7.1 channels of pure bliss!

Purchased this surround sound early Jan 08' and been loving it ever since. This is truley the best surround sound system i've ever heard. Its nice, big, and sturdy.

This is like the first home theater in a box that doesnt have a dvd player built in and i love it for that. I'm pretty sure people already have dvd players and hd/blu players. So who needs another dvd player in their home theater? Other reviews i've read said that a con is not having an on-screen menu for adjustments. Why would i have to turn on my tv just to adjust the levels of my audio? My friends sony DAV-HDX265 HTIB.. is absolute garbage. Just to adjust the subwoofer level you have to navagate the on screen menu just to raise or lower it. I dont know if its just me but i like doing everything right there on the reciever itself.

Lets talk about inputs. After setting up my friends Sony DAV-HDX265 Home theater in a box we came to realize that it only has one aux input. ONE! The HT-SR800 has inputs.. too many to count! Thats one thing i looked for on my quest for a next gen surround sound. That, digital inputs, and 7.1 surround where some of the things i was looking for.

Is there something going on with these new Home theater in a box systems now? Three other models of different brands all had one auxilary input! Not only that but neither of them offered coax or optical inputs! I guess they are doing it to keep the size small. Again maybe im a little bit old school but small stereos is not something thats appealing to me. The big black reciever with a mess of rca inputs in the reas is what i call a REAL home theater! The front speakers are HUGE! but i like it that way! You dont really need them for surround sound but when listening to music on the all stereo setting and the big speakers really come into effect. Music is rich, strong, and crystal clear! I like big speakers. I dont buy the gimmicky new sony surround sound with speakers the size of golf balls. That system is more like tweeters with a powerful full range sub doing most of the work.

My setup.. i did the install myself and pretty neat to boot. Onkyo gives ya PLENTY of wire for the surround speakers. I had enough to neatly run arround the top corners of my celing and walls all the way to the reciever with extra wire remaining. I have my xBOX and computer hooked up to the optical inputs and my HDDVR and DVD player hooked up to the Co-axial inputs. The sound is so crisp and clear that durring the superbowl you could hear conversations in the crowd in the surround speakers. The Daytona 500 you could feel the grawl from the engines thru the strong powered subwoofer.

My only problem with this system is not fully being able to utilize the 7.1 surround sound. Most content is still 5.1. wither way 5.1 still sounds amazing on this system but i would really like to fully experience the full potential of the surround sound.

The remote.. now that things a mess. i personally wouldnt have minded a bigger remote with more neatly layed out buttons. This truely is one of the most complicated remotes i've ever seen! I mean once u get used to it its no problem.