Onkyo SKS-HT540

CNET Editors' Rating

3.5 stars
    Overall score: 7.7 (3.5 stars)

Very good

Average User Rating

6 reviews

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CNET Editors' Review

CNET Editors' Rating

3.5 stars Very good
    Overall score: 7.7 (3.5 stars)
  • Design: 7.0
  • Features: 8.0
  • Performance: 8.0
Edited by: John P. Falcone

The good: The Onkyo SKS-HT540 is an eight-piece surround speaker set that combines seven large two-way, multidriver speakers and a 10-inch, 230-watt powered subwoofer. The speakers offer sturdiness and sound quality not found in many models that are twice as expensive.

The bad: The speakers and subwoofer might be too big for some buyers.

The bottom line: The Onkyo SKS-HT540 is the best-sounding surround-sound speaker package you can get for less than $300.

Review: Onkyo is one of very few manufacturers of home-theater-in-a-box systems (HTIBs) confident enough to sell its speakers separately. The eight-piece speaker package we're reviewing here is included with the $500 Onkyo HT-S790 HTIB, but if you already have an A/V receiver, Onkyo sells the speakers separately as the SKS-HT540. Available for less than $300 online, the 7.1 package is a truly exceptional value.

The first thing you'll notice is the speakers and subwoofer is that they are a good deal bigger than the silver-plastic models packaged with most HTIBs. They're finished in black ash, and

... Expand full review
Onkyo is one of very few manufacturers of home-theater-in-a-box systems (HTIBs) confident enough to sell its speakers separately. The eight-piece speaker package we're reviewing here is included with the $500 Onkyo HT-S790 HTIB, but if you already have an A/V receiver, Onkyo sells the speakers separately as the SKS-HT540. Available for less than $300 online, the 7.1 package is a truly exceptional value.

The first thing you'll notice is the speakers and subwoofer is that they are a good deal bigger than the silver-plastic models packaged with most HTIBs. They're finished in black ash, and the front three speakers' rounded, metallic-silver front baffles are hidden behind curved grilles. The front-left, -right and -center speakers measure 17.1 inches by 6.25 inches, and they're nearly 8 inches deep. The four wall-mountable surround speakers are 10.5 inches tall, 6.8 wide, and 4 deep. If you don't want or need to run all four surround speakers, go ahead and stick with standard 5.1 channel surround; you can hook up the extra two speakers to your receiver's B speaker outputs and put them in another room. The 25.4-pound subwoofer, meanwhile, is comparable to separately sold models that go for the price of the entire SKS-HT540 system. It's 18.6 inches tall, 10.75 wide, and 17.75 deep. All of the speakers and the subwoofer are fitted with black cloth grilles, but only the front three speakers' grilles are removable. (Unlike the silver or black flavors of the HT-S790, the standalone speakers come only in black.)

The front-left, -right and -center speakers feature a pair of 5-inch woofers and a 1-inch dome tweeter--by comparison, many HTIB speakers typically make do with a single 2- or 3-inch woofer, and some don't even have tweeters. The four surround speakers use a 3.1-inch woofer and a 0.75-inch ceramic dome tweeter. The one budget-imposed limitation we noted was that speakers rely on spring-clip wire connectors instead of higher-quality binding posts.

The SKS-HT540's subwoofer boasts a 10-inch woofer and a 230-watt amplifier. The sub's port is located up front, just beneath the woofer, so it won't be adversely affected by corner placement. The sub's single RCA line-level input is your only connection option, but line level is always our first choice for subwoofer hook up--so make sure your receiver has either a subwoofer output jack or "pre-output" jacks. The subwoofer is available separately as the SKW-204, for about $120.

If we didn't know the MSRP of the Onkyo SKS-HT540, we would have pegged it closer to $600. Music of all types sounded natural, so we could freely indulge without considering the system's rock-bottom price. Acoustic jazz sounded especially good, so we spent some time listening to Duke Ellington's big band swing CDs. The brass had just the right balance of presence and warmth. On Duke's smaller group sessions, you get to hear his piano more, and again, the Onkyo speakers nailed the instruments' scale and power.

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Average User Rating

4.0 stars out of 6 user reviews

Rating Breakdown

  • 5 star: 4
  • 4 star: 2
  • 3 star: 0
  • 2 star: 0
  • 1 star: 0

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Most Helpful User Review

3.5 stars 4 of 4 users found this review helpful

"Delivers the bang for buck" By INXSfan

Pros pricing, styling, center channel sound

Cons large sub woofer

Summary You can purchase better speakers than the HTIB Onkyo SKS-HT540. Of course, if you're looking to upgrade your home theater to 7.1 and are on a budget, the SKS-HT540 is a gem. Easy connection, especially if using an Onkyo receiver and the sound is pretty good for the ... Expand full review

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Specifications

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Quick Specs

  • Speaker type: Home theater speaker system
  • Connectivity Technology: Wired
  • Color: Black

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