Home > Consumer Reviews > Onkyo TX-SR304S 5.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Silver)

bought this receiver Onkyo TX-SR304 to replace my bose which died.Sounds better than my bose and goes alot louder than the bose.have 3 bose speakers in front the small ones for left right and center.And two small RCA speakers for the rear and a Velodyne VRP 1000 Series powered subwoofer.Just wanted the system for suround sound movies and music sounds great for 150.00 bucks and 120.00 for the powered sub.payed 1500.00 for the bose and lasted only 7 years.Better to put a system together than buy a box system.

This is an excellent receiver. I bought it to upgrade my panasonic home theater system. I had no idea what I had been missing. The fine details I hear now are amazing. I paired the receiver with in wall/ceiling speakers from JBL and Yamaha. It was easy to set up. The Pro Logic Game setting is amazing separates the crowd noise to the surround speakers perfectly. Great for music and movies. Excellent value.

Pros:
-Well packaged, included everything necessary for setup.
-Includes color-coded labels for all speaker wire that match the color coded speaker outputs.
-Back panel is well laid out and well labeled.
-Front panel is logically set up and well labeled; it is also very easy to use for a first time user.
-Includes many high-end features such as:
-----Overall adjustable crossover frequency.
-----Adjustable distance settings for each speaker including sub.
-----Adjustable level settings for each speaker including sub.
-----Includes Zone 2 powered outputs for a stereo speaker setup in a second room.
-----"Remembers" settings for each separate source.
-----Doesn't lose settings if there is a power loss.
-Plenty of inputs and outputs:
-----Four composite video inputs for SD
----------Each has an audio L&R input for analog audio
-----One composite video output for SD
-----Three component video inputs for HD
----------Has one coaxial audio input and two optical audio inputs for digital audio (each is assignable to whatever video input you want)
-----One component video output for HD
-----Two additional analog audio inputs
-Has plenty of power, despite what would appear to be a low power rating.
-----For example: The room we have it setup in is 22ft x 36ft with a 5.1 setup with a powered sub; the volume on the Onkyo receiver goes from 0 to 80; at 40 it sounds and feels like you're in a real theater (windows shake, you can here it outside, etc), as you get close to 50 it gets painfully loud to be in the same room (approaches 120db).
-The remote is well laid out and easy to use; all the most used functions have their own button whereas the one-time set options don't; the remote is also lighted.
-It has far more features than there is space to list; many of which your average user will never use or need whereas an advanced user would greatly appreciate them.

Cons:
-NO HDMI connectivity. <---This can be the deal breaker for many.
-Speaker set B cannot be used to bi-amp set A.
-Only 5.1, NOT 6.1 or 7.1.
-Runs rather warm; make sure the location is adequately ventilated (The manufacturer says in the manual that it is normal for it to run warm).
-NO on screen display.
-FM antenna is rather short, approximately 6ft; however you can attach your own, or an external antenna.


Link to Onkyo's website for this particular model (Includes features, specifications, and online manual):

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Overall, this is an excellent receiver that blends high-end features, plenty of power and lots of connectivity options with a very low price, a reliable product, and ease of use regardless of your technical savvy.
The only main drawback is that it lacks HDMI connectivity, however, if you don't need HDMI or if you can make do with Component, then this is an excellent choice. If you do want HDMI, then consider spending an extra $50 and getting the Onkyo TX-SR506, the step up from this one, which has three HDMI inputs and one HDMI output.
So far, in the past 6 months that we have owned it and used it, we have been extremely happy with it, and its performance.

A well earned 5 out of 5!

We actually purchased 2 Onkyo TX-SR304B receivers about three weeks ago from Amazon at a surprisingly good price. We're using one Onkyo in our living room and one in the bedroom to enhance the sound from our new HD Samsung TVs.

[1] The dark black receiver looks great.
[2] The audio experience brings a new dimension to the HD experience. I can't begin to describe the difference between listening to the tiny TV speakers vs. the sound coming out of true audio speakers.
[3] The connectors in the back are plentiful and color coded so that part of the process was relatively easy.
[4] Although it isn't great, the Onkyo user manual is actually better than I expected. It helped me set up both systems with only one minor problem. And that one problem was my lack of understanding on how to set up a surround sound speaker system. I contacted Onkyo's live tech support via telephone and that was very helpful. It's nice to know you can call them up with any questions.

One of our HD systems has the traditional 2 bookshelf speakers and the other one is a Polk Audio surround sound system. For most TV programming the 2 bookshelf speaker system is more than adequate. However, with Verizon FIOS HD programming, there are a couple of HD channels that broadcast concerts in surround sound and that's where the Polk Audio speakers [relatively inexpensive @ $400 for the entire system] truly shine. The surround sound system also makes a difference when playing DVDs.

However, in my opinion, if you simply hook up two traditional quality bookshelf speakers to the Onkyo receiver, as opposed to a surround sound speaker system, you will be very happy. At the very least, the audio experience is far better than listening via the TV's speakers.

I've always read about Onkyo's quality and this is the first time I experienced it myself. If you're looking for an outstanding receiver at a very fair price, I highly recommend the Onkyo TX-SR304B.

This receiver was fairly easy to set up, and it sounds great. I like the fact that there are enough buttons on the front panel that the remote isn't necessary to use the unit. Also, it has quite a few different settings that you can match to your source material, and each input remembers its own setting. So, if you like the "All Channel Stereo" mode for the CD input, but prefer "Neo6Cinema" for your DVDs, you won't have to change this setting every time you change inputs (this is a weakness I've seen mentioned in reviews for other units).

Another thing that worked well for me was that I initially was able to set it up for stereo with just two speakers, then turn on the output for the center channel, then later the surround channels, after I installed those speakers. This might be standard on these surround units, but this is my first one so I don't really know.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the unit.