Sound, ease of use and setup, build quality, looks good

Subwoofer LFE crossover frequencies not stated in manual.

I bought this receiver as a replacement for my beloved Yamaha RXV-795a. This was an outstanding unit, but is one video input short of doing what I now need. (No s-video from satellite in conjunction with optical audio input.) I auditioned several comparable brands and models. Being a huge fan on Yamaha, I looked extensively at the RXV-800 & RXV-1000 models. Both are classic Yamaha - very good sounding for music and movies, but I narrowed my choice to the 1000 because of the better remote control. Then, continuing my evaluation of ‘better’ brands checked out the Denon 2802. I found this to also be a very strong contender for my dollars. It offers the latest in Dolby digital, a great smooth sound, true 90 watts per channel. But, the remote control stinks. Being a very satisfied new owner of an Onkyo DV-555 DVD player, I definitely considered the TX-DS595 and TX-DS696 receivers as top candidates. I was won over by the Onkyo sound. I hate to use cliché words like “detailed.” Or, phrases like “exceptional clarity,” but there’s no other way to describe it - just pure, clean, and undistorted sound. Compared to my Yamaha, which is a ‘warm’ sounding receiver I noticed the brighter, harsher sound of my new bi-wired Klipsch Reference series horn-loaded tweeters some complain of. As these speakers are now seasoning, the highs and mids are smoothing out without loosing clarity. All I can say is WOW!

Other high points of this receiver include:
· Pro Logic II – a worthy enhancement of many useless soundfields found on my Yamaha (I’m not impressed for more than a few seconds at making my media room sound like a cathedral with showing the Rugrats movie. Nor is my 2-½ year old daughter.)
· Two channel stereo performance. Powerful, well defined and great. The low end ‘oomph’ of the Yamaha with sparkling highs.
· All channel stereo. Like two channel stereo times two point five.
· Great backlit remote control.
· Full bandwidth component video switching for future use. Composite (RCA) to S-video switching for cleaning up the VCR signal.
· Build quality – the precison feel of knobs and smoothness of operation compared to the Yamaha. The Yamaha has plastic and rubbery controls.

Small annoyances:
· Lack of ability to send LFE signal to main speakers and sub as the Yamaha does. The manual doesn’t state the crossover frequency when main speakers are set to large and small. It took a call to Onkyo USA for the answer. It’s 80hz large and 100 – 115 Hz when speakers are set to small.
· For those interested in the sound fields it doesn’t offer many and of those it does, Yamaha offers more realistic DSPs.

In summary, the Onkyo won out for me over some very quality products from Denon and Yamaha due to its high fidelity of music playback, great remote, great integration with my Onkyo DVD and equal performance for digital movie play. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV 795a, Yamaha RXV 800, RXV 1000, Denon 2802

Easy to use. Powerhouse for big speakers

none found yet

I had done tons of reading before deciding which reciever to get. I work for circuit city so I had many opportunities to setup dozens of ht recivers and everytime, onkyo came out on top. The steering, cleanliness and power are excellent for the $$. I had considered HK, but they always came in for extended warranty repair for really STUPID things, shotty build quality. Nixed the HK, kept reading on onkyo. It came down do they 696 or 797. I figured I could never utilize the dts es because my room is tiny, so the 696 was put to duty. I paid employee acomidations but it is well worth the 800 we sell it for at work. I highly recomend you check it out at your local circuit city or audio dealer.

Dave Popowitch

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bose, yamaha, b&w, jm labs cobalts, altec.

Power, sound, build quality, and on and on and on.

Not good in bed.

What a powerhouse. This thing is absolutely amazing. I cannot get it to distort within reasonable limits. If I wanted to be stuupit about it, and turn it up to a level that I would never listen to it at, then it may distort a little. When I set my max volume level on the unit, I intended to set it just below the point of distortion. It went way beyond what I could tolerate for volume before it distorted, so I just set it just below my ears comfort levels.

If you want bells and whistles, keep looking, but if you want pure performance for under a grand, get yourself one.

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Sony.

Everything from the design to the ease of the setup. Nice remote, insane power.

I have found no flaws, at all.

I orginially purchased this receiver at Circuit City for 800.00 then the next day I was on the internet and found it for 560.00. So I ordered it and when that came in I returned the first one. I might have felt bad, but CC screwed me so turn about is fair play. To be totally honest even if I did pay 800.00 for it, it is still WELL WORTH IT!!

This receiver works VERY well for me and my needs. It has gobbs of clean undistorted power, and all the features I could want. With my old receiver it was only pro-logic. Man did I have it bad. Oh well. The only thing that I have running into this is the digital cable and my Onkyo 301 disc DVD changer. Everything looks and sounds incredible. I hear so many new things now with this receiver that I never heard before. The auto component switching is awsome. I now find myself looking for DVD's that are DTS encodedjust for the new experience.

