Price Paid:  $750.00 from American TV

Summary:
Very nice receiver that works well. No problems and sound is fantastic. It has powered Polk speakers since I bought.

Strengths:
Sound, Value, Looks, Remote

Weaknesses:
Very confusing video input selections with little in owners manual to help.

Similar Products Used:
Have always used Onkyo equipment, dating back to 1977

Price Paid:  $800.00 from internet

Summary:
I've had this thing for a year of two, has worked ok, but now it hums like a mother, when theres no load on the input it HUMS... and this is with optical inputs, not rca, Don't Buy ONKYO,
stick with HK or some other high in brand.

Strengths:
It makes sound

Weaknesses:
Piece of $#!%
can't controll input 4 from remote (lame)
and if you want a replacemnt manuel, they want to charge you 10 bucks!

Similar Products Used:
Cheap teac recievers from costco. that dont hum and work ok,

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Brandnamez.com

Summary:
This is an unbelieveable receiver for under $1000. This is THX-Certified!! It doesn't get any better than that folks. I know that they have models above this one, but this beats out my Top Of The Line Denon, I've had for almost a year. It has 6.1 and can be 7.1 adjustable. Awesome!! Highly recommend!

Strengths:
THX-Certification!!!!!
6.1 & 7.1 Channel Capability
Great Power and Amprage

Weaknesses:
None so far!

Similar Products Used:
Denon, Sony, Pioneer Elite

Price Paid:  $2050.00 from Harvey Normans, Cann

Summary:
Have used this AV receiver for 2 years now. Got no regrets with it! One of the best hi-fi equipment purchased. It is a mammoth piece of equipment, but the size is there for a reason. With its hefty weight and bulk, it is packed with many features, quite a handsome piece of equipment, and delivers loads of power to speakers. It has got one of the best remotes I've seen, and when I auditioned other AV receivers two years ago, the Onkyo had that special allure to it. Other brands I checked out were Marantz, Yamaha, Pioneer, Denon, Harmon Kardon, and Sony. I had an Onkyo 535 receiver prior to upgrading, and that worked very well. Naturally, when considering upgrading, I was interested to see what newer Onkyo AV amps were available. Apart from the fact that an AV amp has to do its proper job of powering your speakers, and connecting all the other components, it also has to look nice (since you'll be looking at it too). Took me a few hours to connect up properly, and to setup whilst reading the extensive manual. Trust me - spending time to understand its capabilities is worth it, if you want to maximise this AV receiver to the full. I used a SPL meter and tape rule to calibrate the surround speaker settings, and I found it was equally important to calibrate the subwoofer properly to avoid boominess which I've evidenced in other people's HT setup. I've accidentally touched the +ve with -ve speaker conections when mucking around with listening to other speakers, and the unit had a safety trip which protected the amp, so I was very impressed with its protection circuitry. In all, it is a fantastic piece of equipment, worth every bit of dollar spent!

Strengths:
Versatile, ergonomic learning remote w/ backlighting (and also easy to use)
Cooling fan (when required)
Assignable inputs with renaming allowed
Pre-set volume upon power up
Pre-set listening modes for various components
Wealth of inputs at the back
Still has phono input (eg. Marantz SR7000 didn't cater for phono)
THX rated!

Weaknesses:
Digital connectivity is adequate, but Yamaha had more for comparable price

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha RXV-800
Marantz SR7000

Price Paid:  $850.00 from Refurbed off of Ebay

Summary:
I've owned this piece for well over 2 years. It's the first piece of electronics I'd ever gotten off of ebay. I was a noob then and didn't realize that the unit was refurbed. Never would've bought it if I'd known. But I was trying to get HT on the cheap then and I paid the price.

The unit never workd right out of the box. The volume would cut out intermittantly for periods. Finally after a year of use it died altogether. I knew I had no valid warranty anymore so I sent the unit to my local repair shop. He said that "there was more wrong than he could handle" and he shipped it to Onkyo's main US repair center.

2 months and 275 dollars later I got my receiver back. The Bass Module problem was fixed, no more dropouts and cutouts. But I did have a brief episode of the dread speaker clicks. It went away after one night so perhaps it's gone for good. Not that I have a full and functioning unit, perhaps I can properly review this machine.

Strengths:
Good 6.1 Decode, excellent remote, well written manual. Good DSP's heavy, powerful and easy to set up. Love the ability to switch modes on the fly and two component video inputs and one output is a real nice touch. Quality product, when it works...

Weaknesses:
Malaysian construction is not up to Japanese standards. Buggy construction, well documented flaws that should've prompted a recall. Service was expensive but it seems to have done the job.

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo 898, Sony DC675, Onkyo 474, Onkyo 494.