I was looking at the Logitech X-540 5.1 PC speakers, and I think all of those use audio cables. If there's any other ideas for speakers that do not have to have speaker cable running into the receiver (i.e. 5.1 or 7.1 analog) or if this will not work, I'd greatly appreciate it.

As for the subwoofer, my room is about 8' by 12', so I'm not looking for the sort of bass that would cause an earthquake in my house, let alone something you'd see in a high-end movie theater. Something that just does the trick and does the trick well.

Perhaps I should rephrase my question: can I hook up surround PC speakers using the multi-channel analog inputs on the receiver in lieu of using regular speakers with speaker wire?

My 605 is going back to Amazon. The Audyssey circuit is dead and the center channel's levels are way off. Unfortunately, they're out of stock for 4 to 6 weeks, and now my replacement says that it will be shipped in March 2008. Ugh.

This really doesn't make any sense to me. PC speakers are powered. You're going to be running wires anyway. It makes no sense to hook up PC speakers. It's just using more power, spending more on a receiver with pre-outs. You can get pre-stripped or pre-banana plugged speaker wire if you have trouble with stripping speaker cable. That would be a much more sensible route.

Yeah, I looked up the specs and it's definitely a receiver I'd love to have.

I just got hooked up with a Philips LCD 1080p flatscreen, a yamaha YHT-380 HTS and a Toshiba A20 HD-DVD player. I currently receive satellite service from Directv and had them install the latest Hi-def receiver which is also a DVR. I used a private install guy to hook up the sound system and run the wires for everything under the carpet. Picture looks great, sound is great (on some things). Here's my problem. Sound is great on the HD-DVD player and the live Directv broadcasts. Sound is much more muted on the things I record via the DVR. Is it a bad receiver from Directv or do the DVR programs just not record in high quality audio? If this should be posted elsewhere, just move it. Thanks!

TimT,
Look for a setting about recording Bitstream or Dolby.

Zen,
You cannot hook up speakers to inputs. Maybe you meant outputs. Yes, you can hook to outputs, but you still have wires running over to the speakers. You can't get away from the wires. It would make more sense to use good speakers and use speaker wire. Esp if you are going to pony up a bit more for a better receiver, use its amp. That will be far better than any PC speaker amp. As for the sub, you said, "Something that just does the trick and does the trick well." Well, the trick is to recreate whatever sound is in the movie. The Logitech won't do that.

Ok, I need some last minute help if you guys could provide some input.

My Denon 887 died again (that machine was a freaking trainwreck) and I complained to the store I bought it from and they have agreed to let me return it for full value today. I paid $640 for it and I've upgraded quite a bit of my home theater since I bought it last year. My price range at the moment to upgrade is $200-$400, depending on features. I just got a new KS-60A300 Sony 60" SXRD that accepts 1.3 and 120hz/24fps, so I'm trying to take advantage of that. Here are the two my research points to:

Onkyo TX-SR705
Pioneer Elite VSX-92TXH

The Elite is a lot more pricey than the Onkyo and both seem to have the same feature set (3 HDMI inputs, TrueHD, 1080p Upconverting...) but the reviews have been unbelievable for the Pioneer. My speakers right now are the most lacking piece of my home theater, with Polk RM40T tower speakers up front with a CSi3 center. I plan on upgrading the fronts sometime in the next year and moving those towers to the back, but for now does anyone have any strong recommendations one way or the other on those two? Or any other recommendations on receivers in that range I might be overlooking?

FYI, ShopOnkyo has a nice refurb deal on the TX-SR605 for $299 if you join their club, plus you get another $10 off your purchase too. It's a refurbed item, and comes with a 1 year warranty, but an additional warranty year will cost another $40.

I'm on the verge of getting the Sony STR-DG810, primarily because it is the cheapest receiver I can find with 3 HDMI inputs. Can someone please answer the following concerns that I found in a recent review:

1. "Passes LPCM via HDMI = Yes
Decodes Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master = No."
Now I will be using a PS3 and a HD-A3, so am I correct that I don't need the receiver to actually decode these, because the players will do the decoding and pass it to the receiver over HDMI? I don't want to buy an HD receiver and not be able to benefit from TrueHD or DTS-HD...

2. "The STR-DG810 lacks the ability to upconvert analog sources to the HDMI output. The benefit of receivers with analog-to-digital conversion is that they allow for a simple, single cable connection to your TV; connect all your gear to the receiver's inputs, and then connect a single cable from the HDMI output to the TV. The STR-DG810 also doesn't upconvert composite video sources to component video, so you'll need to make a separate composite video connection to your TV if you use any standard-definition gear."
Am I correct that although the receiver doesn't up-convert, I don't need it to becuase my PS3 or HD-A3 WILL upconvert my standard DVDs, and pass the upconversion to my TV through HDMI?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

your understanding is mostly right. both of your players will decode TrueHD and send it as multi-channel PCM to the receiver. neither will decode DTS-HD (HR or MA), but they won't bitstream it either, so you wouldn't benefit from a receiver that can decode the DTS-HD formats regardless. the best you'll get from a DTS-HD track on a BD or HD DVD is the lossy DTS core with your current players, no matter what receiver you get.

