Onkyo TX-SR500 Audio/Video Receiver

Rating:
Summary: Great entry-level home theater receiver
Review: 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.