RE-EQ does an excellent job of controlling high frequency
fatique with dts and dlb.dgtl. formats without dulling detail or ambiance. Power, clearity, and contruction.
Best dolby digital and DTS I have heard in this price range.
Others just don't cut it.

A little warm but now that I run a seperate sub amp It is
much cooler. Low end is excellent but I needed more power
for movie material due to a large room and un-amped subs

Since I have brought this unit home, I have been in awe of
the reality and life it brings to all my material. I still
can't get over the seamingly perfect balance of tones at
flat. No ajustments or tweaking have ever needed to be done
to adjust the spectrum. Amazing at this price.

It's funny.....Now that I got my 57" SONY HDTV. Movie
theaters will never get my money again. Awsome!

INTEGRA DTR 5.1
DENON Integrated amp runing Mono for LFE
NAD 5 disc
SONY DVD > (will upgrade to better as soon
as more units that support DVD Audio come
to the market)
PARADIGM Titans (2)pair with matching center and (2)PDR-10's
SONY 57"HDTV WideScreen

Similar Products Used:

NAD,Sony,Denon

True 75W/channel at 8ohms; clean, crisp sound; no hissing or humming; lovely learning backlit remote; excellent sound; made in Japan.

no component video switching...

Considered a Dennon, heard the DTR-5.1, fell in love. Simple.

Excellent sound quality. Amazing for home theater. Gladiator on DTS sounds fantastic. Every whisper of the wind in the grass is heard, and the first battle scene literally rocks the house. Great range.

I'm using some custom speakers from Speaker City (in Vancouver) as my fronts, with Heco bookshelves as surrounds. A Sound Dynamics RTS-1000 sub rounds out the speakers. The clarity of the sound floors me every time I throw in a good DTS DVD.

Some people have complained that their DTR-5.1 runs hot. My runs a little warm, but no hotter really than I would expect from a good AV receiver.

My only issue with it, is that it doesn't have component video switching, but at this price, that's probably asking too much. THX would have been nice as well, but again, asking too much.

Similar Products Used:

none

Integra 5.2 model Sound quality; looks; remote; prologic 2; build quality.

lack of pre-outs, Bass level is a just average unless you add a Sub....then it's great.

Review of Integra 5.2 model


Well, anyone going from an older prologic receiver to a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver is going to see a huge difference...regardless of what brand of digital receiver they buy. My old Sony receiver was quite good and had a DSP that could be tweaked to the n'th degree. It also had a cool display which I thought I would miss. After listning to the 5.2 I don't think I'll miss the Sony's display. I actually had been looking into an Onkyo 595 but managed to get the 5.2 cheaper....and it has many upgrades over the 595...such as the backlit remote, 12 volt trigger, rs232 port, blue display, gold connections, silver knobs etc.

The first thing you notice about this receiver is the good looks. The simple black front with the silver knobs gives the impression of a high end audiophile piece. The sound does not betray the looks. This receiver sounds great for both music and DVD movies. It is very easy to set up and I love the remote. It's very functional....allowing you to listen and watch one device while controlling another. It's also backlit which is great and has cool macro features(onebutton carries out multiple commands). I come in and hit one button to turn on the 5.2 receiver, the Satellite receiver, the TV, the VCR, the DVD player, the CD player and put the 5.2 receiver in the video 2 mode at a preset volume level. ( I can even control the TV and VCR in the other room) A friend of mine has a high end Kenwood receiver (3090) which has a 2 way LCD remote that looks good but just plain bites(talk about slow)! I really like the way the volume level increases faster the higher you go.
Aside from it's great convenience features....it just makes you want to listen to it. I would strongly recommend this as it works exceptionally well, sounds great, is a pleasure to use. It also allows you the bragging rights of explaining how Integra is the high end division of Onkyo and how they have lower production numbers and hand pick components...etc....etc....

If you can find this at a great price...snap it up!!

Integra 5.2 AV receiver
Pioneer DV 440 DVD player
Sony 32" trinitron TV
PSB 500 main speakers
Axiom vp150 Center
Axiom EP175 sub
Paradigm Atom rears
Sony hifi VCR
Sony CD player
Star choice 401 satellite

Similar Products Used:

Older Sony Prologic receiver (str1090)

Sound, ease of use, remote,value,warranty

PRE AMP OUTS

DTR- 5.2 -
I had researched the purchase of a new AV receiver for a couple of months and was pretty much sold on a Marantz 5200, however numerous problems were reported by a number of reviewers which led me to consider other manufacturers. I actually owned the Kenwood VR-509( package deal on speakers,long story) for a couple of weeks- piece of junk with alot of bells and whistles - many great features but horrendous sound.

