Home > Consumer Reviews > Onkyo HT-SP908 7.1 Channel Home Theater System

I've been a big fan of Onkyo since I bought my first Onkyo receiver and CD player back in 1994. This is my third Onkyo purchase and an upgrade from an Onkyo 700 I bought about five years ago. I bought this HTIB because it had everything I was looking for to go with my new HDTV. I wanted HDMI switching, low profile speakers I could mount on the wall, a powered subwoofer, a DVD player with HDMI and to improve the whole sound experience. This package had it all and at a pricepoint well below the systems I was trying to put together by hand.

Being experienced with Onkyo and setting up HT systems of my own, I had little trouble getting this system setup. I wanted to "do it right" this time so I bought banana plugs to terminate the speaker wire (I did not use the wire that came with the system) which makes it SO MUCH easier to install. Besides the speaker connections, I have an HDMI cable going from my cable box and another from the DVD player into the Onkyo receiver and an HDMI out going to my HDTV. I also have a analog output from my cable box into the receiver for listening to on Zone 2 and a mini-jack to stereo RCA plug into the receiver for hooking up either my MP3 player or laptop for playing MP3s. This is by far much less cluttered than before thanks to the HDMI cables.

The sound of the system and all the options for adjusting the sounds blow away my Onkyo 700. The speakers sound better than the Bose 501s and Cambridge Soundworks surrounds I had setup with the 700. Both the new system and the old system were setup for 5.1 but the new system just blows the old system away in terms of sounds and 5.1 effects. I think a lot of that has to do with the subwoofer but the other part of it is that the sound just seems more "expansive" for lack of a better term. The speakers look fantastic on the wall and they sound really good. It's hard to believe the quality of the sound given the pricepoint of this system.

The HDMI switching works great and I've noticed absolutely no degradation in picture quality running the HDMI through the receiver vs. directly to the HDTV. I don't have equipment to take advantage of the HDMI 1.3a capabilities but it's nice to know that someday if I get a DVD player that supports TrueHD or an HDTV that supports the various 1.3a features my receiver can handle it.

I have three small complaints about the system but they aren't enough for me to reduce my rating from 5 stars.

1. The DVD player comes set out of the box to NOT output DD5.1 through HDMI. You have to go into the DVD player settings to change that. It's not a big deal but a real pain if you don't happen to notice that in the product manual it's default is to not output DD5.1. That seems like a poor choice of default setting out-of-the-box.

2. The subwoofer when it kicks on out of standby mode tends to make a "popping" noise. I am going to try turning down the volume on the sub to see if that makes it less noticeable. This happens when watching TV. If there's no sounds below the crossover threshold for sometime, the sub turns off. When it turns back on "pop" goes the sub.

3. This thing get HOT. The receiver gets so hot. I have it in a small cabinet with glass doors. I've had to lower the shelf to give it more space and install a fan on the back of the cabinet. That's helped quite a bit but before it would get so hot you could not touch it. My other Onkyo receivers NEVER got like that.

Overall, this is just a terrific buy. I am very happy and have been enjoying it thoroughly along with my new HDTV mounted above it. They compliment each other very well. It's great for watching TV, movies and for listening to music and it looks great in my cabinet and up on the walls.

I am one of those people that will hem and haw over a purchase like this for a long time, and that is exactly what I did. I read reviews, write ups, specifications, you name it I read it. I had settled on two other systems before deciding on this one because of its power, versatility and its compatibility.

Setup - You will find that running the speaker cable (if you run it behind walls) is the hardest part of the installation. Once all of that is completed the rest is a breeze. Anyone that knows anything will tell you to run at least 16 AWG speaker cable instead of the wires they provide for you. I ran 14 AWG cable and the difference it makes is something that you will notice, especially if you compare the wires side by side. I would also recomend getting a decent Sub-Woofer Coax Cable. Hanging the speakers on the wall is a breeze. You do not need brackets or hangers of any kind. Simply mark the wall where the wire should come through and use an anchor and hand the speaker using the mounting holes on the back. Simple and easy. Use extra care when connecting the speakers to the outputs on the receiver as you do not want to short anything together. Some peopel swear by banana clips but I am a believer that the more connections you make the more you can degrade the signal. Use HDMI for audio whenever possible because if you have a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player that can decode the highest quality audio then gguess what, this receiver can decode it through its HDMI v1.3 ports. Once everything is connected, you are ready to roll. Using the Audeysey automatic speaker calibration is a breeze and it really does give you the best sound with some minor adjustments to your personal liking.

