Onkyo M-5010 Stereo Amplifier Preview

Onkyo is a company well known for delivering feature packed receivers at relatively low prices; they aren't necessarily a company most think of when looking at external amplifiers. Enter the M-5010. Priced at a reasonably affordable $349 and rated to deliver 75W into an 8 ohm load (1kHz, 0.08% THD, both channels driven), Onkyo is ostensibly delivering a respectable, if not world-beating stereo amp. How does the M-5010 stand up to a little scrutiny from the Audioholics? Read on to find out.

Hello Beautiful?

If nothing else, the M-5010 isn't a bad looking amplifier; it's not going to get the juices flowing like a McIntosh or Classe, but the brushed aluminum front plate adorned with a simple blue LED and power button aren't likely to offend anyone. Flipping to a rear view of the Onkyo, you'll find a fairly basic set of connections: standard RCA jacks for line input and output (the outputs allow for daisy chaining), 12V trigger input and output, and an ordinary set of binding posts which appear to offer adequate spacing. The M-5010 does also offer an input level knob which presumably offers a modicum of volume adjustment, though it'd be nice to see the ability to adjust volume for each channel independently. There's no audio jewelry here, but the connectivity options should be adequate to get the job done and lend some utility for multi-zone operation.

View of the Onkyo M-5010's rear panel; in a few words, bland but functional.

As suggested by the 75W rated output into 8 ohms, the M-5010 isn't exactly a power house; Emotiva can sleep soundly knowing their XPR-2 isn't in eminent danger of being outperformed by an Onkyo. Still, 75W is sufficient to deliver respectable listening levels assuming moderately sensitive loudspeakers and a room that wouldn't be mistaken for an auditorium. Unfortunately, the picture does get a bit worse when looking at the 4 ohm rating as power output declines to 65W (1kHz, 0.08% THD, both channels driven). For those keeping track, the decline in voltage going from 75W @ 8 ohms to 65W @ 4 ohms would correspond to a drop of ~3.5dB, which we would deem significant. Suffice it to say, this isn't an amplifier that we would highly recommend using with 4 ohm speakers at reference levels.

As far as some other performance related facts and figures, Onkyo claims an input sensitivity of 870mV (corresponding to a voltage gain of 29dB) and an input impedance of 20 k-Ohms, which shouldn't be particularly troublesome for practically any preamplifier to drive to full power. Frequency response should be more than adequate, rated at 10Hz-100kHz +0, -3dB, and the rated signal to noise ratio doesn't reveal anything amiss at 110dB. Damping factor is specified as 60 into 8 ohms which is adequate if not extraordinary; however, it is notable that this figure is only defined at 1kHz as opposed to a more useful range like 10Hz-400Hz like some Outlaw amplifiers.

Summary

Suffice it to say, Onkyo isn't targeting equipment like the Emotiva UPA-200 with their M-5010 amplifier. This isn't a big bad power amplifier made to supplement weak-kneed receivers. While power isn't exactly the M-5010's forte, particularly into 4 ohm loads, it does come equipped with some potentially handy features that could be of use in multi-zone audio. That's really where we feel the M-5010 is a good fit. Many of the $500 receivers that used to have powered zone 2 outputs are dropping to only pre-outs. Considering that the M-5010 has a street price of only $249, can be daisy chained to other amps, is 4ohm stable (could hook up 4 8ohm speakers), and has a volume control and 12v trigger, we think it would be a great companion to an AVR lacking amplified zone 2 outputs. In the past, for $250 a consumer could just buy a stereo receiver if their main AVR didn't support zone 2, but with the advanced network features built into modern AVRs (control via a mobile app and access to music through various streaming services and DLNA), an external amp makes more sense.

Considering the modest MSRP of $349 and real world price of $249, this Onkyo could well find a home in many audio racks driving whole-home setups where it would be in its element.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.