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| Brand: Onkyo
Category: CE
List Price: $499.00
Buy New: $369.50
You Save: $129.50 (26%)
New (6)
Avg. Customer Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 77
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 24.9
Dimensions (in): 14.8 x 17.1 x 6.9
MPN: TXSR606B
Model: TXSR606B
UPC: 751398008092
EAN: 0751398008092
ASIN: B0015S8PGW
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A sound decision December 24, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
The electronic giants have pretty much confused their intended market. They introduce "must-have" technologies every year, at least. There are buildings full of people making up acronyms that add to the confusion. They have billion-dollar fights over various technologies. As the song says, "What's a poor boy to do?"
Lots of people clearly have not done anything. Their equipment is already digital, so the movies and music are clear and sharp. They are not unhappy with what they have. And, they are confused about what the new stuff, worried that it is just another path to obsolescence. I was pretty much in this camp as well.
Why did I buy a new receiver? My old one broke and I had no choice, so I started looking around. Actually, I had some issues with the old unit. It did not have HDMI connections, so I had a dozen cables running all over. The TV and the DirecTv HD satellite receiver had HDMI connections. I also wanted to get a Blu-Ray player and those are at their best with HDMI. In short, I was getting cable envy.
Then there was the sound. My living room is the worst possible place for good sound. It is all wood and glass with an odd shape and other rooms open to it. I hated the harsh and bouncy sound, the unintelligible voices and ringing high notes. I knew the new AVRs had microphones and automatic speaker set-up features. That sounded good to me. I thought that this was a technology that might make a real difference.
I did not worry much about the power. They are all loud enough in a typical room. I did not worry much about the claims of subtle sound quality issues. Home theater sound is highly processed, loud and dramatic. Musical nuances that are important in a dedicated quality stereo system are just lost in playing The Dark Knight!
In the end, it was all in the room dynamics for me. A million dollar receiver without near-perfect speaker playback would not sound any better than the cheapest one out there in my room. This is going to be true for most people. Few of us have dedicated and properly configured listening rooms.
Onkyo uses the Audyssey system to set up the speakers. Other companies use different, although similar, technologies. I believe that Audyssey is as least as good as anything in this middle range price class. The supplied microphone was connected to the unit, strange noises were emitted and in a short time all the speakers were putting out the appropriate signals. The TX-SR606 has plenty of actual power, so the sound is strong and effortless. I can hear dialogue, the surround sound is fun and everyone is amazed at how much better it all is. Even my Luddite brother, who feels most of this is all a waste of money, thinks the sound is fantastic. This was a huge upgrade for me, much more than what I was expecting.
The improvement is very noticeable on every show, newscasts, everything, not just with jets and explosions.
My system is 5:1. I hope to never hook up seven speakers. Maybe if I had a huge dedicated engineered theater room.
I like the HDMI cabling. Three cables and everything is connected and it all works perfectly. The Onkyo has four HDMI inputs, so you can connect a disc player, a sat/cable box, an Apple TV (or such) and a game console all at once. A good feature. Most other receivers in the same price category only have two inputs.
I was able to buy the cheapest Sony Blu-Ray because the Onkyo does the decoding of the new sound formats. If the receiver does not have that capability, then you must buy the more expensive Blu-Ray players that have the ability to do the decoding themselves. It is confusing.
The Onkyo will upconvert, so a regular DVD looks almost as good a a Blu-Ray disc on the screen. In fact, we think many TV shows look better now. Maybe it upconverts DirecTv as well as discs.
Onkyos have honest power ratings and the power is enough to easily drive my nice but inefficient B&Ws. It is fairly big and heavy, so I like to think it is rugged and has lots of good stuff inside.
Some reviewers hate the Onkyo's style. I think it looks interestingly different, maybe a bit of a vintage look. I think it is fine. A more conventional design would just be ho hum. I do like the option of silver. Nobody else offers anything but black. Personally, I don't like the black scientific instrument look.
The remote is fine. I used it to set up the receiver, but use a Harmony One (see review) for everyday operation. That is the way to go.
The manual could be better. I would like suggested set-ups and settings, rather than pages of optional ways of doing things. How many people are AV hobbyists and how many just want to get it to work correctly?
The SR606 hits the sweet spot in price and in features that are important to most users. It decodes and connects everything. It seems that it will not be obsolete for a long time. I recommend it.
Why only fours star then? I think having to choose between twenty-seven different listening modes is stupid. A modern receiver should simply output the best signal it can, automatically. One can get paranoid that, gee, should I be listening to "DTS 96/24" or "DTS-ES Discrete". Or what? That costs it a star. It would cost any receiver I know of one star.
Not sure yet December 23, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I gave it 4 stars but I am a bit unsure. At high volume, no matter the sound source, I hear a very disturbing noise. Also I do not like the fact that switching sources take a second or two.
More to come...
 Great product for the price December 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've never had an Onkyo product before, this replaced my fairly new Rotel which was a good triple the cost. The Rotel was nice, but for the amount of money I spent I was burned when HDMI and all the other technologies came out and were adopted by hardware designers.
The Rotel was nice, but cost wise, the amount I spent for five years of life (before it was obsolete) was disappointing. The Onkyo adapted well into my environment, with my HD Tivo and wired my old DVD player into the Onkyo to upscale to HDMI. I'm not worried about picture clarity (although it's great) but that it fits the screen well, requires less wiring and can run through the same TV source--it's all about simplicity.
Although the system is a big big, it's a cost effective way to enable HDMI and high-end audio/visuals. It has a great on-screen menu system which is navigational and usable, configures just what I need and gets the job done in short order.
Simple to install, simple to use, set it and forget it. Nobody wants to spend all their time trying to get electronic devices to work to perfection, they want it to do this out-of-the-box. Onkyo did that for me, and I've since forgotten it was there, another piece of working electronics and that's how things should be.
Heat Disspation December 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
First off, I don't own this particular Onkyo receiver, so I just rated it the average number of stars it's been given so far. My post is addressed to those people who evidently don't understand that audio equipment is going to generate heat (well...contemporary video equipment will, too, just generally not as much) in direct proportion to the power it consumes. This means that the heat sinks in the receiver (the metal fins connected to the output devices that dissipate the heat) will become quite warm, and convection will make nice toasty air come out of the vents on top. The more current your speakers draw, or the more speakers, or the higher you turn the volume- all will increase heat dissipation. As the manual will state, just be sure air can enter through the bottom vents and exit through the top, and in general this equipment should not be placed in completely enclosed cabinets. No amplifier or receiver is immune from this, my receiver (a Sony STR-DE885) included.
Onkyo 606 best investment for my 7.1 December 22, 2008
With the Onkyo 606, I was able to put my PS3, 360, projector, and my cable receiver on one device all with HDMI. The best possible sound and video quality through the HDMI. I can switch between watching cable, or playing my 360, or watching a Blu-ray with just a touch of a button on my remote. For the money, I could not be happier. The sound quality is fantastic. The 7.1 surround sound set up was so easy. Just set up your speakers where they go and plug in the calibration mic that comes with it, the Onkyo 606 will do the rest. It gets 5 stars from me because it is easy to set up, accessibility to all my components through HDMI, it looks really good next to my black PS3 and black Xbox 360 Elite in the rack. Best receiver for the money, hands down. I researched all my possibilities, and this was the best choice for me.
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