Onkyo TX-SR803 THX Select2 7.1 A/V Receiver

[Sonnie]

Introduction

In April of 2003, we brought you our review of the Onkyo TX-SR800, and more enthusiastic, I could not have been. For a mere kilobuck, Onkyo served up a THX Select receiver with proper 7.1, generous power, and software which put many multi-thousand dollar SSPs to shame.

For years, my home theater holy grail was to find a THX processor I could actually afford, and in the SR800, I found exactly that. You see, when THX Select was introduced, it dawned on a few of us that while power and output levels were cut back, nothing else was, meaning that a THX Select receiver's preamp and processing sections have to meet the exact same criteria as a THX Ultra processor. Say hello to "value".

New this past year is THX Select2, which inherits some processing features from THX Ultra2 and takes the audio performance up a notch. It follows then that the 803 is a natural progression for Onkyo into Select2.

Is this the second coming, or more of the same? As it turns out, a bit of both.


Link to full review...