I never had the oppurtunity to listen to the Marantz and the Integra side by side - in fact I never even listened to the Integra until I hooked it up at home - I trusted the folks at Audio Breakthroughs ( they also liked the Marantz but do not rep them). I was thouroughly impressed with the sound - not just for movies but for music- very detailed and warm - not appreciably less better sounding than my higher end system ( Carver THX amp, Acurus ACT 3 processor). Do not look any furtherif 5 channels is all you need - this a great piece of equipment at a fantastic price. DPl II is a vast improvement over predecessor.

Equipment used
Polk Audio RM 6600 5 piece speaker ssytem
Veoldyne HGS-10 sub
Toshiba DVD

Room is 18x13 with a cathedral ceiling about 16' high at peak - amp power is more than adequate - yet to power two sets of front chanels at the same time (this unit has a A/B switch which the Marantz does not). Remote is far better than that of the Marantz - without going into detail the backlighting alone makes it better. I did not think this level of sound quality was avauilable for this price.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood VR-509

Clean, crisp sound. Great look. Great quality overall.

No preset code for learning remote. Have to program to learn other remotes.

Got a refurbished (one year manufacturing warranty) unit from eBay for a great price. I was looking at other Denon A/V receivers to replace my Pro-Logic AVR-3000 until I saw a friend's DTR-7.1, couldn't afford the $700 for that model so I went searching for the DTR-5.1. Beside its good look, the DTR-5.1 blew me away when I watched Along Came A Spider on a sunny Southern California day; during a sequence when two detectives were waiting for the bad guy in the pouring rain, I kept looking outside my window for sign of rain, then at the kitchen sink to see if I had left the water running. Great, realistic sound.

Also, thank to Jefftheavguy for his excellent review. BTW, I highly recommend the eBay guy I got this receiver from. Email me if you're interested and I'll pass on the guy's name, he always has one or two Onkyo Integra up for auction.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-3000

Sound quality, Features, ease of use, looks great

None

I just bought the receiver and it is the best one I have seen so far especially for the money. I couldn't be happier with it. The sound is incredible offering a wide range of choices for DSP modes.

Great Sound, Great Quality overall, Looks Killer, Enough Inputs - Remote is Bulky, but I love that it learns & controls EVERYTHING.

Gets VERY Hot....Afraid for electronics cooking (have since left word with Integra, waiting for reply back) - Minor annoyance, the Bass is not controlled by the remote.

I love my Receiver, but during the summer, even with the AC on, the Receiver is *VERY* hot to the touch - to compensate some I have put an ulgy fan in the entertainment center to blow air around, which has helped a great deal.

I have had NO other issues, what-so-ever with this great Receiver, and would recomend it to everyone - The Integra people should have a solution for me, and hopefully anyone else having this issue.

Onkyo Integra DTR 5.1 Receiver
Klipsch SF-2 Main
Klipsch SC-1 Center
Klipsch SS-1 Surround
IXOS Connections
Sony CD Player
Junk DVD Player (next purchase)


15'X 28' Room (and this receiver handles it with no issue)

Link to DTR 5.1: http://www.integrahometheater.com/show_model.cfm?class=receiver&m=DTR-5.1

Well built, powerful,good remote

sparce rear panel compared to others in similar price range. PRICE!!!

Helping a friend buy a receiver (I own the Denon 3300) and had this unit out on a demo. Did everything great but it did so at a much higher cost than the Yamaha. For the price, Onkyo is kidding themselves now that Yamaha, Denon and others have newer models with far more features and upgrade potentials. The price of this receiver in Canada is more than the Yamaha RX-V1000 unit to which it does not compare. It's also considerably more expensive than the 575x model which is similar.

Great piece but WAY overpriced up in the Great White North!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V800, Denon AVR-3300

easy setup,compares with and sounds as good as recievers costing hundreds more.very nice remote backlit,nice constuction

the only thing i noticed was you have to crank it up to about 50 to get it pump,but once you do its awesome

I listen to alot of music and the qaulity of sound on this Onkyo for 500 bucks is really outstanding, very warm,i bought this from a very upscale seller and they had marantz recievers also but for my hard earned money and the time and research i put into this purchase im sure i made a killer purchase with this reciever, plus they give you a 3 year warranty, for your average size home, my rooms 20x16 this is all your gonna need unless you want to hurt some ear drums.....dvd sound is crstal clear try missiom impossile,really happy so far highly reccomend this unit.....

