- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 13 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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11 out of 11 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Great value, some downside"
Pros: HDMI pass-through; Dolby HD decoding; double zone multi speaker handling; multiple HD input sources.
Cons: HEAT, HEAT, HEAT; sloooow Audyssey sound setup; insufficient power for some speakers.
Summary: I bought this for $399 (black version) and am amazed at the technology packaged by Onkyo. HDMI throughput from two sources plus the many sound decoders built into this thing used to cost twice as much. If I had to do it over though I would buy the more powerful 705/805 models. I say this because I have to run this thing at 90% volume control to get acceptable normal loudness out of my Sony 5.1 system (two triple-spkr towers, shelf surrounds, powered subwoofer). This is fine for a smaller viewing room but in a big living room or open floor plan its not quite loud enough when you want to be saturated in the sound of a movie. Also, cranked at this level the unit runs INCREDIBLY hot. It cannot be kept in a closed or low-ceiling cabinet with this level heat and should have nothing above it in order to ventilate properly. In a closed cabinet with a new Toshiba HD DVD player above it the DVD player overheated 2/3 thru the movie and stopped working until I removed the receiver from the cabinet. Also the Audyssey sound positioning system is sloooow to work but you are required to run it (read the manual!) in order to gain access to editing the speaker setup manually, otherwise it is inaccessible. And if you forget a speaker or change the wiring you have to go back in each time and do it over again. Now that the unit is up and running properly I am pleased with it aside from the volume/heat issues. The sound quality is excellent, the HDMI throughput works perfectly to my 720P LCD screen.

