Home > Consumer Reviews > Onkyo TX-SR805 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)

I just got this thing set up and the sound is awe inspiring. I had to send my Denon 4806CI in for warranty repair and bought this so i could still watch movies on my Optoma HD70 Projector. I will not try and compare this to my 4806CI because it is an upper level reciever and this is a budget reciever for me. I thought i did my homework on this reciever before i bought it and i overlooked something i think is sort of critical and dont want others to make the same mistake. This reciever WILL NOT upconvert the resolution output to 1080P, it will only pass through the same resolution it is being fed by the video device you are using. IT WILL take an analog video signal (i.e. S-VIDEO, COMPONENT, ETC) and allow it to run through the HDMI MONITOR OUT jack to display its NATIVE resolution to your TV or projector. I hope this clears any confusion up before someone buys it for this reason. This reciever does put out an awesome sound even compared to my denon and is easy to setup. I would recommend this reciever to anyone wanting excellent sound and HDMI pass through ability while using analog etc.. signals. You do get what you pay for, it just wont upconvert the resolution. Hope this helps someone out.

On paper this receiver looked like exactly what I needed. Multiple HDMI ports, and it would pass a component input to HDMI out. I could connect all of my inputs (SA8300 HDDVR, Xbox 360 with HDDVD addon, and PS3) and have one HDMI cable connected to the projector in my theater (Sony Pearl). As a bonus the SR805 would handle the newer TrueHD and DTS-MA audio codecs that are starting to show up on HDDVD and Bluray discs and would support 7.1 surround over HDMI. Throw in the sub $1000 price and on paper it's perfect.

Fast forward a bit to when I actually got my hands on the receiver. The PS3 seemed to work perfectly using HDMI for both audio and video. I watched both Casino Royale and 300 on Bluray and couldn't have been happier with the results. I had similar results with HDDVDs (Eastern Promises and Blade Runner). Despite that I never could get the SA8300 to play nice with the 805 using HDMI for an input. The image would judder regardless of which HDMI input I used. If I bypassed the receiver and connected directly to the Pearl I'd get a perfectly still image. To get broadcast TV to work I had to split it up into component for video and optical for sound. This meant that the 1080i feed from the SA8300 would be converted to 720p before being sent to the Pearl. No big deal, I figured that cable equipment isn't always the greatest quality, and I could live with both the picture and the audio with that setup as neither are knock your socks off high res on broadcast TV. It worked well for both HDDVD and Bluray, which was why I bought it in the first place.

Now, for no reason at all it's stopped working, and no amount of disconnecting, switching of cables, or resetting seems to cure it. I can't get through more than 5 minutes of a movie without the unit shutting itself off if I use HDMI for both audio and video. Any sort of on screen explosion or abrupt transition makes it flake out and turn off, almost like there's a surge/short and the machine is protecting itself. As you can imagine that's really annoying.

If I split the signal so that I use HDMI for video and optical for audio it plays through flawlessly, but that defeats the purpose of having an HDMI receiver that will decode the newer codecs. For what I paid for the receiver I want to work for more than two weeks.

It could be that I just have a bad unit (it happens), but this is the second Onkyo HDMI receiver I've been disappointed with (the other being an SR674 I bought last year)so I'm done with them. I don't know what else I'll end up purchasing, as everything currently available has shortcomings to deal with. They all seem to be plagued with HDMI issues (dealing with HDMI issues has been a real pain in the rear to this point), or they're really expensive (cough, cough Denon). I thought my search was over, but I guess I'm right back where I started.

I approached the purchase of this receiver with quite a bit of trepidation after reading numerous reports of it being very hot, and after seeing how hot it got in a local Fry's. I believe the key is the air circulation you provide for it. At the Fry's where I saw it, it was in a tight box, with no good air circulation, and the top got really really hot.

