Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater watts per channel

Wow! That looks pretty nice for the price, others may have suggestions but I couldn’t do better. Looks like you’ll already have some money to save toward your speaker upgrade. Have you considered the type of speakers you want yet?

Amazon has the Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 for about $9.00 less than 6th Ave.

Steve, that 10% THD rating is actually in accord with one of the established standards; it's the so-called "maximum output" under the JEITA(Japanese Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association)standard. Of course, it's generally considered that THD when listening to music becomes significant above 1% or so, and that 10% would be very audible, but the rating under a U.S. FTC(not FCC, incidentally)rating under 1% would probably still be significantly powerful, since distortion is shooting up rapidly when it rises above 1%.

So, that receiver might be tolerable for use with better speakers within the lower power limit.

Dreamer, welcome. Onkyo makes excellent receivers at good prices and the 606 would be a good choice for you, but if you'll spend a bit more, but still within the budget that you mentioned, consider the 706 factory refurb on sale until Thanksgiving at ShopOnkyo . When you register for "Club Onkyo" you receive a $10 credit, so the price of the 706, with the 10% off and $10 credit, would be about $484 with free shipping. The 706 has added features, including a more advanced version of Audyssey MultEQ.

I am also in favor of getting rid of the HTiB receiver and get the Onkyo JohnK haslinked to. you will be able to listen at higher volume levels which will help with the clarity from those lesser speakers. Then you can save up for some much better speakers, like M22s, Vp100, Qs4s. for a bit pricy, but still affordable system.

Even if your Trinitron may not reap the rewards of a Blu-ray player, there may be another reason you may want to buy one . . .
Do you purchase movies? If you do, and it also sounds like you are gradually upgrading your home theatre, you may still want to buy a Blu-ray player so that your movie collection will be in the latest format. That way, if you purchase an HDTV down the road, you're ready to rock.
PS; all Blu-ray players also upconvert and also HDTV's (LCD, Plasma, etc) also perform upconverting so that they are able to take a regular DVD resolution and play it in their native format.
They all do that to a varying degree of quality, but personally, I view those cheap <$100 DVD players that also brag about upconverting as a bit of a redundant gimmick.

Somebody enlighten me if I'm wrong.

Since I am not necessarily concerned about more watts per channel and Onkyos 606 and706 are close what major advantage is the 706. I could get a real nice price on the 606 at a going out of business store.

If the 606 has all the options you are looking for and for a sweet price......jump on it.

I think the 606 is a great choice in your price range. It is more powerful, and it delivers much less distortion. I found it online at Amazon for $338 and free shipping (may be cheaper at the going out of business store). It also has TrueHD.

A great choice in your range.

Now, to upgrade your speakers, concentrate on the fronts first. If you are willing to wait and save a bit, get the M60s. I would not recommend any pair of speakers for the $262 you would have left in your budget.

looking over specs on both units. I am going to investigate further ,but if anyone readily knows the diff.

606 --------------------706
DCDi edge--------------DCDi cinema
480i to480p process-----480i to 480p process
-------------------------1080i upscaling
-------------------------1080p upscaling
audyssey2 EQ-----------audyssey multi EQ

I am sure there are other differences, but if there are what would they be and would they be enough to make me opt for the 706 over the 606