Home > Consumer Reviews > Onkyo TX-SR506 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)

This receiver is pretty impressive on paper and visually by oogling at all the ports on the back. The biggest thing to note, I believe, is that the 3 HDMI inputs are "pass-through" and do not extract audio and play it through the speakers connected to the receiver! (the audio will only go to the TV!)

You NEED a secondary cable for audio (for each HDMI input!) and then you must configure the receiver to pair the corresponding HDMI input with the audio source. For example, if I have my Xbox 360 connected via HDMI, it is total FAIL because the optical audio connector for Xbox only exists on the component out... so I must use the component output for the Xbox instead, and pair it with a TOSLINK optical cable setup on the receiver.

While being an excellent receiver for the price, this single ridiculous gotcha makes the technology of HDMI near totally moot and could lead to some annoying workarounds as I have done for my home theater.

From the manual, page 29
"If you want to listen through the speakers connected to the AV receiver, in addition to an HDMI connection you'll need to make a separate analog or digital audio connection."

That is, one of the high points of HDMI (the fact that one cable transmits both audio and video) is completely lost in this receiver, since a second cable is needed for the speakers to function. Furthermore, the unit has 3 HDMI inputs but only 2 optical audio inputs.

TO me this doesn't make much sense...

i was on the fence for awhile about picking out a new receiver to replace my old Sony 5.1 setup. i wanted something easy to operate for my wife and kids, something that i could run one wire to my tv so i didnt have to change inputs on the tv as well as the receiver.

this onkyo was the ticket! i have my playstation 3, xbox 360, and Cox Cable box feeding this receiver, all hooked up via hdmi (for video) and optical (for audio). my tv is pre-hdmi, but i have an hdmi-dvi cable that works perfectly with this setup.

installation took me about an hour. i didnt run the auto setup on the speakers because for some reason i was getting an error. i was able to set the speakers up manually very easily so this didnt bother me at all. all the hdmi inputs and all the optical inputs are assignable, which couldnt be any easier. i just hooked up all my toys (ps3, 360, cable) turned them on, and just scrolled through the inputs until the all matched up, then moved on to the next.

the sound that this unit produces is absolutely amazing. dont be fooled by its low power rating because this is a high quality unit. it pushes my Klipsch Quintet II speakers much higher and produces a much cleaner sound than my Sony 100watt receiver did.

the remote that is included with this receiver is perfect as well. its programmable, although it doesnt have all the commands that i need for my cable box, it can do everything except pull up the DVR menu. on top of that, its small and simple to use!

the only reason i didnt give this unit a 5 star rating is because the switching between hdmi sources is a little slow, takes about 3-5 seconds to switch.

all in all, it fits my needs perfectly and i wouldnt hesitate to make this purchase again!

This receiver has a ton going for it, and little holding it back! With 1080p passthrough, 3 HDMI inputs, 1 HDMI output, 7.1 channel surround sound, and all the dolby and dts decoding, this is a sweet home theater receiver at an amazing price. I have mine hooked up with a blue ray player, a 50" 1080p plasma, and a bose surround sound system, and it couldn't get much better. The ONLY beef that I have with this receiver, is the hdmi inputs only pass through video, no audio! This means that you can hook up 3 pieces of equipment via HDMI and output it all to your tv, but you will have to hookup the audio sources separately. At first, this might seem ridiculous, but here is the scoop. It is equipped with 3 optical inputs, and optical is capable of reproducing any sound quality with the exception of Dolby HD Master. I have heard an HD master track, and the difference is too minute for me to discern. Overall, this receiver is Money in the Bank... literally, at this price

Despite the many warnings about the HDMI Pass through I purchased this anyway expecting the toslink digital audio cable to pass the 7.1 signal from my PS3. Then I learn that DIGITAL AUDIO CABLE DOES NOT PASS 7.1 it does not have enough bandwitdh to pass more than 5.1. The only way to receive true 7.1 is through HDMI 1.1 or greater and as this receiver only passes through and does not extract audio there is absolutely no way to give this receiver 7.1 surround sound... Yes it may push sound to 7.1 speakers but you are only getting a converted 5.1 signal. WHY EVEN CALL THIS A 7.1 RECEIVER? It's very misleading!!!

I allways try and do as much research as possible prior to purchasing any equipment, I should have looked longer before this purchase. It will take some time for me to save more money to purchase a new receiver with HDMI Repeater.