Onkyo TX-SR607 - Conclusion

CONCLUSION

For the price, the TX-SR607 is remarkable. It offers more than receivers costing twice as much. Sound quality is extremely good from every section and excellent from SACD. This is a modern receiver devoid of superfluous tat, yet able to cope with legacy formats: in conjunction with an Oppo BDP-83 it can play everything, and very well. It is remarkable value and something of an eye popper quality wise. I don't know how Onkyo do it.

A budget AV receiver that offers fine results all round, amazing at this price!

ONKYO TX-SR607        £500

Onkyo UK

+44(0) 1494 681515

www.onkyo.co.uk

FOR

- handles all digital formats

- good VHF/FM tuner

- SACD

AGAINST

- shaky speaker terminals

- unlovely appearance

- runs hot

MEASURED PERFORMANCE

Small and cheap it may be, but the TX-SR607 produced no less than 120 Watts into 8 Ohms under test, and even more into 4 Ohms - 180 Watts. It soon ran hot when pushed this hard; the heatsinking inside is limited and relays tripped after a short period of 15 secs or so to limit output, but it survived heavy testing all the same. So this receiver has the power to drive almost any loudspeaker.

Distortion levels were low, reaching a maximum of 0.03% at 10kHz. The harmonic structure was extended and crossover dominated all the way up the power scale, so treble may lack real sweetness.

An analogue input signal through the A/D could not exceed 2.2V, a limit avoided by selecting Direct or Pure Direct. Whilst noise was low in these modes, it rose to -84dB through the input ADC. Input sensitivity was very high at 200mV so the Onkyo will accommodate external low gain phono stages; there is no phono input.

Frequency response of the VHF/FM tuner measured flat to 10kHz and is very accurate. There is an mpx filter to remove pilot tone at 19kHz, introducing -58dB rejection. Hiss was low at -70dB (IEC weighted) at full quieting but the TX-SR607 needed a high 1.8mV (p.d.) from the aerial to achieve this - double the usual 0.8mV or so, so it is insensitive and needs a decent aerial for minimum hiss. Measured IHF 50dB stereo sensitivity was poor at 120uV, unsurprisingly.

Frequency response for CD through the D/A convertors via the optical S/PDIF digital input was absolutely flat, reaching 21kHz (-1dB). Distortion was low too, measuring 0.21% at -60dB. With high resolution digital (24bit PCM) just 0.05% distortion was measured at -60dB, showing the SR607 is able to resolve high resolution digital audio. Bandwidth with 96kHz sample rate extended to 48kHz (-1dB) and 192kHz to 90kHz our analysis shows - excellent results. Sadly, with DSD code from SACD bandwidth reached just 22kHz (-1dB), a poor result. SACD almost matched PCM linearity at -60dB returning a 0.08% distortion figure - some consolation. It should sound smooth as a result.

The TX-SR607 measured very well in nearly all areas. The VHF tuner is insensitive, but will sound good with a decent aerial. SACD wasn’t reference quality, bit it was decent all the same and high definition digital from BD will sound very good. NK

Power 120 Watts

Frequency response 0Hz-122kHz

Separation 80dB

Noise (A/D, Direct) -84/-102dB

Distortion 0.005%

Damping factor 28

CD/DVD/SACD

Frequency

response (-1dB) 2Hz-21, 48, 90kHz

Separation 88dB

Noise -105/107/108dB

Distortion (-60dB) 0.21, 0.05, 0.08%

VHF TUNER

Frequency response 10Hz-10kHz

Stereo separation 40dB

Distortion (50% mod.) 0.15%

Hiss (CCIR) -70dB

Signal for minimum hiss 1.8mV

Sensitivity (stereo) 120µV

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 192k

DISTORTION, 24bit