Integra DTR-8.2 Audio/Video Receiver
 In hi-fi, receivers are frequently thought of as bang-for-the-buck also-rans.
They may dominate the mass market, but real audiophiles know separates are where
it's at. In the home-theater realm, however, receivers are the rule, not the
exception. And, the fact is, since HT people don't necessarily look down on receivers,
manufacturers have responded with receivers that offer a heck of a lot of functionality
without compromising ultimate quality. Oh, there have been poorly made models that skimped
on functions in order to reach a particular price point, but most of those never sold
well.
In fact, by and large, it's hard to think of any product
these days that offers greater real bang for the buck than your average A/V
receiver/processor. But even in the world of high-end home-theater products, Integra has
the reputation of being special. Integra's combination of superb construction and
forward-thinking engineering has resulted in a long list of "best of" products
and may represent the closest any of the mass-market (or home theater, for that matter)
manufacturers have come to matching the prestige of the hand-built boutique brands of
high-end audio.
The $2000 USD DTR-8.2 AV receiver is the first Integra
product I've auditioned for an extended period of time and, if it's typical of the
company's components, their reputation is justified.
You're the top!
The DTR-8.2 is heavy. And big -- of course, it has
to be to fit everything it includes inside.
It's a full-featured, THX Select-certified A/V receiver
with 7.1-channel THX Surround EX, DTS-ES Extended Surround, Dolby Pro Logic II, and seven
channels of amplification rated at 110W each.
It incorporates 192kHz/24-bit upsampling DACs, but also
provides a direct/pure audio mode that bypasses all digital processing for the
highest-quality transfer of analog audio signals. The power amplifiers use Integra's Wide
Range Amplifier Technology (WRAT), which employs a small amount of negative feedback in
order to deliver stable high power levels instantaneously across a 10Hz to 100kHz
bandwidth. Each channel’s output has its own discrete extruded-aluminum-heatsinked
output device.
The Integra DTR-8.2 utilizes professional-grade 50MHz
component-video switching with two component-video inputs and one output. It also has six
audio/video inputs with composite and S-video connectors (including its front-panel
input). A composite-to-S-video conversion circuit lets the consumer use different types of
source inputs with a single output connection. There are seven assignable digital audio
inputs (four optical; three coaxial) and a front-panel optical input.
On the analog audio side, there's a 7.1-channel
multichannel connection provided for future multichannel audio sources, as well as stereo
RCA inputs for three audio-only sources, including a phono input (nice touch!). There's
even 7.1-channel multichannel output. The DTR-8.2 has two .1 subwoofer outputs, which I
found irresistible.
The DTR-8.2 includes LucasFilm’s new 7.1-channel THX
Surround EX format, which is based on Dolby Digital Surround EX. The THX iteration employs
left and right rear surround speakers, rather than a single rear speaker, to
supplement the side surround speakers.
But wait, as the late night infomercials say, there's more.
The DTR-8.2 includes A-BUS technology in the form of a built-in A-BUS hub with four
Ethernet-style RJ-45 multi-zone connectors that link to each remote room.
 A-BUS
technology uses a single Cat 5 cable (looks like regular phone cord -- and it’s cheap)
to interactively connect the DTR-8.2 to other rooms. The Cat 5 cable also carries 24V DC
as well as the audio and command signals. You then outfit the remote rooms with a power
amplifier, keypad, and infrared remote-control receiver in the form of a KP-AB1 keypad --
an all-in-one device that looks for all the world like a high-tech light switch (each
KP-AB1, which includes an IR remote control, costs $195). The keypad provides on/off and
volume control for a single pair of speakers. The KP-AB1 infrared receiver allows a
hand-held remote control to operate the DTR-8.2 and any connected components from the
remote room.
Obviously, this is great for custom installers, but it also
means that pretty much anybody can accommodate up to four remote music locations with the
8.2 for the relatively small per room investment of a $200 keypad, the cost of a second
pair of loudspeakers, and a few dollars worth of Cat 5 cabling. I can't speak for anyone
else, but my first thought was, Integrated kitchen system, here I come!
Other custom-install conveniences include an RS-232 control
port that will communicate with control systems from Crestron, Panja, AMX, and others. The
receiver also supports a Zone 2 with A/V outputs, 12V DC trigger, and remote IR jacks.
