Differences between Onkyo TX-SR705 v TX-SR605

Many of you pondering getting the Onkyo TX-SR 605, may also be considering its slightly older brother, the Onkyo TX-SR705. Although it is a £200 additional cost ($200 for US home cinema fans), you do get some additional stuff, that is quite worthwhile…

1. A slight power upgrade from 90 to 100 watts per channel – useful in bigger rooms, but 90 is quite enough
2. THX Select2 Certification – a nice badge of honour on the front!
3. 3 DSPs – Not sure how many the 605 has
4. An extra HDMI and Optical input – 3 of each – which is a very worthy addition
5. 7.1 pre-out – the 605 only has a subwoofer out
6. Better auto set up – Audyssey MultEQ XT rather than Audyssey 2EQ – although the latter is quite good enough
7. Input source renaming – very useful for knowing what goes where
8. Fan cooling – useful in environments or positions where the vents can’t do their job sufficiently
9. Really cool blue LED lighting around the volume knob! Call me a geek but I loved this!
10. You also get binding posts on Zone 2 speaker outs rather than clips

And some stuff that is still worth having, but not a major benefits:

1. A power input socket so you can upgrade your power cable if you wish
2. A 12v Trigger
3. Learning Remote – I use a Logitech Harmony so this would be of little use
4. A Phono input – could be useful for the 2 times a year I dust down my vinyl
5. THX listening modes – probably worth a play now and again, but not essential
6. Absolute or Relative Master volume scale

The differences seem to be mostly feature based, and from what I understand, the difference in sound is negligible, but if you need the extra features and can justify the extra spend, the Onkyo 705 is probably the better bet.

The Onkyo TX-SR 605 has now been superceded by the Onkyo TX-SR606.