AV Receiver Reviews

Yeah maybe product lifecycle has some impact on that "to be or not to be" roon ready. Lots of coding ready to go then off to Roon testing and validation for readiness. By the time you validate its time for next year's new model. I bought an Anthem AVM70 on the strength of my AV dealer saying "roon ready imminent" That never happened and the my dreams of having my AV proc as an endpoint died the death of a thousand cuts. I could chalk the year+ delay and final disapointment up to Covid isolation at Roon Studios if I felt like being kind. I guess the consolation prizes are 2 sucky "Roon" options are Airplay and Chromecast. Oh well thats what I get for loving Roon so much

From where can one stream Dunkirk in Atmos? On the disc it was DTS-HD MA 5.1.

I was interested in this AVR because of the price, performance and the inclusion of Dirac room correction. However, this all came to a halt after I confirmed that this unit, like many other Onkyo AVRs, do not include audio outputs that would allow the use of separate stereo amp for the 2 front channel, taking the load off the units power supply. This is especially important when you have moderate to low efficient speakers.

I am running the nearly identical Integra DRX 3.4 - the main difference being that the 3.4 has pre-outs where the NR7100 doesn't.

Running the 3.4 into my Gallo Reference 3.2 speakers (Reference AV centre) - I definitely heard some congestion / confusion in the sound, which was not present in my previous Integra DTR 70.4 (much more powerful @ 140W-8ohm, and higher current).

I replaced the internal amps with power amps via the Pre-outs, the congestion went away. Seems to me the internal amps are just not designed to cope with speakers having substantial impedance dips, reactive drivers, requiring substantial current to drive them.

With the external power amps, the sound returned to what it was with my previous DTR 70.4 (and even older Onkyo TX-SR876... also 140W high current).

One I had the sound quality square off without RoomEQ/DSP - I ran Dirac - with the Wide 17 point measurement (to cover our sofa).

This is an immediate and noticeable step up on Audissey XT32 which I was using previously on the 70.4 - There is now a clarity which has never been present before - voices/dialog "pop"... - I started with the default Dirac -and later adjusted to a Harman +4db Target curve, with a bit of a tilt after 2k, and a slight rolloff at the high end.

Dirac is a definite game changer... (or it might be the fact that it removes the default mid-range dip from Audissey!)

The one caveat I would put on the NR7100 is the one based on my experience with the power amp/ speaker matching - It won't match well with speakers that require higher current - low impedance dips, and capacitive tweeters / reactive drivers, are likely to make this AVR sound "congested" - Give it fairly standard 8ohm to 4ohm speakers and it will be fine.