That's still not all. The DTR-8.2 includes Integra's CHAD
(Custom Home Automation Device), a large touch-screen LCD-display learning remote that
normally costs $500. Although quite a handful, I found the CHAD easy to read and
relatively intuitive to operate. It can use IR or radio frequency (although it needs an
optional receiver for this) and, if you take the time to program it and teach it the
commands you use most frequently, it can replace all your other remote controls.  The touch-screen display generates large virtual
buttons and a virtual keyboard can be used to label them, but I found navigating from one
screen to another a tad frustrating. This may be less of a problem for someone who doesn't
need to accommodate himself to a new remote every other month, however. Further, Integra
got one thing overwhelmingly right on the CHAD -- mute, volume, and channel-switching
controls are permanently resident as conventional buttons on the CHAD's housing, so the
most frequently used controls sit right by your thumb when you hold it in your hand. These
buttons are easy to find and are even backlit.
The CHAD's a powerful component. It features 2MB of
internal memory, programmable macros and timers, and an RS-232 interface so you can
customize its functions via PC. There are two ways you can add new devices to its control
options. First, it possesses an internal database of more than 500 brands. It can also
"learn" commands directly from an existing remote.
With a PC, the RS-232 interface, and Onkyo's CHAD edit
software, you can customize macros (multi-step programs that, say, dim the lights, close
the curtains, lower the screen and turn on the projector) or upgrade the unit from the
Internet. The software allows you to customize touchscreen layout and button appearance
for the way you use the system.
Since touchscreen-driven remotes are real battery hogs,
Integra also offers a BCC-5 Docking Cradle, which recharges a battery pack, which is
pretty cool in itself. What I found even better was that simply having the docking cradle
forced me to return the CHAD to one central location after every use -- a bit of
housekeeping that probably saved me hours of the ever-popular "find the remote"
game. The docking cradle and battery pack cost $150.
You're the Coliseum
 The DTR-8.2 proved a snap to install --
other than the fact that it was too large to fit anywhere other than the top shelf of my
rack. I didn't mind, though -- the unit is top-shelf, after all.
That size is also the unit's salvation. The sheer amount of
connectivity the unit offers needs all the real estate it can get. As things stand, even
folks with big hands and clumsy fingers (moi, for instance) can connect and route
all the wires they will ever need. The speaker binding posts are satisfyingly solid and
accommodate bare wire, bananas, small spades, and pins.
The unit's video switching is transparent -- I could detect
no difference in signal between direct input and using the Integra's switching system. At
$2000, you should get this level of quality, and the Integra delivers it.
I was also extremely impressed with the unit's
192kHz/24-bit upsampling DACs. My reference Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player was
slightly more capable of presenting musical information as a discrete event on its own
than when I used it as a transport driving the Integra's internal DACs -- but that's true
with many extremely expensive two-channel DACs as well.
With other CD players, such as the NAD C540 I use as a
"real world" reference, the Integra's DACs provided greater clarity and
increased air. Not day and night, perhaps, but I'll take improvements where I can find
them, thank you very much.
However, with DVD players -- even good 'uns like the Arcam
DV88 -- I found the Integra's internal DACs always represented superior sound as
compared to the stand-alone units themselves. If you have an extremely refined DVD player
your mileage may vary, but the chances are the DTR-8.2 can improve on most DVD players'
sound audibly. Not too shabby.
You're the Louvre museum!
I did not have a KP-AB1 on hand to evaluate the DTR-8.2's
remote system possibilities, but the unit's inclusion of a quad set of A-BUS links is a
feature that seems to add a lot of value to the unit -- assuming you have any interest in
that kind of thing. But for $195 and the cost of a pair of loudspeakers, it makes adding
extra rooms about as cheap and easy as possible. Integra even offers an AKN-1 A-BUS
expansion kit, which consists of four KP-AB1 in-wall amplified keypads, a power supply
unit, and infrared remote control units for $900, if you want to take the plunge all at
once.
I've always managed to get along without multiroom
capabilities, but that's mainly because of the expense and hassle of setting them up --
not because I don't think such a system would be cool. Integra has certainly gone a long
way toward making it so easy that not doing it seems silly.
You're a Shakespeare sonnet
So far there haven't been tons of THX Surround EX DVD
releases -- well, not ones that I really felt I had to see. I think it's still way
too early to predict whether the public is going to embrace the news that it needs to buy
even more loudspeakers (I mostly hear complaints on that score) and it's also unclear
whether, assuming the public does want to add more speakers, discrete rear
surrounds is where they'll do the most good -- a lot of people, Tomlinson Holman included,
argue that channels that give us height information would have a greater overall impact.
While I'm on the subject, I feel a word of clarification on
the two rear speakers vs. a single rear speaker issue is called for. I have seen articles
where otherwise sensible reviewers have maintained that two speakers located behind the
listener imaged the way a stereo pair in front does. All these "experts"
would have to do to test this thesis is turn their backs to their stereos and listen to an
imaging-champion disc. Surprise! It don't work that way -- and the reason is
because our ears face forward. So, while there may be good reasons to have a pair of rear
surrounds, establishing a stable image in the rear isn't one of them.
