from Onkyo support were even more vague than the manual so I had to spend a while in trial and error until I got it all working. Not fun when your TV and equipment fit tightly in a cabinet and you have to take everything out to plug, replug while trying to keep all the cables as neat as possible.

I was going to buy the SR607 since it was highly recommended from the electronIc store clerks. One of them even hugged the receiver while telling me how much he loved it!!. However, I didn't need 7:1 surround sound so settled on this one and it sounds great. Can't wait to get a Blu Ray player next.