Home > Consumer Reviews > Onkyo Digital Home Theatre System

I saw this advertised in a popular gadget magazine and it seemed perfect for my needs. I wanted a HD system for blu ray and ps3 gaming as well as normal TV but without the obligatory cables all around the room.
I had been looking at sound bars but was told that these don't work well with open plan rooms.
This system works brilliantly, the in box microphone sets the unit up on it's own with stunning results for a 2.1 system. Lovin it....buy one!!

I purchased my system in December 2008 from Richer Sounds. First impressions - the equipment seems well built. The speakers have a nice piano black shine - which matches the current fashion for flat screen television design. The main unit (containing subwoofer and all electronic components) is fairly small and sits on a shelf comfortably. (The unit ships with self-adhesive cork pads for putting under the main unit and speakers if you are worried about scratching furniture)
The remote control however, is truly awful. Whilst it is perfectly functional the unit feels cheap and flimsy. It would have been nice to have a remote matching the quality of the main unit and speakers.
I am using the unit in the standard 2.1 mode. (I have no room for the extra speaker pack at the moment)
The sound quality is very good. The subwoofer is very powerful. The bass produced is deep and powerful. In fact, I have turned my subwoofer down as it can be overpowering. (I guess this depends on the acoustics of the room it is installed in) Indeed, one of the nice features of this unit is the ability to fine-tune volume from each of the speakers. This fine-tuning can also be performed automatically by the unit via the use of a supplied microphone which when plugged in allows the unit to auto-configure the speakers. The manual explains clearly how to do this.
When watching films, voices are heard clearly and are not overpowered by other sounds despite the fact there is no centre speaker with the default 2.1 package.
When listening to music, the Onkyo also does a good job. The unit has an option to listen in standard stereo mode should you so wish.
Onto connectivity, I have Sky HD plugged into this unit via digital optical in, (SKY HD does not support Dolby digital over HDMI for some bizarre reason). The sound quality via optical is very good. And through use of the HDX-22's ability to adjust audio delay you can fine tune the unit to make sure you get no lip sync problems.
I also have a DVD player and Xbox 360 plugged in via HDMI. The sound quality through these inputs is also excellent(* see my note below). I have not got any True-HD inputs yet, but this is one of the reasons i purchased this unit - it has superb audio decoding functionality and will decode many of the higher quality audio formats available on blu-ray and other HD formats should you purchase equipment that supports this in the future.
Summary: I am happy with this unit. I was after a small compact unit that had plenty of inputs (2 HDMI input, 1 HDMI output, coaxial digial input, optical digital input, analog input) The units ability to also switch through HDMI is also good. (I only have 2 HDMI inputs on my TV and therefore my Xbox and DVD player can now be connected to my TV via HDMI at the same time as SKY HD without any more cable fiddling)
Cons: cheap remote control
* There is a fault on early units which causes a buzzing background noise when using HDMI sources. I got mine fixed in a couple of days by Onkyo after I returned the unit to Richer Sounds. Don't let this problem put you off this unit.

My old home cinema system took up too much room (floor standers, 2 subs etc..), now I'm married and we have to actually have furniture rather than speakers everywhere, I needed something to replace all my old big boxes. Ideally I didn't want an amp/receiver sat out in plain view either - after a little searching I found and bought the Onkyo. It's the only system I found that does just this, there are many systems with DVD players also, but I didn't need or want one in the system.

I'm very pleased with the Onkyo, it's very small (smaller than I thought it would be from looking at the pictures) - the bass is pretty deep and punchy and the satellite speakers give a very clear, crisp sound. I've used it watching movies and playing games with the PS3, and it's loud enough to have people singing at the top of their voices with Singstar - and it still sounds great.

There are other little features I liked, a 'max volume' can be configured, this will stop our young kids from accidentally turning it all the way up and blowing the speakers. ....and a 'power on volume' can also be set.

Setup with the mic works well, and needs to be done - I found the default config to give a pretty weak sound, but once setup - it's great. You can adjust the cross-over settings after to fine tune.

In summary, it's not a match for a full separates system, but it gives 95% of the performance from tiny boxes at a fraction of the price.

** Edit to review - 4/6/09 **

Still enjoying the little Onkyo, but thought it would be helpful to add a note about the cooling fan. The amp in the subwoofer has a small cooling fan on the rear that comes on for short periods. The fan is quiet (subjective I know), but still audible, especially if you sit near the sub. If you like your hifi gear to be silent during the silent passages in a film, this may not be the kit for you. For the money, I still think this is a 5 star unit.

I bought the system 2 weeks ago and the sound is unbelievable for 2.1 system. I am waiting for sks-11 speaker upgrade system to 5.1 once its avaialable instock. very easy to setup, easy to use remote and just does everthing with 2 small speakers. Great compact system with HDMI inputs , optical inputs and upgradable to 7.1 system in future.

This is a great product, but there is a problem with the unit. When connected over HDMI (Xbox 360 and PS3 in my case) with Audyssey activated it buzzes. Switching off Audyssey removes the buzzing, but you also don;t get the benefits of Audyssey that you have paid for.

Onkyo have acknowledged the problem, and I am on my third unit - courtesy of Richer Sounds - and it's still buzzing. I am waiting for new stock to come in mid-Feb 2009, which will hopefully solve the issue. We'll see.

Otherwise, it's a great little unit with generally good sound and enough connections.