Onkyo Integra TX-SV919THX A/V receiver Review

A member of Onkyo’s premium Integra series and the company’s finest audio/video receiver, the TX-SV919THX is also the first receiver certified as meeting Lucasfilm’s strict THX standards for home theater sound. It is an imposing product, one of the largest, heaviest, and most expensive receivers on the market. It has fully digital Dolby Pro Logic circuits as well as digital signal processing (DSP) surround modes that simulate five different environments: Open Air, Arena, Night Club, Concert Hall, and Stadium. Three other processing modes are intended for playback of Dolby Surround-encoded soundtracks: standard Dolby Pro Logic, Home THX Cinema, and Theater (which adds a movie-theater ambience to a Pro Logic-decoded soundtrack).

In its surround modes, the TX-SV919THX’s amplifiers are rated to deliver 100 watts per channel (8 ohms) to the left, right, and center front speakers and 50 watts to each of the two surround speakers with less than 0.08 percent total harmonic distortion (THD). In its two-channel stereo mode (called Bypass), it is rated at 110 watts per channel into 8 ohms with less than 0.03 percent distortion.

Like many other recent A/V receivers, the TX-SV919THX has a disarmingly open and uncluttered front panel. In normal operation all you see is the display window that presents its current operating status (showing, as needed, literally dozens of words and numerals, plus bar-graph displays of tone-control settings for the three front channels), a large volume knob, the power button, and a row of large rectangular buttons that select from among six video sources, two audio tape decks, FM, AM, phono, and CD. Seemingly, nothing could be simpler to operate.

But pressing a small button at the far right of the front panel causes a full-width door to hinge down, revealing more (though by no means all) of the receiver’s myriad function controls: some thirty-five pushbuttons of various sizes and shapes. There’s also a headphone jack and one set of audio and video input connectors (including an S-video jack).

Centered in this array of door-mounted controls are the tuner buttons, which can be used to scan the FM or AM band, to store the frequencies of as many as forty stations in as many as six groups of presets (according to their programming format or any other criterion you choose), or to tune directly to any station frequency by pressing the appropriate numbered buttons. Other buttons control stereo/mono selection and FM interstation muting.

So far we have considered only the standard operating functions of any good stereo receiver. But effective use of a full-featured A/V receiver such as the TX-SV919THX can involve the creation of an enormous number of unique spatial simulations, which can include (but is not limited to) setting the levels, frequency responses, and signal delays of several speaker outputs and adjusting the size, shape, and acoustical characteristics of each simulated space.

Fortunately, if you get lost, these and other processing parameters can be reset to their default values for each mode by simultaneously pressing two buttons (there’s even a reset-every-thing-at-once procedure described in the manual), and the acoustic results with the default settings may well be all you need. In that case, setting up the TX-SV919THX can be nearly as simple and straightforward as setting up a conventional stereo receiver.

If you want to create your own customized sonic environment, most of the sound-processing parameters can be set using three pairs of up/down buttons identified as Surround Mode, Parameter Selector, and Parameter Controller. The changing settings show up in large characters in the display window. Although this can be a laborious procedure, it need not be repeated if it produces the desired result.

When the TX-SV919THX is used with a video system, the setup process is somewhat more direct, since for each operation the receiver creates a menu on the video display, and the receiver’s remote control (which has a group of cursor keys) can be used to change the settings. That procedure is clearly desirable for setting up a surround-sound system, since it is somewhat more intuitive than using separate buttons and the display window of the receiver itself.

The TX-SV919THX’s rear apron is well populated with no fewer than fifty-one phono jacks (plus nine S-video connectors) and ten pairs of speaker outputs (multiway insulated binding posts). There are so many speaker connections because the receiver can drive either of two sets of front and surround speakers (not simultaneously) in a multiroom installation. Provision is made for separately setting the balances of the speakers in the two rooms. Also on the rear apron are separate preamplifier outputs and power-amplifier inputs, normally joined by jumpers. Interestingly, there is a twenty-five-pin connector for use with an external Dolby Surround Digital decoder when one becomes available. There are also three switched AC outlets, an F-type coaxial jack for a 75-ohm FM antenna, and spring connectors for the supplied AM loop antenna. Audio signals for the Video 4 input can be switched to come from either standard audio jacks or an optical digital jack. The latter is the perfect place to connect a combination CD/laserdisc player.

Most of our tests of the TX-SV919THX were of its audio and tuner performance and of its operation in a conventional music system, plus limited listening with its various surround modes. The amplifier-output measurements can be summarized by saying that the TX-SV919THX provides very generous amounts of power for a receiver. The bass tone-control curves had a sliding turnover frequency between 200 and 500 Hz; the treble curves were hinged at about 3 kHz. The amplifier frequency response was quite flat (within ±0.1 dB) from 20 Hz to 8 kHz, falling off very slightly to -1 dB at 20 kHz. The TX-SV919THX also has a line-level subwoofer output for use with externally powered subwoofers. Its response, flat below 50 Hz, rolled off above 60 Hz at about 18 dB per octave. A built-in high-pass crossover to remove the bass from the front and surround speakers can be switched in when a subwoofer is used.

The receiver’s FM tuner section had generally good characteristics, especially in regard to AM and image rejection and selectivity. The AM frequency response was typical for a receiver (poor).

Although we were able to use only a limited number of its features, it was clear that everything about the TX-SV919THX has been designed and built to the highest standards. It is one of the most powerful receivers we have ever tested, yet its top cover never became more than slightly warm during our full-power testing, a tribute to good thermal design.

Despite its great complexity and versatility, TX-SV919THX presents a disarmingly simple appearance. This is not entirely an illusion; it can be used effectively (with some sacrifice in total versatility) after only a partial study of its very comprehensive fifty-nine-page manual. But we suggest that anyone investing $2,000 in a receiver take the time to learn how to use it properly. It will yield long-term dividends.

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