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It's pretty usual for us to get new product released in our in-boxes, but pretty rare for these new products to be accompanied by a significant price drop so kudos to Onkyo for breaking the trend. Not only is the company launching two new up-scaling home cinema receivers, but its accompanying their debut (co-incidentally or not) with a drop in price of its DR-S501 DVD player from £400 to £250, with a similar reduction of the price of the S501-based 2.1-channel system, the LS-V501, from some £600 to £400. Given the high price was pretty much the only criticism we had with the LS-V501 when we reviewed it, we're unsurprisingly pleased with the news.

Getting back to the subject of the new receivers, then, and the vital statistics sit as follows:

Onkyo TX-SR706 (pictured above)

• Seven 160W outputs
• Four HDMI 1.3 inputs, single output
• 720p, 1080i, 1080p up-scaling
• Faroudja DCDi upscaling technology
• Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD decoding
• Music Optimiser technology for improving MP3/AAC (a.k.a m4a - iTunes' preferred format) playback
• Audyssey Dynamic EQ

Onkyo TX-SR806 (pictured below)

• Seven 180W outputs
• Five HDMI 1.3 inputs, one output
• 720p, 1080i, 1080p up-scaling
• Faroudja DCDi upscaling technology
• Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD decoding
• 124KHz/24-bit Cirrus Logic DACs on
• Music Optimiser technology for improving MP3/AAC playback
• Audyssey Dynamic EQ

Onkyo notes that up-scaling is limited to 1080i over Component, but frankly anyone thinking of buying a dedicated receiver would be crazy not to use HDMI and have a 1080p-capable TV. Audio-wise, the systems can use up to eight-point auto-calibration to adjust the attached speakers' to best suit the installed room.

Both receivers also sport AM/FM tuners, are compatible with Onkyo's iPod Dockint attachment and come with a programmable remote control, which even offers a macro function. The idea being to allow commands such as turn on the receiver, attached player and your TV before selecting the right input to be assigned to a single button.

Both systems are available in either black or silver finishes so should fit in with any home cinema setup. The TX-SR706 is priced at £600 while the higher-specced TX-SR806 sits at £800.

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