NOT JUST FOR THE MOVIES
We tend to think of multichannel surround-sound systems as being strictly for the home theater crowd, those types who want to keep their neighbors up with a late-night viewing of The Matrix played at some lease-breaking volume. In reality, almost every type of television programming, with the possible exception of C-SPAN and The Weather Channel, will benefit from an audio system that goes beyond those buzzy little speakers found in most TVs. More importantly, many high-end plasmas and most pro jectors don’t give you audio at all, working on the assumption that you’re going to want to add your own. So, even if we don’t plan to start referring to the living room as "the theater," most of us could still benefit from a 21st-century sound system to go along with our new 21st-century television.
Typically, a multichannel audio system consists of two basic parts: a speaker package with five to seven loudspeakers plus a subwoofer, and the electronics needed to drive the speakers and connect all of your other components. As with most luxury goods, whether they’re cars, bottles of wine, or even fine clothing, there’s a pretty staggering range of prices, and it’s often hard to know how much to plunk down. To see what you could expect to get for your hard-earned bucks, we decided to check out three popular electronics packages, from all-in-one receivers to separate preamp-processors and amplifiers at widely different price levels.
ONKYO
Along with baseball and root beer, receivers are something we Americans seem to love, even if people in other countries just don’t seem to get it. Back in the old days, when a receiver was just a two-channel analog device used to play that worn out LP of Wish You Were Here, cramming a stereo tuner, preamplifier and power amp into one box didn’t seem too hard. Now consider that today’s receiver incorporates those basics along with a plethora of digital circuitry, video circuitry, and at least five channels of amplification, and it’s really amazing that it doesn’t end up the size of one of those dorm-sized fridges that people used to sit those old stereos on.
Onkyo’s TX-SR701 is
typical of the latest generation of surround receivers. With
six channels pumping out
100 W each, the 701 has enough power to drive most speaker packages, while its up-to-date feature set should keep all but the most persnickety surround freaks happy. In addition to the expected Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 modes, there is a sixth channel for rear surround modes like Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES. More importantly for those of us who watch regular TV programming, the 701 also includes the latest modes for extracting surround from two channel sources: Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS Neo:6. This is a THX Select–certified product, so you can be sure that a basic benchmark level of compatibility and performance has been met, and that you’re unlikely to run into any funky interfacing issues.
 |
| Onkyo’s TX-SR701 receiver includes everything you need in one tidy box to decode and amplify surround-sound
signals. With a list price of $800, this is a great way to get surround sound on a modest budget. |
While lacking the mind-boggling array of inputs and outputs seen on some of the top receivers, the 701 has enough to handle most typical rigs. There’s a total of five inputs for video sources like your VCR, satellite dish, and cable box, etc., plus another DVD input with a 5.1 channel analog hookup for high-res audio formats like DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD. The fifth video input on the front makes it easy to connect a camcorder or a Gamecube. You also get audio-only inputs for a tape deck, CD player, and even a phonograph, just in case you want to dust off your old turntable to do that Wish You Were Here thing again. Perhaps the most limited area of the 701 is its digital connectivity, where its three assignable inputs (2 optical, 1 coax) might be restrictive if you use a DVD player, a PVR like TiVo, a
digital cable box, and a digital satellite dish receiver. Otherwise, the 701 should cover all the bases.
 |  | The remote for Onkyo’s TX-SR701 has macro buttons that help your family members control the system by themselves, so you can stay at the sports bar. |
You couldn’t call the 701 a receiver if it didn’t include a tuner, and this has always been a strong area for Onkyo. Despite a huge hill right between my home and the transmitter, I was able to pull in WQXR, my local classical station, without a hint of noise using a simple indoor antenna. With most tuners I need to use a roof antenna to get similar results.
Onkyo gear usually comes with a good remote, and the 701 is no exception. The layout makes it easy to use by feel, and all of the buttons light up just in case you need to find the sleep timer button as you doze off on the sofa. The remote is preprogrammed to control most components, like DVD players and cable boxes, and it can be taught to control anything else with direct head-to-head learning. Two so-called macros, or as I call them, mother-in-law’s little helpers, allow you to program a string of commands that are executed with the push of a button.
Bass management has become a confusing issue in the world of multichannel gear, but it basically refers to the incorporation of a filter or crossover that intercepts the low bass information from each channel and redirects it to the subwoofer. Because surround systems typically have five to seven speakers, people often use small speakers that can’t handle deep bass. A comprehensive bass-management setup will give you a wide range of settings to help ensure a good blend with
the subwoofer.
To check the performance of each amplifier, I tried them with two very different sets of speakers. My big Snell A system let me run each channel in the full range setting, working the amplifiers hard to check power delivery and low-frequency performance, while a set of Magneplanars with limited bass extension allowed me to assess the flexibility of each processor’s bass-management options.
