Will I tell a difference with this amp? (1 Viewer)

[MikeDE]

I currently have a PS3 going by toslink to an Onkyo sr502 (6.1 set up, 75 wpc) with Athena AS speakers. Last night I picked up an Onkyo 605 on a closeout deal, thinking it would sound better going through hdmi with a few more watts. Now, I'm having second thoughts about breaking the tape on the box. Will there really be that much of a difference?

 

[gene c]

You might not notice the extra watts but the 605 does have Audessey room correction and is hdmi 1.3 so you can take advantage of DD TrueHD and DTS Master Audio on BluRay discs. For those two reasons I'd keep it. But it's your decision. Did it come with a 30 day return policy? If so, carefully open the box and it's contents and give it a try.

I'm not sure regular DD and DTS audio thru hdmi are any better than toslink/coaxial.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I would agree with gene on his assessment and the 605 might be worth keeping for the reasons gene mentioned. I do doubt you are going to hear a difference in the amp sections. The only thing you could do in that situation is to buy a nice power amp as long as you have pre outs on your receiver. Like gene said if it has a 30 day return policy I would try it out and if you do not like it return it.

 

[pat00139]

First thing, the Onkyo 605 is a receiver, not an amp.

Also, you will hear a different provided your speakers are good enough. I believe you might hear a small difference, but not night and day. Speakers are important and they're often the bottleneck of home theatre systems (like mine). Like I siad, though, you'll probably hear a small difference, in clarity and small, atmospheric sounds, like dust settling and the layering of volume levels.

 

[Dave Moritz]

While the 605 is not a power amplifier and it is a receiver. It still contains a amplifier section and depending on how stought and how well built that part of the receiver is built. He could be able to hear the difference between receivers, but I do not think there will be a audible difference between the Onkyo 502 and 605. At least not because of the amplifier section in the receiver. Any audible difference would most likely come from the Audessey room correction and the lossless decoding vs lossy decoding with the older receiver.

I do however totally agree that the speakers are a very important of the ht system. Sound is IMHO about 50% of the movie watching exsperience and good speakers are a big chunk of that. I can take a flagship receiver and with a really bad set of speakers it would not sound much better than something you could buy for $200. So I totally agree that speakers are very important and can make or break the home theater.