Slosh
10-19-2007, 06:51 AM
Well, my ten years old Sony ES A/V receiver decided last Thursday would be the ideal time for its power transformer to die. I only used it as a center/surround amp, with all of my stereo sources connected directly to my even older Marantz stereo integrated amp since the Marantz's amp and pre-amp and (especially) phono stage were better.
After a little research I decided to go with one of these:http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2007/580/x580TXS805B-f.jpeg
I intended to use it the same way I was using the Sony ES but figured I ought to give it a shot on its own first. Glad I did as this thing sounds great! Its amp sounds fantastic and the big surprise for me was the phono stage is actually quite good, and not just an after-thought as found on most A/V receivers. Then I gave the Audyssey room correction software a go and WOW! What an improvement. I always thought my room sounded pretty good. I was wrong.
Alright, so now I can move my Marantz amp into another room and not have to worry about controlling two pre-amps in my livingroom system. Should make life a bunch easier for the females in my life. :)
Surprise #2: This thing has onboard DSD decoding via HDMI. Of course my SACD/DVD-A player is five years old and HDMI didn't exist then but at least when I do buy a Blue-Ray/HD-DVD player down the road I should also get better SACD sound. Nice. As for other connections I think it has got most users covered. See: http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2007/580/x580TXS805B-b.jpeg
Only a couple of complaints so far. The biggest is there are no dedicated remote buttons to toggle from digital/analog/multi-channel analog in. This can be done via remote with the OSD but who wants their TV on when listening to music? I can live with it and just use the front panel to switch but still. Also the Zone 2 and 3 outputs only work with analog inputs. Luckily for me my CD and DVD players have good DACs of their own but the Onkyo's are definitely better. I never used my Roku SoundBridge M500's analog outs before and they are good enough for the casual listening we do in Zone 2 (dining room), but still it would be nice to get the benefits of the Onkyo's superior DACs with all of my speakers. And lastly this thing does run hot, even when it's just on with nothing playing. Don't even think about putting this in an enclosed cabinet (not that it would fit in many).
I'm sure the step-down model (TX-SR705) is very good too but that extra $250 to get another 20 lbs. of amp for the 805 seemed like too good a deal to pass up.
After a little research I decided to go with one of these:http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2007/580/x580TXS805B-f.jpeg
I intended to use it the same way I was using the Sony ES but figured I ought to give it a shot on its own first. Glad I did as this thing sounds great! Its amp sounds fantastic and the big surprise for me was the phono stage is actually quite good, and not just an after-thought as found on most A/V receivers. Then I gave the Audyssey room correction software a go and WOW! What an improvement. I always thought my room sounded pretty good. I was wrong.
Alright, so now I can move my Marantz amp into another room and not have to worry about controlling two pre-amps in my livingroom system. Should make life a bunch easier for the females in my life. :)
Surprise #2: This thing has onboard DSD decoding via HDMI. Of course my SACD/DVD-A player is five years old and HDMI didn't exist then but at least when I do buy a Blue-Ray/HD-DVD player down the road I should also get better SACD sound. Nice. As for other connections I think it has got most users covered. See: http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2007/580/x580TXS805B-b.jpeg
Only a couple of complaints so far. The biggest is there are no dedicated remote buttons to toggle from digital/analog/multi-channel analog in. This can be done via remote with the OSD but who wants their TV on when listening to music? I can live with it and just use the front panel to switch but still. Also the Zone 2 and 3 outputs only work with analog inputs. Luckily for me my CD and DVD players have good DACs of their own but the Onkyo's are definitely better. I never used my Roku SoundBridge M500's analog outs before and they are good enough for the casual listening we do in Zone 2 (dining room), but still it would be nice to get the benefits of the Onkyo's superior DACs with all of my speakers. And lastly this thing does run hot, even when it's just on with nothing playing. Don't even think about putting this in an enclosed cabinet (not that it would fit in many).
I'm sure the step-down model (TX-SR705) is very good too but that extra $250 to get another 20 lbs. of amp for the 805 seemed like too good a deal to pass up.