Onkyo HT-S650 Dolby Digital/DTS Home Theater System

Rating:
Summary: sounds ok but
Review: I purchased this HT about 4 months ago and have just had the second sub-woofer go out. I live in the country and don't have to worry about complaints from neighbors. I like to listen at elevated levels especially during movies. During certain movies the sub will start to rattle violently and by the time I get it turned down it is toast. I would not recommend this HT if you like to push the performance.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent quality and great value
Review: I purchased this system about 4 months ago and have been very pleased with it. Once I managed to haul the contents out of the very heavy and unwieldy box, I put it together fairly quickly. I was impressed with the multiple inputs/outputs that accomodate my satellite receiver and DVD player. The speakers are solid, made of wood, look good, and sound great. The receiver is easy to operate though I had to leave very specific directions for house guests so they could figure it out. I can't operate the subwoofer very loud to due my apartment neighbors but it seems to put out quite enough bass at the lowest levels. The only problem I've had was finally figuring out how to connect everything using component video from DVD to TV (since there is no component connection on the receiver), S-video from satellite to receiver and A/V connections to my VCR. The Onkyo website had good suggestions for configurations. The remote was a little disappointing -- I had to go buy a Sony universal remote in order to operate all my components but it was well worth the small ... investment to be able to do this. Music sounds good and movies sound great and even TV comes through well using the TV Logic setting. This is the best system available in this price range.

Rating:
Summary: The best value for a modest HT system
Review: I've been shopping for a home theater system to go with my new widescreen TV. After looking at a number of systems in the 4-500 buck range, I chose the Onkyo 650. There is just no comparing this system to the cheaper Sony systems. The speakers are much better, with stylish wood cabinets, two woofers and a single tweeter for the fronts and center, and a single woof and tweet for the surrounds, coupled with a nice 150 watt active sub. If you don't mind speakers that are bigger in size than some of the cheaper systems (or even the way overpriced Bose junk) you can get great sound from this system.

Perhaps the best deal in this system, though, is the receiver. Many budget HT systems use cheapie receivers that are not worth upgrading if you want a better system in the future. This receiver is more-or-less equivalent to Onkyo's new TSX-R500 receiver---their entry-level HT receiver. It has several S-video hookups for all your components (though no component video in/outs) as well as inputs for just about anything else you want to run through it. The best feature: a really nice all-channel stereo DSP for playing music through all your speakers. Just about every HT system has Dolby Pro Logic for listening to music through all the speakers, but, to be frank, it sounds like [junk] for music. Listening to CDs with the all-channel stereo mode is much better, and so this system is highly recommended to those who want to use the system for music as well as movies.

All in all, you cannot get a better HT system for this price unless you shop for separate components, and then you will undoubtedly pay more.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this while you ponder your perfect system
Review: I've had this system since Christmas and I am very pleased with what I've got. Realistically, for the money you can't expect too much more. It doesn't have sci-fi styling or miniature speakers but it does have decent sound, a rich feature set, and good build quality.

Some people view the lack of a DVD player as a drawback, but frankly, with good players available for a C note, I really did not want one thrown into the package. I'd rather Onkyo use that money to give a little more, and I think that's what they've done.

Sound quality is good all round and, unlike some satellite speakers, not missing midrange. I also like the fact that I can convert a stereo signal into surround sound. My only gripe here is that the bass is a little boomy at times even though my subwoofer dial is set below the halfway point. Not good for certain music but no complaints when watching action movies.

While the kit comes complete with wires for every speaker, they are the bare minimum in quality. Budget yourself another couple hundred (depending on how many sources you plan to plug in) for decent speaker cables and especially inter-connects like S-video and digital audio. The improvement is significant and well worth it.

Functionally, I've only found 3 things that annoy me:
1. Insufficiently shielded main L/R speakers distort colors on my TV.
2. The back panel is cramped (what do you expect?) it's hard to feed the speaker wires into the connectors for the right sets, especially if you switch to cables thicker than what's provided.
3. The identifiers chosen (i.e. DVD, CD, TAPE, VIDEO1,2,3) need updating. I play MP3's from computer and there isn't even an AUX slot for the connection. Instead I have a choice of TAPE or VIDEO1,2 or 3. To this day I still have to think about which button on the remote to press for MP3 music.

My favorite features are:
1. VIDEO3 inputs on the front panel, making it easy to connect/disconnect a video camcorder or the occasional video game
2. Powers a second set of speakers (stereo only). Unfortunately, when both A and B speakers are selected, you get downgraded to stereo for the main speakers too.
3. Sleep shut-off timer

If you need a reasonably priced, no hassle, solid performer for the long term, or just something that will do the job while your ultimate home theater wish list is being fulfilled, this Onyko's for you.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent System!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Just wanted something for a smaller room at the vaca condo, this... system compares to the $3000 I spent on a Denon/Polk combo, not quite as much power but amazing balance and crispness, thinking about dropping $1500 on a system? Do yourself a favor and save... by giving this system a shot.

