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New member Username: Chinna_nPost Number: 1 Registered: Apr-04 | Guys, finally I bought it from circuit city in 5 hour special.. And here is my first impression.. I am looking forward to here your experiences. First Impression: First, the box was huge and it was painful to carry it over any stairs. Finally I did it and opened the box. Everything looks good and solid. Connected the fronts and fired up the receiver. Radio sounds good, but no sound from Right speaker!!, banged the speaker, still no sound!!? Oh, no , do I have to carry it back to CC? No, Way. Build Quality: Front Speakers: Now, Operation Eagle. Luckily, fronts have removable grills, so removed the grill, unscrewed the Bottom driver the housing and removed it. Now, what do I see? An open Crimp on quick connector. So, we now know why it is not sounding. That was easy. I thought, anyways I opened the case let me have look inside. The wire used for internal wiring are very( I really mean very thin, thinner than gauge 24, as thin as wires in telephone cord) and quality feels really really cheap. And quick connect used are smallest ones and without any proper grip. And Drivers, as many of you already know, it has 2x 5.25" mid bass drivers and one tweeter. (Bass reflex design with rear port) The Mid Bass drivers are made by EASTTECH (East Asia Technology Ltd, easttech.com.tw) with 4-OHM 50W max rating with shielding. So two 4 OMH drivers are connected in series. And these are very basic low-end model made by EASTTECH. (They use the same low-end design with different cone materials). There is NO CROSS OVER of any kind, the tweeter is connected with capacitor, (it was taped so I could not see the value, I am guessing it filters at 2.5K). The driver material seems to be something like reinforced paper. The housing however is reasonably good with enough thick and sealed properly with a sealant at Speaker Terminal. But the Rear bass port is made of some cardboard material and feels cheap. Now, The Sound Quality of fronts: The sound seems to be reasonably good for such a cheap speakers. The Bass is good and highs are okay, mids are not that great. Imaging is not bad. The speakers I compared are Polk Audio R50 towers and Sony 3-Way Bookshelfs. Sony bookshelfs lows much better and instrument separation far better. ofcourse R50s are even better. And finally these speakers are not efficient. You have to crank up the volume more than my any other speakers to get same output level. Center Speaker: It uses 2x4" midbass and one tweeter and build quality is similar. Probably drivers are made by same company. The sound is reasonably good, but great. I have sony SS-CN495N, compared to that is not good(ofcourse that is highly rated $120 center) It is also not very efficient and can easily drowned by two fronts. Sony gives much bigger and better sound. Rear and Surrounds: These speakers use 4" midbass and one tweeter and drivers probably made by same easttech(not bass reflex design), looks very cheap, but sounds much better than their looks. But very very inefficient, so you have crank rear volume to really hear sound effects. Now, Receiver HTR510: Build quality wise the receiver is feels reasonably good. Good things, Reasonably beefy power supply with 2x 10K mfd capacitors in output stage. All capacitors used are famous Nichicon brand( No bursting capacitors problem) rated at 85 Deg C. It has clearly visible 6 channel discrete output stages attached to a aluminium heatsink though not a extruded heat sink. And it looks like the internal wiring is done with good quality wires unlike speakers. The rear panel has three digital inputs( 1 coax, 2 optical), one switched power socket, 5.1 input, 6 speaker out put terminals and Speaker B terminal to connect second set of Main speakers. NOW, here is the problem. The Speaker B terminal do not pass thru Tone control section of the amplifier, so any adjustment you make does not affect the Speaker set B. That means there is no no way to do any kind of audio adjustment to Speaker set B.( That is not the case with my other two receivers, one low-end JVC RX6000VBK and Pioneer Elite V41). That really sucks. So I called in customer service, and they clearly stated and confirmed about it. They also confirmed that is case even with TX-SR601(What the hell?) So, it is bummer(I want to use Polk R50 as Set B for listening to Music and 6.1 setup for movies so there would not be a problem with speaker matching). Now, The receiver is rated at 120v 5.2AMP which comes around(approx 420W RMS). So, there is no way we can pump claimed 100w X 6 Channel without any distorsion.That being said, I think we never gonna need to go more than 50% volume in normal setup. So, that one does not really bothers me. Now, I have not completed the adjusting and auditioning the receiver yet, But I will do it and post my views on it once I am done. Remote: Literally sucks. It could only play and stop my Sony 655P DVD changer, no forward,no backward, no disc change.. nothing) Buttons are Tiny, not very intuitive. (Of course I have Learning remote, but I have to go thru this again). |
