Price Paid:  $1300.00 from Liverpool

Summary:
Although more expensive than what you would pay in the States, this was actually a pretty decent price down here in Mexico. I listened to quite a few receivers before finally deciding to get rid of my old Sony and I wanted to go a step up with my new equipment. When I heard the 696, I knew right away it was what I had been looking for. At home, I hooked it up to an all Infinity setup (IL 10s all around plus center channel and 100 sub)and was impressed by the great sound. I played around with it for a few weeks to get the sound right, mostly moving the speakers around and finally got it just right. The sound is just beautiful, open and engaging. You can listen for hours and not get tired of this sound. I know there may be many better sounding setups and more expensive options as well but in my small living room, the 696 just knocks your socks off! I love it with movies and music too.

Strengths:
Wraps you up in the music until you forget all the equipment and just fall into the sound.

Weaknesses:
???

Price Paid:  $2000.00 from Harvey Normans

Summary:
PRICE is in NEW ZEALAND DOLLARS. I have to admit that a strong part of the reason why I bought this amp was the terms on which I could buy it... ie, have it now and pay it off, or try and save in order to have a wider choice. But, in the end, I am satisfied with this unit. I don't think I'll be keeping it for a long time, maybe 4-5 years. I also bought B&W DM603.S3 speakers at the same time, and those I will be keeping for a long time! The Onkyo 696 has plenty of power, and at the time, a good set of features. Now, you may want a couple more channels, who knows? It has taken me a while to get my system sounding right, and it was a combination of things, although mostly to do with the speakers to be honest. Their placement and cabling required some changes, and now it looks like the Onkyo was never really as lifeless as it seemed. Actually, on the first day home, I wondered if I hadn't made a big mistake... but once I got my subwoofer (B&W ASW650), then changed the the cabling, it all started coming together. It now sounds awesome. The reason I am not perfectly happy is because I don't feel that the CD/stereo sound isn't as good as it could be. I don't listen to much music in the lounge though, so it isn't a huge problem.

Strengths:
Plenty of power. Great learning remote - have replaced everything (5 remotes) with this one!

Weaknesses:
CD/stereo sound is average. Front inputs. DSP modes are limited.

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Audiotronic

Summary:
Price is in Canadian dollars. I looked around for about 3 months before I bought this unit. I looked at HK's Yamaha's Denon's and Sony,all in the same price range (1100 - 1500 $Can). I'm glad I did, I got a premium sounding power house that was miles above the comp. Lots of pure clean sound in both stereo and HT applications. More than enough to drive most speakers and if not, you have your pre outs for bridging as many amps as you need. More than enough in and outputs for all HT set ups. I'm very happy with the unit, not only as a stand alone reciever, but also as a quality pre/pro unit. All in all a great sounding unit. Excellent!!!!

Strengths:
Great build, more than enough in/out puts. clean high power. ease of use. adaptable -pre outs. GREAT sound

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Nikko kenwood pioneer

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Employee purchase

Summary:
I have had this unit for well over a year. Not sure why I bought it as I have little to know time to really enjoy it (working on my master's degree). However my daughter who is 12 gets a kick out of it. I am running it through Infinity RS5 on the front, IL 25 center, and Infinity RS 4001 on the rear channels. Plus the Infinity Interlude 10 inch subwoofer. This is in no way my dream system but I got to tell you this system as it stands kicks but. That child of mine was watching the fast and the furious on DVD in the family room. The volume was loud but not overly loud, and the scene where that old Charger and the Supra are racing literally shook the floors. I thought there were street racers outside my door. Amazing!!!! The system sounds pretty good with music. Although that depends on the music. Love it with Jazz, Blues, some rock, latin and latin jazz. With Rap and hard rock its decent. It lacks prescence with classical music that has a lot of strings. However I believe this to be more of a problem with the speakers (time to upgrade). I really enjoy this receiver and would gladly reccomend Onkyo AV receivers to anyone who is looking for a quality product that has a lot of BANG for the buck.

Strengths:
Power to spare. Ease of use. Remote was easy to use. Classic styling. Enough input jacks in the back to hook the entire house into it including the toaster. Dolby Pro Logic II really makes my VHS tapes sound phenomenal. I watched Street Fighter II (animated movie) on VHS through the receiver. Whoa that was impressive.

Weaknesses:
Gold plating on the rear input jacks would have been nice. Too often Onkyo gets lumped into consumer electronics with recognizable names...i.e. Sony, JVC, Kenwood, etc. etc. Onkyo is far and away a better product than these name plates and they need to do a better job at marketing theirselves.

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood AVR 1070. Nice receiver, nice power but digital ready and no Sub pre-out.

Price Paid:  $670.00

Summary:
I had to squeeze-in my budget sipping my credit card balance to its last drop just to have my first real stereo system, so I settled for this Onkyo A/V receiver instead of the newer and more expensive ones. Once hooked-up with my BOSE Acoustimass 10 series II home theater speakers / Onkyo DX-C380 cd player / Onkyo DV-S535 dvd/vcd/cd player with almost no sweat at all, I immediately played my favorite DVD’s - it was awesome! Set-up to PLII Movie and switched to maximum volume, I could hardly hear any distortion as my concrete walls keep on pounding and shaking as if they would collapse any moment – luckily they didn’t For audio cd’s, i can describe it in two words - not exceptional. Tried my usual bass-filled disco cd’s on either decks and at 80%+ max volume, my acoustimass passive sub-woofer seems to explode and I feel like my front and center speakers will tear-off. Well, I simply thought that I could get the same crisp DVD audio quality on my audio cd’s. Anyway, I’ll be getting an active subwoofer, possibly an Onkyo SKW-320, and see how everything suits-up. Keep you posted on any possible improvements.

Strengths:
It’s ONKYO!

Weaknesses:
No front-panel A/V convenience inputs for a camcorder or gaming equipment.