Home > Consumer Reviews > Onkyo TX-SR706 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Silver)

I purchased this with a Panasonic BD-35 blu-ray player to update my older 5.1 system. I basically wanted to output picture and sound directly from the dvd player to the tv and speakers. While this sounds easy there is a reason why the receiver comes with a 120 page book for setup. I spent some time getting both units to work passing through the sound and picture. Once set up this unit works great. It seems to have enouogh power for our system. The things to watch for when setting up is using "Direct" as the mode for sound as it passes through whatever is coming in. My unit came as "last valid" and it converted it to Neo6 which was not the lossless sound on the dvd. You can use Direct which leaves the display on or "Pure audio" which turns off the display and supposed to give you a pure sound. I would also recommend setting the output resolution to "Through", I did try upscaling to 1080p and it worked good for everything but regular cable channels looked grainy.
The audessy setup worked flawlessly for me, I set it up using the minimum 3 locations, you can use as many as 6.
For someone that is looking for an out of box solution to your home theater system, this is a good unit. It gives you 4 hdmi inputs many have only 2. It decodes all of the current sound formats and is a 7.1 unit.
I have read some of the reviews of people who are using this as a preamp for their high powered systems. All I can say is why are you buying a $500 receiver if you have all this power behind it. Most people buying a receiver want a box that does everything. I am sure there are tradeoffs but for most of us this unit does a great job.
I have played some cd's through this system using the sound processing this unit has that literally surrounds you in the music. I am sure for an audio critic this is not the way they listen to music but for a novice like me it sounds fantastic.
If you are looking for a good upgrade the combo of the Panasonic bd-35 and Onkyo 706 will do a great job.

Sound quality very good. Set up a little confusing, almost too many options. Use of supplied calibration microphone is very useful in solving set up problems. Hooking a new high definition TV and cable box to the SR7006 via HDMI cables is very easy, but there is a strange difference between analog and digital TV channels. The analogue channels require a volume setting of -5 db/m for comfortable listening while the digital channels only require -35 db/m for the same sound level. This difference does not exist when the SR706 is bypassed. Hopefully this will disappear when all TV channels are digital.

Let me start off by saying I'm not an audiophile. I've had this receiver hooked up for a couple of weeks now and my purpose was for home theater mostly and very occasional music. The components I have hooked up via HDMI is an HD Tivo and a BluRay player and then a Wii hooked up via component. Set up was easy and I didn't have any issues with the setup mic as some have talked about. I know some say that this receiver runs hot but it's not that bad in my opinion. It does run warmer than my[...] Sony receiver but I can't compare it to the newer models. I have it in an entertainment center cabinet which is enclosed on the sides and back and a door in the front. I did allow about 10" above it and it has a few inches behind but not much room on the sides. One quirk that is a slight annoyance is a few second audio delay using the Tivo when switching from fast forward to play. Also for you Tivo users the sounds seem to be muted such as the clicks for fast forward when playing back a program. When in the menus they return which is down right odd. Again I'm hooked via HDMI so maybe it goes away if you hook it up via component. The sound is good but unfortunately I can't say wow like some other reviewers but that doesn't have anything to do with the receiver.
I was expecting more from the new HD audio formats. I've read postings in forums where it's a night and day difference from Dolby Digital and it's like going from standard definition to HD but personally at this point I've only heard minor differences. The biggest difference I've heard is because of the additional speakers I've added for 7.1 and that's because for regular tv viewing I have it in All channel stereo mode so I hear the same sounds including voices from all speakers which is a step up from my old receiver. For comparison I've watched action scenes from BluRay's encoded in DTS MA 7.1 and then the same scenes from DVD's in Dolby Digital 5.1 and I'd be hard pressed to tell you the audio difference. Maybe the studios aren't fully utilizing the new formats yet and it will get better but for now I'd say if you're primary reason for updating is the new formats I'd say wait. This is just my opinion however and maybe your ears are better than mine. So to wrap up my only complaint at this point is the audio delay using Tivo and seems to be a good receiver thus far.

Another fine product from Onkyo. I matched this receiver with the Onkyo 750 speaker set and it's amazing! All audio formats thus far are great. Although regular Dolby Digital sounds best. Only watched 8 movies with different formats so far. All studios do their audio differently, so the jury is still out on Master audio being supreme.
Set up was a breeze with common sense and careful reading.
I got mine in silver and it looks awesome along with the remote. The Audyssey mic. makes set-up a breeze.
Buy it. It's worth it.

I have been planning my new home theater set up for a while and did much reasearch ad nauseum to settle on this receiver.

The 2 things that I questioned were heating issues on earlier models now a thing of the past with open shelving furniture and long term reliability which I found to be above average.

Highly rated, practical, user friendly, and the bells and whistles. Onkyo is either going to push quality standards through the roof for competitors or force them out of business.

Research and you will see why I say this and if you buy one you will tell your friends about it.