I believe they are referring to the fact that it won't pass a component or composite video input through to the HDMI output. It is not referring to DVD video upconversion, as far as I can tell. You don't need to worry about this, unless you were planning on having something hooked up to the receiver with component cables and wanted to have just one cable (HDMI) out to your TV.

Don't know if i can answer copper blue's question... but base on my experience with my new S894 (comes with the 640 receiver), HDMI output is only for HDMI inputs, i.e. you can't connect a player via component and expect the receiver to output via HDMI.

i got my s894 for $400 shipped, how this deal compare to the 605?

I want to get a Panasonic PAN DMPBD30K or DMPBD10a Blu-Ray and i am going to use Monster HDMI to connect it to my Onkyo 605 reciever. Will both of these allow me to take advantage of DTS-HD? Thanks for any input.

Yes, but the two players do it differently. The BD10a will decode DTS-HD-MA (and Dolby TrueHD) and send it to your Onkyo as PCM. The BD30 will send the bitstream for those audio formats to your receiver and the receiver will decode them. The BD30 does not have the ability to decode the newer audio formats on-board and output them as PCM. But, since the Onkyo 605 can decode them, you should be good to go.

(However, it is disappointing for those of us with older receivers: With one hand Panasonic giveth — the BD30 is Profile 1.1 compliant — with the other hand Panasonic taketh away — no on-board decoding for the lossless audio formats.)

i don't think that's true. i could be wrong, but i'm fairly certain that the BD10A decodes DTS-HD High Resolution, but not DTS-HD Master Audio (they are different). if you want DTS-HD MA, you have to have the BD30 and a receiver that can decode the DTS-HD MA bitstream (such as the Onkyo 605).

Thank you Lizard. I will be getting the BD10A. You answered that better and quicker than five Best Buy employees.

Just be aware that if you buy the BD10A rather than the BD30, you will be missing out on full DTS-HD Master Audio.

kefrank is correct, the BD10A cannot decode DTS-HD Master Audio. Insanecollector, since you're getting a 605 I would just get the BD30 and have the receiver decode the audio streams.

I just wanted to update my decision on the reciever, I went with the Pioneer Elite VSX-92TXH. It's obviously very pricey, I think I paid about $1050 (with 12 month zero interest financing on a much larger Xmas bill, but I digress...). It has completely transformed my living room and I am astounded at the capabilities of what it can do. It obviously decodes anything you throw at it, but the video upconversion is out of this world and the sound difference between this and the Denon 887 is not even worth describing.

I was going to go with the slightly less expensive Onkyo, but I'm glad I ponied up the extra money to go with the top of the line (that I could afford). Huge thumbs up from me, I did a lot of research and could not recommend this any higher for the price range.

I did buy the BD10A today but if I am missing out on DTS-HD Master Audio, what did I get?

What is the difference?

You will be getting the "core" sound of DTS MA, which is DTS at 1.5 mbps, compressed audio. While it still sounds good, it won't compare to full DTS MA audio.

Looks like back to Best Buy for me again.

You're right. The CNET review confirms "DTS-HD High Resolution" not MA.And wrong, sorry to say. I apologize for the screw-up and leading you astray. Although I'm not the first person to mix up DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD-MA, I should know better.

I agree with the others above that, cost differences aside (are there any?), The BD30 is a better buy for anyone with an Onkyo 605 or 705 because it will bitstream the lossless audio codecs and you get a Profile 1.1 player (which has two video decoding circuits and enough memory to enable picture-in-picture commentaries, and the like).Again, I'm very sorry for the trouble.

don't beat yourself up too much. the nomenclature is annoyingly confusing. i would strongly have preferred for DTS to use a naming convention similar to Dolby's, which is more clear.

I need to some help sorting out connection issue here. I was quite happy with my old setup of Onkyo 604 and HD-A2 HD-DVD until I bought a PS3. HD-A2 is connected via HDMI to 604 and then to Optoma HD70 via HDMI. I connected PS3 to 604 via HDMI as well. HD-A2 uses DVD input on 604 and PS3 is set to use "Video1". My problem is two fold:

1. I am having hard time switching between the two. I noticed I had to press DVD or Video1 key on the remote TWICE to switch the HDMI. With one click on the remote, video switches to DVD or Video1 but no sound or picture until I press the same button again. Has anyone seen this issue?

2. After I started using PS3, I noticed that my HD-A2 will not boot and stuck on the welcome screen. I had to hard reboot it (unplug). This started happening only after I added PS3. The firmware version is 2.5 on the HD-DVD player.

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.