Onkyo TX-SR702 Review

The User Reviews

Average User Rating: 9.7

1. so far so good

   

   By: dude
   June 15, 2006 @ 11:26 PM

   I got my tx-sr702 about 4 months ago online, found a great deal on a refurbed model that came with a 1 year warrenty (awesome) and the receiver appeared to be brand new out of the box. Im only running a 5.1 yamaha speaker set up right now because im using it in my room untill i move this summer to set up the full 7.1. My roomate had htr 5.1 series yamaha receiver in the living room, I can’t say anything bad about that receiver because it rocks pretty hard for bottom of the line yamaha receiver, then upgraded to a THX select 7.1 kenwood receiver. This kenwood receiver is nice but no “all channel stereo” but the pllx gets it done pretty good. The tx-sr702 gots pretty much every sound field/decoder you’ll ever need even though youll end up mostly using only about 3 or 4 of them. Im using yamah nx-430p speakers which sound great and im just afraid of how awesome this system will sound when i hook up my towers for the full 7.1 in a bigger area. Only drawback to this receiver is the protection breaker, I hate having to worry if i got my super onkyo receiver turned up too loud, but if you got speakers that can handel the amps, high gauge speaker cabel and pleanty of breathing room around the receiver should cover your bases (you would not want to cheap out on speaker cable if your gonna drop the bucks on a high end receiver)

   Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

2. you get your money's worth......

   

   By: portland
   December 14, 2005 @ 5:55 PM

   I have had my tx-sr702 for three weeks.Ilove it.I purchashed it from jr music world refurbished for $399.not a single problem with it at all.My old kenwood vr6070 is now used for zone 2 another nice feature.read the manual make your adjustments via the on screen guide. forget the set up mic you can do better yourself manualy.then your up and running.I also bought jbl e90 towers from jr music a nice match with with this receiver but of course all my speakers are jbl.the tx-sr702 handles any thing I throw at it and more.the double bass feature is way cool also.do your home work and check this out you wont be disapointed.

   Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

3. Exceptional all around home theater

   

   By: Landlocked
   September 10, 2005 @ 6:01 AM

   I thought I’d take a few minutes to share my reasons for selecting an Onkyo TX-SR702 receiver to power my dedicated home theater.

   I’m running a 65” Hitachi projection HDTV, Klipsch RF-3 II mains, an RC-3 II center and four RS-35 surrounds. I am also using a Boston Acoustics PV700 sub.

   Over the past couple of months, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time bringing home and auditioning the following receivers:
   Onkyo TX-SR602
   Yamaha RX-V1500
   Denon AVR 3805
   Harman Kardon AVR 430
   Harman Kardon AVR 630
   Pioneer Elite VSX-56TXi
   Onkyo TX-SR702

   I set out with a $500 budget to upgrade from a four year-old Yamaha 5.1 channel AVR and first went to Onkyo since I have had excellent results with their past products. Beginning with the TX-SR602, I immediately noticed an improvement in overall sound as the Onkyo was fuller in the low and mid range while being less “tiring” than the old Yamaha, which has now been relegated to my family room.

   Since I hadn’t looked at new receivers in some time, I decided to continue my research and went to a local dealer to extensively compare a Yamaha RX-V1500 with the Elite VSX-56TXi and the Denon AVR 3805. All three were located in the same room and the salesman left me alone for over two hours while I ran every type of A/B comparison I could (using essentially the same speakers that I have at home). Realizing that each 7.1 receiver has common home theater, surround sound functions, I decided to focus on music reproduction for these tests and found that the Yamaha and Denon were nearly identical in sound quality. When compared to either Yamaha or Denon, the Elite felt smoother in the low and mid range. Especially when played at lower volumes. However, what the Elite enjoyed in “smoothness” it lacked in “detail”. Since I listen to allot of jazz and vocals… clarity of sound and the subtle nuances of a woodwind or female voice were lacking with the Elite. Out of these three… the Yamaha was the clear winner with its excellent sound definition and expanded home theater functionality.

   While trying to get the smoothness of the Elite and the detail of the Yamaha, I decided next to spend a considerable amount of time researching and bringing home the Harman Kardon AVR430 and AVR630 receivers. The sound was excellent and clearly exceeded that of the Yamaha. Nice and smooth with great attention to detail and overall response. Both are 6.1 receivers and have now been replaced with the AVR435 and AVR635 respectively. I intended to step-up to the new receivers as soon as they became available… probably going with the AVR435 since it was closest (although still higher) to my original budget.

   However, I continued to research the Harman Kardon lines (I had owned an HK receiver nearly 30 years ago), and I began to see several postings questioning the “build quality” of these receivers. A number of people had run into problems and returned or exchanged their initial units until they found one that worked. I also began to see how difficult they were to setup and “tweak” to achieve all of the benefits of their advanced technology.

   Since my home theater is designed to be used by my wife and two children in addition to myself, I began to see how difficult HK would be for them to use when I wasn’t around to set it up for them. In addition, HK’s remote controls are large and unwieldy. Although backlit, the buttons were small and not well labeled for use in the darkness of a home theater application. I’m sure I would have enjoyed tweaking and playing with either of these receivers, however I value my marriage and family and could see where this would quickly become a problem that I wasn’t interested in wrestling with.

   All of this led me back to my first impressions of the Onkyo TX-SR602 so I decided to take a closer look at the next step up… the TX-SR702.

   In addition to more inputs, more power and a lighted remote, the TX-SR702 is also a THX Select certified receiver. While not meaning a whole lot… it does give this receiver some credibility that it meets or exceeds all specifications required for THX Select certification.

   The sound of this receiver met all of my requirements. It was smooth and full yet extremely transparent and detailed at all volume levels. DVD audio is a joy to listen to through this setup and never gets tiring. It provides all of the expected 7.1 surround modes and handles them well for home theater. And, it’s easy to use with a well laid out (although large) backlit remote control.

   And finally… buying this receiver online for just over $600 (shipped) from onecall.com got me everything I wanted in an upgraded system without exceeding my budget by very much. I’m happy AND my wife is happy. Good stuff!

   A final word on onecall.com… this was my first experience with them and I’ll go back for future purchases. First, they are an authorized Onkyo dealer. In addition to a well laid out website, the person I spoke with on the phone was friendly and helpful i

   Strengths:
   Excellent Sound
   Easy to Use
   7.1 channels
   Good, backlit remote

   Weaknesses:
   Not many… see the review.

   Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No