Onkyo TX-SR 605 & 805 Reviews

[Paul Wozniak]

I've had a couple of weeks to play with my 805, and I just want to say that this unit is worth way more than i paid for it. Power to spare (and I'm driving Magnepan's), all the features you'll ever need, and more inputs than I'll ever use. The sound is beautiful, especially once you get the Audyssey set up correctly. (The key for me was just taking 3 readings.)

 

[Jim S.]

1- While the 605 supports up to 7.1 speaker systems, it can only produce 7.1 surround with 7.1 input. I.E. - it cannot matrix the 5.1 to 7.1. The 805 & above can do this.

Upon what are you basing that? I was looking at the manual online and the Listening Modes section seems to indicate that it can produce 7.1 from 5.1.

 

[Jim S.]

OK, I still can't make heads or tails of the listening modes chart in the manual for some reason, but I've read other reviews that say that it can produce 7.1 from 5.1 DD and DTS, just not from 5.1-channel PCM. Since I don't own a Blu-Ray player yet, I wasn't thinking in terms of the new audio formats.

 

[unija bass]

No picture with HDMI

Hi guys!
I'm so frustrated.For several days I'm trying to figure out why am I not getting
TV picture through my TX-SR805.I'm running HDMI cable from Samsung Time Warner box through Onkyo.No picture.Sometimes I'm getting the sound, and picture comes for a second. Then the message comes that the STB failed to authenticate TV HDMI.
Can anybody help?

 

[jayn_j]

I never seem to have enough time to do the stuff that needs to be doing.

I hooked up a 605 to replace an ancient Denon AVC-3000 (1994 vintage) back in June. There were a lot of things going on, and I didn't have time to do a proper setup, so I just lived with it out of the box.

What I did notice was that the 605 needed to be cranked up pretty high to drive my speakers, like 50-60 in order to get normal listening levels in a quiet room.

I finally got around to pulling out the setup speaker last night, and I can't make it work. The box keeps saying that the ambient noise level is too high, even though I turned off the furnace, sent the kids to bed and sat totally motionless. The first three test tones are barely audible and the fourth one is very quiet. I would bet it should be blasting.

I am driving Klipsch speakers. The mains are older KG-4s, the center is an RC-35 and the surrounds are RS-3s. These are supposed to be relatively efficient units, but I don't seem to have the oomph to drive them.

Is there something wrong with this particular unit, or do I simply need a larger receiver?

 

[jayn_j]

Oops, make that "pulled out the setup MICROPHONE last night."

 

[JamesJ]

when I Set up my 606, I simply plugged the mic in and went through the on screen instructions, and it did a very nice job....wondering if you dont have a defect somewhere in your reciever.....Have you ever thought of selling and getting a 606? with 4 HDMI ports this reciever has been incredible for me, and its pushing 5 year old ONKYO HTIB speakers.

 

[jayn_j]

Well, I probably just ruined my chances of selling it HERE

I'd rather figure it out if possible, and I should be getting more volume out of the unit. I would think that any defects would be in an individual channel. Further, the sound is coming out clean, it is just low volume.

That old Denon had about the same power specs and I never cranked it over 25% volume, so something is funny.

If I replaced, it would likely be with a Denon 280x/380x at this point. I was extremely happy with the old 3000. It just slowly became obsolete.

 

[JamesJ]

I understand where you are at, I had a old ONKYO HT-R500, and it is still Kicking (actually like the day I got it) but I wanted the new HD codecs, so it was time to upgrade. I hope someone chimes in for you, as I kinda zoomed in on you saying you had to crank the volume a bit to get sound to come out.

 

[griz_fan]

Well, I probably just ruined my chances of selling it HERE

I'd rather figure it out if possible, and I should be getting more volume out of the unit. I would think that any defects would be in an individual channel. Further, the sound is coming out clean, it is just low volume.

That old Denon had about the same power specs and I never cranked it over 25% volume, so something is funny.

If I replaced, it would likely be with a Denon 280x/380x at this point. I was extremely happy with the old 3000. It just slowly became obsolete.

I have the same unit, and I often have it at 50-60 for volume. It goes to 100. 70-75 is about as loud as I've cranked it with my old Athena Point 5 bookshelf speakers. I'm waiting to get my 605 back from repair (it stopped responding to remote control signals) so I can test out my new Polk speakers.

But, this is a common misconception that this unit isn't as "loud" as other receivers. It just uses a different scale to measure volume, so don't sweat it. Heck, I had a Pioneer before my 605 that used a real funky scale, with negative numbers, the closer I got to zero, the louder it was, -40 for normal listening, -25 for movies, etc... So, for that, the basic advice is to just keep turning the knob.

