Onkyo TX-NR5007

Onkyo are being watched with great interest in the world of home theater, and the Onkyo TX-NR5007, being the top receiver in their new lineup is the subject of much scrutiny. This is their elite unit with the highest specifications making it the most expensive but still reasonably priced for a product of this caliber. Has Onkyo hit a winning formula with this unit or did they fail to hit the podium? We review – you decide!

Onkyo TX-NR5007 Receiver | More Details

Design

The whole group of three elite receivers have the same styling. In fact you would be hard pushed to tell them apart, so on removing it from the box we had a definite sense of deja vu as this was the last of the three we looked at. So, a quick recap in case you haven’t seen any of them before. Onkyo have made these three retro style, a nice chunky unit that has a definite feel of the old fashioned, now old technology video cassette recorder about it, but we like it. Many units from competitors have been made with the slick clean ultra modern styling so it is good to see a manufacturer not afraid to be different. The unit is black which is standard, but it looks good and would be an excellent addition to your home entertainment stand.

The back of the unit isn’t as regimented as some, but you won’t see it, and they have taken great care to label the connections. You can view the back panel by clicking the ‘more images’ link above.

Overall this is an eye catching piece of kit.

Features

Onkyo have up the ante with 9.2 channels in this receiver, each of which will shake the room with a 145-watt punch. With 9.2 channels you will have more flexibility in setup. You can run all 9 channels or have a full 7.2 system with two channels for a second zone. Alternatively set it up to power 2 independent stereo zones in addition to a 5-channel theater set-up. The choice is yours.

We are seriously impressed with the performance here. Add to that the fact that the Onkyo TX-NR5007 also has 8 HDMI inputs, one of them in front. The receiver has dual parallel HDMI outputs, allowing for display of current programming on dual monitors, simultaneously or independently, for increased setup flexibility.

The list of technologies is massively impressive, featuring Audyssey MultEQ processing for room correction and auto-setup, a full complement of audio decoders, and 32-bit Burr Brown DACs. All of these technologies have combined to see the TX-NR5007 being awarded the much coveted THX Ultra 2 Plus certification, which as long term review readers will know, is a hard award to get, with the good people at THX being a stickler for criteria, and rightly so, as this ensures that this award remains highly valued and gives the consumer a clear indication of the standard of kit they are looking at. This means that the Onkyo TX-NR5007 is one stunning piece of kit, and seems at this point in the review to be on target quite comfortably for that first place podium position.

This is a network ready receiver, and has also very cleverly been built to work with Windows 7 enabling you to incorporate PC-based audio and internet radio into your home theater set-up. Again, hats off to the technical guys at Onkyo. Connection is through an Ethernet cable. Although the unit can support infrared technologies, this isn’t really a stable enough technology to seriously claim to be a network tool. It would have been really nice to see the inclusion of WiFi or bluetooth technology as both are much more stable. This is the one flaw we have found so far for the Onkyo TX-NR5007, although we would be happy to live with it.

We love the music capabilities on this box of tricks, and we really did struggle to find a music format that it couldn’t play. It seems to be that virtually every one is on the list. The sound possibilities are almost endless, and you will have hours of fun exploring the various surround sound functions, and there is going to be more than one setting that suits you. The sound qualities are phenomenal. Whether you want to recreate a full symphony orchestra or just want to hear all the sound effects coming at you from every angle in your favorite high action movie, you are not going to be disappointed – it’s all here.

In terms of picture, we have said it before and we will say it again. Onkyo do not fail to impress. The picture quality is always first rate with no instability or jaggies. We love the upscaling technologies, which means that you can play some picture formats that have not been recorded in Blu-ray or High Definition formats and this clever box will clean up the pictures and pump them out in almost high definition quality. Certainly a whole lot better than the original SD resolution.

Bottom Line

This is an anorak’s dream unit. There is function after function to explore and set up. However, it is also an easy receiver to get to grips with, so if you are not so technically minded then you can set this up and leave it alone and still be more than happy with the home cinema experience that you have created. If you do understand more of the technologies then you really have the scope to create a completely perfect home entertainment system for your house that you will love listening to and watching for years to come. For the money this is a cracking unit, but sadly adds weight to the middle AV receiver being almost pointless, as the lower range is good for those who don’t want anything too complex or fussy. The Onkyo TX-NR5007 certainly impresses at the top of the range, and we would choose this unit over the middle one any day of the week – it just oozes class and as we said before is packed to the hilt with technologies. The race is over, and we can confirm that the Onkyo TX-NR5007 has come in on pole and gets the gold medal from us.

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