Onkyo TX-SR674 7.1 Channels Receiver
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- Surround Sound: Dolby Digital® DTS® DTS ES® THX EX® Dolby Pro Logic II DTS Neo:6 DTS 96/24
- THX Certification: No
- Number of Channels: 7.1 Channels
- Type: Receiver
- Surround Mode Power: 95 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.08%
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Great Receiver, Great Sound, Just a Small Hitch
Pros
Great sound, HDMI switching, lighter than previous models, easy setup
Cons
No HDMI 1.3
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Well worth the money if you're looking for a great sounding, solidly built, easy to setup receiver.
After months of research I decided to upgrade or in this case somewhat downgrade from my aging Onkyo TX-SR800 to the new Onkyo line with HDMI switching and connectivity. The goal was to have all my HDMI components (DVD, PS3, Cable box, etc) run into my SR674 and have one line going to the TV, a clean setup. Below is my experience and opinions to date:
Price: I picked up the SR674 for $549 which was $300 less than the SR800 four years ago. The only thing I lost was THX hardware decoding but I gained some extra goodies, including HDMI switching & the EQ auto calibration system.
Build: The SR674 is a lot lighter than the SR800, I attribute this to the fact it's much newer (components have gotten smaller) and the fact it's missing THX. The unit sports a cool blue blacklight on the volume knob, other than that it looks very similar to the older unit and the rest of the line. There is no phono connection on the front, but that didn't bother me. The remote is about 1/3 smaller and doesn't have a backlight unfortunately. All in all it's a pretty solid unit and much easier to move around.
Hookup: As I mentioned before the main reason I purchased this was the HDMI switching. After grabbing a few inexpensive HDMI cables online I was able to run my cable box and PS3 (now also my DVD player) into the receiver and run one line out to the TV (one downside is only two HDMI in to one out). Onkyo delivers as promised but there are some handshake issues with the HDCP from time to time, I understand this to be neither the fault of the TV or receiver, rather the inherent issues with copy protection and HDMI in general. When switching from DVR back to regular cable the picture will flick in and out. When running the PS3 through HDMI I get major blinking at 1080p resolution (this Onkyo will pass through the 1080p signal). I got around this by going into the Onkyo menu (very cool feature) and turning off the audio connection to the hdmi and using the optical cable. This solved most of the blinking problems, but ultimtely I had to use an HDMI to DVI connector to use from the receiver to the TV. Needless to say this is NOT what I wanted for my setup, but it does work now. The cable box uses HDMI 1.1, TV 1.1, PS3 1.3, all compatible according to the foundation, but the blinking tells me otherwise.
Hooking up the speakers was an easy task after everything was wired. Onkyo includes speaker wire labels so you won't get confused dealing with 7 different sets. Probably the coolest thing about the SR674 was their auto EQ calibration system, particuarly for someone like me that has no interest or time to properly tweak each speaker for my room. Included in the box is a small microphone that connects to the front of the unit. From the setup menu you start the calibration. Make sure the room is silent and sit in one of the three main sitting places in your room. Hold the microphone and ear level and start the calibration. The Onkyo will send out several pulses to each speaker in the room. Repeat the process for the other two sitting areas. At the end (10 minutes later) the receiver will crunch the data and auto calibrate the room and speakers for you. Make sure the room is really silent during the test, otherwise you'll have to run the test again.
Sound & Performance: I've been pleasantly surprised with the sound quality to date. I've run everything from an ipod to a DVD-audio disk and the sound is clear, rich and full. Connectivity is important but what's the point without good sound, always to be expected from Onkyo products in my experience.
Price: I picked up the SR674 for $549 which was $300 less than the SR800 four years ago. The only thing I lost was THX hardware decoding but I gained some extra goodies, including HDMI switching & the EQ auto calibration system.
Build: The SR674 is a lot lighter than the SR800, I attribute this to the fact it's much newer (components have gotten smaller) and the fact it's missing THX. The unit sports a cool blue blacklight on the volume knob, other than that it looks very similar to the older unit and the rest of the line. There is no phono connection on the front, but that didn't bother me. The remote is about 1/3 smaller and doesn't have a backlight unfortunately. All in all it's a pretty solid unit and much easier to move around.
Hookup: As I mentioned before the main reason I purchased this was the HDMI switching. After grabbing a few inexpensive HDMI cables online I was able to run my cable box and PS3 (now also my DVD player) into the receiver and run one line out to the TV (one downside is only two HDMI in to one out). Onkyo delivers as promised but there are some handshake issues with the HDCP from time to time, I understand this to be neither the fault of the TV or receiver, rather the inherent issues with copy protection and HDMI in general. When switching from DVR back to regular cable the picture will flick in and out. When running the PS3 through HDMI I get major blinking at 1080p resolution (this Onkyo will pass through the 1080p signal). I got around this by going into the Onkyo menu (very cool feature) and turning off the audio connection to the hdmi and using the optical cable. This solved most of the blinking problems, but ultimtely I had to use an HDMI to DVI connector to use from the receiver to the TV. Needless to say this is NOT what I wanted for my setup, but it does work now. The cable box uses HDMI 1.1, TV 1.1, PS3 1.3, all compatible according to the foundation, but the blinking tells me otherwise.
Hooking up the speakers was an easy task after everything was wired. Onkyo includes speaker wire labels so you won't get confused dealing with 7 different sets. Probably the coolest thing about the SR674 was their auto EQ calibration system, particuarly for someone like me that has no interest or time to properly tweak each speaker for my room. Included in the box is a small microphone that connects to the front of the unit. From the setup menu you start the calibration. Make sure the room is silent and sit in one of the three main sitting places in your room. Hold the microphone and ear level and start the calibration. The Onkyo will send out several pulses to each speaker in the room. Repeat the process for the other two sitting areas. At the end (10 minutes later) the receiver will crunch the data and auto calibrate the room and speakers for you. Make sure the room is really silent during the test, otherwise you'll have to run the test again.
Sound & Performance: I've been pleasantly surprised with the sound quality to date. I've run everything from an ipod to a DVD-audio disk and the sound is clear, rich and full. Connectivity is important but what's the point without good sound, always to be expected from Onkyo products in my experience.
