Onkyo 705 or 706 or 606

My Rotel has served it's purpose but it's gotten too long in the tooth. I'm interested in the Onkyo 705/706/606.

I would go for the 606 but I read that the upscaler ain't that great and of course there's no phono stage. My turntable has been in storage...but if one day I decide to hook it up at least I that option.

The 705 is so much cheaper since the 706 came out. Does anyone have the 706? And how much of an upgrade is it from the 705?

Also, is HDMI the way to get TrueHD/DTS-HD form my Panny BD30? And does it have to be 1.3a. 'Cause I already have a non-1.3a HDMI cable that I was going to use. Thanks.

I heard the 706 has some upgraded features like:

An Additional HDMI 1.3 input (4)
The TX-SR706 is Onkyo's first receiver to carry THX's new Select2Plus™ Certification :what:
Full High-Def A/V Home Theater with 1080p Video Upscaling.
2nd powered zone of audio.


Not sure if these and a few other improvements will be worth the extra $200 or so. I think the 705 will do the trick and is hard to beat all those features for it's $550 price tag.

And the BD30 decodes Dolby True HD and DTS HD internally, but I also think it is capable of sending it via bitstream to the Onkyo. So you can see for yourself if or what sounds better.

I received and setup the 706 at my home on Monday.

The Audacity setup process failed after several attempts . It appears after reading the 706 theads at AVS forum and other places that many other users are having the same problems with setup.

I tried resetting the 706 to factory spec amongst other things suggested at the AVS forum and from Onkyo support. I gave up after several attempts and returned the unit yesterday back to the seller.

I suggest to wait before purchasing the 706 till the issue gets resolved and flushed out. Who needs that aggrevation right now.

In the meantime, I am researching other options and suggest you do also right now.

oh by the way, the new receivers do not have a switched outlet in the back which stinks if you need one.

Looks like I'm leaning towards the 706, but Rick's claim seems to be true for some people. My other non-Onkyo choice is the Denon AVR-2309CI (http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/4527.asp). May need to look at that one now.