Well this month I decided to get a new toy. An Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver! There are several reasons I upgraded:

• Upgrade to 7.1 channels over 5.1
• BANANA PLUGS!
• 4 HDMI 1.3 inputs
• I can bitstream advanced HD audio codecs to it, such as Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD Master Audio.
• Any analog inputs are upconverted to 1080i and output over HDMI. This means I only need the one HDMI cable to the TV, no switching inputs as it's all done on the receiver!

All in all I really like it. My previous receiver was starting to show it's age. And it was cheap... Now of course, I do need to get some new speakers... I'm thinking of basically this system, but with a few adjustments. RS-42's for all 4 surround speakers instead of the RS-10's, and a different sub as I generally hear these sound better with a different sub. I've thought about bumping the other speakers up to the 52 series, but I'm just concerned about power handling. These will all come in time. Looking at the package price, it is the same as everything individually. So I'll shop around and take my time to get them.

One of the nicest things of course is using HDMI from everything. All 3 components I have, TiVo, HD DVD player, & my HTPC, all have HDMI outputs (I currently even get regular Dolby Digital 5.1 from the HTPC!), so I don't need tons of cables back there. Of course as a result I have tons of extras. Here's what I have if anyone needs one!

• (2) 6' HDMI - Monoprice 28AWG
• 10' HDMI - Monoprice 28AWG
• 6' Monoprice Toslink Optical w/ fancy connectors
• 4' Monster Toslink Optical

If you need component, svideo, or composite I'll throw in what I have... But if anyone needs any of the above cables, make me an offer! (Just don't buy them from BestBuy or Circuit City!) 2 of the HDMI's are practically new. I just got them on Monday, but in the mean time had already ordered some 24AWG from Tartan Cable.