Recently I upgraded to the Onkyo SR705 from a Panasonic SE100 6.1 system. In the process I added one more Kef2001.2 speaker to my setup.
The setup was very simple and easy to use. One thing to make sure of is that you select the receiver button on your remote before trying to set it up. I thought the receiver was just faulty. Only to discover the error was with me.
I like the large remote and it's very responsive and intuitive.
A
The setup has a great on screen feature that makes it extremely easy to run everything. Setting outputs was simple. And I soon discovered my tv tuner actually passed audio via hdmi. A very pleasant surprise.
Feeding speaker wire into the terminal is very easy compared to others I have used. A+ on the exterior connectors
The auto eq is helpful, but struggles with my room because it's not treated at all. The noise it makes is very loud and annoying. I had to go into my bedroom closet to get away from it. I would wait for the sub to finish before I actually went back in for the next position. Even with my room and ghetto mic positioning it still did a great job and got reasonable numbers.
B+
The next thing I did was listen to a favorite cd of mine. They are a band called Jars of Clay. I've heard them live and just love them. They also have well done recordings. I gave them a listen and tried various modes. I settled on the pure audio mode button and Dolby IIx music as the best for music. The receiver was noticeably better at delivering the mid range to my Infinity Beta 20s. So much so that they sounded like they had an upgraded midrange.
A
Later in the week I got out my first 7.1 movie to test it out. The movie is called War. Typical Jet Li movie with plenty of gunshots and explosions to test out the surround sound. The 7.1 was very enveloping and made me think of the theater. Very nicely done for the receiver.
A+
I then started played Fifa 09. The sounds in that game made me feel like I was in the stadium almost. I could hear the drums and roar of the fans clearly across the spectrum. For this game I tried out the THX game mode. That was really sweet.
A
On Sunday I watched the football games and really enjoyed the sound. For this I tried various modes. I ended up going the the THX game. It sounded very nice.
A+
Next I tried out COD 4 in THX cinema mode. The detail was great.
A+
Then throughout the week I watched episodes of Star Trek TNG on DVD. The receiver did a decent job of handling what is not the greatest sound track.
B
Today I watched The Forbidden Kingdom(A really fun movie) The sound on it seemed to be better than War and was definitely great on the multi-channel mode.
A
I do notice the receiver produces some heat, but I have it extremely well ventilated so the unit itself never stays warm. If you do decide to get one make sure you ventilate it well or use fan's to cycle the air out.
I've had zero problems with this receiver and would highly recommend it unless you can't give it good ventilation or airflow. It has plenty of power for my system and the Auto EQ does make things sound better. Please note the test tones and eq tones are loud on this system. Too loud IMO.
Overall an A. At some point I will post pictures of my budget setup!
Oh and an A on looks. It's a good looking receiver.
