Onkyo TX-DS494 Home Theater Receiver -- 55 Watts 2 Blow U Away
Written: Mar 28 '02 (Updated Mar 28 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: Dolby Pro Logic II, DD, DTS.
Cons: Runs hot, modest wattage.
The Bottom Line: "All other things being equal, a receiver that runs hot is going to break down sooner than one that doesn't."
|
|
|
| radioguy's Full Review: Onkyo TX-DS494 5.1 Channels Receiver |
This receiver will be replaced in the Onkyo line by the TX-SR500, which is officially scheduled to hit store shelves in April but is already advertised as being in stock at Onecall (Web merchant). The new model is quite similar to the TX-DS494, except its has slightly higher power ratings (65 wpc at 8 ohms versus 55 for the 494) and an adjustable low-pass crossover frequency for the subwoofer output.
Modest but Distortion-Free Power Output
A nice feature of the 494 is that its output, while lower than that of some other competing receivers from manufacturers such as Kenwood, Sony, and Pioneer, is rated at a low 0.08% Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) at 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
The 494 is a solid receiver and you might still see it available as a closeout item. Naturally, it will continue to be sold on e-bay for quite some time. You can get information on the new SR500, as well as complete specs on the 494, at the Onkyo Web site (cut and paste this into your Internet Explorer Address box):
http://www.onkyousa.com
Onkyo Specializes in Audio
One nice thing about Onkyo is that they don't make everything from portable CD players to camcorders. Basically, the company concentrates on audio products (receivers, amplifiers, pre-amps) and the source devices which feed those products (CD players, DVD players, cassette decks).
Build Quality
As long as the power output will be sufficient for your speakers and room size, the audio quality is very good. The biggest drawback of this model is that the case is somewhat compact and the receiver gets quite hot, even when idling. All other things being equal, a receiver that runs hot is going to break down sooner than one that doesn't, though you should get years of trouble-free service from the 494.
Onkyo advertises the 494, and their other receivers, as having an oversized power-supply transformer, heat sinks, and capacitors. Actually, these are not significantly larger or heavier in the 494 than in any other competing brand of receiver.
Another case of marketing-speak is Onkyo's description of this receiver as having a "high-current" amplifier. Onkyo is not the only manufacturer, by the way, who is guilty of using this meaningless phrase. Assuming voltage levels are identical, at any given level of output wattage the level of current will be identical. This is because wattage is simply a function of voltage and current. Were it indeed true that any particular amplifier, at a given wattage, had a "high current" output, then it would have to have a proportionately lower voltage. Marketing-speak strikes again.
The fascia of the 494 is aluminum, which looks nicer than the plastic found on many receivers in this price range but does not, as far as I know, have any effect on the audio output quality of the receiver. Onkyo says the aluminum front "insures chassis rigidity" but, as far as I know, receivers with plastic fronts do not suffer from an undue lack of chassis rigidity.
Features
This receiver is rather stripped down, as far as I/O's and features go, but it covers the basics alright. The various setup parameters are controlled by a couple of switches, along with the LED readout, on the fascia (front face). For example, to control speaker setup, you click the Speaker Setup button which toggles through two-speaker, three-speaker, four-speaker, and five-speaker configurations. Next to the speaker setup button, there's a subwoofer button which activates or deactivates the signal from the sub output to the sub.
Dolby Pro Logic II
The 494 has a good array of surround modes, including Dolby Pro Logic II (DPL II) the latest incarnation of the original surround-sound format, Dolby Pro Logic. It also has Dolby Digital (DD) and DTS, which have become standard on A/V receivers selling for $200 or more. The DPL II feature is missing on many 2001-model receivers, even some selling for quite a bit more than the 494, so it's nice to find this new twist on the old analog DPL format.
The original DPL was a synthetic surround format derived from properly-encoded soundtracks, found on some TV broadcasts, VHS movie tapes, and laser discs. With a DPL-encoded stereo source, this format derives four channels from the original two: a full-range front-right channel, a full-range center channel, a full-range front-left channel, and a single mono limited-range rear channel which is split between two rear-surround (left/right) speakers.
The new DPL II mode will work with not only DPL-encoded two-channel sources, but any stereo source, including VHS tapes with standard (non-DPL) stereo soundtracks, CD's, and FM broadcasts. Instead of the four channels of the original DPL, DPL II creates a "5.1" type of output, similar to the output of DD or DTS modes.
Dolby Digital and DTS
The DD and DTS modes feed full-range output to all the receiver's speaker connections, including front-right, front-center, front-left, rear-right, rear-left, and subwoofer. The five full-range surround speakers in these modes account for the "5.x" in the name of this type of surround sound and the subwoofer accounts for the "x.0," thus giving the term 5.1-channel sound. Of the two types of surround modes, DTS has slightly greater range because it uses less compression. Usually, you find DD and DTS on DVD soundtracks, though there's also a limited selection of music discs available now in the DTS audio format (such as the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" disc).
Remote
The remote that comes with the 494 is one of the compact ones with a bunch of tiny, jammed-together buttons. Because of the similarity of the remotes you find on entry-level receivers, I suspect that these may be OEM products. You can buy much more expensive receivers, such as some of the lower-priced Denon models, and you get remotes that are very similar to this one. That said, it's at least functional. You get a much better remote when you move up one model in the Onkyo line to the TX-DS595 (also being phased out and replaced by a new model, in this case the TX-SR600).