Gladiator is THX-Surround-EX-certified and it sounds
very enveloping, but frankly the superb DTS Discrete 6.1 version also included in the Signature
Edition trumps it hands down. Not necessarily simply on the envelopment front, but for
overall naturalness and impact -- not a problem really, since the DTR-8.2 also
accommodates that format.
A far better argument for THX's extra channels was Cast
Away, where the sounds of sea and air and isolation play such a major role in the
film. I was speaking with a friend who had not been impressed by the use of the sounds of
nature in establishing the otherness of Tom Hanks's life on the island, when it
struck me he had watched the film on a TV connected to his stereo -- an approach I endorse
heartily for "getting the sound out of the box" of TV, but hardly one that does
justice to such a subtle use of the film's soundscape. So I showed him the first 20
minutes of Hanks' life on the island using the DTR-8.2 for playback and he was stunned.
"It's a completely different movie," he exclaimed -- and one he now respects a
whole lot more.
But I have to confess that I wish I'd had him back over to
see it using just the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, just to see if he felt it suffered in
comparison. The 7.1 surround is different and I'd even go so far as to say better.
And I prefer it, but I also have to confess that 5.1 seems "good enough." We may
well end up with more than five channels eventually, but I can't see most people being
convinced by the difference between 5.1 and 6.1 or 7.1.
I certainly can't fault the DTR-8.2's performance on any
conventional DTS or Dolby Digital programs. The sound was gutsy and detailed, without ever
sounding harsh or congested -- no matter which speaker system I employed. I also utilized
the unit's dual subwoofer outs to great effect, employing both the Polk PSW650 and the
Dayton Titanic subwoofers. By setting the outputs low and paying a lot of attention to
placement, I got fuller, richer (but not deeper) bass sound than by running a single sub
at a higher level. Just a small convenience -- but a nice one.
You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss
My long-time reference A/V receiver has been the $1000
Denon AVR-3300, which is starting to get a tad long in the tooth, given the rapid rate of
change in the A/V receiver realm. It offered 96kHz/24-bit DACs, as opposed to the
DTR-8.2's 192kHz/24-bit modules, but it output a similar 105Wpc (for only five channels,
however). Given the Denon's age, its feature set is remarkably similar to the Integra's,
but the DTR-8.2 does offer better video switching and A-BUS compatibility. The Denon also
boasted a top-notch learning remote, but the CHAD trumps it for flexibility.
But the Denon simply doesn't match the effortless, natural
sound of the Integra. As much as I have relied upon and enjoyed the Denon, the DTR-8.2
simply performs better in almost every parameter: sound, convenience, connectability, and
digital processing. However, as A/V receivers go, the Denon stood at the top of my heap
practically forever -- and it took a unit that cost twice as much to tip it off.
You're Mickey Mouse!
But there's no question the Integra DTR-8.2 is the finest
A/V receiver I have auditioned. I assume that, given lots of money and space, I could
construct a collection of separates that actually bettered it, but I have neither the
wallet nor the inclination to do so. I like the DTR-8.2 just fine, thanks.
It sounded fantastic playing back my stereo CDs. My very
finest CD player sounded better, but not by a lot. Most players will benefit from the
Integra's 192kHz/24-bit DACs. And mama mia! you should hear 96kHz material played
through it. It makes Red Book CD sound broken.
The unit offers the latest versions of the most popular
surround schemes and they work well. Although I remain an agnostic on the ultimate value
of 6.1- and 7.1-channel systems over 5.1, it's always nice to have choices -- and the
Integra's normal DTS and Dolby Digital performance was exemplary.
In addition, the A-BUS capabilities and the CHAD remote
make it capable of doing just about anything you can imagine on the home-automation front
-- or, if your imagination is greater than mine, you can integrate the DTR-8.2 into most
widely accepted home-automation systems with minimal fuss.
I can conceive of no areas where the DTR-8.2 delivers
performance that falls short of excellence. It does cost $2000, but, gee whiz,
given its excellence, it would be hard to argue that it's not worth it. Show me a set of
separate components that offer as much sheer performance and I bet you dollars to
doughnuts you'll pay twice its list price.
But whatever you do, don't audition the Integra
DTR-8.2 unless you're prepared to buy it. 'Cause once you live with one, you're going to
want one. I know I do.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
Integra DTR-8.2 Audio/Video Receiver
Price: $2000 USD
Warranty: Three years parts and labor
Integra
18 Park Way
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
Phone: (201) 785-2600
Fax: (201) 785-2650
Website: www.integrahometheater.com
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