Upgrading Kenwood vr705 to Onkyo TX-SR702

baboon

I have decided to upgrade to the Onkyo reciever. But before actually buying it I wanted some help since the salesmen were less knowledgeable than I (thats pretty bad).

-I have a 5.1 speaker setup, will a 7.1 reciever play correctly with that? Will I be missing sounds?

- Whats the difference between 192kHz/24-bit DACs and 96kHz/24-bit DACs?

-Is the Onkyo TX-SR702 a good reciever for its price? Or should I consider another model/brand?

-Do you think Cedric Benson will be the best rookie running back in the next NFL season?

Current Setup:
Kenwood vr705
Polk CS2
Polk Monitor 60
Polk Monitor 40
Polk PSW Subwoofer

Shizelbs

In the setup menu, you can tell the receiver which speakers you have in the 7.1 setup. It will play 5.1 correctly. Some DVDs are encoded with a 6.1 soundtrack. You may miss the sixth channel on these DVDs.

Check out onecall.com for some great prices on Onkyo gear. Otherwise, everyone is going to have a different opinion on good gear at so and so price. Denon seems to be another popular choice around here. Shop around for a good price.

organ

You've got your first question answered. About the DAC's. The one with 192kHz should be better but don't look at numbers. A high quality 96 could outperform a cheapo 192.

That Onkyo will blow away your Kenwood. Other brands you can take a look at are Harman/Kardon, Marantz, Pioneer Elite, Sony ES, etc. I had an Onkyo a few years back and was very pleased with it.

Maurice

unc2701

Most amps (including the Onkyo's I've had) will send the 6th channel info to both the surrounds if you tell it that you don't have that speaker. A bunch of amps will even move the surround data to the front if you tell it you don't have any surrounds- the better ones will add on some kind of phasing thing that's suppose to make it sound like it's coming from behind you, but I'm not convinced that it works...

Anyhow, you'll be happy with the Onk... the only thing is that they usually don't have pre-amp outs, so if you ever decide to go to a pre/power setup, you'll have to get a new receiver.

AsSiMiLaTeD

yeah, I'd also check out Denon and H/K...

PolkThug

Originally posted by unc2701


Anyhow, you'll be happy with the Onk... the only thing is that they usually don't have pre-amp outs, so if you ever decide to go to a pre/power setup, you'll have to get a new receiver.

Actually they do, my older 700 model has them.

unc2701

huh. They might have stopped that- about 6 months ago my friend went to get one and couldn't find an Onkyo less than about $1,000 with pre-outs, so he ended up with a Yamaha. But then maybe he didn't do a good job of looking.

Bottom line is that you should look to see if the AVR you want has them, if you plan of upgrading.

Toxis

The Onkyo 702 and up all have preouts and price starts around $700.

TheReaper

As I have an Onkyo txsr702, I can guarantee that it has pre-outs.

As for the differance in dacs, my Onkyo 702 sounds better than my older Onkyo 501 which has 96/24 dacs.

baboon

I was at the store again today. The salesmen probably thinks I'm a freak. Anyhow they had an open item reciever for super cheap, Yamaha HTR 5740. I thought I could get that and save a ton of money. Or does it suck and I should stick with the Onkyo? Thanks again

Shizelbs

Onkyo. There is a difference between bargain hunting/price comparison, and skimping. Skimping is bad.

ezc

We have sold a bunch of 702's & installed most of them. Great receiver for the price! Auto set up which is correct most of the time! The 702 has enough power to drive most speakers well & still have enough headroom for action scenes & agressive music. This receiver does need some room above & to the sides for cooling beacuse it does run slightly warm. Another good reveiver that is about $100 higher is the Denon 2805. It is in the same class of the 702 but comes with a IEC in the chassis, giving you the option to play with different power cords to change the receivers sound.

baboon

This one caught my eye. Any thoughts?

baboon

Originally posted by baboon
This one caught my eye. Any thoughts?

I think this is the toughest hobby, its so hard to choose something.

danger boy

Originally posted by baboon
I think this is the toughest hobby, its so hard to choose something.

only you can choose the right receiver, speakers, wires, etc for you.. listening and comparing specs is important. there's a reason why the same brands keep coming up in here and other audio forums time and time again. they're tried and tested audio receivers. they sound good, they are usually well made, and have enough power to make your speakers sound the best they can.

a receiver is the "heart" of any system.. whether is be a home theater system or a 2 channel music only.. you don't want to skimp on it. it will either make everthing sound good. or bad.. depending on it's build quality.

If you like the Yamaha.. go for it.. be sure to compare it with other brands of receivers in your price range. not just because it's on sale. I know, we ALL love getting a good deal on audio equipment.

baboon

i'm gonna buy the onkyo tomorrow

unc2701

I like my yahama- sounds a little cleaner than my onkyo, but I feel like the surround processing on the Onkyo sounds better.

About the Onkyo:
You cannot turn off the crossover, only crank it down to 40hz, so if you've got towers with powered subs it can limit your setup options. The 702 does have pre-outs (learned this from another thread), but they're 1 volt, so if you have an older power amp (like the Adcom 5XX series) it'll only go to half volume since the power amp expects 2 volt. Most newer power amps have a gain selector that let you choose 1 volt, 2 volt or just a volume knob.

About the yamaha:
It does have 2 volt pre-outs, so you can use it with just about any power amp.
It says it can handle 4 ohm, but don't believe them- hook it up to some LSi's crank it to half power and it'll go into thermal shut down in about 30 seconds.
Don't use the YAPO or whatever that thing is with the mic- there's nothing keeping it from cranking some of your speakers all the way up into distortion
S-video<->composite conversion... this is _really_ sweet and comes in handy- I'm not sure if the Onk has it.

Anyhow, I think that covers my annoyances & likes with each one. I honestly can't say that I have a huge preference between my Onk & yahama (but maybe that's 'cause the B&K / bryston system always wins), but listen to them both and pick the one you like.

TheReaper

Originally posted by unc2701
...About the Onkyo:
You cannot turn off the crossover, only crank it down to 40hz, so if you've got towers with powered subs it can limit your setup options. The 702 does have pre-outs (learned this from another thread), but they're 1 volt, so if you have an older power amp (like the Adcom 5XX series) it'll only go to half volume since the power amp expects 2 volt. Most newer power amps have a gain selector that let you choose 1 volt, 2 volt or just a volume knob.

...S-video<->composite conversion... this is _really_ sweet and comes in handy- I'm not sure if the Onk has it.

To clear up a few things on the Onkyo 702

1) If a speaker is set to large, the crossover has no affect on it, it will be full range.

2) I think unc2701 is correct about the 1 volt standard (would have to double check with the manual).

3) conversion: SVideo <-> Composite -> both also upconverted to Component. Note: Volume overlay only displays if the original video source is SVideo or Composite. Setup displays on all video outputs (SVideo,composite,component).