Which Receiver to Buy?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Which Receiver to Buy?

1 | 2 | 3

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#200975 13-Mar-2009 11:23

There's at least one guy in the Wellington JB HiFi who seems to be some sort of walking A/V encyclopaedia. Very helpful chap. Don't recall his name unfortunately, but he's a fairly big bloke with a goatee from memory.

Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#201198 14-Mar-2009 13:58

Jaxson:
mackian: Thanks mate - just went down to JB to have a chat with a guy there I've dealt with before and he did the 606 for $900 flat so it's now sitting in the lounge!
Sh1t that's a good price, well done. What city/JB Hifi store did you get that from?

Albany.
Edit: After seeing mackian's post I visited and I picked up the second to last one on display. Unless of course they have a stack more out the back.
In the end the cheapskate in me came to the fore and I got the 606 in preference to the yammy 863 or denon 789. One extra hdmi, and it has hdmi control functions (863 doesn't). My harmony remote takes care of the need for scene/quick select buttons.
Thereby saving $300-600 for my next HT indulgence........

Incidently it appears the next generation of Yamaha receivers is due in the next month or so. The *65 range is supposed to have more hdmi ports but because of the dollar will start about $300-500 dearer for each model level. So if you covet the 663/863 there may be some good deals coming (I certainly negotiated a few).

Edit: Now that I have had a chance to have a play with the 606 I have discovered that it does pass-through in standby which was one of the features I particularly liked in the Denon. It 'plays nice' with my Pana TV via viera link (not only on/off but also volume control using TV remote and receiver mode change). The only thing that I really would have liked it to do is allow me to rename sources.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201411 16-Mar-2009 13:53

Dingbatt: The only thing that I really would have liked it to do is allow me to rename sources.

Damn right that would be useful, I have the 576 and the standard input names are worse than on the 606. I've got options for tape and vcr on there I think.

lchiu7

6476 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201416 16-Mar-2009 14:12

Well I have the 576 and I use

DVD - for the PS3
CBL - for the Popcorn Hour
VCR(!) - for the HD-DVD player

Doesn't really matter since the Harmony 880 handles it all but would be nice to name them more appropriately

As an slightly OT aside I am pretty pleased now I can play multichannel SACD's on my PS3 and get 5.1 sound through the 576. The only other way I could do it was via 6 analogue inputs to a not so functional Onkyo I have. Keeping the signal digital until the output stages is nice

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#201494 16-Mar-2009 21:05

Yes, it's just it would be nice to not have to explain why the Blu-ray is selected by pressing DVD (and that being displayed) plus VCR/DVR for the HTPC and CBL/SAT for Mysky, let alone Aux for the DVD player. Even to be able to delete some of the label so CBL/SAT just reads SAT would be good. My harmony remote has the buttons named correctly but at the moment there is a strip of paper in front of the receiver giving the decode, which is what I had for my 9 year old VSX-608 which had similar un-editable labels (soooo last century!!!). The one bright spot is what you see on the Onkyo remote is what you get on the receiver.
Having fun with the hdmi though, works a treat turning everything on and off and looking after the volume, and it is great to have TV3 D.Digital able to be decoded from the HTPC (my previous setup didn't allow it). Next step is to hire a Blu-Ray and see if there is any perceivable difference in audio on my modest system.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201559 17-Mar-2009 09:18

Yeah the remote was quite good though, aside from having to use stupid input names. I've got my Samsung tv and my philips hard drive recorder working off the Onkyo remote. It's one of those put in a number jobs, so I don't have one that works for the ET box though.

I've got cbl/sat for ET freeview box, Aux for PS3 and DVD for hard drive recorder/dvd player. Looks like 606 has a game input at least that might have better suited the PS3. All good though as when/if PlayTV arrives I'll have one source into the Aux of the Onkyo for TV, DVD, Bluray etc. Bring it on, move it Sony!

mackian

14 posts

Geek

#201881 18-Mar-2009 11:29

Just a question on setting up the Onkyo amps (i've got the 606) - Currently have just a pair of Yamaha front speakers and a Yamaha sub, in the process of buying some rears and a center speaker, totalling a 5.1 system.

I want the 5.1 sound for listening to TV and Movies, but when it comes to listening to music I'd prefer to have the audio coming from only the front through the Yamaha's (can include the center speaker as well) rather than also from the rears.

Should I wire up the fronts so that they input as both the 'Front Speakers' and as 'Zone 2'? Or should I just Bi-Amp the Yamaha's and attempt to drown out the rears?

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201889 18-Mar-2009 12:16

Just cycle through the surround/sound options for your input. Find one that is front only, or front's plus sub etc. On my Onkyo if you provide a stereo signal, you can either listen to just stereo (front L and R) or cycle through the sound options to hear a range of simulated surround options. You may have one of these selected by mistake, as if it's truly 2 channel, then yes you can have this from only two speakers. If it's a music DVD then it might have a 5.1 mix soundtrack.

Dingbatt

6756 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#201894 18-Mar-2009 12:44

mackian: Just a question on setting up the Onkyo amps (i've got the 606) - Currently have just a pair of Yamaha front speakers and a Yamaha sub, in the process of buying some rears and a center speaker, totalling a 5.1 system.

I want the 5.1 sound for listening to TV and Movies, but when it comes to listening to music I'd prefer to have the audio coming from only the front through the Yamaha's (can include the center speaker as well) rather than also from the rears.

Should I wire up the fronts so that they input as both the 'Front Speakers' and as 'Zone 2'? Or should I just Bi-Amp the Yamaha's and attempt to drown out the rears?

Don't zone 2. Bi-Amp the fronts by all means, but you can use the music button on your remote to cycle through the surround modes until you get to stereo, if you then turn the receiver off it goes back to the default setting.

Better still in the setup menus 5. Listening Mode Preset

you can set D.F. 2ch to default to stereo.

The stereo mode allows you to include the sub.

Pages 57-65 in the owners manual provided me with more info than I needed when I set my 606 up (bit confusing some of it).

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

lchiu7

6476 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201907 18-Mar-2009 14:11

I have the 576 which is similar except it doesn't decode the new codecs. For stereo I just set the inputs to direct. But then again I have no analogue inputs going to the AVR, all are either HDMI or there is one Toslink for my Popcorn. All therefore are digital and direct means no processing like DPLIIx etc.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Jaxson

8043 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201910 18-Mar-2009 14:28

A little point to consider is I noticed the audessy EQ settings do not appear to be used when in direct mode. Those settings are from the room setup mic and equalise the speakers to a fairly flat response, so if you do go to direct, you'll be left with just the natural response of the speakers, with no eq applied. This may or may not be a good thing. In my case right now the speakers are very tinny normally and the sound improved significantly by using the auto mic setup.

mackian

14 posts

Geek

#201940 18-Mar-2009 16:04

Thanks guys will give that a go

1 | 2 | 3