I cant say enough good things about it. Buy it, you wont be sorry.

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None that compare to this. Kenwood av-305

2nd review

ditto

i think alfred lol needs an exterminator lololo hes got mice--or a hearing problem lolololo soooooo funny

Power, clarity, Dolby ProLogic II, S Video/Component Video Input/Outputs, HDTV Ready

Remote lacks "Prev Channel" button (I know, picky, picky)

The greatest thing (of many great things) is the Dolby ProLogic II! It has breathed new life into all my old VHS tapes and Laser Discs. In addition, watching regular TV is now very close to Dolby Digital. (e.g., I was watching the chase scene in "Murder at 1600" on TBS and the sound from the helicopter actually moved all the way around the room!)

TV shows/tapes/LDs with music tracks are greatly enhanced with PL II. It gives great separation and clarity from the fronts while maintaining clear dialog through the center channel.

If your VCR doesn't have S Video out - no problem, the 696 will convert the analog to S Video - Cleans up the picture quite a bit.

Now the down side - I had to return the first one I got - it fried itself after about 20 minutes - I took it to an Onkyo service center and they had no idea how to fix it - too new. BestPriceAudioVideo let me return it and sent me another one (with FREE shipping) even after two weeks at the service shop! Now that's great customer service.

In summary, I'm extremely pleased with the receiver, it's a great buy for the money and it is packed with great features.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo TX-DS575x

HDTV component video switching, Dolby Prologic 2

Sounds AWEFUL!

Just a quick note, I'm returning my 696 after two weeks of trying to get it to sound even halfway palatable.

Right out of the box it sounded worse than my 12 year old JVC stereo receiver. I figured it was just that I didn't have the settings right yet, but after weeks of trying >everything<, including [gasp!] a seperate EQ, there's simply no hope this thing will ever produce a sound that isn't just hollow and aweful.

The volume levels on certain frequency ranges are almost down 10db from what I can tell with my amatuer ears.. It was REALLY noticable on Moulin Rouge, where the background music in most of the movie was GONE, sounding almost like it was being carried by inductance from crossed wires of another unit entirely..

My first initial reaction was, "This thing is broke!" But I got talked out of that reaction by people telling me I needed to "retrain my ears to the new digital sound.."

Dooon't believe it folks!

After talking with a number of techs, it seems to be a pretty common problem with Onkyo's since they moved their factory.. The place I ordered from has been getting them back in droves.

Although apparently it isn't as noticable if you have speakers that are highly sensitive or don't require 100 watts this thing is supposed to put out..

I'd love to see some independant analysis of what the real current coming out of these things are. There's no way it's really 100 watts from the sound I heard. My ancient half-dead JVC runs 100 watts and pumps louder and MUCH cleaner (and it wasn't all that great to begin with)..

I'd swear there's some sort of phase inversion going on inside the box as well. The mids below vocals are muffled almost beyond recognition, cutting out almost all background music. And when we'd listen to it at length at low volumes our ears would start ringing a LOT and keep ringing for hours afterwards.. No Joke! Mine are still ringing this morning from just watching an hour of TV last night..

This thing is a hazard! Buyer beware is all I can say..

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JVC

See Below

"click click click" plus clipping, no digital output

Had this receiver for two weeks. Was initially very impressed with the sound quality, especially on 2 channel stereo.

But on DVDs (using digital cable), it made an annoying "click" every time its auto detection circuitry sensed a bitstream change. This was so annoying and called attention to the layer switch which otherwise had been barely noticeable. Then I began to realize that these "clicks" were accompanied by a momentary loss of audio.

To top things off, the 696 clipped very badly using DPLII on some bass-heavy music CDs. Instead of bass, I heard some very loud crackling noises.

Back it went!

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Marantz SR-6200, Sherwood Newcastle AVR-756,
Yamaha RX-V1000

features
remote control

sound quality in stereo

terrible sound in stereo
squeaking treble, anemic bass

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denon 3801

Easy set up, Lots of power,component switching, great remote
elegant design

None that I have found so far.

Having only recently purchased this receiver I must say I am very happy with the performance. My previous Onkyo had surround sound but did not have Dolby Digital 5.1. The new Pro Logic II is simply wonderful. Sometimes I can't believe I'm not in a real theater. I have Infinity Entra's as my speaker set up and the whole system sound incredible. I had read an review by someone who really put down this unit. All I can say is he must not of had his system hooked up properly.

I did alot of research before landing on this unit. I have always been a fan of Onkyo and knew I would probably buy another. I even looked at the 898 but this receiver for the money offers everything I need. Plenty of clean power. The remote is a true joy to use. If you are looking for a mid priced receiver that offers great versatlity, look no further than the 696.

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Onkyo SV525,Technics