well, I received this receiver on 07/25/99 at leesvideo.com(at that time,only leesvideo had it). It's unbeatable for the price 444$(incl shipping). I know it droped for about 390$ now but i still think it's the best buck i's ever invested in. It can sense the format of the signal from the sourse(which was the problem for me). The high 's extremely clear,strong and the bass is good(but with my BU150 it's also wonderful).I only have a dvd player and a JVC vcr so the S-video i/ouput doesn't matter.Go down and get this stuff right away,you'll never think of returning or changing it. For the quality,i give it 5 stars but for the price,i give it 6 stars.What's a pity,there're not enough stars

I hate to be the one to spoil the party, but this Onkyo amp is noisy. I do not think I have a bad one, either, but a very noticable hiss comes up when the volume is set anywhere above zero. When the volume is set at zero, the hiss disappears.
It is distracting as hell, especially in five channel mode. When the surrounds have no input, the hiss drives me up a wall.

HISSSSSSS! is all I have to say. It's going back tomorrow, and my old H/K AVR 40 will remain. The H/K is simply a better amplifier, with a much more dynamic sound. And the H/K is QUIET; probably because it isn't so hopped up with microprocessors and other computer parts.

I think there's something wrong with Eric comments under his review.I tried to turn the volume all the way up with every surround mode on the Onkyo 575 but there's still no hiss at all(even a little "hiss",it's extremely quiet).Only when i turned to FM or AM ,it had a little noissy(of course).I hate hiss too,It's very bad when you hear soft music with high volumn(rarely).I have one old Yamaha receiver(only support Dolby Pro Logic),It's hisss very much even if there's no signal when you turn up the volume.you can count on me or come to my house any listen to this wonderful receiver. Finally, Eric should check his system,maybe the hiss come from the turnable or the DVD player

I had an onkyo 545, very satisfied with it but no AC-3.....so I went for the 575 now. Unfortunately my 575 produces a very noticeable noise as soon the volume is turned on to any position except 00, in surroundmode it is driving you crazy. This noise level is not depending on the volume level, so it is extremely noticeable if you play with little volume.I expect I have got a defective unit or a unit which quality control should have filterd out...tomorrow I go and try to return it and get another one.
Everything else is wonderful, sound wonderful, like the 5ch Stereo mode for music a lot ! AC-3 sound from my creative encore is extremely good - wonderful.

I miss the IPM (intelligent power managment) a lot, my 545 had that...I used that very often and really miss it.

only 4 stars because:
*) obviously lousy quality control, noise is clearly noticeable if you plug nothing than power and a headphone on that thing !

*) lack of IPM that the previous model 545 had

I bought this recevier about 2 weeks ago and I love it. I had a JVC RX884VBK, but this receiver blows it away. Last year I paid the same price for the JVC ($500) and this receiver is the same price plus it is an Onkyo. Great surround sound, I have no hiss like the other people describe. Learning remote is also great add on considering a lot of remotes i have seen that are preprogrammed don't have DVD functions on them yet. All i can say is buy one and see for yourself. Can't beat it for the price.

Okay, I work for Circuit City, all our salesmen get these recievers. Why? They sound increadible, way better then the denon AVR-55 I replaced AND the BIG KICKER....Store cost is only **** (wish I could tell you, if you work for CC, get one!)

I would like to ammend my previous rating of this unit. I returned my first unit to my dealer, and on the way there, I noticed the bottom of the box had gotten wet, either in shipping to the dealer, or while sitting in the dealer's wearhouse. I tried an Harman Kardon AVR 45, and I hated it! Back I went for another Onyko 575 in a dry box. This one still exhibits some backround hiss (the HK had none) especially at higher volumes, but not to the extent my first unit had. I have to put my ear right up to the speaker to hear the hiss. The small amout of hiss is no big deal, especially considering how wonderful this receiver sounds! You won't find a better deal. The 575 is superb for both music and movies. The 575 sounds great when paired with my new JBL HLS 820 speakers. Any questions? Feel free to email me.

I've had my 575 for about 2 weeks now, and I must say that i really love it.I had an old Onkyo SW515proII ProLogic reciever and that one never failed me.
I the tried an Harman Kardon AVR65RDS reciever - Here you could talk about noise commin' from especially the 3 front speakers - absolutly terrible stuff. I tried another one - BAD case of noise on this one also, and after that the HK distributer in Denmark said that they could not make any garanti that the next one would be without noise. So then I heard that the new ONKYO 575 was commin', but I had to wait about a month - and It WAS worth the wait - same build quality as my old reciever. Great performance in both Surround and Hifi. NO NOISE - of cause there is a little noise when you turn the volume all the way up without any signal, and press your ears to the speakers. If you want to hear noise, buy a Harman Kardon AVR65.

Pros:
S-video inputs - 5 ch stereo - Build quality - great remote (actually the remote on the HK was better, but I like this one to) - DTS - DD - 96/24 DACS
Assignable Digital inputs

Cons:
The subwoofer is on in all modes ( on the HK you could define it in setup, so that it was on in surround modes and not in Hifi mode )
My subwoofer is a paradigm SP1200, a bandpass sub, which is not so suitble for music, but great for films ( rumbling bas )
No onscreen menu ( nice on the HK )
No AC3 RF input ( I have an old Pioneer laserdisc )

What can I say more than GREAT GREAT GREAT - I'm glad that I made this choise!!

NB! Can anyone tell me the cutover freqency ?????

