- 75 Watts per Channel Minimum into 8 Ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.08%, FTC (2 Channels Driven); 100 Watts per Channel Minimum into 6 Ohms, 1 kHz, 0.1%, FTC (2 Channels Driven)
- DTS-ES Discrete/Matrix, DTS Neo:6, DTS 96/24, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic Iix
- 2 HDMI Inputs and 1 Output (1080p Pass-Thru to HD Ready Displays)
- Color-Coded 7.1-Multichannel Inputs (Receive 7.1 Surround Sound from Compatible Blu-ray and HD-DVD Players)
I have now moved my home theater setup into the new 20x20 room. I installed the new 4 Polk Audio RM6751 surround speakers on the side and rear walls and reused the Energy speakers up front. I ran the receiver's Audyssey 2EQ automatic speaker setup which did a surprisingly good job at determining the size and distance of the speakers from them main TV viewing position. It was perfect, off by a foot for some speakers but very close. I proceeded to test the entire home theater using some action space sequences from Star Wars Episode 3 which has a Dolby Digital EX 6.1 audio track. All I can say is WOW. The new room and 7.1 speakers has really allowed this Onkyo receiver to shine. It sounded good in the old room but was somewhat limited by the poor room layout. In the new room it sounds nothing short of amazing. The surround effect sounds very well blended and non-localized as they should. This is an excellent sounding entry level 7.1 receiver.
The ONLY reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the quirky behavior of the HDMI video switching. Not because it doesn't switch audio over HDMI but because of the few problems it caused with my cable box and DVD player when they were connected through the HDMI of the receiver. I now connect them directly to the TV as I did with my old receiver and everything works great.
-End of 10/15/07 update --
I'll start by saying that overall I am very pleased with this receiver and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an full featured budget priced receiver. I am NOT an audiophile. I'm just a guy who enjoys watching movies in surround sound. As such I try to buy components that offer the features I need without all the extra stuff I don't need at a low price. This receiver fits that description perfectly.
This receiver is an upgrade from a 7 year old Pioneer VSX-D608 5.1 receiver. The main reason for the upgrade was that I plan to move my home theater system to a larger 20x20 room and felt that a 7.1 speaker arrangement would be really nice in that room. I'm currently using the new Onkyo in the old room with 5.1 speakers. The move into the new room is a few weeks way.
Since I'm still in the old temporary room I didn't use the Audyssey automatic setup system instead I manually configured all the speaker settings and distances. I found the controls and menus to be fairly easy to navigate and use.
When shopping for a receiver one of my top priorities is a clean low distortion amp which gives you very nice and detailed sound. Be careful when shopping. There are some receivers with 1% THD which IMO is too high. You can tell the difference in sound between 1% and the Onkyo's 0.08%. The SR505 is excellent in this regard.
The SR505 supports the standard formats like DD (Dolby Digital) 5.1 and DTS and also supports many new formats such as DD EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIx, DTS 96/24, DTS-ES, DTS-NEO6 and others. Even though many of these are 7.1 formats they work just fine in a 5.1 setup. The SR505 automatically handles the missing 2 speakers. These formats give a lot of versatility to the audio because they allow conversion of 2 channel audio up to 7.1 and 5.1 up to 7.1. It all works very well. It also remembers what listening mode you have selected for each kind of source audio signal. For example I have it set that when I'm watching TV through my cable box (digital connection to receiver) any channels in 2.0 stereo are converted to DTS Neo:6 and any HT channels in 5.1 stay in their native DD 5.1 format. As I switch channels the SR505 automatically uses the correct listening mode based on the source audio signal. The only negative is that the SR505 makes a 'click' sound whenever it changes listening modes. It's not really annoying but is loud enough to hear.
Regarding video connections the SR505 does allow video switching but does NOT do any conversion between different types of video inputs. For example if you have a DVD and cable box connected to the SR505 with Component inputs then the SR505 will switch the video on it's Component output to your TV. However if the DVD was using S-Video and the cable box Component then the SR505 will NOT convert the S-Video up to Component. It will only output the S-Video over it's S-Video output. The more expensive higher end Onkyo models will do that type of conversion. You just need to decide if that feature is worth the rather large increase in cost. For me it wasn't worth it.
If you read other user reviews on the net for the SR505 it seems the HDMI switching is an area of confusion. The bottom line is that the SR505 will switch ONLY video over HDMI and NOT both video and audio. All this means is that in addition to the HDMI connection you will also need a separate audio connection between the device and the receiver. So between your cable box and SR505 you would need an HDMI connection for video and a coax or optical digital for audio. Full HDMI audio/video switching is available on much more expensive higher end receivers. Again the buyer needs to decide if this feature is worth the extra money.