Inputs/Outputs
The 494 has a decent amount of inputs and outputs, including S-Video connections for your video devices (as well as composite-video connections). Keep in mind that if you input a signal in one format, such as composite, that signal must leave the 494 in the same format. It will not, like some receivers, translate from composite to S-Video. However, if you need to mix and match components, such as a composite-video output from a VCR and S-Video from a DVD player, there's a little in-line adaptor at Radio Shack which will take a composite-video input and output S-Video (about $20).
As well as the other usual analog audio inputs (CD, phono, tape I/O, VCR I/O), there is a set of 5.1-channel line-level inputs (front-right, center, front-left, rear-right, rear-left, subwoofer). This allows connection of any device with 5.1-channel outputs, including a DVD-Audio player, a SACD player, or a DVD player with an integral DD or DTS decoder. Keep in mind that there's no bass management with input to the 5.1-channel connections. The audio fed into these jacks goes straight to the amplifier. This can be taken advantage of if you want to pass through an analog feed, such as the output from your CD player, without having the signal affected by any digital processing. For example, you could connect your R/L analog CD player outputs to the front-right and front-left 5.1-channel input jacks.
The one place where things might get tight is with the number of digital-audio jacks, which are limited to two of the coaxial type (used with a coaxial cable terminated in RCA plugs) and one of the optical type (used with a thin fiber-optic line terminated in small square clear-plastic plugs). If you have more than one device with optical-output only, such as, let's say, a Panasonic DVD-RV31 DVD player and a satellite (DBS) receiver, both of which have an optical output only for their digital-audio bitstream, then you'll have a problem. You can circumvent this with a digital combiner, such as one of the models that will accept three optical inputs and then has a single optical output (about $30).
A couple of nice things to see on the back panel are a phono input and binding-post speaker connectors. At this price, you usually don't find any phono input at all and speaker connections are usually of the spring-clip variety. In fact, the phono connection has disappeared on the replacement model for the 494, the SR500. Spring clips don't actually create a significantly higher amount of resistance than binding posts, but binding posts look more rugged and, for some people, that aesthetic difference has a big impact on their psycho-acoustical musical appreciation experience.
Caveat Emptor
Don't buy an extended warranty for this receiver. Onkyo already covers it with a two-year warranty. Just make sure you buy it from an authorized dealer, or at least a dealer from whom you know you'll be getting the full Onkyo warranty coverage. Many credit card companies will double, or add a year to, the warranty period.
I would only recommend an extended warranty (i.e., a service plan), if you happen to be buying the receiver from a non-authorized dealer. Naturally, I would only suggest that option if it saves a lot of money. With a receiver that's already priced this low, it's usually not worth the savings to mess around with a shady retailer. In such a case, if you do buy a service plan, read the fine print and, of course, make sure it's not voided on purchases from a non-authorized dealer or on gray-market merchandise (which would mean an Onkyo receiver intended for sale in a country other than the U.S. and lacking Onkyo warranty coverage for the U.S.).
If you are buying this from a bricks and mortar retailer as a closeout or demo item, make sure that you have the same full return policy the store offers on other new merchandise. The store might tell you that they'll only give a store credit if you return a demo model, but this is negotiable. If you insist, they'll give you full return privileges (make sure it says this on your receipt before you hand over your cash or credit card).
Your retailer may also push you to buy premium-priced connection cables with the receiver. Premium cables offer no performance advantage over standard cables from reputable manufacturers such as Recoton, Belken, Radio Shack, and RCA. Also, you should first check to see if you don't already have most of the needed interconnection cables. For example, most DVD players and VCR's come with a combination composite-video/left-audio/right-audio RCA-plug connection cable (generally called an "A/V" cable, with red, white, and yellow color-coded plugs).
You might want to add an S-Video cable, which will usually not be included with a DVD player or S-VHS VCR. Don't spend more than $20 for a 12-foot S-VHS cable. Regular RCA-plug L/R audio, composite-video, and A/V cables should not cost you more than $10 to $15 for a six-foot cable. With optical and coaxial digital-audio cables, there's no need to go over about $20 (these usually come in three or six-foot lengths).
They may also push premium speaker wire. Generally, this is of a very heavy gauge (thickness). First, as with interconnects, there's no need to get anything fancier than one of the standard products from RCA, Recoton, or even Home Depot (where you can buy speaker wire on bulk spools).
Second, while it is true that, as you increase the gauge of speaker wire, the resistance decreases, once you reach a certain level of resistance, decreasing the gauge of the wire doesn't appreciably have an effect on the kind of power levels involved in sending an audio signal to a speaker (generally around one watt, and only hitting anything near the receiver's rated output on a few musical peaks).
You should use a heavier gauge speaker wire if the runs from your receiver to your speaker are unusually long. Here is a conservative guide to speaker runs and their associated recommended gauges from the Crutchfield Web site: under 80 feet, 16 gauge; 80 to 200 feet, 14 gauge; over 200 feet, 12 gauge.
Conclusion
The 494 is a solid little receiver. It's fairly inexpensive, and will probably continue to get more so as it's now mainly available only as a closeout or demo model. If you want an entry-level Onkyo receiver with a phono input, then the 494 would be your choice, as its replacement, the SR500, won't have a phono input.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 300
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
radioguy
|
 - Top 100 |
|
Member: R.U. Experienced
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 228
Trusted by: 251 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.