Onkyo HT-SR600S 5.1 Home Theater Entertainment System (Silver)
See it at Amazon.com for $299.00Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)Great sound at a great price
This is the second Onkyo system I have in the house and I am completely over joyed with both of them. When we purchased our second plasma TV for the home I wanted to make sure that we would have great sound to go with it. I also had a color issue to contend with, had to be black just like the TV. At the time Onkyo had some black systems available for $550-900, more then my wife wanted to spend. After trying to satisfy my wife's desire to not spend much money (and three home theater systems later) this model ended up being the winner. The other units were from Philips (two different models), and Yamaha. Both of the Philips units were horrible, delayed and out of sync audio. The Yamaha had no audio issues and sounded much better. But by far none of them compare to the sound quality and performance of the Onkyo. When Onkyo introduced this new model line I was in heaven. This system is in a room that is 14' by 18' and at 650 watts it has plenty of power to fill the room. Even the bass is much better then the Yamaha and the subwoofer in the Yamaha is powered. I don't know how Onkyo does it but who am I to argue with what I hear. As usual the setup was easy and the system was rocking in a matter of a few minutes. The system was shipped to me free by Amazon and was in perfect condition. If you are looking for a home theater system in a box you will not be disapointed by this one especially at this price.
(5 out of 5)Best Choice in the Price Range
I read the reviews before purchasing and was a little spooked about the review stating that music sounded bad. Well, it doesn't.
I have dealt with audio equipment all my life and can attest to the fact that the system has excellent range, recreates sound as the creator intended, and has no problem filling a medium sized room with sound. The speakers are not high end but the receiver is solid. Onkyo produces quality products that I have never been disappointed in and this product is no exception. I was a long time fan of Sony products but the quality of their products has declined rapidly in the last five years. If you need a starter system for a small to medium sized room, then purchase this system. You won't find anything better in the price range. By the way, I purchased the model in silver and saved 30 bucks. Amazon has it listed as SR600S.
(5 out of 5)Amazing HTIB System
This is the first Onkyo product I've ever owned and it was a gift, so I may be biased in that I didn't pay for it myself. That being said though, I'm blown away by the sound and features of what is, essentially, the entry level model home theater system from Onkyo! I've only had the system for a couple of weeks, but even with very little burn in time for the speakers, this thing sounds pretty good to me.
The system decodes both Dobly Digital and DTS. It automatically switches to either if it recognizes their signal. There's a slight pause when it switches from Pro-Logic to either DD or DTS, but the switch is barely noticeable and not annoying. It also has decoders for Pro-Logic II and Neo:6, which allow you to listen to stereo sources (CD player, VHS, etc) in surround sound. The Pro-Logic and Neo feature is nice, but those two pale in comparison to watching your favorite films with this system. I watched Fight Club last night and there's a scene where the main character imagines being involved a mid-air collision of two commercials jets; the sound in that scene was so intense I scrambled to turn down the volume.
There are a ton of user editable features, which make the system easy to set up for your particular space. I've used the Pro-Logic Music decoder while listening to CDs and I was able to adjust it's settings in real time to get the best sound. You can adjust the crossover point for the sub and, if you decide to upgrade speakers at some point, you can change the settings on the receiver to indicate that you're using larger speakers.
The only negatives to this system are: there is no HDMI input for the receiver and the speaker wire is flimsy and should be upgraded. Even though there's no HDMI input, there is an analog multi-channel set of 5.1 inputs, as well as optical and coax inputs. For the speaker wire you can try 14 or 16 AWG wire, I used 12 AWG from Monoprice and it's almost too big for the receiver and probably overkill. Also, the terminals on the speakers and the receiver are the spring clip kind, common to most bookshelf stereo systems.
If you're looking for an affordable, sleek looking, and amazing sounding HTIB, this is the way to go.
(5 out of 5)An amazing system at an amazing price
I bought this unit for my room so I could listen to my Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 5.1. If you're looking for an inexpensive, high quality unit, this is the one to get. It was easy to set up, the receiver has all inputs except HDMI, and the sound is impressive.
Once you listen to your games or movies in 5.1 its very hard to go back to stereo speakers, especially on your television. Playing Gears of War in 5.1 and hearing the bullets flying past you or Call of Duty 4 and actually hearing what your squad says when they are actually behind you is true immersion.
I'm not sure why one of the reviewers found the sound to be "boomy" and its "like listening to music with your head in a plastic garbage can." My room isn't plastic so I can't vouch for how it sounds when you're in a plastic room. However, in my regular old room, everything is very balanced, with all the different subtleties in the music being produced. (Onkyo has many different listening options that change how the sound is sent to the speakers)
And once again, Amazon has an excellent price and fast shipping, it came in one day. If you're on the fence about whether or not to buy this unit, fall onto the Onkyo side, you won't be disappointed.
(5 out of 5)A nice inexpensive system, and good for music
My wife and I bought this system to replace a dead stereo. She is a classical music lover, and so fairly demanding on audio systems. The thing we were most afraid of is that the system would be biased toward huge bass for explosions, etc., at the expense of wide dynamic range and faithful sound reproduction.
I'm pleased to say that we have been very happy with this system. It's very nice for movies, but also has the true sound and dynamic range to make listening to music a pleasure. I've heard some folks complain about the passive (as opposed to powered) subwoofer, but so far it's been more than adequate for us; I even had to de-emphasize its channel now and then.
We have the system in a very small (maybe 12 by 15 feet) room, so that may explain the fact that the subwoofer is perfectly adequate for us; I could imagine that it migt be anemic for a big room. However, for such an inexpensive system, we've been immensely pleased with the quality of sound. Well done, Onkyo.