Onkyo unveils Spring 2003 product plans

Onkyo announced their 2003 Spring line, including three new 6.1-channel A/V receivers, two progressive scan DVD players, and four full-featured home theater package systems.

“This is a really solid line for today’s market conditions,” said Don Milks, Onkyo Product Manager. “It is no longer safe to assume HDTV component video is only relevant to the high end customer, and with the increased availability of Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES DVDs, more customers want the option for rear-channel surround.”

With the introduction this month of the TX-SR501, Onkyo completes its goal of making 6.1-channel soundtrack compatibility and HD component video switching standard features on its acclaimed TX-line of A/V receivers. Other features, such as Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES and Neo:6 processing, and adjustable subwoofer crossover points also become standard for the line.

The company’s HTS- line of packaged home theater systems also gets enhanced standard features, with fully half of the systems offered with six amplified channels at 100 watts per channel, Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES and Neo:6 processing, and HD-capable component video switching. All the HTS- systems will include a complete six or seven-piece speaker package, including a powerful 150-Watt subwoofer, and will be available either with or without a matching 6-disc progressive-scan DVD changer.

For source components, Onkyo will introduce a single-disc DVD player and a six-disc DVD changer, each featuring improved progressive scan video output with 54 MHz/10-bit video DACs. In addition, they include Onkyo’s exclusive VLSC circuitry for superior analog output from D/A converters, and are compatible with DVD-R/RW, CD, and CD-R/RWs encoded with WMA and MP3 files, including ID3 tag display.

Products will be introduced between now and the end of May, with additional press materials accompanying each introduction.