Speaking of bass management, the 701 is one of the first receivers that allows you to use this function on the 5.1 channel analog inputs intended for DVD-A and SACD players. To achieve this, the receiver converts the signals back to digital using 192-kHz, 24-bit converters, a fact that might render the SACD and DVD-A crowd apoplectic. But I think that’s preferable to finding out the hard way about the deep bass in the surround channels on the 5.1 SACD mix of The Dark Side Of The Moon as your speakers go up in smoke. Besides, you can always bypass all of the digital manipulation by hitting the Pure Audio button.
While it may seem grossly unfair to stack the deck against the Onkyo by comparing it to components three and fifteen times its price, this mid-priced receiver more than held its own sonically. Many mid- and low-priced receivers tend to overemphasize detail, using a heightened sense of clarity to hide poor bass performance, but the Onkyo sounded smooth and powerful, with a wonderful sense of liveliness through the midrange. While it couldn’t quite match the brute-force control of the Outlaw (see review this page) when driving the Snells, the 701 never sounded like it was running out of steam, always remaining tuneful and engaging. The Dolby Pro Logic II modes seemed to work particularly well, and I spent many enjoyable nights watching everything from baseball games to Leno through the Magneplanars.
Trying to cram so many functions into a single component undoubtedly limits just how far you can go with a surround receiver, and there comes a point where separates are the next logical move. The power amplifier consumes most of the space in a receiver, so the obvious step is to split the receiver’s functions into a power amplifier and a reamp/processor/tuner. It’s kind of like trading in your minivan for a pickup truck and a luxury sedan: By specializing, each component is likely to do a better job than an all-in-one solution.
OUTLAW AUDIO
Outlaw Audio is one of a new breed of manufacturers that sells directly to consumers over the Internet. By cutting out the dealer markup, there’s no doubt that you’ll get more hardware for your buck, but you might think you’ll lose the guidance and experience of a retailer to help you choose and ultimately install your new gear. Outlaw does give you a 30-day satisfaction guarantee (you pay the shipping), and though there’s no dealer to do the installation, the company has highly regarded full-time customer service reps to answer questions and e-mails about integrating the product into your system. Besides, most surround receivers are sold over the counter without installation, and the Outlaw manuals are definitely easier to decipher than most typical Japanese receiver manuals.
The Outlaw 950 processor has a feature set similar to the Onkyo 701’s, albeit with a few important differences and some minor ones. You get the same five video inputs, although only one has an output and they’re all on the back panel. You also gain two audio inputs but you lose the phono stage, so I guess you’ll have to break down and get that CD copy of Wish You Were Here. Where you really gain ground, though, is in digital inputs, with four optical and two coaxial, all of which can be assigned to any input.
 |  |
| Outlaw Audio is named for how it does business: direct-to-consumer sales via www.outlawaudio.com. This helps keep down the cost of gear like the model 950 preamp-processor and the model 770 amplifier. | |
To avoid that apoplexy in the DVD-A and SACD camps, the 950’s 5.1 channel analog input comes with its own analog bass management that allows you to maintain the purity of the analog signal path without redigitizing the signal a la Onkyo. This crossover is fixed at 80 Hz, although, should you feel the need for more flexibility, Outlaw does make a comprehensive outboard analog bass-
management box called the ICBM-1 that you can use between your high-res player and the 950. For all of the other inputs, the 950 offers a full set of digital bass-
management tools.
Where the Outlaw people have shown a complete lack of restraint is with the design of the 770 power amplifier. While its unassuming faceplate makes it look like any other mid-priced power amp, I wouldn’t try picking this one up without first stretching and donning a back brace. At a shelf-bending 90 lb., the 770 clearly houses a lot of iron, and a quick glance at the specifications shows why. Simple math tells you that this beast, with its seven channels at 200 W each, can deliver some 1400 W in total, and this figure is derived without re
sorting to fuzzy specification math. Should you decide not to add rear surround, there is a slightly smaller five-channel version called the 755. But even the 755 weighs in at 78 lb., so handling it still requires a pretty strong back.
The Outlaw remote is a programmable learning model based on a popular third-party design we’ve seen many times over the years. The basic functions fall readily to hand, even if less commonly used ones can sometimes be a bit tricky to figure out. Luckily, the whole thing will light up to help you find those pesky buttons. With the ability to memorize four macro strings, this one should be enjoyed by mothers-in-law everywhere.
