Thread: 7.1 Receiver

Well, I thought my audio receiver was fixed, but it's still doing it, and all of the dust is out of it.

Is Denon a good brand?

I was looking at this one from Best Buy:

Denon - 525W 7.1-Ch. XM Satellite Radio-Ready A/V Home Theater Receiver - AVR-1508

I'm on a tight budget so I have to go as inexpensive as possible and would rather get a 7.1 with HDMI since I have 7 speakers and I would like my Blu-Ray movies to sound as best as possible.

From what I've been reading Denon is above Yamaha and Onkyo but the 605 Onkyo receiver is getting very good reviews.


Onkyo TX-SR605 Home theater receiver with HDMI switching and video conversion at Crutchfield.com

Here is the step down version for the Onkyo:


Onkyo TX-SR505 Home theater receiver with HDMI switching at Crutchfield.com

The 505 requires optical audio for digital audio.

Would I really be missing out if I had to go this route vs audio through HDMI?

It would just be an extra cable. The 605 passes video and audio through HDMI, the 505 passes video only through HDMI so you'll need the optical audio for DD.

I'm about to pull the trigger on the 505 at Circuit City for $258.49. I don't really need audio through HDMI since I can use the optical inputs.

Will my Blu-ray play Dolby HD through optical?

Would I be missing out on anything if I go with a 75w x 7 vs 110w x 7?

Originally Posted by Neutron

Will my Blu-ray play Dolby HD through optical?

No.
The digital out - optical or coax - has the same limitations as it had on regular DVD players: 1.5Mbps DTS and 640kbps DD.
It is not because of the bandwidth limitation - optical can do orders of magnitude more - but because this is the standard.

You can most probably get the downsampled version of the soundtrack over digital out (depends on the player).

Originally Posted by Neutron

Would I be missing out on anything if I go with a 75w x 7 vs 110w x 7?

Unless you want your neighbours to know what you're playing - no. ;-)

Diogen.

Dolby TrueHD does not pass through an optical or coax connection. You need a AMP that can use that audio through HDMI. There is no way around this.

Originally Posted by diogen

No.
The digital out - optical or coax - has the same limitations as it had on regular DVD players: 1.5Mbps DTS and 640kbps DD.
It is not because of the bandwidth limitation - optical can do orders of magnitude more - but because this is the standard.

You can most probably get the downsampled version of the soundtrack over digital out (depends on the player).
Unless you want your neighbours to know what you're playing - no. ;-)

Diogen.

Originally Posted by peterson40

You need a AMP that can use that audio through HDMI.

...or you can use analog outs (if you player is capable of decoding it).

Diogen.

The PS3 doesn't have analog out.

So I guess I need to find me an inexpensive 7.1 HDMI 1.3 receiver.