What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
04 OCT 2008
Onkyo TX-SR876
Thumping good fun in many ways, but sonically it's not as rounded as it ought to be to keep pace with some highly competitive rivals
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It's not easy replacing a legend. Onkyo's TX-SR875 swept all before it last year, battering its way to the forefront of the home cinema category in formidable fashion. Few receivers could rival it for specification or build quality (even those costing much more), and hardly any could muster anything like the same good-times, hard-charging intensity with our favourite films. Small wonder it earned a 2007 Best Buy award.
But all good things have to come to an end eventually, and with every rival in the home cinema business working overtime to try to topple Onkyo's position at the top table, it was only a matter of time before the company had to introduce an '875 replacement simply to remain competitive. So, here it is: the TX-SR876.
Naturally, the newcomer is enhanced next to its forebear, but it's a subtler makeover than some might have expected – partially, in fairness, because last year's model was already so well specified, it didn't need much added on to keep pace with most rivals spec-wise.
There are two HDMI outputs, rather than one, some new processing and decoding options (THX Ultra2 Plus certification, including THX Loudness), enhanced Audyssey calibration and equalisation (for optimized integration with your speakers and room) and, perhaps most significantly, upgraded video processing with an ISF calibration mode.
ISF video calibration mode comes as standard
The Onkyo incorporates ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) accreditation. ISF-qualified dealers offer specialist video calibration of your home cinema display to optimise its performance with your various video sources, and we've seen dedicated ISF-accessible video options become popular in products like TVs and projectors.
But this is the first AV receiver we've tried to include the feature, a reflection of just how much modern receivers have become multimedia hubs in today's home cinema set-ups.
The latest HQV Reon-VX video processing in the '876 can both upscale and enhance your various video signals: you get fine-tuning adjustment over brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and gamma, for example.
Now, thanks to a calibration mode accessible to the user and ISF-accredited technicians, you can get the very best video-calibrated results from your Onkyo, with each of your video sources optimised to the HQV processing to get the best performance for each type of picture.
Sound quality is much as before - hugely powerful
That's all well and good, but the surprise is that the Onkyo's sound quality hasn't moved on as much as we'd hoped. It's still hugely powerful (if not quite as muscular as the company's slightly generous power ratings suggest), with an all-action feel that really thrills during big action moments.
Crank the volume with suitable speakers and an appropriately silly film – Transformers, say – and you'll be hugely impressed, no doubt about it: the TX-SR876 is almost dismissively generous in its scale and drama.
But at the same time, it now seems something of a blunt instrument next to rivals boasting superior agility, clarity and accuracy. While the Onkyo's sheer thrust never ceases to raise a grin, its steamroller approach to some soundtrack subtleties does start to overwhelm after a while.
The faster, more articulate-sounding Pioneer SC-LX81 digs up notably more expression in its bass and a greater sense of space, detail and openness to its midrange, while: given its extra cost, that's perhaps to be expected.
Onkyo now faces some seriously capable rivals
However, the bigger surprise is just how well Yamaha's smaller, apparently more feeble DSP-AX863SE dances around the Onkyo's sonic haymakers.
The cheaper amplifier finds pace and vitality the TX-SR876 struggles to equal, while relaying notably more character and realism in both voices and subtle, off-camera asides.
True, the Yamaha doesn't have anything like the Onkyo's hugely capable video processing in its arsenal, but that can't (in our view) overcome the salient point at hand – that this much cheaper amplifier is actually more enjoyable to listen to with both films and music.
Of course, there'll be some who find the Onkyo's allure irresistible: fair enough. Us? We're still fans – but we're also a little disappointed that, improved as it is, the TX-SR876 isn't as radical an advance on prevailing standards as its forebear.