Onkyo AS-500 (2011–2015)

Name: Onkyo AS-500
Brand: Onkyo

The Onkyo AS-500 is a stereo integrated amplifier that Onkyo produced from 2011 to 2015. It was a plain, no-frills design for the budget-to-midrange hi-fi buyer. You get two channels, a phono stage, tone controls and speaker A/B switching, built to drive conventional speakers. None of the home-theater extras that dominated the brand's lineup at the time are in it.

The spec sheet is conservative but honest. Rated output is 2 x 50 W into 8 Ohms, rising to 2 x 75 W into 4 Ohms. Total harmonic distortion is listed at 0.06% (20-20,000 Hz, 8 Ohms). The frequency response claim is unusually wide at 2 to 100,000 Hz (+0/-3 dB), which suggests a healthy wideband design even if the audible significance is debatable. Signal-to-noise is rated at 100 dB for the MM phono input and 90 dB for line inputs. Input sensitivity is 3.5 mV (MM) and 170 mV (line). The front panel carries bass, treble and balance controls with a tone defeat switch, plus a headphone output. It draws 180 W and weighs 8.4 kg, with dimensions of 435 x 144 x 377 mm.

What stands out about the AS-500 is what it doesn't have. There's no built-in DAC, just analog line inputs, a phono stage and speaker outputs. Integrated amps of that era were increasingly becoming digital hubs, and the AS-500 went the other way, back to the classic Onkyo integrated amplifier formula.

Documentation on this model is thin. The specs above all trace back to a single database entry, and period press coverage is scarce. No original retail price, no independent measurements and no owner-review corpus have surfaced in our research. If you own one and can add to the record, we'd welcome the input.

Known specs:

- Power output: 2 x 50 W (8 Ohms) / 2 x 75 W (4 Ohms)

- THD: 0.06% (20–20,000 Hz, 8 Ohms)

- Frequency response: 2–100,000 Hz (+0/‑3 dB)

- S/N: 100 dB (MM), 90 dB (line)

- Phono input: MM; headphone output: yes

- Tone controls with defeat; speaker A/B switching

- Dimensions: 435 x 144 x 377 mm; 8.4 kg