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Jon111 Unregistered guest | I have this same system for about two months now. It has the most unbelievable and aggravating problem. The receiver will shut off by itself after being turned on for five minutes. Essentially, it seems like the amp protection or the heatsink is faulty. The big problem here is that the thing shuts off intermitently. That is, if the receiver has been on and off all day it will not shut down on initial startup. But say it is off all night and I start it up in the morning when it is cold, it will just shut down. I can merely start it up again once it shuts off and it will run for the rest of the day without a hitch. I took it in for service and (of course) the stupid service center could not reproduce the problem. I know it's the receiver's fault because it exhibits this behavior with NOTHING CONNECTED to it. I think I am going to have to send it in directly to Onkyo but am unsure how to do this since I can't seem to find the customer service phone number. All I have is their 800 number. Any help would be appreciated |
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New member Username: Chinna_nPost Number: 2 Registered: Apr-04 | Probably You can call their contact number 1-800-229-1687 ask about it. Or if you have another service center nearby try that one. I think you already might have tried several options. Can you try this one just for trouble shooting? Select Speaker set B and turn off Speaker set A. If this solves the problem, then there may be some kind of short in Speaker terminal. Best of luck |
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New member Username: Chinna_nPost Number: 3 Registered: Apr-04 | Okay some corrections first. The surround speakers are also of Bass reflex design, but with a front bass port. The Tweeters used in all speakers are made by east tech 6 OHM 5 Watt( Yes that is right 5 watt) and no shielding provided. I played couple of DTS/ Dolby Dig scenes and found the effect are reasonbly good. But, it needed some adjustments on all center and surround to match the level of fronts(raised 4 points). Again reason for that, probably the efficiency diffrence in speakers. When I used my Sony SS-CN495H center speaker(efficiency 89) I did not needed any adjustment for center. Even with all the adjustments Center did not sound as good as Sony center. voices are not as clear and rich as Sony. That's it for today. I will update again with my new impressions. |
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New member Username: Blue_gPost Number: 3 Registered: May-04 | Chinna, Thanks for your review. How do you think this Onkyo HT-S760 system would compare to the Kenwood HTB506? I've been happy with Kenwood stereo equipment for many years, but I don't know Onkyo. Your review has me a little worried about Onkyo's quality. I listened to the HT-S760 at the electronics store, and it was great. I haven't listened to the Kenwood, but I assume it will be very similar. Thank you, Blue http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/details/502499661 |
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Anonymous | what will be the real performance issues if i go with ONKYO HT-S760 as opposed to individual components keeping in mind that i'm on a tight budget and don't want to spend more than $600 either ways. So far the onkyo S760 system is the one i really like. Also how does the receiver that comes with this system compare with their other model(TX-SR601). |
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New member Username: Blue_gPost Number: 4 Registered: May-04 | hand-selected individual components will make for a much better system, but at a much higher cost. With a budget cap of $600, it doesn't make much sense to shop for a receiver, 2 front speakers, 2 centers, and 2 rears, plus a subwoofer. You'll blow your budget pretty quick. The Onkyo receivers have a pretty good reputation, so I'm thinking that the HT-S760 receiver and 150w powered 8" sub are keepers and I'll upgrade the other speakers later. But straight out of the box, the HT-S760 sounds great. I just got my Onkyo DVCP701 6 DVD changer a couple days ago. |
