 Japanese Attention to Detail |
| Review Date: September 18, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Bob, |
If you are going to spend big bucks on a large screen TV, why not get a good quality audio system too. Any of them will beat TV speakers. Given the amount of time most people use their TV, would encourage others to get a good audio system if they can afford it. This thing brings a whole new dimension to movies as well as other programming.
So far, have the center and front speakers hooked up along with the sub woofer. Like the adjustable active sub woofer volume knob. Have more speaker wire on the way for the long wire runs on my side and rear speakers. Am not using HDMI cables on my standard definition system yet. Next, will begin mounting more speakers with the Sanus mount system.
The clear and deep sound quality of this powerful 1200 watt system is great for the money- as many reputable online review sources said. The powered (110 volt) 290 watt subwoofer will make the floor shake, windows rattle and my cat head for cover. One can crank up the volume to the point where the house is vibrating but it still maintains clarity and quality sound. They include cheap little plastic protective pads to keep the sub woofer from marking floors. After watching a James Bond movie with it, believe the 10" sub woofer, that is pointed straight down, was designed so viewers could feel explosions and such for it sure shakes the floorboards. It gives one a sense of being right in the action scenes when you can actually feel the movie. All of the wires are fully color coded making it easy to hook up with no mistakes. It would be hard to be unable to get this system up and running properly if you pay attention to the easy set up guide.
Consumer Reports rated the Onkyo 5100 model that this system recently replaced their highest rated choice for a home theater system. It was the only model that they rated "very good" for sound quality. All of the rest only rated "good" per their opinion. This 5200 model is a new release to replace their 5100 system. Wonder just how many systems CR tested total.
You can't go too far wrong here for high sound quality at a budget price. One review source said Onkyo consistently beats other brands.
My goal was high quality sound and realism at a reasonable price. Will add extras (blu-ray player...) after I have the system set up and properly tuned with their included syncronization mic system that automatically adjusts the system for each unique application, room size, etc.
Everything about this HTIB is big including the large, heavy box it comes in. Physics is physics- that's how they get the clear, deep, high quality sound out of the sound chambers. All of the speakers have a real wood grain laminate exterior finish- look good. There are numerous higher priced Onkyo home theater systems and one lower priced model than this one.
Oct. 6, '09: Consumer Reports has now put this one- the Onkyo 5200 system in their number one spot with a Yamaha YHT-591 model second at $600 and a cheaper Yamaha YHT-391 ($300) in third place. They have these three systems rated "very good" for sound quality currently. Been enjoying mine about everyday now. Especially using it for XM music from my Direct TV satellite connection. Am now working on getting a good old fashion TV antenna 34' feet into the air with a powered pre amplifer on it for all of my regional broadcast stations. The amplified rabbit ears have to go with what's available free off the airways nowadays.
Nov. 13, 2009: Am definitely getting my money worth out of this system. Use it a lot for XM music. Usually last less than five minutes before I switch from TV speakers to the home theater system and turn off the TV- great sound quality. There is no comparison with TV speakers. It is comparable to a high quality stereo system.
Dec. 9 2009: Consumer Reports now has the Onkyo 7200 model ($800) in 1st place with the 5200 model in 2nd. They rated the Yamaha YHT-391 ($300) system a best buy. CR rated all of them "very good" for sound quality. Have noticed that many appear to like the Onkyo 6200 model system for its capabilities.
Bought my Onkyo 5200 HTIB system back when they were going for a best price of $500.00 or more at about all of the larger online retailers. Paid $443.00 for my system new including shipping from a small but reputable seller but I have no factory warranty for Onkyo does not see fit to cover their products unless you purchase them from an "authorized Onkyo dealer". So far, have not encountered anything I have not been able to figure out using the owner's manual. Hopefully, it will not need repair service anytime in the near (or distant) future. It appears that Amazon is an authorized Onkyo dealer.
Guess you can tell, I'm happy with this HTIB. It has the level of sound quality and power that I wanted. It was money well spent. Don't comprimise sound quality just to get a system with a built in DVD/Blu-ray player. The live concerts Direct TV broadcasts periodically are great with this system and a 52" LCD TV.
After watching a live Jethro Tull concert last weekend and a live Toto concert this weekend with this thing cranked up just right, must add: if you have a hang up about the size of the speakers, do yourself a big favor and get past it.
May 2010: See that Amazon now has a similar looking Onkyo 5300 model currently for sale for $39.00 more. It probably has technical improvements. Looks like it's a newer model. Check out Onkyo's website at [...].
