[Andrew Barss]

I have an Onkyo TX-SR303 receiver, which I've been using in my living room
system for a while. The headphone jack is acting up (it's preventing the
speakers from playing, even when the headphones are unplugged, unless I
hold the jack to one side with my finger). This is probably a cheap repair, but
I'm considering upgrading to a TX-SR706. It has more power, and more
and varied inputs. One aesthetic reason is just it has four HDMI
inputs, and thus would greatly simplify the mess of cables I have currently.

A couple of questions:

a) is there a substantial diference in e.g., DVD audio over HDMI, vs.
a pair of RCA cables?

b) Does anyone have any experience with this receiver, or another with
similar specs in the ~500 range?

Details on what the other components a

HD TiVo
HD LCS TV
Oppo DVD player
Onkyo CD player
Squeezebox, playing FLAC files
B&W DM602S3 speakers


I'm most interested in the music reproduction quality of this unit
(the Squeezebox and CD player could have either wired or optical
inputs to the receiver).


Thanks,


Andy Barss

[Kevin McMurtrie[_2_]]

In article ,
Andrew Barss wrote:

I have an Onkyo TX-SR303 receiver, which I've been using in my living room
system for a while. The headphone jack is acting up (it's preventing the
speakers from playing, even when the headphones are unplugged, unless I
hold the jack to one side with my finger). This is probably a cheap repair,
but
I'm considering upgrading to a TX-SR706. It has more power, and more
and varied inputs. One aesthetic reason is just it has four HDMI
inputs, and thus would greatly simplify the mess of cables I have currently.

A couple of questions:

a) is there a substantial diference in e.g., DVD audio over HDMI, vs.
a pair of RCA cables?

b) Does anyone have any experience with this receiver, or another with
similar specs in the ~500 range?

Details on what the other components a

HD TiVo
HD LCS TV
Oppo DVD player
Onkyo CD player
Squeezebox, playing FLAC files
B&W DM602S3 speakers


I'm most interested in the music reproduction quality of this unit
(the Squeezebox and CD player could have either wired or optical
inputs to the receiver).


Thanks,


Andy Barss

Digital audio can have many discrete channels on a single wire. You can
get audio devices with analog 5.1 outputs but the cabling quickly
becomes a nightmare. HDMI, TOSLINK, and S/PDIF coax are ways to send
all audio channels over one cable.

--
I will not see your reply if you use Google.

[Codifus]

On Feb 16, 10:57*pm, Andrew Barss wrote:
I have an Onkyo TX-SR303 receiver, which I've been using in my living room
system for a while. The headphone jack is acting up (it's preventing the
speakers from playing, even when the headphones are unplugged, unless I
hold the jack to one side with my finger). This is probably a cheap repair, but
I'm considering upgrading to a TX-SR706. * It has more power, and more
and varied inputs. *One aesthetic reason is just it has four HDMI
inputs, and thus would greatly simplify the mess of cables I have currently.

A couple of questions:

a) is there a substantial diference in e.g., DVD audio over HDMI, vs.
a pair of RCA cables?

b) Does anyone have any experience with this receiver, or another with
similar specs in the ~500 range?

Details on what the other components a

HD TiVo
HD LCS TV
Oppo DVD player
Onkyo CD player
Squeezebox, playing FLAC files
B&W DM602S3 speakers

I'm most interested in the music reproduction quality of this unit
(the Squeezebox and CD player could have either wired or optical
inputs to the receiver).

Thanks,

Andy Barss

I think the question really comes down to, do you want to use the DAC
in your DVD player or your receiver? The DVD player may have a better
DAC, and the loss associated with the analog data going through your
RCA cables from the DVD player to the receiver is minimal at best.

CD

[Steven Sullivan]

Andrew Barss wrote:
I have an Onkyo TX-SR303 receiver, which I've been using in my living room
system for a while. The headphone jack is acting up (it's preventing the
speakers from playing, even when the headphones are unplugged, unless I
hold the jack to one side with my finger). This is probably a cheap repair, but
I'm considering upgrading to a TX-SR706. It has more power, and more
and varied inputs. One aesthetic reason is just it has four HDMI
inputs, and thus would greatly simplify the mess of cables I have currently.

A couple of questions:

a) is there a substantial diference in e.g., DVD audio over HDMI, vs.
a pair of RCA cables?

Much easier to apply bass management, speaker calibration, and DSP consistently across
formats, if the input to the AVR is digital, so: advantage HDMI.



--
-S
We have it in our power to begin the world over again - Thomas Paine

[Codifus]

On Feb 19, 5:51*pm, Steven Sullivan wrote:
Andrew Barss wrote:
I have an Onkyo TX-SR303 receiver, which I've been using in my living room
system for a while. The headphone jack is acting up (it's preventing the
speakers from playing, even when the headphones are unplugged, unless I
hold the jack to one side with my finger). This is probably a cheap repair, but
I'm considering upgrading to a TX-SR706. * It has more power, and more
and varied inputs. *One aesthetic reason is just it has four HDMI
inputs, and thus would greatly simplify the mess of cables I have currently.
A couple of questions:
a) is there a substantial diference in e.g., DVD audio over HDMI, vs.
a pair of RCA cables?

Much easier to apply bass management, speaker calibration, and DSP consistently across
formats, if the input to the AVR is digital, so: *advantage HDMI.

--
-S
We have it in our power to begin the world over again - Thomas Paine

Would all that apply if he's using it for 2.0 stereo?

CD

[Steven Sullivan]

codifus wrote:
On Feb 19, 5:51?pm, Steven Sullivan wrote:
Andrew Barss wrote:
I have an Onkyo TX-SR303 receiver, which I've been using in my living room
system for a while. The headphone jack is acting up (it's preventing the
speakers from playing, even when the headphones are unplugged, unless I
hold the jack to one side with my finger). This is probably a cheap repair, but
I'm considering upgrading to a TX-SR706. ? It has more power, and more
and varied inputs. ?One aesthetic reason is just it has four HDMI
inputs, and thus would greatly simplify the mess of cables I have currently.
A couple of questions:
a) is there a substantial diference in e.g., DVD audio over HDMI, vs.
a pair of RCA cables?

Much easier to apply bass management, speaker calibration, and DSP consistently across
formats, if the input to the AVR is digital, so: ?advantage HDMI.

--
-S
We have it in our power to begin the world over again - Thomas Paine

Would all that apply if he's using it for 2.0 stereo?

Yes, all except the bass management. Delays, level, digital room EQ can still apply.


--
-S
We have it in our power to begin the world over again - Thomas Paine