Onkyo TX-SR702 Home theater receiver with THX Select certification and Auto Speaker Setup

Rating:
Summary: Superb performance for a very reasonable price
Review: This is my first serious A/V receiver. I own a Bose Lifestyle 12 (Series 1) since 97 and then upgraded to Lifestyle 12 Series 2 two and half years ago by paying a $500 upgrade fee in order to hook up with HDTV and Dolby 5.1. I didn't do enough research at that time. Now, I really regret that upgrade.

This time, I did a rather careful research since the summer and finally decided to buy this one before the holidays. I was very very impressed with the range of functionalities this A/V receiver provide. To name a few, the following are the features that are very impressive.
1. A very complete collection of decoders (such as) Dolby 5.1 ETX and a very thorought collection of "presentation mode" of differnet kind of music formats. The user's manual (downloadable from Onkyo's website) has some good explanations and a detailed table of these functions. It is fun to use these and try all the options. Awesome!
2. The A/V input/output are probably the most comprehensive among all the models that I have considered. In particular, this SR702 is probably the only one (among the models that I hace considered of course) that has a digital coaxial output.
3. The automatic speaker setup is easy and actually pretty accurate. I did very minimal adjustment just to prove that I am better LOL.
4. The user interfance of the control, on screen display (big screen) are very clear and intuitive and fun to watch. It feels like high tech.
5. The sound is great. It has a very fine equalizer that you can use to boost some particular frequency response range according to your own listening habit.
6. Engineering is great. The hardware looks solid and sturdy.