For the problems with the Audyssey setup, it sounds like a problem producing the sounds. The "chirping sounds) should be about the same volume as a loud conversation, not yelling volume, but still quite a bit louder than what you are describing. Is the volume consistent for all speakers when running the test? Have you verified that the speaker wire is set correctly and that all speakers are in phase? Those speakers are 6 Ohm speakers, but very efficient. Onkyo amps are generally pretty powerful, so you should have plenty of juice to drive these speakers. I think there's a simple solution somewhere, but I'm a bit stumped. Check the official Onkyo 605 thread over at AVSForum to see if someone there has some ideas.

Once set up, the 605 is a really nice AVR, an amazing number of features for the price.

 

[JamesJ]

alright here is a question, I just bought the yambeka Towers (just the front two, so I will use my onkyocenter and satellites) What do I need to do as the yambeka only handles 80 watts and my system is putting out I think 90 watts per channel isnt it? or am I confused about something, I dont want to hook up the yambekas and blow them out right away

 

[Paul Wozniak]

You are more likely to do that with an underpowered amp, than with an overpowered one. Just dial it back if you're hearing distortion.

 

[JamesJ]

Are you saying just don't crank the volume (which I normally sit at 35 for tv 43 for movies)

 

[Paul Wozniak]

What I'm saying is that an underpowered receiver makes you turn up the volume past what the amps are comfortable with, causing clipping. This steady meal of distortion is then fed to your speakers, usually taking out the tweeters first. After time your woofer/midrange drivers will follow. With an adequately powered amp, your amps aren't working up against their limits, they're just cruising along without straining. Now of course you can still just overpower your speakers with such an amp, also causing damage to your drivers, (mostly from to much heat). The bottom line is to use your ears, the signs of your speakers overloading will be noticeable. when you hear it, dial it back, and make note of the volume level. I would say that given the numbers you stated above, that you should be more than safe. If you can't achieve the volume you wish, with your system, you may need to rethink your equipment. I can't imagine that being a problem though, unless you have a very large room.

 

[jayn_j]

I think I have a problem with the Audyssey source level. The amps are OK. I've tested each individually. In addition, everything is connected with dual ganged banana plugs. No chance of a short. I also did a resistance check on each channel (open/short and through speaker.

The levels on the normal sources are fine and I can listen to all of my sources at a level around 40. All the posts I have read say this is normal.

I am hearing three levels on Audyssey setup. First one, I need my ear right up against speaker. Second one is hearable about a foot away. Third one is a little louder, maybe as loud as you would have it in a bedroon with your wife sleeping next to you. After that point, it always reports ambient level too high and quits. I have tried switching left and right front speakers as well.

I think it is time to talk to Onkyo tech support.

 

[griz_fan]

I think it is time to talk to Onkyo tech support.

I wish you luck. While I'm a big fan of Onkyo products, their tech support is mostly a bunch of d#$%chebags. Just be prepared to duke it out with them. You might get lucky and find a tech support rep that is polite and competent, though.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

You may have better luck contacting Audyssey.

 

[griz_fan]

Arg!!! Just a bit of venting here. So, an Onkyo repair depot has had my 605 since August 28th, this is the 2nd repair attempt for the same problem. Well, I just found out that they now finally figured out what was causing the problem, but it will be another three weeks before the replacement part arrives!!!! It will probably wind up being two months without it. If my repair experience is typical, then avoid Onkyo like the plague. I still like their products, but their support is SO bad, no amount of features can make up for it.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

For those of you's who own a DirecTV HR2x boxes: When I was having trouble with my HR20-100, I connected back up my coax digital connection and disconnected my HDMI, in order to trouble shoot the problem. What I discovered was that the digital coax output delivered quite an improvement in sound quality over a straight HDMI connection. The HDMI coneection delivered better video, so I left that connected and added a the digital coax connection and now I have the best of both worlds. Give this a try, you may be as surprised as I was, in the difference in sound quality. I'll chalk this up to better D/A converters in the Onlyo 805. Let me know if this works for any of you.

 

[gadgtfreek]

For those of you's who own a DirecTV HR2x boxes: When I was having trouble with my HR20-100, I connected back up my coax digital connection and disconnected my HDMI, in order to trouble shoot the problem. What I discovered was that the digital coax output delivered quite an improvement in sound quality over a straight HDMI connection. The HDMI coneection delivered better video, so I left that connected and added a the digital coax connection and now I have the best of both worlds. Give this a try, you may be as surprised as I was, in the difference in sound quality. I'll chalk this up to better D/A converters in the Onlyo 805. Let me know if this works for any of you.

I had my HR20 connected via optical to my 605 and wasnt very happy, I now have it back to sending HDMI audio to the 605. Are you saying you got better SQ from audio of the digi coax and left video on the hdmi?