Onkyo HT-S780 - Home theater system - 7.1 channel - black
Outstanding value system
Outstanding system for a modest budget. I purchased this system for 400 and tax from Circuit City. The handling of dvd surround is superb and it brings movies to life; as is stereo music from CD. The radio receiver is also outstanding. I'm listening to my CD collection with new ears. It's my first home theater purchase and this is a terrific system for under $500. <br /> <br />It has plenty of inputs for component connectivity: 4 digital audio, 3 video (each with component, s-video and composite), analog 5.1 surround inputs, analog inputs for cd and tape. The remote has a large number of functions and controls my existing tv/dvd player/vcr after entering the appropriate remote codes (listed in the Onkyo manual). It takes a little while to get used to but it's very functional. <br /> <br />I have yet to try out all the DSP modes but PLIIx Movie for Dolby encoded DVDs sounds great. CDs sound just fine in Stereo or All Channel Stereo. The subwoofer is rated from 30Hz to 150Hz and certainly seems to be doing its job right. The center and front speakers sound great right through the spectrum. The front and center speakers are on the big side (compared to other comparable systems) but the sound is big too - I guess the wooden speaker cabinets help. <br /> <br />The included speaker wire may be a bit short to run the wires along the sides and up the walls. In addition to what's in the box, you'll need to buy cable to hook up your dvd player with surround at a minimum (buy coax digital, you can get good cable for under 10 dollars). <br /> <br />One thing to note is that it will not switch video formats - e.g., if the input is component video it will output component video and if you switch to another input in s-video then the output will also be s-video. So video switching really makes sense only if you have all your video sources capable of component video. You might as well leave it connected to your TV and just route the audio through the receiver. <br /> <br />This is agreat treat for my family and I this holiday season, and if you buy it I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.