First - I want to start with how happy I am/was with Amazon; my purchase went as smooth as I could ever expect. To keep it quick, I ordered on a Sunday and received my Onkyo the very next Tuesday (I'm close to a distribution center). WOW!!! Now that's service.
I purchased the Onkyo TX-SR806 to replace a perfectly good Yamaha RX-V861 (861) because I wanted to be able to decode/play "HD" codes. It was a plus this received was rated my Onkyo to have almost 30 more watts/channel than my Yammy' (although there was a little problem with that later that I touch on). I thought it looked nicer than my Yammy' too.
Set-up was pretty straight forward. I did like Onkyo provided speaker wire labels that you could color code to the terminal on the back of the receiver. Yes - it sounds pretty simple, but I have a DVD player, VCR, PS2, PS3, and a satelite box, along with 7.1 surround sound, so I have a LOT of wires behind my entertainment center. I like the on-screen display (OSD) better (it still took some getting used to), although I preferred the OSD from a Yamaha HTR5590 that I had before. I used the Audyssey feature and it was good, although I made some changes beyond because my listening room is horrible for surround sound.
The performance of the TX-SR806 is great. For those who've had problems with the "blue dots" in the past, I suggest looking at the serial number of the unit (there's a label on the back panel - lower edge, and a couple on the box itself). Mine had been altered and the last digit was now an "S" which many have speculated to be a run of units that have been updated by Onkyo to fix the "blue dot" problem. So far *knock on wood* I haven't had any of these issues. It pushes my 4 ohm Cerwin Vega VS150 front speakers with ease and gives them a good workout. It has a bunch of great sound fields and the only complaint I have, really, is that one can't send surround channels of a 5.1 source to the back surrounds, so you have to use an "EX" sound field to do it. It makes sense to me because of the Zone 2 capability, but I was able to do this on my 861 and it had Zone 2 also. It's not a big deal though, because it wasn't like my 861 was really making a true 7.1 sound anyways because the source wasn't a 7.1 source. I make up for it with just using a "EX"-like field, like I mentioned.
Heat is the biggest concern for me. This baby runs pretty warm to start with, but I always think the cooler the better (within reason) and try to be proactive. I've literally spent the last month figuring a way to configure my enclosed (on the front only) cabinet to offer the receiver the best ventilation and put together a cooling fan system. I have about five-inches of space above the receiver and have mounted two 120mm fans blowing/pulling right into the rear center of the receiver (where it seems the most heat comes from)and a 90* thermostatic switch that turns off at 80*. These are too loud, but only run every few minutes and only for a few minutes. When this receiver is set to 4 ohm mode, the current is said to be reduced to the point to where clipping is a very high possibility because it reduces power to less than 60 watts per channel. This is great for heat, but I like to listen to my movies/music loud and I don't want to threaten my speakers. Running in 6 ohm mode makes a lot more heat than 4 ohms, and is not recommended. When I replace the VS150s, they'll probably be with smaller 8 ohm speakers and there won't be this concern.
In conclusion, I am very happy with this receiver. If there were few things I could change, they would be the 4 ohm performance, 7.1 surround sound decoding from 5.1 sources, and OSD, respectively. I know there are other receivers that do these areas better, but not at this price. I think it you give this baby enough ventilation heat won't be a problem, but just be careful if you have 4 ohm speakers.
*** I cited some benchtests from "Secrets of Home Theater's" review of this receiver. This was a really good review and goes in-depth into the TX-SR806 *** Get more detail about Onkyo TX-SR806 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black).
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