Remote, clean sound, 5 channel stereo

I was in the market for a new receiver and satellite speakers. I wanted to get the biggest bang for my buck. I was willing to spend up to $1200 for the receiver and speakers. Well, I accomplished my goal. I purchased the Onkyo 676 for $565 (one kick butt receiver), the Klipsch Quintets for $265 (4 sats 1 center) and the Klipsch KSW 12 for $299. I got all of this from J&R World.

I have been listening to the system for about a month in my 15x20 room. This system could definetley fill a room twice the size. Great warm sound.

I was considering the Denon AVR 2800, but the remote really sucks.

Onkyo's remote is user friendly with backlight and easy to program other components. There are plenty S-video switching, optical/coax digital, OSD menu. I almost forgot, the 5 channel stereo is to die for!!!! Both music and regular TV sound 10 times better (especially during sporting events).I love this baby!!!!!

ease of use

the remote control buttons require two hands or a long reach

I bought this reciever from value max for $585 total price. When i picked it up, i new this reciever was different from other recievers i had looked at. It weighs forty pounds. As soon as i hooked it up to the speakers and played a dts DVD I was happy with the purchase. I would recommend the the 676 to any of my friends and some of them plan to buy them. Dante's peak is great DVD to test out the onkyo with speakers. Spend as much as you can on speakers, the onkyo will make them shine. As for the hiss problem mention but other reviewers, i have noticed it, but i would not consider it an annoyance. Besides what sony product could sound as good as an onkyo.

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none

Dynamic sound, binding posts all around, overall power

none so far

Overall very happy with this purchase - none of the various problems reported seem to be occuring in my unit. I am continually impressed with the dynamic sound of this reciever over others I have tried. I had the Pioneer 608 initially, but returned it as I was not entirely happy with the sound quality. (Also, I had purchased the Pioneer at a local retail outlet, and the Onkyo from OneCall, so there was only ~$180 price difference between the two). The main difference between these two is that when you turn the Onkyo up loud for DD movies, the quiet passages are still quiet (with the loud stuff still having great impact); with the Pioneer, the background noise and 'compressed' sound of that reciever made even the quiet parts of the movies sound loud (you could tell that the reciever was cranked up, while that is not always possible on the Onkyo). This is not a subtle difference, it was quite dramatic.

This unit has more than enough power for my particular listening environment - I can drive my speakers to painful listening levels with no sign of distress from the amp. This is an amusing difference from the Pioneer, which was rated at higher power, yet has nowhere near the reserve of the Onkyo.

I realize that comparison of this one with the Pioneer is not entirely valid as the Onkyo is in another price bracket - but I am very satisfied with the upgrade.

I looked at the TXDS777 as well, but I did not think it was worth the additional price (~$200 more) - the 676 has 95% of the features and 99% of the performance of the 777, IMHO. They even have the same instruction manual.

Value rating based on $565 price from OneCall - absolutely first rate service from them, by the way.

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Pioneer VSX608

Excellent features, high power

Manual proramming of remote is a hassle

Let's be clear here. The same prosuct is shipped to a thousand people and a few of them get a hiss and hum. Could it be their crappy speaker wire, their RF leaky television, do they live near power lines? Did they bundle their cords together to get a clean look while creating a dirty sound? It is absurd to blame a hiss on the reciever without considering other sources. I own this model of receiver, the best cables money can buy, everything is shielded, no cables run togther, and guess what? NO HISS OR HUM. There are a lot of components to an AV system. Did you hook up the receiver in a room by itself, far away from your other equipment with just two speakers to test it? No? Then how do you know it is the problem. We see the same people complain about their receiver then brag about the super-duper-discount-cheap-ass price they got on a dvd player or cd changer. Could it be that your discount trash is leaking RF all over your living room? This receiver is wonderful, buy it and enjoy it. Those who incorrectly set up their system or just like to complain will continue to do so.

Awesome Sound, loaded with features, plenty of connections, and great navigational setup.

Manual

I bought this receiver a few days ago and set it up in a half-day not bad considering I also bought a Toshiba 3109 DVD. My set-up included an Onkyo CD changer, Onkyo Tape Deck, Toshiba 3109 DVD, Sony VCR, Toshiba Satellite System, Mitsubishi TV and Infinity Ref4, SM62, and CC3 for speakers. I used Monster optical,s-video,video, and 12gauge. No hum or hiss to report. I absolutely love the sound quality listening to Dolby Digital Movies. Those folks experiencing the h&h problems might want to reconsider connecting their systems with the best cables money can buy (it gets pretty expensive) and maybe getting better quality speakers because I tell you what.... IT'S DARN WELL WORTH IT.

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Onkyo TX906, Onkyo CD Changer, and Onkyo Dual Tape Deck

Great sound, plenty of power, excellent remote and 32+pds...

none yet

Love this receiver, for the price and all it's features, it can't be beat.

Very similar to the 777, but could not justify the extra cash!!

No hum or hiss, onkyo makes solid receivers.

In my opinion, anyone who picks this bad boy up will not be dissapointed!!

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onkyo777and 3300denon

Price and great sound

Remote

This is my first step into HT and I think I did pretty well coming out of the gate. I have a very, very slight hiss from the center up close but not for normal listening. The sound is greatand I like the OSD.

The only complaint I have is on the remote. Yes it is backlit but as stated in earlier reviews, there are no preprogrammed codes. Manually programming it is a drag but I've seen worse.

Overall, I think it is a no brainer for anyone in the sub $1000 range.

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none

powerful, well made, 5ch stereo

speaker settings not saved for inputs not enough dig inputs 2optical 2coaxal but same though out the class

very pleased with this model much better than the hk, the 5ch stereo makes a world of differance to my cd collection and the remote is much better than the hk, the only thing i miss from my hk is the speaker settings for each input are not saved on the onk 676. it could have used a few more dig inputs, perhaps one more optical and one more coaxal but what amp couldn't

my system:

onk tx-ds676
onk dv-c601
onk cd-x370
monster hts-3500
fronts-bose 401 III
center-bose 101moniter
rears- bose 301 III
sub polk psw650
all monster interconnects and speaker wire

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hk avr500

Very Well Built! Heavy 32.5 Lbs. Very nice remote. Easy to setup & use.

No OSD with both S-Video & Std connection used at same time.

Well what can I say, I have bought every reciever above and returned them all for various reasons. The Denon sounded great, had power but I could not stomach the remote and thought it wasn't worth the money. The HK also sounded very very good, probobly the best out of them all, but 2 digital inputs, poor remote, and lousy customer service by HK (waited 68 minutes to talk to someone who wasn't very nice) led me to the return of the unit. The Sony was just ok, sonically no match for the other units, but again it didn't cost as much either. That leads us to the 676. I am very very happy with this reciever because it does everything well. Plenty of inputs, tremendous clarity, fantastic remote that you can see in the dark, lots of power, and I can report that compared to all of the above absolutely no hiss, hum or otherwise from any of the speakers with any input. For the price there is no other receiver on the market that even remotely compares to this one. One last word, One Call is the Best!!! They have made a loyal customer out of me! They understand what customer satisfaction is all about.
Thank you Mike! Don't bother shopping anywhere else!

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Denon 3300, HK AVR65, Sony DB930

had the unit about a month and love it no humm no hiss
also it has great seperation better than the yamaha. and love the 5 channel stereo for music