Home Theater receiver

[born_bad]

So, my current Sony receiver is about 5-6 years old and the subwoofer input is starting to give me hassles. It also doesn't have anything better than composite and s-video options for it. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on an Onkyo 605. Anyone here have the receiver? I'd love some opinions.

It will be great to have the HDMI options. My only minor concern is the speaker connections. I've always only had receivers with spring clips which I just put the bare speaker wire into. The Onkyo doesn't have those. Anyone have any advice for the best way to connect to a receiver with these types of connectors (they basiscally look like screws)? Banana plugs? Bare wires?

Monoprice has some cheap banana plugs, but I'm not sure how or if those would work.

Thanks.

[mjb2124]

Re: Home Theater receiver

I don't have that receiver, but my HK receiver has those same type of connections for speakers. I twist the bare wire and screw that in. I believe the manual states this is how to do it.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Home Theater receiver

I looked at the Onkyo 605 and the Sony 910, I went with the Sony for a few reasons. One was 3 HDMI's in, another was the fact I could label the inputs. It drove me nuts on my old receiver that my TV was on the DVD in. So now my inputs are PS3, 360, Cable, etc. My wife likes that better as well.

The Onkyo supports HDMI 1.3, which the Sony does not, but if that's not a feature point to look at, I'd go with the Sony.

I use bare wire connections, and the Sony has the screw on speaker connections, that also uses banana plugs.

[born_bad]

Re: Home Theater receiver

Thanks. The Sony is about $150 cheaper at Amazon right now. I'm really thinking of getting that now instead.

Can anyone explain to me HDMI 1.3? My understanding is that it's for some HD audio? I'm currently only going to use it for my 360, HD cable box, and DVD player (standard def). I'm not going to upgrade DVD until the format it all sorted out. So, I don't think I need the HDMI 1.3, right? However, it would be nice to not have to upgrade the receiver when I do upgrade my DVD player. Is the Sony 910 good for HD DVD/Blu-Ray or would the Onkyo be better because of the HDMI 1.3?

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Home Theater receiver

Thanks. The Sony is about $150 cheaper at Amazon right now. I'm really thinking of getting that now instead.

Can anyone explain to me HDMI 1.3? My understanding is that it's for some HD audio? I'm currently only going to use it for my 360, HD cable box, and DVD player (standard def). I'm not going to upgrade DVD until the format it all sorted out. So, I don't think I need the HDMI 1.3, right? However, it would be nice to not have to upgrade the receiver when I do upgrade my DVD player. Is the Sony 910 good for HD DVD/Blu-Ray or would the Onkyo be better because of the HDMI 1.3?

HDMI 1.3 will do True HD audio, as well as add other things. For any picture related addition, you'd need a HDMI 1.3 TV, which there are currently none on the market as far as I know. The 360, even with HDMI on the Elite or new models, doesn't do 1.3 either. The PS3 does do 1.3, but as far as I know, it's not turned on as of yet. There's no setting for True HD under their sound choices, and I've read several places where it's not turned on. I could be wrong there.

I went off the fact, that most reviews favor uncompressed PCM 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 audio over True HD, as well as the fact I'm fine with the 1.2 HDMI with having one extra HDMI input. The Onkyo only has 2 HDMI inputs.

[born_bad]

Re: Home Theater receiver

I think I'm going to go with the Sony since I don't think the HDMI 1.3 is a factor for me.

Just to clarify - I can plug in my 360 and DVD player to the receiver with component cables and digital audio cables (coax or optical) and the 1 HDMI to my TV, right? The receiver will convert the component to HDMI out?

My total set up would be:

Cable box HDMI out
360 component out, optical audio
DVD component out, coaxial audio

I can plug those 3 things and just have 1 HDMI cable out, correct?

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Home Theater receiver

I think I'm going to go with the Sony since I don't think the HDMI 1.3 is a factor for me.

Just to clarify - I can plug in my 360 and DVD player to the receiver with component cables and digital audio cables (coax or optical) and the 1 HDMI to my TV, right? The receiver will convert the component to HDMI out?

My total set up would be:

Cable box HDMI out
360 component out, optical audio
DVD component out, coaxial audio

I can plug those 3 things and just have 1 HDMI cable out, correct?

Yep, it converts everything to run over the HDMI cable, but does not upconvert it. If you put a 480P signal in, you'll get 480P out over HDMI.

I have my cable box, PS3, 360, Wii all going in, and just one HDMI cable to my TV.

[born_bad]

Re: Home Theater receiver

Ok, thanks. I'm not concerned with having my receiver upconvert. The only thing I need upncoverted would be regular DVD and I can upgrade to a player that will upconvert someday, so that's all set.

I'm mainly concerned with good audio and the convenience of 1 HDMI output, so I think this a great deal.

Thanks for the info; it just saved me about $150.

[bkrich83]

Re: Home Theater receiver

Ugghh. I wish I could get a kick *** setup for the living room.

My wife put the kaybosh on it, because she doesn't want a bunch of speakers and stuff visible.

We made a compromise and I just ordered one of these.

http://reviews.cnet.com/speakers-speaker-systems/yamaha-digital-sound-projector/4505-6467_7-32109730.html

[bergie56]

Re: Home Theater receiver

Ugghh. I wish I could get a kick *** setup for the living room.

My wife put the kaybosh on it, because she doesn't want a bunch of speakers and stuff visible.

We made a compromise and I just ordered one of these.

http://reviews.cnet.com/speakers-spe...-32109730.html

You could just run your speaker wires under the flooring. Don't give in.

[bkrich83]

Re: Home Theater receiver

You could just run your speaker wires under the flooring. Don't give in.

It's not the wires. It's the actual rear speakers. I have a home theatre room here also, I do have a decent setup in there

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Home Theater receiver

It's not the wires. It's the actual rear speakers. I have a home theatre room here also, I do have a decent setup in there

I have really small speakers, I hid them behind things, don't even know they are there. The sub is flat, so it's against a wall behind my TV. Actually gives me awesome sound. The Sony receiver I have, and Born_bad just bought, comes with a microphone you plug in the front and place in the middle of the room. It self calibrates the speakers, did a damn good job IMO. I had to tweak them a little, but for the most part, it sounded amazing without my tweaking.

[bergie56]

Re: Home Theater receiver

It's not the wires. It's the actual rear speakers. I have a home theatre room here also, I do have a decent setup in there

Gotcha. At least you have a home theater then. You choose your battles wisely huh?

[mjb2124]

Re: Home Theater receiver

The Sony receiver I have, and Born_bad just bought, comes with a microphone you plug in the front and place in the middle of the room. It self calibrates the speakers, did a damn good job IMO. I had to tweak them a little, but for the most part, it sounded amazing without my tweaking.

That's a really cool feature. My HK receiver does the same thing. I thought it needed tweaked a little bit, but not too much. It set the crossover, size and +- volume on each speaker (might have done a few other things, but I can't recall).

Although when running through that setup, it was LOUD as hell.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Home Theater receiver

That's a really cool feature. My HK receiver does the same thing. I thought it needed tweaked a little bit, but not too much. It set the crossover, size and +- volume on each speaker (might have done a few other things, but I can't recall).

Although when running through that setup, it was LOUD as hell.

Yeah, I started it like at 11PM on a week night. Promptly turned it off when I realized it was going to shatter windows on the house 4 doors down..LOL