Onkyo TX-SR805 review at Secrets

[MDS]

Brian Florian's review of the 805 at Secrets: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_3/onkyo-tx-sr805-receiver-9-2006-part-1.html

 

[Seth=L]

Wow, I want it more now than ever. I wondered what those two boxes where to the left and right of the power supply, now I know.

Thank you for posting this MDS.

 

[jimfitz]

Thanks. This confirms I made a good choice with my 805. I guess I got lucky.

 

[croseiv]

Awesome receiver...

 

[mitch57]

In part III of Secret's review he incorrectly states that the 805 digitizes the 5.1 analog inputs. However, page 72 of the 805 manual shows a Listening Mode chart the identifiies that the 5.1 mulichannel inputs can only be played back in Pure Audio, Direct, and Mulichannel. No DSP is applied to the mulichannel analog inputs.

Read the paragraph just above the heading "The Magic Wand". I'm not bashing the reviewer and I think it's a great review. But would someone who has an account at secrets please let them know that they have a mistake in their review that needs to be corrected? I'm sure it was just an oversight as the chart on page 72 is quite confusing.

This was one of the very features I was looking for in a AVR/Processor. But none of Onkyo/Integra's AVRs/Processors have Analog to Digital Converters (ADC) on their multichannel analog inputs.

 

[warpdrive]

I have an 875 but was actually wondering why they didn't put any fans, but this review pointed out there are fans in the unit. It's weird that it still gets as hot as it does (upper right quadrant) and the fans still don't come on.

 

[MDS]

In part III of Secret's review he incorrectly states that the 805 digitizes the 5.1 analog inputs. However, page 72 of the 805 manual shows a Listening Mode chart the identifiies that the 5.1 mulichannel inputs can only be played back in Pure Audio, Direct, and Mulichannel. No DSP is applied to the mulichannel analog inputs.

The claim is that it digitizes the multichannel inputs for the purposes of bass management which is something that few, if any, receivers do. While one could say that converting analog inputs to digital and then 'manipulating' them for the purpose of bass management is Digital Signal Processing, it really isn't what DSP usually refers to. DSP more broadly covers matrix decoders like PLII(x), DTS:Neo6, and the various modes like Hall, Live, Concert, whatever that effectively remix the signal in various ways on the fly.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I have an 875 but was actually wondering why they didn't put any fans, but this review pointed out there are fans in the unit. It's weird that it still gets as hot as it does (upper right quadrant) and the fans still don't come on.

Maybe it feels hot to you, but not to the transistors and processors.
Or, it will have lots of guarantee work ahead of itself.

 

[mtrycrafts]

The claim is that it digitizes the multichannel inputs for the purposes of bass management which is something that few, if any, receivers do. While one could say that converting analog inputs to digital and then 'manipulating' them for the purpose of bass management is Digital Signal Processing, it really isn't what DSP usually refers to. DSP more broadly covers matrix decoders like PLII(x), DTS:Neo6, and the various modes like Hall, Live, Concert, whatever that effectively remix the signal in various ways on the fly.

If, it has 6 ch input, hopefully the player has bass management? And, setup for speakers?

 

[warpdrive]

Maybe it feels hot to you, but not to the transistors and processors.

Trust me, it gets HOT. It measures well over 125 degrees in the enclosure playing music at low volumes.

Most of my other receivers activate their fans long before that.

I'm wondering why Onkyo wasn't more aggressive in their fan threshold.

 

[zoran]

what bothers me all praises no negative comments, re running too hot to cook, audio sync and poping issues

 

[jimfitz]

what bothers me all praises no negative comments, re running too hot to cook, audio sync and poping issues

I have none of those issues with my 805.

 

[PENG]

Trust me, it gets HOT. It measures well over 125 degrees in the enclosure playing music at low volumes.

Most of my other receivers activate their fans long before that.

I'm wondering why Onkyo wasn't more aggressive in their fan threshold.

May be they worry about noise, especially when playing at low volumes. Some fans are quieter than others, but they all make noise.

 

[Seth=L]

In part III of Secret's review he incorrectly states that the 805 digitizes the 5.1 analog inputs. However, page 72 of the 805 manual shows a Listening Mode chart the identifiies that the 5.1 mulichannel inputs can only be played back in Pure Audio, Direct, and Mulichannel. No DSP is applied to the mulichannel analog inputs.

