onkyo 805 vs 806

I've said enough (or more than enough) about the 805. As for surrounds, they are not that critical, especially for movies (you will most likely set them for an 80hz crossover so the sub will do all the bass anyway). Now if you listen to a lot of audiophile-grade 5.1 music, they are more important. I only listen to music in 2 channel, so I am using very inexpensive Infinity 150s for surrounds with movies. They work great. Dipoles are very good for surrounds because of the diffusive soundfield they produce. Personally, I would put the money elsewhere.

Your center channel speaker is the most important speaker in your HT since it handles the majority of the sound and also, most importantly, vocals. If it is not well-matched to your Snell L/R speakers, things will shift in sound quality as they move across the screen. This will become irritating over time, trust me. Audyssey goes a long way toward integrating the speakers, so if you are close on the speaker types you will likely be okay. If the center channel speaker makes male voices sound boomy, creates sibilance on "s" sounds, or sounds lifeless and boring, this is a killer and Audyssey won't help. Spend your money on the center vs on surrounds.

i think my center is fine.. it is an older snell and its a beast sounds very nice. Not too much info thouhg about it on the web, HCC 500. I really only listen to music on 2 channel i dont like multi channel audi unless its a concert dvd my hunt for the 805 begins!

Best of luck.

Dlcockruhave you ever thought up a way to emulate or duplicate these Auto EQ setup features using outboard - external amps connected to the Onkyo?

I wonder if following the Audacy setup, those settings are able to be seen in the EQ menu and then written down and re-entered once the amps were connected back up to the rec.

I understand once other amps are inplay things will likely change sonically... but figured perhaps this would be a better or maybe even, good enough point to stay at or begin with for further tweaking.

tanks

Whichever receiver you end up with, please make sure you give it plenty of breathing room. These things run very hot--I have a fan plugged into one of my 805's swtiched outlets to provide extra cooling. Without the fan, I'd sometimes lose video output on the HDMI out. One other thing to note is that in addition to the weight difference, the 806 has different speaker load specs.

One other thing to note...if you have a Tivo, the 805 creates a lag in the audio signal. This is manifested whenever there's a change in the audio signal format--especially when transitioning between commercials--which causes an audio dropout. Highly annoying.