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Great item for budget home theater! Much better than others.
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| Review Date: June 18, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Lem Ung, |
| Got this for a little more than $400. Works great. Easy installation. Many options for a cheap model. I bought the Sony system earlier, about $700 and had to return them. Very happy with the Onkyo. I play my 360 and PS3 on it and the sound is crystal clear and deep bass! Can notice all 7.1 channels! Make sure you use the optical sound. Highly recommended for this price range, probably up to the $600 or even $700. |
Best bang for your buck, boom in a box!!
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| Review Date: June 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dominick M. Letourneau, St. Paul, MN |
| The delivery guy says to my wife, "Surprise!" I guess I should of told her first. Aside from the fallout from that altercation I can safely say that this sound system is a phenomenal value for what you pay. It took me a little while to set it up, but that was only because I had to rearrange the living room to accommodate for the size of my t.v. and homemade stand. Movies and games from my PS3 sound fantastic. Great bass levels for music as well. If you are looking for a good system that costs less than the name brands like Sony or Samsung, get this system and you wont regret it!!! |
Fantastic System
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| Review Date: November 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: R. Walker, Sedona, Az |
| Bought this for my girlfriends house, her living room is 30 x 20 with cathedral ceilings, the system is very easy to setup but i am an electronics geek, so if you arent you may want to enlist your geeky friend to help you set it up. THE SOUND ON THIS SYSTEM IS ABSOLUTELY SUPERB!!! once you get all the wires strung and the speakers hooked up there is a microphone setup that you MUST run in order to get the maximum effect from the system, it will analyze the acoustics of the room, the distance the speakers are from each other and then optimize the system for YOUR house setup. Just be sure and READ THE DIRECTIONS before you start string wires, this is a complicated system and you should review ALL the instructions before you do anything. I must say that i spent around $1500 on a Pioneer system with 7.1 sound and JBL professional level speakers and this system absolutely blows the Pioneer away!!!! Never thought i would have believed it but its true. It has 4 HDMI hookups, we used a Samsung Blu-Ray player and Sanyo 42" HD TV with the system and it absolutely rocks the walls, just because it costs less than $500 you would think it was maybe inferior BUT NOT TRUE!!! It also has plenty of other hookups for just about anything you want to throw at it, CD, other DVD hookups, Cable/Sat, for your TV sound to come thru this system This is a fantastic buy and if you are considering a Surround Sound System you will definitely be glad you bought this one. A little tip, you can spend a lot of money on HDMI cables, but there is no need to HDMI IS HDMI IS HDMI just go to[...] and order your cables, i used a 25' foot with this system and it is a great value and fantastic quality, just dont try to "staple" the HDMI cable to the wall, you will probably cause interference in you system if you do, you will definitely want to staple all the wiring for you speakers though, i ordered 1000' of 16ga speaker wire for about $100 |
A welcome upgrade
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| Review Date: February 5, 2010 |
| Reviewer: TechFan, Chicago, IL |
I bought this system as a replacement for my 17-year-old Pioneer Surround Sound receiver that finally gave up the ghost around Christmas. I read the reviews and was very comfortable with the HDMI pass-through issue. I'm totally OK with it because I connect my HDMI sources directly to my TV and then just need to run an optical digital cable from the TV audio out to the receiver's optical digital audio input. Order the optical cable online for less than five dollars - don't be surprised on the day you're setting it up and be forced to run to Radio Shack to buy one of their overpriced ones.
I used the supplied color-coded speaker cables for the left, center and right speakers. They're good enough for a short run. I chose to buy longer, 16-gauge ones for all the surround speakers since I'm wall-mounting them on the far corners of the room.
Getting set up took me about an hour, and that's with a fair amount of hookup - Cable STB, TV, VCR, DVD, Blu-ray. The subwoofer is pretty heavy and large; I ended up putting it behind the TV which goes across a corner of the room.
I found the Audyssey EQ setup to be a lot of fun. You put the supplied microphone in each of your listening positions (I chose two couch spots and one side chair), and it goes through a sequence of making quacking, squawking sounds and listening for the frequency and delay through the microphone. It then adjusts automatically so you get a smooth sound. My kids cracked up at the sounds it makes during the calibration.
The manual is better than average. It actually explains the features instead of just naming them. There are lots of hookup diagrams for various situations.
I've had it for about a week, and I haven't found any downsides yet. I haven't yet tried the IPod dock. |
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