Onkyo TX-SR805 - Should I?

[Reaver]

Lately I've been thinking about upgrading my surround sound system. My HDTV is perfectly fine, and all of my high def DVD options are well covered, so really upgrading the sound system is the only thing I could do to make my TV watching experience better. Right now I have a three year old Onkyo that is perfectly serviceable, and the darn thing works like a charm, but after looking at the TX-SR805 I'm wondering if perhaps I shouldn't upgrade. It offers plenty of HDMI inputs, upconverts all video to HDMI high def as well. And, I love that it has equipment to self calibrate.

So, should I? Should I go from a 5.1 Onkyo with DTS to a 7.1 Onkyo with TrueHD and DTS HD sound?

[powerknowledge]

There's a HUGE thread on the 805 over at AVS Forums, if you've got a week to read. Here's my experience (which can also be found, in bits, pieces, and more detail over there; same username if you wanted to search):

I replaced a dying THX Ultra Pio Elite with the 805, and I absolutely love it. Since you're familiar with (and seem to like) the "Onkyo sound", I won't go into much more detail on that, save that this receiver is a tank (nearly 60 lbs.) and is the cleanest, most dynamic sounding thing I've heard in its price range (IMO, they could sell the 805 for several hundred $ more and justify it).

On SQ alone, I recommend this AVR highly. But it also has some quirks, which may or may not matter for you:
1) When the 805 switches sound formats (e.g., from DD2.0 to DD5.1, or from DD to DTS) there is a 1-2 second "dropout" as it changes. Some folks on the AVS board have proposed workarounds for this that I've not yet tried; it really hasn't impacted me in a bothersome enough way.
2) There are "issues" with the video-side processing. Any analog input (including component) gets output "as is" through the same kind of output (e.g., component 1080i in goes out component as 1080i), with the exception of 480i signals, which get serviceably but not excellently deinterlaced. Now, when you output any analog input via HDMI, the resolution is limited to 720p (so component 1080i in goes out HDMI 720p; this is a limitation of the Faroudja chip they use for VP), and all signals go through at their native resolution (the 805 upconverts analog to HDMI, but does not upscale resolution). All HDMI in signals are passed through without limitation, processing, or the like (so 1080p HDMI in goes out 1080p HDMI).
3) DDHD and DTSMA decoding are future-looking features that you won't be able to get much out of yet. This is NOT a problem with the 805. Rather, no HD disc player of either "flavor" is currently capable of passing these formats as bitstream. Emphasis on currently. These players do, however, decode them internally and pass them as PCM, so you can hear (at least) DDHD without using the 805 to decode it. Still, many reasonably expect that the next crop of HD players (as soon as the Xmas batch) will pass both of these formats as bitstream for AVRs like the 805 to decode themselves.

The short of things: 1) If you want an AVR to do heavy-duty video processing and/or 2) If you have 1080i component sources that you must output from the receiver over HDMI, this might not be what you're looking for. BUT if this is the price point you're in, and you're looking for the arguably the best-sounding, certainly most-future-proof AVR in its price range (and even a bit above), get the 805 without reservation. It's really fantastic audio-wise.

[Reaver]

Hey, thanks so much for that reply. My current TV is a 720P set, so that limit on analog video is not a problem at all. And, the sound functionality does seem to be awesome, especially for the price.

By the way, the Onkyo website states that it has three optical inputs, but I only see two on the back. Is it 3 or 2?

[powerknowledge]

Two are on the back, one on the front (under the flip-down panel).

Did I mention that I LOVE this AVR?

[sub780lime]

Whats the current price point for this?

[Reaver]

Originally Posted by sub780lime

Whats the current price point for this?

About $900.

[chlngr1970]

Looks like a damn fine piece of equipment for that price. Does that make me want to "upgrade"? Think I will wait for next years Pioneer before I decide to upgrade again

j