(…)Take an Award-winning bargain, bolt on lots more features without affecting the sound, and keep the price the same: the ‘606 is a steal.
(...)The new stuff is almost all hidden under the skin, but the obvious changes are the four HDMI 1.3a inputs on the newcomer, against the two HDMI sockets on the old model, and a much more ergonomic remote control in place of the somewhat ‘bricky’ old one.
(...)All of that should make the new model easier to use and more flexible, especially in a world where there are increasing numbers of products with HDMI outputs, all needing to be switched and fed to a TV or projector.
(...)The good news is that the engineers haven’t left well alone – for those obsessed with specification, they’ve thrown a whole load more new ‘stuff’ onto the product.
(...)There’s still the Onkyo Wide-Range Amplifier Technology, a feature of the company’s products for many years, and Audyssey 2EQ automatic set-up and calibration, meaning you need only plug in a microphone and press a button to have the receiver run a set of test-tones and adjust speaker delay and level to suit your room and speaker positioning.
(...)What’s new in the improved version of 2EQ found here, however, is another bit of Audyssey technology, Dynamic EQ: this adjusts the equalisation, and thus the frequency response, and the surround level, so you get more convincing results when playing the system at low levels without having to set the rear channels so high that they’re obtrusive when playing much louder
(...)Also added on the audio side is a new Music Optimiser, designed to make more of compressed music played into the receiver from an MP3 player, or from an iPod via Onkyo’s DS-A1x or DS-A2x docks. This works by enhancing the higher frequencies usually lost in compression, thus giving a more open balance.
(...)But the main event on the new receiver is the introduction of video upscaling, even though the specification freaks will moan that it's only to 720p/1080i. The receiver will pass a 1080p signal, for example from Blu-ray players and the like, though ‘as is’, but will also upconvert and upscale lesser formats and resolutions.
(...)And that’s good news all the way down the line, meaning that the TX-SR606 is a real powerhouse of a receiver for the money, capable of slamming out everything from the airport chase sequence in Casino Royale to the bombardment in Letters from Iwo Jima with real room-shaking thump, provided your speakers can hack it. At the same time it has all the openness and finesse required to make even small effects clear, and sometimes startling, and keep dialogue crystal clear.
(...)There’s never the sense of everything being thrown at you that’s sometimes apparent with lesser receivers; instead, the Onkyo manages to combine an enveloping soundfield with superb effects steering and plenty of bite.
(...)And that Dynamic EQ works superbly, too: it's totally unobtrusive when you're playing the receiver at serious volume levels, but when you back off a bit there's none of that diminution of excitement or sense of envelopment. The system is subtle, but very definitely effective - and much better than those often crude 'midnight' modes you find on many receivers.
(...)If you want a receiver that’ll mainly be used for watching Blu-rays, DVDs or TV, or hooking up to a games console, the 606 will serve you every bit as well as the 605 did, while still being perfectly respectable for the occasional blast of music.
(...)The scaler is a worthwhile addition for those without an exclusive diet of Blu-ray discs and Sky HD: it’s not as good as the amazing Reon HQV system in the TX-SR875, which after all costs 150% more, but it is more than adequate when it comes to upscaling standard definition TV broadcasts and DVDs for viewing on a plasma or LCD screen.
(...)We found it works extremely well with standard definition video, such as that from DVD – it won’t fool you you’re watching ‘proper’ HD material, but it does process the signal without any obvious signs of all the adding up, taking away and multiplying by your birthday that'’s going on under the hood.
So, the sum-up is this: If, however, you’re happy with the fact that it sounds every bit as good as the model it replaces, and has added functionality and flexibility, then you’ll understand why we say that the TX-SR606 is an even better buy than its Award-winning predecessor.
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