Mini Review of Onkyo TX-SR606

[rnatalli]

With the tax-free weekend going on, I figured why not cruise the local electronic shops. I picked up an Onkyo 606 to mess with. Here are my impressions.

Packaging – Since I bought at a local shop, it was your typical single box. It was neatly done with plenty of foam.

Build Quality – Build quality was good. Nothing stood out as problematic. I would have liked gold connectors on the back, but few receivers offer this so I can't really fault Onkyo especially at a $400 price point.

Remote – Nothing great, but I did find it controlling my cable box without any setup. Be a real Audioholic and buy a Harmony or URC.

Features – This is where the 606 really shines. It has everything you could want. It decoded everything I threw at it including DSD direct for SACD which a couple new receivers didn't decode (i.e. HK AVR-254 only decoded it with a PCM over HDMI setting). I've always been skeptical of auto-setup programs and dynamic EQ's, but the Audyssey implementation in this receiver is excellent. Sure it needed a couple of tweaks afterward. The dynamic EQ does work well; at least in my room it did. The OSD is well-laid out and it wasn't difficult at all to get things going. My only gripe is that the OSD didn't output over component and I could only get it to work with HDMI. However, using the front panel to set things up wasn't difficult.

Connectivity – Hook anything up to the 606 and it'll work. The only thing missing really are preouts.

Sound – From what I can tell, the 606 delivers a good amount of power. I had no problem getting inefficient speakers to sing. It has more steam than the Yamaha 663 I used in a recent comparison. This receiver should power just about any typical speaker out there. Of course, don't go hooking up Magnepans to it.

Overall, I’d say the 606 is one great receiver. Loads of features, good power, and looks good too. My only gripes are the OSD and it does run a bit warm. For under $400, not a bad little deal.

 

[zeuiax]

Thank you for the review. I'm thinking about geting either of those.

 

[jcPanny]

Onkyo review

Nice review on the new Onkyo.
How did you determine that one receiver had more power than the other?
Did you crank them both up until you could hear or measure distortion and measure the max SPL level?

 

[Seth=L]

Nice review on the new Onkyo.
How did you determine that one receiver had more power than the other?
Did you crank them both up until you could hear or measure distortion and measure the max SPL level?

I was curious about this as well. I hope this isn't another one of those "the H/K AVR 347 is more powerful than the Onkyo TX-SR805" scenarios.

 

[rnatalli]

I used an SPL meter. The max SPL I could hit with the Yamaha was about 3db less than with the Onkyo. In 2-channel mode, it seemed much closer. In fact, the Yamaha reached a little higher in SPL. Interesting... On a subjective level, the Yamaha sounded more strained as I cranked it. I also think the Audyssey Dynamic EQ makes a difference at lower volumes. Note that these measurements weren't taken back-to-back, but using the exact same equipment and method.

Both reached levels loud enough for most people IMO.

 

[Adam]

Ah, rnatalli. Seth will never believe that the Onkyo has more power output than the Yamaha. After all, the Yamaha weighs more.

Just kidding, Seth!

 

[rnatalli]

Ah, rnatalli. Seth will never believe that the Onkyo has more power output than the Yamaha. After all, the Yamaha weighs more.

Just kidding, Seth!

In Seth's defense, the Yamaha hits a few db higher in 2-channel

 

[PENG]

In the S&V tests, the 661 produced better 2 channel outputs than the 606 did but the 863 did much worse even thought it was tested in the recent review (Aug issue) by the same person who reviewed the 661 in 2007.

The H.T. magazine also tested the 863 recently and the measurements are much closer to the 661's in the S&V review.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/receivers/2920/yamaha-rx-v863-av-receiver-dolby-digital-performance-page2.html

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/receivers/2276/test-bench-yamaha-rx-v661-av-receiver.html

http://www.hometheatermag.com/receivers/708yamrec/index2.html

The H.T. mag test on the 606 is not available online yet. Going by memory I believe it did something like: 2 Ch 115/166 8/4 ohms at 0.1 THD and 144/222 8/4 ohms at 1%, quite a bit less than the 863. The 863 did pretty bad in 5/7 ch tests.

Interestly, the 657 was the best yet if you go by HomeCinemaChoice:

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/pdfs/HCC/123/066_HCC_123.pdf

In S&V test, the 657 produced nice 1,2 ch outputs as well but much lower multichannel numbers than those produced in the Homecinemachoice tests:

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/receivers/863/yamaha-rx-v657-digital-surround-receiver-page3.html

I hope Gene will help us make some sense of this madness. Until then it seems that we can't go by the manufacturer specs and we can't go by lab measurements by H.T. mag, S&V, Homecinemachoice either. Some people like to take the power consumption numbers to the bank but that is unreliable as well because for instance, HK specify "maximum power consumption" whereas others just say "power consumption". Besides, different amps have different efficiencies, current output capacities etc., that all have major effects on their power consumption figures.

Measuring SPL at a certain volume setting is also not a reliable way to do it because while the SP is measurable by the SPL meter, the frequency response is not so you could have a so call "high current" amp that does not short change you on bass but it won't necessarily register any higher SPL.