Price Paid:  $125.00 from Craigslist

Summary:
Great product to watch for on the secondary markets for those interested in music more than TV. Since all the receivers and TV on the market these days need HDMI inputs, it's a great time to buy a really nice receiver like this for your stereo at a fraction of the price. My old stereo was a sad old Panasonic, so the new receiver would have been a huge upgrade regardless. I was extremely surprised at how much of an upgrade this unit was though. The setup screens were fairly easy, and the amount of control over the sound was astounding. The ability to control individual speaker levels, size, and location surprised me. Mine didn't come with the setup mic, but it turned out to be no problem with a little manual effort messing with the settings.

The sound is clear, and extremely well balances once it is setup correctly. I have a set of mixed speakers that would probably make any audiophile shake their head, but with this receiver they sound great. A lot of depth, and I suspect very it could be loud, with 100w/channel, but my space is too small to really push the limits.

Strengths:
Great sound. Easy setup with lots of great preset listening modes. An excellent array of input and outputs, including optical and digital for attaching my Digital Media Player (Apple TV in my case).

Weaknesses:
One bizarre feature of my unit: sometimes when I turn first it on the side speakers don't work until I flip through the list of listening modes. They almost always turn on when I hit the Neo6 setting. I suspect that is my unit though.

No HDMI input/output for HD TV's... which works as a strength if you want to use it as a stereo!

Price Paid:  $550.00 from JR.com

Summary:
Just wanted to re-iterate what has already been said about this amazing A/V receiver. Tons of user assignable inputs, THX select certified, component upconversion, aluminum chassis and faceplate, lots of power, 2nd powered zone, great learning, backlit remote, beautiful looks, set up mic with room equalization and I haven't even touched on how great the TX-SR 702 sounds. Way too many features to name. Amazing sound, built to last.

This is one component that will hold its value for a long time to come but you won’t see many on the used market as no one will sell it once they've listened to it.

Strengths:
Too many to mention, see above review.

Weaknesses:
Not a one.

Similar Products Used:
Too many to list.

Price Paid:  $1400.00 from Stereoworld

Summary:
I replaced my Sony STRDE -780 (ES series) with this and the difference is night and day. I've had 2 sony HT systems so far and they have both had problems - the last one had a nasty habit of going into protection mode if the banana plugs in the back and into speakers weren't perfectly inserted.
But enough about inferior sony product. The Onkyo sounded so much better through the same speakers (Mission 74i, floorstanding) especially music cds. The setup mic for speaker placement is an excellent idea and takes all the hassle out of setting up the room. It also has a function called pure audio that will switch off all non-essential electronics to reduce the chance of interference from other components. Not that I've noticed this being a problem in any other listening mode. The main reason I bought the onkyo is because it has powered zone2 so someone can listen to a dvd in one room while another room is playing music from another source e.g. cd or radio. This amp has lots of power, too many functions to mention and is THX certified for those who give a damn.
Unbelievably, onkyo isn't really that well known in New Zealand!
For functionality, relative ease of use, sound quality and competitive price there weren't really any other HT amps that I saw that could match this one.

Strengths:
-powered zone2
-setup mic
-THX certified
-sound quality
-colour-coded stickers that go round speaker cables and correspond with speaker inputs in back of unit

Weaknesses:
-The remote is a bit confusing... might have to go back to the manual again
-the radio station setup isn't very intuitive
-Runs hot through top grill

Similar Products Used:
Sony

Price Paid:  $750.00

Summary:
I did a lot of looking for a good home theater foundation. I read quite a few of the reviews here and looked around at what people were using.

Strengths:
Great unit, easy to set up, but you do need to spend some time with the manual and make a dedicated effort to use this unit for what it was made to do. Lots and lots of very useful features that take some time to use.
After using this for about a year, the previous reivews are correct. This is a wonderful piece of equipment that you will not need to replace for years. Construction quality is great, looks are very presentable, receptacles on back, clearly marked. However, this is not for the faint of heart. If you play your music/DVD low, you won't like this unit. Until you start getting up on the "loud" side does it really start to come through and you can hear every little noise. I didn't know in the opening sequence of the Pirates of the Carribean that you should be able to hear the water lapping over into the boat, I do now. After you have cranked the THx surround sound opener just once, you will never go back to quiet!

Weaknesses:
Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic units.

Price Paid:  $1450.00 from jb hifi

Summary:
Before purchasing this product I had a Yamaha RX-V750. I thought that was great, but I wanted to update my amplifier so I can have it better than great. I tested the Yamaha RXV-2500(which is not worth the money), Denon 3805(same) and the Onkyo TX-SR702. I first tested the Yamaha which unfortunatley sounded like my 750( No diffrence at all and playing music still sounded useless TRUST ME!), to me by spending all that money ($2500), I was only going to get THX, slighty more wattage and a great GUI. The only problem was the way it sounded(No diffrence from any other Yamaha,mind you I have not tested the Z9). I then looked at the DENON 3805 and that beat the yamaha by sound and quality. That was a good amp but the remote was no good at all,the design wasn't appealing and the price( Mind you it was the same as the Yamaha, but I would of bought the Denon instead of the two). Then I tested the Onkyo and that was fantastic. We put on Resident Evil 2 and the church scene was fantastic even the music was great as a back drop. We put on some dance mucic and the reciver handled much,much,much better than the other two. This reciever had everything the other two amps had, but a much better price,sound and quality. A friend of mine said "best to test an amp with music than with movies, because if it plays music good it will defenitley sound good with movies". The sales guy at another av shop told me the yamaha is only good with movies not with music and he was right. Also the Onkyo doesn't have all that fancy DSP that the Yamaha has because once you use the setup mic( they all have parametic equaliser) it sets it up for your room, if you decide to use spectacle(only found in Yamaha, I think)your changing the EQ settings which makes the setup mic a waste of time. Basically I have to admit I was blind by thinking at first that the yamaha was great but testing the other brands I found that the Hometheatre world had just gotten better.

Strengths:
The setup mic is exact. The music is fantastic, and makes movies unbelieveable. I was using two centre rear speakers, two rear surrounds, two fronts, a subwoofer and centre and set it up as the book shows you to and the amp automatically picks it up as a THX setting on the setup mic. The reason why I knew this because the first night I did'nt set the speakers like that and the setup mic did not recognize it as a THX setting. The remote light is also a good feature and the wideband component. I think it is great.

Weaknesses:
I had to remove my banana plugs from my speaker wires which fitted in my old RX-V750 other than that nothing at all I can see for now.

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha RXV-2500
Denon AVR-3805