However, here in my house, several days after installing it, and running it almost non-stop for days with a mixture of music and HD-DVDs playing through it, the receiver has never gotten more than warm. In my setup, I removed the back of the crappy little cabinet (a Bush build your own TV stand) and provided about 4-5" of space above the receiver. I also had 2 fans that I used with my DVR before I removed the back of the cabinet, but I'm not using those anymore. The receiver, in an environment where it has some clearance on the top, and open front and back, does not seem to be any hotter than my old receiver (an Onkyo TX-SR701) with the sealed cabinet back.

Enough of that, on to the rest of it. The audio quality is *outstanding*, and the number of HD connections seems to be unparalleled at this price point. It allows up to six HD connections - 3 HDMI and 3 Component. Since the receiver has good high bandwidth component connections, this rocks. I was able to go from 20 wires hooking up my components to just 3, so that was wonderful too. My former receiver was just a few years old, and was not that different in price from this one, but the difference in sound quality is stunning.

My father in law, who had a LOT of trouble hearing things on TV or movies with my old receiver, commented that I didn't need to turn the volume up so high, since he was able to understand what the announcers were saying. That's worth the price of the unit all by itself. The sound coming from a Toshiba HD-A30 HD-DVD player is phenomenal, and my wife is sold on the whole upgrade just from hearing that.

I'm a very happy Onkyo customer right now. Highly recommended.

Received my 805 Monday at 10:30am (next day shipping after a Friday evening order). I've not bought a new receiver in 10 years. My original receiver was a Kenwood 1080AV and I thought that was amazing when I heard it. Now, it's being used as a "subwoofer" to drive my 2 - 12" Rockford Fosgates (8 Ohm).

If I had to pick just one word it would be "WOW". Even with my 5.1 setup (805 supports 7.1), it's quite a bit different from my original receiver. More modes, more sound and the auto speaker setup is a breeze. I felt like it was too automatic for my taste, but I'd have to say, it's spot on with all the adjustments.

The 805, doing the same role as my 1080AV, seems brighter, more clear and has the sound stage right in my ear (which it should be). I think the 130W per channel must be making the difference. I don't notice any cutting or popping or any noise outside the occasional input selection pop (which you really can't get away from unless you spend some more $$).

Now onto the test results. The "Hulk" was awesome. Made the house sound and feel like he was in my living room. "Cars" was incredible, NASCAR in my living room. I'm looking forward to all the other movies I haven't had a chance to watch yet (SW, ST, Blade, etc) that have really great sound, but I think I'll hear alot more with this receiver.

If you can afford the extra 150 bucks over the 705 and 400 more than the 605, I'd say jump in, hang on and prepare to be blown away.

I replaced an aging Denon receiver with an Tx-SR805. I have waited for HDMI 1.3 for almost a year. I expected to pay more, probably another Denon or Pioneer Elite. When this became avaiable I listened to it at Fry's and checked the features, I concluded that it had everyting I wanted in a receiver. I ordered one from Amazon, I can't tell you how good it is, because it still, after almost 2 months is still far better than any other receiver I have owned. My brother has two Denon receivers that cost him over $4000 each and I wouldn't trade. Simply put this is a great receiver, I'm glad I waited for it.

The only problem I've noticed is some "banding" when it upconverts. The picture from all sources is greatly improved to near HD quality from DVD, Satelite, and even VHS!

The sound quality is simply unbelieveable, it has a lot of choices and takes a steep learning curve, but once you learn all its choices-the sound is simply great! You would have to go to seperates- amps, preamps, etc. to equal the openness and definiton. Yes, I have owned seperates and don't want to go back.

The last feature I really appreciate is the connection using HDMI. I have a box (about 25 seperate cables) I don't need anymore. Be sure to buy the new HDMI standard cable for 1.3. The HDMI 1.3 is necessary for HD sound as found on Blu-Ray or HD DVD formats, the Dolby Digital 5.1 standard we have all become used to is compressed, something like an MP3. Now if the industry will decide on one format and drop the other so there will be rental options for Hd Discs it will be worth buying an Hd player. When that time comes HDMI 1.3 is on this receiver and you'll be set to take advantage of the new sound cababilites without having to change and upgrade again.