Rating:
Summary: Great Package
Review: Onkyo has been known for their strong home theater recievers and there speakers. The HT-S650 is a strong package with good quality features. The Onkyo reciever delivers 100 watts to each channel with built in Dolby Pro-Logic 2 (For VHS movies) Dolby Digital and DTS decoding. With its WRAT (Wide Range Amplifier Technology), this reciever is built to last. It's Inputs and outputs include S-Video, Optical Digital, and a 5.1 Channel input (For DVD Audio and SACD). The Onkyo speakers sound great. The Front Speakers are Magnetically Shielded so the speakers are strong and give out good quality sound. The Center and Surround speakers are well balanced with 4" woofers and 1" balanced tweeter. The subwoofer has a built in 150 watt amplifier with an 8" long-throw woofer, so you'll be sure that you're getting deep bass. The package also includes a remote for the reciever, speaker cables, and an instruction booklet. Even though it doesn't come with a DVD player, its still a great system for people who are new in the home theater world or just for people who like to upgrade their small systems. Great Value.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent value
Review: This is a very high quality receiver with ample inputs/outputs (4 S-video inputs; 3 assignable (2 optical, 1 coax.) digital audio inputs) and great audio capability, including Dolby Pro II -- an improvement over original that you can actually hear. DVDs with Dolby Digital or DTS produce amazingly good sound on this system, although subwoofer can be a little boomy. Note that these speakers are unusually large compared to similar priced home theater systems. Check sizes if you have limited space or prefer less intrusive electronics. (Whole system comes in a single box that's about the size of -- and weighs about as much as -- a medium size refrigerator.) I looked a long time and didn't find a system (or individual components for that matter) that provided combination of quality, features and price as the HT-S650.

Rating:
Summary: Solid effort. Strong work by Onkyo
Review: This system continues to blow me away. It has all the power you could want, great sounding satellites and a serious subwoofer. The reciever is a great quality piece. I have absolutely to quibble about with this system; I think it sounds as good if not better than systems that are double the price. Movies are amazing, and music sounds great in the Direct, unprocessed mode.

Rating:
Summary: Great system! Highly Recommended.
Review: This system is awesome! Its audio quality is comparable to systems costing twice the price. The speakers are a little bigger than most "packaged" home theater systems, but this means they provide and handle more bass than the tweeter only satellites in some systems. The 150 watt sub will rattle the windows and jar your bones, all of which makes for an awesome home theater experience.

The system has plenty of S-Video connections and one digital coax or two optical audio inputs for connections from your DVD or other high quality components. The subwoofer crossover frequency can be adjusted from 80, 100, or 120 Hz to provide more or less bass to your other speakers (I recommend 100Hz).

Overall this system provides you with as much bang and quality for your buck than you will find anywhere!

Rating:
Summary: For the price and features, there is no better buy!!!!
Review: This system sounds amazing!! Better than many others I have heard. I really like that this receiver will switch the sound and the image on the TV with the same button press, as opposed to have to change the sound on the receiver, and then the video setting on the TV. The remote also controls the TV, VCR and DVD player (other brands too), so it has also helped reduce the remote clutter with more functionality. I still need a remote for CATV and I still overlap with the VCR remote for programming the VCR. The DVD remote capabilities are great, menus and everything. The TV, DVD and old stereo remotes are now in a box. I have my old all-in-one stereo plugged in to the new receiver to use the CD changer (optical input) and tape player. The receiver has a connection for the Onkyo cassette player, so eventually I will get that to reduce remote usage. Other brands of DVD/CD changers probably will work fine, but since Onkyo is so good, I'll probably stick with the brand. I also have the transmitter for my cordless Advent headphones plugged into the secondary speakers, so by pressing a button I can turn the sound on to them (and off to the main speakers if I so desire). Also, I am planning on getting cordless speakers that work with the same transmitter so that I can have the sound in my bedroom or on the deck.

This package is the best. If you buy the receiver and the speakers separately, ...so it is already a savings to buy together.

One disadvantage is that the receiver doesn't have component video (only S-Video and regular composite) as does the next Onkyo model TX-SR600, but that receiver alone is the same price as this package with excellent speakers.... My current TV doesn't have component video, but when I get one, I will have to either upgrade the receiver or connect the component video from the DVD directly to the TV and change the TV setting. For the price you can't go wrong.

The usage is very simple once it is all hooked up. Hookup on the other hand is a little bit tricky, I invested in an extra composite video to S-Video converter to connect the VCR to the S-Video input so that the TV could remain set up as S-Video and not have to change TV settings. I strongly recommend hooking up all the components in almost every way possible (although redundant) for more flexibility. There are two outputs for S-Video and for composite video, which are kind of confusing, just try it out, I couldn't get everything to work the way I wanted it on one of the outputs, but using the other one worked fine. The volume from digital cable is higher than from my DVD, I yet have to figure out if I can change that. When using the digital audio inputs, there are pre-defined configuration selections. These selections can be modified by programming the receiver to use different audio inputs for the various components, and it is quite simple, once you read the manual (yeah, needed to read it!).

I did get Monster cables and although the system will receive analog audio and work wonders with it, using the digital audio inputs is much more amazing!! I can feel the Star Wars Episode I space ships fly by and hear the sound of the bullet in Spiderman bouncing off things in the same direction that the robber on the movie fired the shot.