Well...here we go. I've had this receiver for about a week now (didn't want to jump the gun and post something the first night, though I was tempted!). All I can say so far, is that I LOVE it. Probably really close to the best $400 I ever spent, maybe even THE best ($430 shipped from Yawa Audio, to be exact).
No negatives yet --> LACK OF S-VIDEO SWITCHING DOES NOT COUNT. They have to cut corners somewhere (you can't get everything for $400, now can you?) and this is one area where they did. Which is fine with me, because I don't need it. If you're complaining about S-video switching, or need s-video switching, don't buy this model, get the 676, which has the switching ability. It's that simple.

Positives are too numerous to list all of them, but a few things I like:

- Sounds *fantastic*, only rated at 70 W x 5ch, but you can turn it up as much as you like without any distortion (provided your speakers are decent, of course). I wouldn't say power is abundant here (I watch movies with the volume dial about 1/2 way up), but there is certainly no shortage of it.

- This thing is built like a tank. Now I had heard other people say this, and I was like, "yeah, right" but when I picked it up out of the box, I was quite surprised that it is VERY heavy. Not only is it heavy, though, but it is built very solidly. Buttons are good, knobs have a nice sturdy feel to them.

- Setup...was not easy, but not nearly as bad as I thought. Fairly straight forward, and the manual wasn't even that bad, if you can believe that. Only took me around an hour to have this baby up and running like a champ.

- The remote: well, I never thought I'd be saying this about a receiver remote, but this thing is actually really nice. It is a learning remote, also equipped with macros. It is not backlit, but the buttons are a light blue color which makes them fairly easy to see anyway (who needs a backlit remote anyway, really--all it does it suck down batteries). Remote has a very comfortable feel to it. Was easily able to program it to control all of my components.

- Did I mention the sound yet??? This receiver is wonderful!!! Played some regular CD's, the sound was excellent, then hooked it up to my dad's home theater system downstairs (his receiver's currently in the shop--it's an old Sony Pro-logic anyway). Was very excited, as this was my first introduction to the land of Dolby Digital. I must say I was a little skeptical as to how much of a difference there would be. Everybody says it's a huge difference, but I was ready to see for myself. Took me all of about 10 seconds to notice a **HUGE* difference. The THX intro came on, and all I could say was "HOLY SH*T!!". Even my dad, who doesn't notice these kinds of things, AND was in another room, said "Wow! That sounds great, what'd you do??" I said "Welcome to Dolby Digital Dad!"

Anyway, sorry for this novel, but I wanted to make sure I said everything I needed to.

In conclusion, I absolutely love this receiver already!! Can't wait for the next few months of movies and music! If you are in the market for a low to middle of the line Dolby Digital receiver, LOOK NO FURTHER. DARE I SAY THAT THIS IS *THE BEST* SUB-$450 RECEIVER OUT THERE???!!! JVC...blah. Sony...blah blah. Kenwood...blah blah blah. Pioneer.....AHHHHHHH! Get the Onkyo 575!! Or, if you need: a) S-video switching or b) more power, for some reason, get the Onkyo 676. But I don't think you could possibly go wrong with either of these babies!!

Seeing as how it's only a week old, and I haven't *really* put it through its paces yet, I'd have to give it 4.5 stars. But since I can't do that, and I like it so much already, I'll be nice and round up here. 5 stars *****

Happy listening!

-Alex

Wow! That one word may be one of the most overused words in the English language, but it truly and accurately describes the Onkyo TX-DS575 AV receiver. I have had this receiver for a week now, and I can say without hesitation that this is the best $500 I have ever spent. Look elsewhere if you want lots of bells and whistles, this baby has very few. Qiute frankly, it doesn't need them. I gladly gave up s-video switching and a few inputs/outputs compared to other brands. Onkyo wisely chose to put their money and time into what really matters-stunning music rendering, and astounding Dolby Digital/DTS decoding. I fell in love with the Onkyo right in the showroom, and when I got it home and ran it through its paces, I was hooked. this baby reproduces music beatifully, to the point where I stated to did outcompactd discs I hadn't listened to in years. Regardless of the genre, the Onkyo transmits every nuance of the piece I listen to with a degree of accuracy and clarity that I have never before heard, even in receivers such as Harman Kardons costing several hundred dollars more. Dolby Digital and DTS sound incredible on the 575. I get full range sound with details that I never knew were even present in the soundtrack when I ran it on my Sony STR-DE835 reciever.As I mentioned earlier, Onkyo puts the quality where it counts. The 575 is rated at 70 watts/5 channels, but this is pure high current clean power. No matter how high I crank the volume knob, I never hear the slightest amount of distortion or hiss. I am running a pair of old paper cone 12 year old Bose, just to see how well the 575 can drive 'em, on the fronts, and it makes even those duds sound amazing. I can't wait to hook up my NHT Super Ones-then the 575 will really shine. A note to anyone looking to buy an AV receiver: make sure that it has full range sound for all five channels, 20Hz-20Hhz. The Onkyo runs 70 watts by 5 at full audio spectrum. Sony, Pioneer, and Yamaha rate the center and surround speakers up to only 1000Hz, which means major distortion when you start to turn up the volume! The build quality of the Onkyo TX-DS 575 is excellent. Fit and finish is great, and the insides are top notch, including a massive power supply and top quality amplification components. The thing weighs a ton. A few bells and whistles worth noting- 5 channel stero and cinema ReEQ. The five channel mode allows you to listen to a standard two channel recording in full range five channel format. You have to listen to this in person to truly appreciate it. My CD's come alive, especially classical and jazz. Re-EQ is a Lucasfilm technology that reequalizes the Dolby Digital and DTS soundtraks so they do not sound overly bright.
I can truly say that if you're serious about movies and music, that this is positively the best receiver you can find for under $1200 dollars (or more.) I have listened to every brand imaginable over the past year, and I am happy to say my quest has finally ended with my purchase of the Onkyo TX-DS 575. Please feels free to email me with any questions. I will post a thirty day follow-up.