Digital Trends

Onkyo Envision LS-V500C April 9th, 2003 | by Doug MacLean

Setup

This unit is geared towards the newcomer to home theater. As such, the setup was remarkably easy and straight forward. One nice touch was the inclusion of colored stickers for the speaker wires. I have recommended this approach for a long time and it is gratifying to see a company finally taking my advice. When you run the wires from the speakers you mark each pair with a sticker and just match the colors to the jacks on the back of the receiver. Of course the connectors are also color coded for polarity although the documentation glosses over this important fact. The target consumer may be a little confused with all the input and put jacks provided. The manual is a bit confusing for a new comer but enough information is provided to make the installation process as painless as possible. 

Naturally, the DVD requires the least installation. As part of the receiver you can play a DVD or other disc within a few minutes of opening the box. For other components a little trial by error may be needed to select the right ports for your equipment. You also may have to play with the settings a little bit to be able to record from one source to another piece of equipment.

One nice feature is the speaker setup. Not only is the standard test tones provided for six channel mode but there is a provision for inputting the distance each speaker resides from the primary listening position. You go into speaker distance mode of the setup menu, enter the approximate distance and the unit attempts to balance the volume to optimize the sound field. Distance modes are separately provided for front, center, rear and sub woofer placement. In case you get this unit without speakers you can select how many speakers are present.  The choices are five (front, rear and center), two (front only), three (front and center) and four (front and rear, no center). You can also specify the type of sub woofer, small (best for the sub woofer provided), large front, large front and rear or no sub woofer. There is even a page in the manual that explains the best way to set up your speakers in your room, again, a nice, helpful little touch for the new user.

Use and Testing

The DVD portion of this unit worked very well. The change from one disc to another was smooth although each time you change a disc the disc header is read again resulting in a lot of wasted time. One rental discs the change did freeze up. There is a warning in the manual not to use any discs with a label on it and apparently for good reason. There was also a delay of about a minute when I inserted a DTS disc and select the DTS sound track from the menu. The player takes a bit of time to test the soundtrack and set up the proper audio format on the receiver side. Speaking of delays another feature provided is, IPM. Intelligent Power Management is a feature that permits you to turn on your TV and five seconds later the Envision will come on. The actual time was a little bit more than five seconds. Since the receiver will most likely always be used in conjunction with the TV this is not a bad idea at all.

The receiver provided a smooth response though all tests I could think of. Even with high energy DVDs like Star Wars Episode Two the audio and video was stunning. Anamorphic discs were decompressed without flaw or defect.  The Pro Logic modes like simulated surround, orchestra and unplugged (it used to be called live) offered nice variations especially on older audio and two channel sources. The late night audio mode narrows the dynamic range of the audio making overnight DVD viewing a lot more realistic especially in apartments. There is also an acoustic control that increases the bass response for low volume listening.  The player took a lot of time for a typical MPEG3 disc. The time appears to increase s the number of directories becomes more involved.

Conclusion

For those out there that want a reasonably low cost way to turn a television into a full blown home theater this is a viable option to consider. I have found separates that together come in at around the same cost so the deciding factor should be how much time you want to spend with installation. You save only in the DVD to receiver connection but for many that is the most difficult one to manage. The speakers are more than enough for a good size apartment but if you have a larger living room you may want to just buy the receiver/DVD combination and get larger speakers.  The learning remote control is one of the better ones I have seen included with equipment. Bottom line is this is intended as a starter set for the beginner to home theater. The technical specifications will satisfy all but the most demanding users but since most of us do not live in testing laboratories it has the power to get the job done.