Performance - I have a standard DVD player (packaged with the 708) connected with COAX digital, a PS3 with HDMI, a cable box with Fiber COAX all connected to the system. the Blu-Ray uncompressed audio is a thing of audio beauty. It takes a little setup to get it from the PS3 as right now it is unable to bitstream the signal (upgrades are said to be coming), but uncompressed audiio can be accessed by selecting the PCM selection on the PS3. When playing "Live Free or Die Hard" I selected DTS-MA and presto. It will only say PCM Multi Channel Audio on the Receiver, but the sound is incredible. The first action sequence in the movie involves a shootout with car chases, bullets flying and a massive explosion. The system outputs to all 7.1 channels with amazing clarity and the subwoofer can be house shaking at its higher settings. When playing DVDs I would recomend the DTS:NEO selection on the receiver, as it compensates for DVDs not having that extra 2 channels of audio. Watching the Matrix trilogy was an absolute treat. The system just immerses you in the action and gives you that theater feel that we all crave out of our Home Theaters from the fight sequences to the simple sounds of one of the hovercrafts flying by shaking your windows. For a "home theater in a box" I feel for the money you cannot get a better setup. For the true audiophile, I have read that upgrading your speakers can get you even lower lows and higher hghs, but I am content to stick with the very attractive speakers that it came with. The receiver is fully compatable with the highest audio quality streams available today, and will upconvert any component, S Video, and composite to 720p through its HDMI v1.3 ports.

The only problem I had with the system is that the original sub woofer it came with was defective as a loud rattle came from it on low band sounds. I simply packed it up and sent it back with the enclosed return label and 4 days later I had my replacement that works flawlessly. I have been enjoying TV, DVD and Blu Ray in all of its audio glory ever since and would recomend this system to anyone who would ask.

Highest Recomendation.

FCT
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We are very happy with this Onkyo HT-SP908 7.1 system. Probably, the $2000-$3,000 systems are better, but this system is all most people will need. The discounted price helped make the decision for us. The iPod Dock works well for regular classic iPods and for iPod Nanos, but not for iTouch iPods. Some photos don't show the iPod dock, but it is included, and allows the user to play songs and videos in vivid color and vibrant sound on your flat screen TV/surround sound system.

We also purchased a Sony 52" LCD HD-TV, an Apple-TV unit, and a Playstation 3. Both the AppleTV and the Playstation can access the Internet if you have a router/modem setup in your location. Together all these units really complement each other, and provide a true home theater experience.

The HD channels are an excellent video and audio experience, and every day more stations and channels are switching over to HD. The regular SB source is ok, but HD channels (and Blu-ray DVDs with our Sony PS3) are fantastic. The Onyko DVD player is ok, but having a PS3 DVD / Blu-ray player is a better way to go.

I'm still confused about whether to use upgraded speaker cable gauge, or not. (We bought a roll of heavier gauge wire in case we want to replace speaker wires, and/or need extensions for some speakers.) We also purchased the recommended 1000 series Monster cables and a Monster outlet unit to be sure to get the best sound and picture and surge protection from our home theater system. We also intend to buy a relatively inexpensive SquareTrade extended warranty to help protect our investment.

It's a good idea to get 2 or 3 pairs of speaker stands, unless you will mount your flat panel TV and speakers on the wall. (We purchased the cheaper ones that worked out ok.)

This particular model has a full 1080p HDMI port that allows easy connection. (The other Onyko amps / systems have only pass-thru HDMI ports, which necessitates the use of additional cables.)

As everyone says, you can probably get a better system by buying individual components from one company and speakers from another, but that costs a lot more, and is a lot harder to set up. This Onkyo system is great for most of us home theater users that want good value and good sound to match the beautiful vivid and vibrant pictures of the new HD-TVs.

I have mixed feelings about this product. I think the sound is OK, however I can't really judge it because the speakers have a comically low sensitivity rating. It is no wonder the product description does not include this info. The rating is 78db. making it a major power drain. I would have done much better getting different speakers and receiver separately. For every 3db. lower rating, you need twice the power to drive it. With a sensitivity rating of 91db. the Infinty Beta speakers would be 4 times louder than the Onkyo speakers at the same volume. Which means you drive your amp one fourth as hard and have much cleaner power. I have to put the receiver up past half way just to here the signal (pathetic). I have the Infinity's on order and will be throwing away these power draining Onkyo's when they get here. I can't recommend this package.

To put it simply, I bought more system than I needed in this case. Granted, now that it's installed, I am thrilled with the sound quality and features this system promised...and delivered.

However, for a guy who has gotten used to everything working out of the box once it's all plugged in right, this was a frustrating experience. I KNOW it says to read through the manual "thoroughly" before trying to turn the bloody thing on, but who does that? As it turns out, once you plug the INCLUDED DVD player and TV into the receiver via the INCLUDED HDMI cable, insert a DVD, change the input to DVD on the receiver, and press PLAY...nothing happens. Well, the DVD spun up, and said it was playing, but...no sound, no picture. I thought HDMI was supposed to make this simple. However, as the manual plainly states, you have to use let the receiver know you want to actually USE HDMI via a setting (which is defaulted to OFF) even if it's the only thing plugged in, even if it comes packaged to use HDMI out of the box. No "plug and play" here. Then, after reading the manual "thoroughly" I still had a two hour tinker session ahead of me to get sound working from my satellite receiver. It was an obscure setting buried in a sub-menu of the receiver, but I finally found it and got it working.

This is NOT a theater-in-a-box system designed for those who want as little agony from setting up a surround system as possible. With 7.1, you're already looking at devoting an afternoon to running and hiding wire all over your living room, but with this, plan on spending your night getting the settings to a point where it will all just function properly. It's like the AV version of installing Linux. It's great once you're done, but God help you if you run into any problems along the way.