[quote user="Ketch"]Thanks for the feedback Ben. I have to admit that I have been pondering the difference between the 605 and 875 for a couple of weeks now, but I keep getting battered with audio shop techies banging on about the difference in the quality of the video processing in the 875. Whilst one half of me is convinced that this is just to get me to dig deeper for the sake of their commission.............. the other half does wonder if there is anything to it and will make any difference to me, considering I am currently only running with a Tosh 32WLT66 LCD at the mo.[/quote]
Ketch,
Sounds like you are in much the same quandry as I was when I started down the road of home cinema...
In the end, I decided to set myself a total system budget, even if I was not going to spend it all in one hit (basically I had to decide something to stop the whole system from snowballing, and to get the other half to let me go ahead) as before I did this, it seemed no matter which bit of kit I liked, the shops seemed to always have something 'just a little bit more expensive' that included some 'must have' bit of technology... it all was getting silly.
I started much like you with a 32" screen, but knowing I was going to upgrade to something around 40-42", my living room is about 4.5m x 6m.
My initial tryout was the 605 and a set of KEF3005s - Immediately, even with my old TV and existing old Pioneer DVD player I was very impressed. But much like you suggest, I had really been 'sold' the 875. So I decided to give it a try. At the same time, the Yamaha had just become available, for similar money- so I decided to try one of these as well (which the store let me do for 2 days, with a hold on my credit card for the retail price), so at this point I had the 605, 875 and Yam all in my house at the same time.
Now, reality was, with the 3005s, there was near as dammit nothing to split any of the systems, although I would go as far as to say, i think even though it's close, I suspect the baby onkyo would out muscle the yamaha (I'll probably have yamaha fans yelling at me over this)
The remote for the 875 is nicer than the one with the 605 (the remote for the yamaha is nicer than both the onkyos) - Setup was easier for the Onkyo, I'm not a complete amateur, but I'm no expert either - the audessey (spelling) system in the Onkyo made setting up the system an absolute breeze, with pretty good results (using a little microphone that you position where you sit etc, it automaticaly determines the size, frequency response and distance to your speakers etc and does all the setup, equalisation etc. I've since fiddled around more and absolutely love the results.
After owning the system for a few weeks, I can say I am very happy with my decision to go for the 605, and balance out my system with a few extra pounds available for other kit.
If money were no object - perhaps I would go for the 875, but in my eyes, this would not be justified without spending twice the budget on speakers, TV etc etc.
For reference, my total system (as it stands) is as follows
Onkyo 605 receiver - £400
KEF IQ5SE (front speakers) - £300
Mordaunt Short Alumni 5.1, (1 center, 4 surround & subwoofer (used to create full 7.1 setup) - £600
Panasonic TH42PX70 plasma - £900 (although it seems that just typically after I bought mine these have dropped by about 100 pounds everywhere)
Toshiba EP35 HD-DVD player - £300
Total system cost - £2500
Now, given that - Imagine I had spent £1000 on the receiver..... that would really have compromised the rest of my system (somewhere) - also, I can say if I spent the extra £600 on the reciever I seriously doubt that I would notice any significant benefit on a daily basis. However, if my budget was closer to 5k for the dvd/tv/surround setup, I would have gone for the 875.
Hope my random rant helps. Good luck
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