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New member Username: Chinna_nPost Number: 6 Registered: Apr-04 | Hi Blue, Actually, I still needed to update review. I only gave initial impressions. I still reviewing the system. I do not want to post quick conclusion about the sound quality. so far it has been physical quality I reviewed. I will update the review probably this weekend. In my opinion it blows Kenwood HTB506 right away.(Fronts and surronds are much better in Onkyo) I have been comparing this with component systems, not with HTIBs. Watching Jurassic park VHS in Dolby Prologic II sounded like DVD 5.1. It was amazing. Music in 6 channel stereo really good. I do not think you can find anything better than this below $500(Best thing is it is on sale in FRY's for $350 this weekend in seattle area). Despite all those negative points I mentioned, sound quality in movies is far better than my two other receivers. Right now, the only two things I did not like is 1) Remote 2) No Bass, treble control for second set of speakers. if those are not the issues to you, then you do not need to think twice about it. BOL |
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New member Username: Chinna_nPost Number: 7 Registered: Apr-04 | Hi Anonymous, See my reply. If you want to compare with SR601, then that is s different story. It is much more expensive receiver. Actually, I am also thinking of Refurb SR601 with 760 speakers(called HKS510 for $130 in fry's). refurb around $300+$130 for speakers. But I did not test that combination. Major advantage with 601 is learning remote, DTS 96/24, more digital inputs. (if you do not want refurb then you can think of TX-SR502 with all these bells with lighted non-learning remote). Onkyo support guys said SR502 may be better than HTR510(s760 receiver), but they did not tell me any particular differences. I am thinking other than DTS 96/24, extra digital input, Prologic IIx, and lighted remote there is no construction quality difference, or even weight is same, and current is more for HTR510(5.2 AMPs vs 5.1AMP in 502). Despite all these available combinations, I still think S760 is verygood complete system. B.O.L |
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New member Username: KeithsePost Number: 2 Registered: May-04 | Hi guys, I found that the new threater in a box from Yamaha (YHT-450) has a similar spec compared to Onkyo S760. Will you guys recommend this over the Onkyo? Keith |
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New member Username: Blue_gPost Number: 5 Registered: May-04 | Chinna, Thanks for the tip - I just picked up the Onkyo HT-S760 at Fry's in Tempe, AZ for $347. Will have to hook it up this weekend and see how it goes. -Blue |
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Anonymous | FYI- PC Mall has this setup for $229 + shipping for a refurbished set. pcmall.com |
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New member Username: Blue_gPost Number: 7 Registered: May-04 | careful with the refurbs - if you can get new for only $120 more, it's worth it. I paid $347 + $40 for extended warranty. Onkyo factory warranty is 1 year parts & 90 days labor, I upped it to 3 yrs/3yrs no questions asked replacement from Fry's. I hooked it up this weekend and watched Matrix Revolutions. WOW is all I have to say. Speaker wire is pretty wimpy, but it still sounds good. I'll replace speaker wire once I get the bigscreen in and get everything set up the way I want. Listening to CD's and the tuner is a great experience too. Crank the volume up to about 65-70 and hold on... |
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fred Unregistered guest | PC Mall has this setup for $229 + shipping. Look out for the shipping from the mall. It was near $200 for me. I went to Fry's this wkend $347+tx. Speakers- I had to crank to 68-70 to get Star Wars Ep1 to volume. Before reading here I thought it was the receiver but now looks like the speakers... BTW Onkyo has a 2yr p&l warranty. Remember to burn in new electronics. Leave it on for days. If it is gonna die it will be in the first 30. |
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JRK Unregistered guest | Jon111, Any update to your problem with the Onkyo HTS-760 receiver? I am having the same issues. It automatically shuts off while on DVD and the standby light goes on. Tried to bring it to my local electronics hospital, they blames it on a loose connection and soldered it. Things fine for last month, now it happens on Star Wars DVD, just my luck. |
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Jon111 Unregistered guest | Sorry. No luck JRK. Two different service centers were unable to reproduce the problem. The thing seems to shut down randomly. It is definitely a problem with the unit and not my house's power supply or anything related. I've pretty much given up on getting the problem identified as it's just too random. it may go for weeks without shutting off, then shut off multiple times in one day. Though I must state that yoru problem seems significantly different from mine. My unit will shut off on any input. It is not confined to the DVD source. I hate to sound redundant..check the speaker wires??? |