Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86238 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Onkyo
• Dimensions: 14.75" h x 17.13" w x 6.86" l, 24.91 pounds

Customer Reviews

Next Gen of Surrouund Sound
I brought this amp about a month ago, I needed an upgrade as I had brought a blu-ray player and my old Denon amp couldn't process the new Hi-Def audio tracks on blu-ray discs. The improvements in performance over my old Denon was very pleasing not only in Tru-HD and DTS Master Audio which you would expect really but also in normal DD via DVD and Xbox 360.

Contrary to then prior reviewer I found it very easy to setup, anybody with prior experience of setting up this kind of equipment will find it a breeze. You simply connect up your speakers in the traditional way, connect up your A/V equipment (this amp has 4 HDMI inputs, a big selling point for me as well because my plasma only has 1 HDMI, so this feature comes in real handy), then you start the amp up and connect the setup microphone which you place in the listening position and then start the automatic setup procedure (takes about 10 minutes) and that's it the amp does the rest, of course you may need to tweak the setting here and there if you like and assign the A/V inputs but that's all pretty straight forward.

The remote whilst nice too look at is a little tricky to setup to work with your other equipment and obviously will not have all the individual features to work with everyone's kit (how could it, it would have to be the size of a sheet of A4 or a touch screen type and no amps remote at this price is going to be that fancy), definitely not worth knocking a star off.

All in all I'm very happy with my purchase and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, for further proof check out What Hi-Fi magazines 5 star review and subsequent award win.

Excellent but one or two things you might need to know
I bought the 606 one month ago to replace my Pioneer Pro-Logic processor. I have connected a Samsung 40" full HD TV, Sky HD, a PS3 (for use as a Blu Ray DVD player), a video sender, a video ipod (via a Logic3 dock), a LG DVD/HDD recorder and Kef 5005 5.1 speakers.

Because there is a multitude of ways that AV can connect, the 606 has to have a variety of inputs (optical, co-ax, composite, S video, component, HDMI). If you are only using HDMI, it's pretty simple. But it soon starts to get complicated as you attach different sources. This isn't the fault of the 606, it's just the way things are. For instance; SKY HD doesn't transmit Dolby Digital via HDMI, hence you have to add an optical lead and assign that separately via the set-up and Digital switch on the front of the box. To optimise performance you may also have to change the settings on your source components (such as the Bitstream/PCM settings on the PS3).

The 606 upconverts all input connections to ouput via HDMI but doesn't do the reverse. Hence if you want to connect a non HDMI monitor, or in my case a recorder and a video sender, you must also input the signal to the 606 using the same connection type.

Having done all this the performance is excellent and the difference between, Pro-Logic and, Dolby Digital 5.1 and True HD sound, is quite stunning.

Just a few minor gripes that preclude a 5 star rating. Firstly a hum/buzz when using the PS3, which is a fault that requires the return of the 606 for a mod (evidently corrected in very new versions - so worth checking with the retailer). Secondly the remote is very fussy. Thirdly the manual isn't clear/comprehensive and can be a little confusing. Lastly, the design is not very aesthetic.

But once you are past the techy stuff, it's a superb performer for both AV and music - but it'd be a waste if you don't have all the right AV sources.

Supurb - but needs some setting up
Absolutly great product once it's setup correctly. The main L/R speakers must use the bi-amping feature without which music playback is pretty weak. Asuming you've got decent front speakers that can be bi-amped that is. You also need to use the built in surround sound configuration feature with the supplied microphone before tweaking it to your exact liking.

It also upscales all your video inputs to 1080i so even std. Sky looks great on my 46" flat screen.

You'll also probably want to get a Logitech Harmony remote to manage it and all the other kit running throught it.

Fot the money I don't think you'll find much beter.

Michael McD