Read the paragraph just above the heading "The Magic Wand". I'm not bashing the reviewer and I think it's a great review. But would someone who has an account at secrets please let them know that they have a mistake in their review that needs to be corrected? I'm sure it was just an oversight as the chart on page 72 is quite confusing.

This was one of the very features I was looking for in a AVR/Processor. But none of Onkyo/Integra's AVRs/Processors have Analog to Digital Converters (ADC) on their multichannel analog inputs.

If what reviewer said about the new Pure Audio is correct then it does Digitize the 6 channel input, to apply bass management. The reviewer said that when Pure Direct was activated on previous models by Onkyo it went into a pure analog mode. Now according to the reviewer this Onkyo does not do that. It still shuts off all video processing, and display features but the Audyssey Auto/EQ remains on as well as Bass Management. We are in a Digital age now, this receiver is dominated by Digital processing and formats, the way of the future.

Concerning an all positive review, it is not all positive. The Auto EQ is not perfect, as expected and may not necessarily be considered a negative. He also expressed that it draws 60 some watts while in standby because of smart HDMI features, which is a bit of a drawback.

I must say I expected this receiver would get a good review because Onkyo rarely puts out a bad product and I didn't think they would start now.

 

[mitch57]

If what reviewer said about the new Pure Audio is correct then it does Digitize the 6 channel input, to apply bass management. The reviewer said that when Pure Direct was activated on previous models by Onkyo it went into a pure analog mode. Now according to the reviewer this Onkyo does not do that. It still shuts off all video processing, and display features but the Audyssey Auto/EQ remains on as well as Bass Management. We are in a Digital age now, this receiver is dominated by Digital processing and formats, the way of the future.

That's not what the manual says. The manual shows that when passing signals through the 6 analog RCA connectors that there is no processing done. If you look at the manual there are no check marks by any of the listening modes with the exception of "Pure Audio, Direct, and Multichannel".

I also confirmed this with Onkyo/Integra tech support. They played a DVD-Audio disk and ran it through several tests. I was hoping that at least some of their units would be able to apply DSP to the analog inputs and asked their tech support staff to test and verify what playback options were available when playing a DVD-Audio disk. The results were "What comes in goes out unaltered and without processing, bass management, or Audyssey EQ". In addition, the CEO of Audyssey labs confirmed this as well.

 

[mitch57]

That's not what the manual says. The manual shows that when passing signals through the 6 analog RCA connectors that there is no processing done. If you look at the manual there are no check marks by any of the listening modes with the exception of "Pure Audio, Direct, and Multichannel".

I also confirmed this with Onkyo/Integra tech support. They played a DVD-Audio disk and ran it through several tests. I was hoping that at least some of their units would be able to apply DSP to the analog inputs and asked their tech support staff to test and verify what playback options were available when playing a DVD-Audio disk. The results were "What comes in goes out unaltered and without processing, bass management, or Audyssey EQ". In addition, the CEO of Audyssey labs confirmed this as well.

UPDATE!!!

I see that the reviewer has changed his original statement. It now reads:

"Regrettably there is no option to digitize the 5.1 analog input and thus it cannot inherit the receiver's bass management and time alignment. Even though the source may provide for these adequately, it will never benefit from the Audyssey system we'll cover in a moment."

It's nice to see that the reviewer saw the mistake and made the correction within one day of the original review. Overall, I did think it was a great review.

 

[davo]

UPDATE!!!

I see that the reviewer has changed his original statement. It now reads:

"Regrettably there is no option to digitize the 5.1 analog input and thus it cannot inherit the receiver's bass management and time alignment. Even though the source may provide for these adequately, it will never benefit from the Audyssey system we'll cover in a moment."

It's nice to see that the reviewer saw the mistake and made the correction within one day of the original review. Overall, I did think it was a great review.

See, it pays to be vigilant.

Keep it up.

 

[Seth=L]

UPDATE!!!

I see that the reviewer has changed his original statement. It now reads:

"Regrettably there is no option to digitize the 5.1 analog input and thus it cannot inherit the receiver's bass management and time alignment. Even though the source may provide for these adequately, it will never benefit from the Audyssey system we'll cover in a moment."

It's nice to see that the reviewer saw the mistake and made the correction within one day of the original review. Overall, I did think it was a great review.

Wow, great call man.

 

[darien87]

Damn. Maybe I should have waited for this thing after all. That's my problem, I'm too damn impatient.