Integra Upgrades Existing AV Receivers to Dolby Atmos

Receivers are one of the few home theater electronic purchases where people are primarily worried about longevity. They expect to upgrade their Blu-ray player and other sources as new features are implemented. TVs are upgraded as new technologies come out or as people decide that they'll repurpose their main display to a second room so they can upgrade to a larger size. But AV receivers are different. Receivers tend to outlast just about all other electronics (save amplifiers). When people buy, they want to know they are getting the features they need not only for now, but also for the future.

Dolby Atmos and 4k as well as HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 are arriving. Necessary for full 4k, people are starting to scour receiver specification charts for the latest HDMI and HDCP support. Like all manufacturers, Integra has new receivers on the way with full HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 support. Unlike many others, they have upgraded three existing receivers to Dolby Atmos.

Available via USB or over the network, the Integra DTR-30.6, DTR-40.6, and DTR-50.6 can be firmware upgraded to support Dolby Atmos. Integra’s 2014-model line-up of A/V receivers and controllers, beginning with the DTR-30.6, feature Dual 32-bit Processing Engines to decode, scale, and calibrate Dolby Atmos for any home theater configuration. They have also dropped Audyssey room correction for their own, home-brewed room calibration system.

The receivers all sport seven channels of amplification and dual subwoofer channels. The first four HDMI inputs all support 4k but only the third supports HDCP 2.2. The HDMI 2.0 support seems to be limited like Integra's sister company, Onkyo, limiting the bandwith of the HDMI 2.0 connection to 10.2Gbps (identical to HDMI 1.4 and much less than the full HDMI 2.0 spec at 18Gbps).

Integra DTR-30.6

The DTR-30.6 ($1000) is rated at 95 watts per channel and weighs in at 23 pounds. It has seven HDMI inputs and two outputs. 4k upscaling is performed by Marvell's Qdeo chipset. There are dual wireless antennas for WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. While there are no 7.1 analog inputs, the DTR-30.6 has full 7.2 pre-outs for adding an external amplifier and a phono input for vinyl lovers.  The pre-outs for the surround backs are also labeled as "Height" indicating that you'll need to choose one or the other. According to the manual, you can select the type and placement of Atmos speakers but you can't have the internal amps power the surround backs and an external amp power the Atmos speakers. It is one or the other. The DTR-30.6 supports up to two zones of audio (either internally powered or with an external amplifier).

Integra DTR-30.6 Rear Panel

Integra DTR-40.6

The DTR-40.6 ($1300) increases the power to 110 watts per channel and weighs 26.5 pounds. The wireless functionality is dropped from this model (and the next) so you'll need a direct connection to a router for network features. The DTR-40.6 adds THX Select2 Certification and HDBaseT support. This connection allows for very long high-definition runs over Ethernet. For those that need a long cable run, Ethernet is a fraction of the cost of an HDMI cable and can justify the cost of the receiver alone. The DTR-40.6 supports two zones of video and three zones of audio. Like the DTR-30.6, the DTR-40.6 does not allow the use of both surround back speakers and Atmos speakers.

Integra DTR-40.6 Rear Panel

Integra DTR-50.6

The DTR-50.6 ($1700) increases the power of the amplifiers to 130 watts per channel and weighs in at just over 32 pounds. While the number and types of inputs haven't changed, the DTR-50.6 adds the ability to utilize "Wide" speakers. Like the other two receivers, you'll have to choose which seven speakers you want in your system. You can't use the pre-outs to powering more than seven speakers.

Integra DTR-50.6 Rear Panel

Future Integra Models

Integra has more Dolby Atmos models on the way including the 9.2 channel DTR-60.6 receiver ($2300) and 11.2 channel DTR-70.6 ($2800). If you don't need amplifiers, you can look forward to the 11.2 channel DHC-80.6 ($3200) preamp. Other than upping the number of channels, these new models seem to have 4k available on all HDMI inputs (none are listed as "4k") though only one input on each is listed as HDCP 2.2. We'll bring you more information as these models get closer to launch.

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