ONKYO TX-SR500 A/V Receiver

by Onkyo

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 14.8 x 17.1 x 5.9 inches ; 22 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 22 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000665PB
• Item model number: TX-SR500
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,096 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 9, 2002

Product Description

Onkyo A/V Receiver

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great entry-level home theater receiver, July 30, 2002

By 

C. Robinson (San Mateo, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ONKYO TX-SR500 A/V Receiver (Electronics)

I've had this unit for a month and have been very happy with it; very hard to beat in this price range. We only watch about 4 DVDs a month (at the most), and our home theater setup is in a fairly small room (13x15 ft.), so it didn't make sense to go for a higher end unit. This is the least expensive high-current power I could find.

Weaknesses:
- The remote is small, with lots of closely spaced buttons and tiny lettering. It provides a lot of control over the receiver, and does a 'better than expected' job controlling my JVC TV set, but does nothing for my Sony CD player, Phillips DVD player, or Panasonic VCR.
- May not be enough power for a large room (see strengths, below). If both of these are serious issues for you, you should definitely consider the next model up, an additional [price].

Strengths:
- Excellent for the price.
- Easy to set up & tweak.
- Full home theater alphabet soup support: Dolby Digital, DTS, Pro-Logic II
- 'Family friendly' design: no bass & treble knobs for your youngster to mess with, and it has one of those volume controls that is always where it was the last time you turned it off (so you won't blow your speakers upon power up because your kids cranked it when you weren't watching).
- High-current power supports the use of higher-end speakers, like Paradigm, PSB, NHT, etc.
- Lots of loud, clear sound. Don't let the 65 watts fool you. If this unit were a Sony, they'd probably tell you it was 80 watts. Here's the rub: for full, 5.1 channel DVD watching, I need to turn this unit up to about 80 (on a scale of 0-100) to get loud, theater-level sound, and I'm in a small, 13x15 foot room. If the room was much bigger, you could be hitting your head on the ceiling of what this receiver can produce. The good news is this: even turned up almost all the way, I'm hearing no noticable distortion. Also, what I consider "loud, theater-level sound", my wife considers "Oh my gosh, will you turn that thing down, you're going to deafen the baby". 'Loud' is all relative.

Overall, This is a good splurge unit for a home theater newbie who wants to expand beyond the 'home theater in a box' scene, and its also a good unit for 'budget audiophiles' who don't live in a barn, a loft, or a mansion.