Electronics Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Make sure you have good speakers
Great product - I learned that you need to have quality speakers paired with this reciever for proper functionality. I tried to take a short cut and re-use some old speakers that were integral to an older DVD home theatre setup, but the old speakers did not work well with the reciever (intermittent audio dropouts, and ultimately audio stopped working altogether). I got a 5 speaker set (I already had a powered subwoofer), so I went with the Polk RM75s. HUGE difference once I hooked up quality speakers to the reciever. The reciever works as advertised and very user friendly.

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Rating: - Truly amazing performance at the price point
This is my second go-around with an Onkyo home theater receiver in the past year. My first purchase was Onkyo's HTIB system that included the TX-SR506 7.1 receiver, speakers/subwoofer and single-disk DVD player. My family really enjoyed the first receiver until our satellite dish got struck by lightening and took out the receiver. Yeah, that sucked. Fortunately (and miraculously) the DVR, DVD and new plasma TV were untouched. The TX-SR606 was purchased this past November to replace the zapped one.

If it's possible, I think the SR606 has better sound quality. We hooked it up to the same Onkyo speaker and sub set, but this model has improved on the low-volume spacial sound quality. It really is amazing. Just use the automatic speaker calibration (which is a piece of cake) and you're done! Incredible sound quality at both high and low volume. We watched "Ironman" on DVD last week and nearly cracked our foundation. Whoof! While it may not satisfy audiophile purists with it's music reproduction, we find it to be quite good for music. But if you're looking for a rockin' home theater amp, you found it. I can only imagine how good it would look/sound with Blu-Ray.

If I had to ding anything, it would be the video upscaling of standard-def signals. It's not that great...especially from VCR. With our large (50") plasma, VCR tapes looks pretty crappy. The upscaling creates some artifacts that make the picture look less pleasing than if it didn't upscale. So far I haven't found a way to bypass upscaling other than running the VCR video signal straight to the TV. DO NOT let that influence your purchasing decision. This is a fantastic bargain that I highly recommend.

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Rating: - awesome
This reciever exceeded my expectations! It is easy to set up and an amazing deal for the money.

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Rating: - Great value a/v receiver
Onkyo is well known for their low-cost receivers. The TX-SR606 is no different. With four HDMI-in ports it's not short on available connections. The 606 can decode HD audio formats too, so this receiver is up to speed for a conversion to Blu-ray. My only complaint relates to presentation--the GUI could be a little more attractive. But as far as function goes, this receiver is outstanding for the price