Receiver advice

[Sane]

My old faithful pioneer 5.1 receiver is starting to act up a little lately so I'm looking to invest in a replacement soon. The Onkyo TX-SR606 has caught my attention but I have a few questions:

1. Is HD audio worth it? I do really value good sound quality and I have a PS3 which I use as bluray player, but if the difference with normal audio is minimal I'd rather get a receiver without HD audio since it will be a lot cheaper.

2. I see a lot of different specs listed under output, ranging from 90 to 110 watts. Now my current speaker set is 80 watts, does this mean I'll have to upgrade the speakers as well?

3. How would you rate this receiver in general? I read some reviews which tend to say it's good value for money, or should be looking at alternatives?

[beecee]

yes HD Audio is worth it, but you dont need one with DD True and DTS HD decoding to enyoy it, most amps with an HDMI socket and are hdmi 1.2 should do it, (you can pick them up cheap) as you use a PS3 and it decodes it internally and sends it to the amp via bitstream.

if your going to upgrade to dedicated blu ray player then its best to go for an amp with decoding, i was going for the 606 but ended up paying a little bit more (a whole ?50) and got the Yamaha 763.

http://www.petertyson.co.uk/ebuttonz/ebz_product_pages/yamaha_dspax763.shtml

[djjimbob]

good advice Beecee, although you want the PS3 to send via LPCM *not* bitstream.

[Oldgamingfart]

2. I see a lot of different specs listed under output, ranging from 90 to 110 watts. Now my current speaker set is 80 watts, does this mean I'll have to upgrade the speakers as well?

If your current speakers are 80w into 8 Ohms then it shouldn't be a problem. You need to find out what the impedance of your speakers are. The most common is 8 Ohms, but 6 is found often on floorstander's.

[Sane]

Thanks for the info guys. The speakers are 80 watts, 8 ohm. So I can hook them up without having to be afraid of blowing them up?

beecee: What are the advantages of the Yamaha over the Onkyo?

[Baseley09]

Sonically a Yamaha amp is gonna out do an Onkyo, the later make is feature packed but for the cheap cost, it literally comes at a cost. Not a major one mind.

[Oldgamingfart]

Thanks for the info guys. The speakers are 80 watts, 8 ohm. So I can hook them up without having to be afraid of blowing them up?

Although it's best to have matching figures (or speakers that can handle more power), it shouldn't be a problem. Just don't drive them with the amp at full blast!
You'll probably do more damage using a weedy amp on power hungry speakers, as the distortion at high volume would knacker the mid/ tweeters fairly quickly.

[beecee]

good advice Beecee, although you want the PS3 to send via LPCM *not* bitstream.

oops, yes....that what i meant. honest guv.
as the ps3 cant sent the DD true & DTS-hd audio via bitstream which is what you need if the amp was to do the decoding.

i went for the yamaha due me having a couple of them before and i am more that happy with the performance of the machines.

only down side is that it only has 2 hdmi inputs to the onkyo's 4. but i only have a PS3 and DVD player attached that didn't bother me

[Sane]

Ok, I think I'll go with the Onkyo then, you can never have too many HDMI inputs . Glad I'll be able to use my current speakers as I can't really afford buying a new set right now. One more question though, seeing as how the receiver is 7.1 and I have a 5.1 speakerset, can I buy 2 additional speakers and hook those up? I was thinking about getting 2 bigger, high quality speakers to use as front speakers later on. Will it matter if they are a different amount of watts as the other speakers? And will I be able to set up the receiver so that it will only use those 2 speakers when playing music for example?

[djjimbob]

I wouldn't bother with 7.1 if I was you. Just spend the money getting a better 5.1 setup.

[beecee]

Ok, I think I'll go with the Onkyo then, you can never have too many HDMI inputs . Glad I'll be able to use my current speakers as I can't really afford buying a new set right now. One more question though, seeing as how the receiver is 7.1 and I have a 5.1 speakerset, can I buy 2 additional speakers and hook those up? I was thinking about getting 2 bigger, high quality speakers to use as front speakers later on. Will it matter if they are a different amount of watts as the other speakers? And will I be able to set up the receiver so that it will only use those 2 speakers when playing music for example?

no it wont matter about the wattage, but keep them in simila ranges 80/100 setc.you just need to make the that the impeadance (ohms) are the same as on some amps i'm sure you can only set the amp to 4/6/8 ohms over all the speakers.

as for 7.1 if you have room and finance then yes, but its not necessary, i personally have a 7.1 set up and for 75% of the time its 5.1 that is only being used.

7.1 will become more and more common (i hope) as for now i have only got 3:10 to yuma with 7.1 and its awesome! i have a few EX discs also so its not a total waste.

[Sane]

Oh, I kinda thought the HD audio formats were 7.1 standard...

Anyway, thanks for the advice people, I just ordered the Onkyo .

[Sane]

Well I received my receiver (har har) today and I'm really pleased so far. Unfortunately I only have 1 HDMI cable so I can't test out Dolby HD on the PS3 (PS3 is hooked up through optical, never knew that couldn't handle HD audio) but I've been playing some games and listening to my Doors DVD box set (has DTS mixes from the original masters) and it's a world of difference compared to my old Pioneer budget receiver.

So thanks again everyone, I'm pleased with my purchase .