Arcam FMJ SR250 quick measurements
The Arcam SR250 and Onkyo RZ50 are currently the cheapest ways to get
www.stereophile.com
The one limitation of the Stereophile review is that they didn't run HDMI measurements, I thought I'd run the measurement and post it here since we've seen inconsistent results with the Arcam AVRs of that generation here. I saw no difference between 2 ch or 7.1 ch HDMI inputs.
94.1 dB
1 kHz SINAD
Multitone isn't as good as the Onkyo RZ50
The 94 dB SINAD is in line with the rated performance of the DAC
Comments
The Arcam SR250 has been discontinued for years and is available used for a price competitive with the Onkyo RZ50 and MiniDSP SHD Power. The Onkyo RZ50 remains a great option for greater flexibility (more channels, eARC, 8K, etc.) but if you are using 2 channels of amplification, the Arcam SR250 remains a competitive choice. Stereophile measured the Arcam SR250 as delivering 165Wpc into 8 ohms and 250Wpc into 4 ohms. The Onyko hit 136W into 8 ohms and struggled to reach even 50 watts into 4 ohms due to its power limiting. In contrast while the MiniDSP SHD Power does great with 4 ohms, it only hit 85 W into 8 ohms and lacks the HDMI convenience and Dolby/DTS decoding of the AVRs.
The 94 dB SINAD is not state of the art today, though still sufficient given the amplifier and speaker performances as a limiting factor.
Last, the SR250 does require a HDMI display for setup as the green front LED display won't provide useful information.
The Arcam SR250 and Onkyo RZ50 are currently the cheapest ways to get
- 2 channels of Dirac Live - Full Bandwidth
- 2 channel amplification
- DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD support
- 4K HDMI switching
- HDMI-CEC/ARC
Arcam FMJ SR250 stereo A/V receiver
Stereophile seldom reviews A/V receivers. We made an exception for Arcam's FMJ SR250 ($3600) because it's that unusual two-channel device: one that includes room-correction software, in this case Dirac Live. Many of us who listen in multichannel are comfortable with room correction, but a week...
www.stereophile.com
The one limitation of the Stereophile review is that they didn't run HDMI measurements, I thought I'd run the measurement and post it here since we've seen inconsistent results with the Arcam AVRs of that generation here. I saw no difference between 2 ch or 7.1 ch HDMI inputs.
94.1 dB
1 kHz SINAD
Multitone isn't as good as the Onkyo RZ50
The 94 dB SINAD is in line with the rated performance of the DAC
Comments
The Arcam SR250 has been discontinued for years and is available used for a price competitive with the Onkyo RZ50 and MiniDSP SHD Power. The Onkyo RZ50 remains a great option for greater flexibility (more channels, eARC, 8K, etc.) but if you are using 2 channels of amplification, the Arcam SR250 remains a competitive choice. Stereophile measured the Arcam SR250 as delivering 165Wpc into 8 ohms and 250Wpc into 4 ohms. The Onyko hit 136W into 8 ohms and struggled to reach even 50 watts into 4 ohms due to its power limiting. In contrast while the MiniDSP SHD Power does great with 4 ohms, it only hit 85 W into 8 ohms and lacks the HDMI convenience and Dolby/DTS decoding of the AVRs.
The 94 dB SINAD is not state of the art today, though still sufficient given the amplifier and speaker performances as a limiting factor.
Last, the SR250 does require a HDMI display for setup as the green front LED display won't provide useful information.
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