Similar Products Used:

tested yamaha 5250 dennon 1800 sony es 333 bought them and took then back

It's $600.00, looks amazing and sounds even better!

In this price range? Give me a break...

Ok, here it is and I am standing by it. When it comes to receivers, Onkyo is in their own league right now. In fact I think they are starting a new league! From my new friend the DTR-5.1 to the DTR-9.1THX piece, this is a tough lineup to beat. For some background, I am part owner of a Hi-Fi store and have been involved in this industry for over ten years now. For those of you who have read my other reviews, I think you will agree that I try and tell it like it is or in this case tell it like it sounds!

Forgive me as I am typing this while listening to Harry Connick Jrs, Red Light Blue Light and I am as giddy as a school boy. Does this thing really only cost $600.00, well sign me up! Mind you I am not a big proponent of inexpensive, dare I say cheap A/V gear. My feeling is that if a couple of hundred dollars are keeping you from a superior product, you need to wait for a few more pay checks to hit the bank! But here I am, critic of all critics listning to a sub $2,000.00 audio system and I am in awe.

The rest of the system sounds pretty good and I recommend all of the surrounding products but the star here is clearly the DTR-5.1. The products are a combination of Mordaunt-Short 900 series bookshelf and center speakers, Mordaunt-Short 506 dipole rear effect speakers and a Velodyne VLF-810 subwoofer. A Marantz AV-7100 progressive DVD transport and of course the Integra DTR-5.1 with KimberKable wire throughout round out the system.

I have been an Integra dealer for almost six months now and have not had a lot of personal experience with the less expensive products, until now that is. The purpose of this demo was to make decisions concerning the Mordaunt-Short speakers in our daily business and the boys from Onkyo stole the show. I listened to several sub $1,000.00 receivers with this speaker combination including an old Yamaha RXV-795a I had laying around, and the results were startling to say the least. I have a lot of experience with the DTR-7.1 THX piece and beleive it to be a wonderful example of an A/V receiver, if a bit pricy. Well my friends, I am hear to tell you that you do not need to save your pennys anymore. Head to the nearest Integra dealer and plop down your hard earned cash, because this is the machine to make you rethink inexpensive audio.

To begin with I was a little worried about the rated power. At 70 watts per channel it is down a bit from a lot of receivers in and below this price range. Never fear, after a few minutes of listening to the 5.1 I realized that Onkyo was being honest about the power rating and was not using the very popular Sony-Watt-Scale that many manufactures choose to use.

Starting with two-channel stuff like Rickie Lee Jones It's Like This and Tracy Chapman's excelently recorded Crossroads in a stereo configuration without the subwoofer, the 5.1 sounded a little thin compared to the competition. But the more I listened, the bigger the smile across my face became. I realized that what I had interpreted as thin was really the correct sound and that the other receivers were overly slow and bloated sounding in comparison. The string bass in the first track of the Rickie Lee Jones disc was precise, coherent and more importantly, not boomy or compressed sounding as with the Yamaha and Marantz offerings. I was amazed at how well the 5.1 imaged, and I am not just talking about the center focus but the whole sound stage. The location of the instruments was always apparent and the depth and accuracy that this piece exhibited rivals most gear I have heard at three times this price. The 5.1 was detailed and transparent sounding even at low volumes, yet had a huge dynamic range indicating proper power supply construction and output stage configuration.

With video stuff like The Matrix and Titan-AE, once again I could not beleive this was a $600.00 receiver. The DSP processor used in this piece is identical to it's big brother (sans the THX EX circuit), the DTR-7.1 so I was not suprised that DD and DTS performance was stellar. It never sounded strained or overdriven, even when ran at 105dB levels. The LFE channel is also very good. Many receivers LFE channels sound "equalized" and artificial while the 5.1 always sounded smooth and deliberate. I wish I could say the same about the competition. All in all, the sound of this piece really impressed me. No matter what I threw at it, I got more than I bargained for in terms of sound quality and quantity, and often overlooked things like video switching performance and D/A-A/D management was on par with the best in class much less equipment at this price point.

Be sure to check this piece out before buying a receiver in this range. I am sure you will be impressed.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz SR-5000, Yamaha RXV-795a, Pioneer VSX-709