I found a great deal on an Onkyo 706 refurb through the Onkyo store and so finally updated my aging Kenwood receiver. I now have both my PS3 and Apple TV inputting to receiver through HDMI cables and the receiver's HDMI output to my 50" Panasonic TH-50PX80U. I have 5.0 speaker set up (no subwoofer). I was able to perform the Audyssey MultEQ automatic speaker setup without problems.

I play some Blue-Ray disks (from Netflix), lots of old and new DVDs, and occasionally a music CD through the PS3. Additionally, I download and play HD movies (with 5.1 sound) from iTunes through my Apple TV. My concern is about correctly choosing among the myriad of settings available on both the PS3 and the Onkyo 706. I am presented with choices about Bitstream, PCM, 32-96 kHz vs 176.4/192 kHz, Dolby Digital (Plus), DTS, TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS Express, DSD and more. The Onkyo manual has many of these as "Listening Mode" choices, and another set of choices labeled THX as well. I suspect that some of these choices have to do with creating pseudo 5.1 (or even 7.1) from simpler, stereo sources. And some seem to be specifically for 6 or 7 speaker systems. But I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed about both the PS3 settings and the "Listening Mode" choices on the receiver. Related to these is the process of "assigning listening modes" to various inputs, according to this manual.

I had hoped that the receiver would be able to detect what flavor of source material was being presented and then choose the optimum "mode" for me. That either is too craftily hidden for me to discover, or its simply a naive dream on my part.

After re-reading the manual I attempted to contact Onkyo customer support for some enlightenment. After waiting 20 minutes on hold while a 50 second tape loop reminded me to have my serial number ready, the agent could only comment that it is "a matter of personal preference"! (and he never asked me for my serial number!)

So, I'm requesting some guidance on how to select my PS3 output settings, which "Listening Modes" should I select on the receiver (for any particular set of circumstances or source material) and whether "assigning listening modes" to each source is a useful endeavor. Actually, I'd be grateful for any advice whatsoever at this point.

I usually set my PS3 to bitstream for dvds to get the DD 5.1 & DTS, & then change it to LPCM for blurays to get the trueHD. the ps3 decodes it.

I'm in the same boat with my new 806. What I'm looking for is a feature I used to have on my Sony called "AFD" - it would automatically determine and decode the right format for me (DTS, 5.1, stereo, etc.) so I did not have to make the choice.

Since you can program default listening modes for different types of source material on the 806 (per input), it certainly does recognize the source. I'm struggling with which modes to program to which source. With the number of sources and modes contained in the 806, seems there's more possible listening modes than sources: for example, I think I can program the DD source to either DD or DD+ listening modes, but which one would I pick as a default?

I'd like to just have the "best" and "most accurate" listening mode for each source.

I believe this is two step process.

Step 1: By default, the receiver automatically detects and selects the format of the incoming digital signal. p96 of the SR-706 manual:

"Normally, the AV receiver/AV amplifier detects the signal
format automatically. However, if you experience
either of the following issues when playing PCM or DTS
material, you can manually set the signal format to PCM
or DTS:
• If the beginnings of tracks from a PCM source are cut
off, try setting the format to PCM.
• If noise is produced when fast forwarding or reversing
a DTS CD, try setting the format to DTS."

Step 2: Then, depending on the format of the incoming audio, you can apply various listening modes, if you want. For the most part, you can't/shouldn't bother with them. "Listening modes" is the term Onkyo uses instead of DSP (digital signal processor). DSPs are mostly ways to create surround effects from stereo sources or to matrix sound in 7.1 systems from 5.1 sources. If you play a 5.1 source, most of the listening modes can't be applied anyway.

I suggest you simply play multichannel tracks (all Dolby, DTS, and LPCM souces) as they were recorded. Don't use any special listening modes. (If you have a 7.1 system, try ProLogic IIx to route sound to your rear speakers when playing 5.1 discs.)

I recommend using ProLogicII for stereo sources such as TV shows without 5.1 sound and CDs.

I'd ignore all of the other listening modes.


There's a post with an explanation of the various modes in this thread titled "Onkyo TX-SR605, 705, 805 Listening Mode's EXPLAINED...Purposes and Benefits".

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008717

PS: I don't own an Onkyo. I don't think you need to apply the Dolby Digital mode to DD sources or dts-MA to dts-MA sources and so on. That should happen automatically. There's no specially processing that goes on with those formats. But, it's possible you may need to do those setups as well. If you bitstream a TrueHD and your receiver display says it's getting TrueHD, you shouldn't need to do anything else. At least that's the way I think it works.