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Onkyo HT-S770 Theater System Product Technical DetailsTechnical Details:ht-s770b Key FeaturesIncluded Components...

Best HTIB for the money. Period. Onkyo HT S770 Theater System Onkyo is known for their recievers and the reciever included with the HT-S770 is no exception. It outputs plenty o...

This HTIB (home theater in box) has received tons of praise as well as criticism from the “Home theater community” on the internet. Most will agree that if you’re going to get a HTIB, Onkyo is the way to go, as the receiver is rather high quality when compared with the receiver you get with other comprably priced HTIB systems.

If you’re going to buy a HTIB, the best company to buy it from would, in theory, be one that makes very good recievers. The reason that a good receiver is important is because you can build/upgrade your future system around the initial receiver should you want to. Onkyo makes quality receivers… it’s what they do. Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Sharp, etc., they are all companies that spread their product line to a little of everything, speakers, portable headphones, cd players, dvd players, car stereos, etc. Consequently, their products just don’t get the same research %26 development that a company dedicated to a single product would invest.

All in the community agree that HTIB aren’t the best equipment on the market, nor offer the best sound on the market. However, they also agree that HTIB’s offer convenience in setup, and the components have all been selected for you, as well as being fairly cost effective.

This particular HTIB retails for around $500 new and can be bought refurbished for as little as $250. A good quality medium level home theater system will cost upwards of $2500-5000 and for the “best” equipment, add another zero to those numbers. It’s not unheard of, to see in top end systems, speakers that cost $25,000. Yes, just the speakers… and only 2 of them… you still need at least 4 more to make a 5.1 home theater system, not to mention that receiver.

However I digress. The praisers, in a nutshell, will tout how the system puts out good sound for the money. Could it be better? Of course! For as little as $250? Not really.

You are sacrificing performance for convenience… however, it’s a sacrifice that many of us make everyday. Spend extra money and buy fast food for lunch, rather then making your own more nutritious %26 tastier lunch at home. Why? because it’s more convenient! Home theaters aren’t much different. You can put together an entry level audiophile home theater system for about $500-600 that will most likely sound %26 perform better on just about every level then any HTIB, but then you need to do research on components, shop around for the best prices, listen to tons of different speakers %26 receivers, etc. the list goes on.

This is what the criticizers will say about this system. That for $500 you’d be a fool to get this HTIB and that you are much better off purchasing everything a la carte. Why would you want speakers manufactured by a company that makes recievers? That’s like going to your mechanic because you have a problem with heartburn. He may be able to help you solve your problem, but wouldn’t you rather go to the “expert” for that advice? More specifically, dissenters will say that while the receiver in this HTIB is acceptable (at best), but the speakers are awful… the speakers on a high end TV sound better then these. They also say that for that $500-600 you spend a la carte, you will get a receiver that will outperform this one.

This all gets back to how much work do you want to put into your home theater set up? If you’re willing to spend the time and you have the $500-600 to spend, you’re definitly better off building your own system from scratch. I’m not that ambitious.

Which leads me to the reason why I bought this system. It was absurdly cheap ($270 with tax), on paper it’s got amazing stats, and did I mention it was cheap? The system is a beast to carry upstairs alone and you should recruit a friend with a truck of some sort as well as to help bring it into your house. The box is probably about 4 feet high and 2 feet by 2 feet wide/deep, weighing in around 100+ pounds, it’s not fun to move alone. It contains a receiver, subwoofer, 2 main speakers, a center channel %26 3 smaller rear surround sound satellites, as well as some instructions, color coded connecting wires, a remote control %26 a lot of styrofoam.

It’s “1000 watts of power”, 130 watts x 6 speakers %26 a 220 watt powered subwoofer. I’ve recently discovered that the numbers are a bit inflated since they were only getting about 75 watts x 6 out of the same/similar receiver in another package. It’s got something to do with how you calculate it… blah blah blah… do the research if you care in the end it still sounds quite good to me and movies really come to life explosions shake the room %26 i can hear bullets whistling by my head as they fly past the screen. Music even sounds quite good… (I like listening to a Enya compilation, which sounds very good as well)

Setup was a breeze as indicated before because they give you the wires and they’re all color coded so you can’t mess it up! unless maybe you’re color blind?

the most complicated bit was trying to figure out how to use the remote… it’s quite big %26 has a lot of buttons… in the end however, you don’t use very many of them just for the HTIB. A lot of the buttons are extra to control your tv, dvd player, vcr, etc.

You can also set up the distances (how far you are from the speaker) and the system will adjust the output so that the noises will all reach you at the proper time %26 in a synchronized way. If you have a preference for more rear surround sound, you can adjust the levels of the speakers to put out more sound wherever you want it. Levels are normally used to bring a uniform volume from each speaker, but to properly set it, you will need to use a sound pressure meter. ($20 at Radio Shack)

The receiver, has 6.1 DTS or Dolby Digital decoding as well as many different preset sound fields to mimic being in a concert hall or a concert or a number of other places where the sound is different then normal. It has 3 optical digital inputs as well as a digital coaxial input for audio, as well as 2 component inputs %26 3 s-video/composite video inputs for video switching capability.

fore more information, visit http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/index.php? and do a search in Home theater in a box on onkyo 770. you’ll find threads on how great the system is and another very long thread about how you can put together a superior system for the aforementioned $500-600. that specific thread is titled “Onkyo speakers have no clarity” and was posted by JohnR_IN_LA. He’s written a few other posts that talk about getting good systems for around $500-600.

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