The Onkyo ensemble has the guts to pummel your eardrums with special-effects extravaganzas without straining--we measured 100dB. There is no question that the HT500 set trumps every kit that we've heard featuring miniature speakers teamed up with a cute, little, combo receiver/DVD player. The HT500's sound quality and quantity are untouchable by any speaker set at or near its $300 price point.
Next, we throttled down the volume and listened to Rosanne Cash's 10 Song Demo CD and found that her vocals and guitar were rendered with appropriate delicacy and naturalness. We did notice one quirk: the left and right speakers have narrow vertical dispersion, so it's important to place their tweeters at the same height as seated listeners' ears. The speakers also sounded more open after we removed their grilles.
Onkyo teams the HT500 with a variety of systems. The $499 , for example, includes a HT-R500 100-watt-per-channel A/V receiver. Obviously, we're very happy with the HT500 and would love to see what Onkyo could deliver in a $500 speaker package. We say bring it on.