I have also found the HDMI to be a bit quirky so I decided not to use those connections myself. For example, when I add my cable box connected to the SR505 over HDMI the display on my cable box would flash 'd00' every few seconds whenever the SR505 was turned off. I found the flashing annoying so I connected my cable box directly to my TV. The only other HDMI device I own is an upconverting DVD player. The player doesn't show any usual behavior when connected through the SR505 but I noticed that whenever the receiver is turned off my Sony TV forgets which wide video mode it was in for the DVD player input and I have to change it back manually the next time I play a DVD. I don't know if it's a quirk with my TV or what but it doesn't happen when the DVD player is direct connected to the TV over HDMI so that how I have it connected now. The bottom line is that I tried to use the HDMI switching on the SR505 but because of the unexpected side effects I mentioned above I decided to not use it and went back to direct to TV HDMI connections.
The SR505 includes a nice manual a fairly good remote which will also operate your other devices.
Overall I'm pleased with my purchase. The SR505 is a great receiver for the price. I have no regrets. Recommended.
Buy Onkyo TX-SR505 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) Now
I purchased this receiver because it offered all the features I required. My current setup is 5.1 but this system will allow me to easily transition to 7.1 It comes with three connections. My only gripe was that it required an additional conection for audio. The HDMI cable would only passthru the video signal, audio has to come through a separate connection. There goes the simple setup solution. Other than that, this is a wonderful unit that offers many highend features of more expensive units.Read Best Reviews of Onkyo TX-SR505 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) Here
I hooked this up to a new Infinity speaker system (pair of Primus PC362s, PC350 center and 4 CS60 in wall speakers) for a 7.1 setup for my new basement home theater. Sound is absolutely amazing. You hear effects in movies and music that were not there before. My other setup is an older Sony model receiver with older Infinity speakers and this does not even compare.The need for separate audio setups for HDMI connections is not a huge deal to me, I have the cables already so why not use them. Even so, to spend $30 in cables to save $150 on the receiver (compared to the Onkyo 605) seems like a deal to me. I personally would not be using the analog to HDMI up-conversion so that is another reason to go with the lower cost of the 505.
The auto speaker setup was a snap. Gone are the hours or measuring and tweaking speaker setups!
This system has more than enough wattage to rattle the windows in my house.
IMHO, unless you desperately need the up-conversion of the 605, get this model and put the money you saved into better speakers. Speakers have a MUCH longer life than receivers anyway!
Want Onkyo TX-SR505 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) Discount?
Again Onkyo has produced a low to mid priced unit that produces great sound and has very good functionality . The 2 main limitations on this unit have been mentioned a number of times in other reviews :1) Only 2 HDMI inputs (1 HDMI output ,you only want 1 output)
In North America most devices come with high quality HDMI outputs nowadays . So a receiver takes all the HDMI devices into it's HDMI inputs and then sends the HDMI signal over the 1 HDMI output connected to the TV (HDMI output only accepts signal from HDMI inputs , component inputs will have to go out over component output). So you have only 1 connection to the TV (simple!) and switch between input devices in the unit ..HDMI 1 you're watching the DVD , HDMI 2 you're watching the HDMI enabled cable box .
As this unit has 2 inputs you can only attach 2 devices via HDMI ( fine with me = DVD and satellite box) . Extra devices will need to be atttached via another high quality input ..like component , and go to the TV via another quality output like component . Not a big deal but more cabling and switching TV inputs on the TV .
2) HDMI passthrough only
HDMI signal comes into the receiver from your DVD player say ..but you can't split the audio signal out and play it at that point as this unit just passes the whole signal (audio and video) to the TV . So you have 2 choices to get the HDMI audio back to the unit for playback :
a) Let the TV split out the audio and send it back to the unit over digital (optical) cable . Set the unit to "listen" to digital audio in .
Then ALL HDMI audio sent to the TV will play back over digial audio in . Simple ..IF your TV has a digital audio out . You'll want a high quality/fast digital/optical cable .
b) Send all sound to the unit via another audio input e.g component inputs on the unit and set the unit to "listen" to component audio . Works if your devices have the outputs but it means more cabling / less simplicity .
Summary
For around 250 bucks this unit is a steal bearing in mind the caveats above . If it doesn't work for you for those reasons then the 605 removes those limitations for 200 bucks more (and it's a little taller) .
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