âOnkyoâ is Tibetan for âLong Serving with Honorâ
Actually, âOnkyoâ is a Romulan swear word meaning âThe HDMI Card is brokenâ
As someone who has had three onkyo units die of hdmi board failure, I must say Hannâyyo.
Onkyo also dropped audyssey room correction from their units. Now itâs denon for me.
What, aside from apparently having a radio built in, is the point of this thing, anyway? My TV takes HDMI video and sound from the three inputs and outputs it to my soundbar. Why would I want one of these involved?
My Onkyo failed within the warranty period. Bought Integra, now. Very happy so far. My Onkyo not onl had the hdmi issue but it also had sound issues. It would randomly loose the sound and the only fix was to reset to factory specs which meant all my presets were lost and I had to redo them. PIA.
You wouldnât benefit. Receivers are for someone who is utilizing a full speaker setup.
Thatâs funny as Integra is a division of Onkyo.
Only recently. Mine was purchased before the purchase by Onkyo. Now, Iâm not so sure it is any better.
The HDMI board issues was a thing, itâs not really any more.
Integra has been part of onkyo since it was created in 1969.
My soundbar is a 5.1 surround one, with satellite speakers and a sub. Iâm just curious what this does that that doesnâtâŚ
Drives wired speakers. If your âsoundbarâ has remote speakers for surround sound, itâs not really a soundbar even if itâs in that shape - itâs more like a hybrid. The main advantage over your soundbar is the ability to work with any speakers you want, rather than just the ones that came with it. You can also put the receiver in a closet or cabinet to hide it out of the way. Chances are it is far more powerful than your soundbar as well, and has the ability to work with a pre-amp. AVRs like this one typically also support multiple zones - for instance, you could have speakers in another room powered by the same unit.
Edit: also, you said your soundbar is 5.1, so obviously this 7.1 unit powers two additional surround speakers. It supports ATMOS (ceiling) speakers as well.
Cool, thanks. I know the difference between the 5 and 7.1, of course, was just pointing out that it wasnât âjustâ something like a pair of computer speakers in one box. 
Been curious about this for a while, and you know what curiosity does to us catsâŚ
AVRs seem to be slowly fading away - at least at the low-end consumer level. It makes sense - if you are particular enough to want the flexibility to pick your speakers, you probably are willing to drop an extra couple of bucks on the AVR to go with them. For me a soundbar wasnât an option because I was redoing the room anyway (down to bare studs) and so decided to build-in the speakers and run wires over to a separate closet so that everything would look very âcleanâ. Most people are going to be perfectly happy with a soundbar. I mean, you need a center channel speaker right under the TV anyhow.