There’s no question that all of that bulk allows the 770 to kick major butt. This amplifier was able to grab onto the Snells and pummel them into submission with even the most-difficult material, so if you want to play the home theater guy to get you out of your lease, go ahead and crank up your favorite Arnold—pardon me, Governor Schwarzenegger—action sequence. Don’t think,
however, that the Outlaw is just the electronic equivalent of Conan the Barbarian;
with its warm, transparent sound, the Outlaw can
also do a great job with
subtler material like The Sopranos soundtrack.
LEXICON
Lexicon’s designers have always beaten their own drum when it comes to new product design, and the MC-8 is no exception. A tweaker’s dream, this processor gives you control over parameters most of us probably never even thought about, yet at the same time, it eschews some of the features that we take for granted on other designs. Lexicon refers to it as the little brother of its flagship MC-12, but that’s a bit like saying a Porsche 911 Turbo is the little brother of the 911 GT3. While it is perhaps technically correct, I think I could get by just fine with the MC-8 (or the 911 Turbo, for that matter). The main difference between the two involves the scope of system they can handle, and those building a really fancy rig may find the MC-8 a bit limiting. For starters, there’s no tuner section, so if you want a radio you’ll have to add one. Phono stage? Sorry, Wish You Were Here will have to be digital. Then consider that there’s only one audio-video output that can be used for a VCR, cassette deck, or DVD recorder, and it also serves as the zone 2 output. Configuring a 5.1 input for a high-res audio player will eat up three of the eight audio inputs, and even then there’s no way to incorporate bass management with an analog 5.1 signal. So if your system is getting out of hand, you might want to step up to the MC-12. But for us average folks, the MC-8 will deliver a truly astounding level of control and adjustability, and comparing it to most other processors is kind of like comparing a Piper Cherokee to the Space Shuttle. To describe all of these adjustments would require a whole article unto itself, but let’s just say that you’re unlikely to find a sonic issue that the MC-8 can’t deal with. Rest assured that this THX Ultra 2–certified processor can decode all of the relevant Dolby Digital and DTS surround formats, along with Lexicon’s own Logic 7 and a host of other modes for extracting surround information from two-channel sources.
Lexicon couldn’t have done a better job ergonomically, having taken an incredibly flexible processor and made it pretty easy to figure out. Because it is dedicated to the MC-8 without any aspirations toward universality, the remote is an object lesson in simplicity and ease of use,
with half the number of buttons found on the Onkyo and Outlaw remotes. The setup menus are intuitive, and once adjusted, everyday use of this processor is really very simple, with the basic input, surround mode and volume controls right where you’d expect them. Even your mother-in-law could figure it out, and yes, the remote does light up.
 |  |
| Lexicon, well known for professional audio gear, brings its digital audio expertise to the consumer world. The MC-8 preamp-processor, coupled here with the LX-7 amp, takes surround sound to a whole new level. |
To complete the package, we added Lexicon’s LX-7 power amp, which matches the Outlaw’s rating with seven output channels at
200 W each, even if the Lexicon amp is a mere 56 lb. It seems positively svelte in comparison to the Outlaw. Two pairs of the seven channels can be bridged for added power, which is handy if your main left and right speakers are particularly power hungry, or if you plan to re-create a Metallica concert in your living room.
 | The MC-8 allows you to change all kinds of sound parameters, like increasing or decreasing the reverberation characteristics of the concert hall you’re trying to re-create. And yet, the product is very easy to set up and use. |
 | |
The word that keeps appearing in my listening notes for the Lexicon is sophisticated. The MC-8’s adjustability means that it can sound pretty much like anything you want, and when set up correctly, it becomes astonishingly transparent to the source. At one point when I felt things were sounding just a little thick, I found that with just a slight tweak to the subwoofer level the pristine window would quickly return. Although it seems that the Outlaw 770 might just outrun the LX-7 in the brute-force control contest, there’s no question that the Lexicon moves ahead a couple of notches under normal conditions with its amazing level of refinement.
They say you get what you pay for, and although we haven’t rewritten the rule book, it’s impressive how good reasonably priced electronics can get, at a fraction of the price of the very best. All of these systems would be hard to beat at their respective price levels and can be heartily
recommended.
Photography by John Phillip
Description:
TX-SR701 A/V receiver
Contact:
Onkyo USA Corp.
800.229.1687
www.onkyousa.com
Price: $800
Description:
Model 950 A/V preamp/processor;
Model 770 seven-channel amplifier
Contact:
Outlaw Audio Inc.
866.OUTLAWS (866.688.5297)
www.outlawaudio.com
Price: Model 950: $799;
Model 770: $1,799
Description:
MC-8: A/V preamp/processor; LX-7: seven-
channel power amplifier
Contact:
Lexicon Inc.
781.280.0300
www.lexicon.com
Price: MC-8: $5,995;
LX-7: $5,995