Re: My Unofficial Review of the Onkyo TX-SR605

I, myself, ordered the 705 from Amazon on Friday for $575.00, I wanted the 805, BUT have heard HORROR stories about the heat it produces and units failing and whatnot. Seems like the 705 was THE best choice, and yes the 605 is cheaper, but I wanted the THX features, etc. Seems like the 875 is the one to get, for video geeks, as the upconversion is supposedly done by a better chip or so I had read. I just did NOT want to spend the extra $4-500 bucks for that. Hopefully it arrives this week. I also thought that you could NOT see the onscreen menus through HDMI on this unit, only through svideo and component, etc. Cant wait to see how my Blu Ray films sound through my ps3 on it.

SuperJoinT,

I can access my OSM using HDMI. It displays the menu in 480p. And yes I've also heard the horror stories about the heat of all three units. My 605, PS3, and Cable box are ot inclosed. As far as the PS3's sound quality using this reciever, all I can say is WOW. There are no words to discribe it. Your gonna love hearing the LPCM and Dolby TrueHD tracks, in my opinion the Dolby TrueHD track is not up to par with LPCM. I used a movie with both codecs and compaired them both. The LPCM track gets my vote.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Feb 3, 2008]

Quote:
Your gonna love hearing the LPCM and Dolby TrueHD tracks, in my opinion the Dolby TrueHD track is not up to par with LPCM. I used a movie with both codecs and compaired them both. The LPCM track gets my vote.

I DEFINITELY agree with yiou there Tony, you can tell the difference EASILY between the codecs, with LPCM being amazing. Took me a while to figure out I had to configure the PS3 audio settings, at first they were set to default and my Surround was sounding like GARBAGE, but when I opened everything up, OMG, this receiver is $$$ WELL spent.

After having this Onkyo TX-SR705 for over a week now, and going through the nightmare of figuring out all the ways to set it up, and all the features this thing has, I have to say I am very impressed that I could get a receiver with ALL of these features delivered to my home within 3 days for $550 shipped.

I wish I had the skills to write a proper review, but coming up with words to describe the way this receiver sounds to me, is something I am just not gifted with.

The Audessy (sp) set up is really spot on if you ask me, it set up my front Tower speakers to full, instead of small, and all the crossover settings look OK.

If you guy's get a chance to get this receiver or the 605, or 805, treat yourself to watching Pan's Labarynth on Blu Ray in 7.1, and you will see just how magnificent your home theater can sound.

Tony, have you gotten the Nighttime feature to work?, Every time I select it, it tells me unavailable, I have only tried it with the PS3 so far, not with cable, and you were right, the video games sound amazing, just the explosions in Crackdown for XB360 told me I made the right decision, I cannot say enough good things about this 705!

THanks for the info

Do you guys think I should get this now.. even thou I use a ps3 for blu playback?

Blu Bawla, the LNight feature is only available if you use Dolby Digital, it's not available for dts or LPCM. Man, LPCM tracks definitly sound better to me. I have'nt yet heard the dts HD/MA but the 1.5 Mbps dts HD core sounds great too. I don't have a talent for writing reviews either but after experiencing the 605 I had the insrpiration to at least try.

Kuco You can't go wrong with any unit being 605 and up. If you do decide to get any of the models just make sure that the unit is well ventilated, because the downside of owning an ONKYO is that they have a tendency to run hot some of the time, but as Blu Bawla said, the 705 does have cooling fans.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Feb 16, 2008]

705 is what i decided to get. just dont knwo if now or lata!

Does the 805 have cooling fans also?

I would think so but I'll check for you Falcon.

I do NOT think the 805 has them(cooling fans), the 705 was made after the 605, and 805, therefore they fixed all the issues those 2 were having, i.e overheating, popping noises etc. Or so they claim, I know I have not had any issues yet. I ALMOST got the 805, BUT the overheating, and the fact that it weighs 60 lbs dissuaded me. The 705 seems to be the perfect blend without the problems that the others were having, that is why I got it, and am very pleased.

Kuco check out the official thread, this is what helped me make my mind up:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12162401#post12162401

This should answer all your questions!