Onkyo HT-S5100 7.1 Channel Home Entertainment System (Set of Nine, Black)

set up is a little complicated, and you do need a separate fiber optic cable for audio for your devices that use HDMI inputs. The receiver should be described as a HDMI switching device since you do need a separate audio cable. The audio for the most part it is amazing! Sometimes the base is a little overwhelming but that can be easily controlled and modified. I would strongly recommend a smart remote from Harmony to accompany this device so you don't have to have seven different remotes to do very simple task. It's nice to be able to turn everything on by pushing one-button. Although I have the Harmony 550 and I would recommend going to the next step up if you can.

This is the 2nd Onkyo system I have owned. The sound is good, makes watching movies even more realistic. I would have rated higher but I was unable to get the auto sych to work with the enclosed microphone.

I was originally intending to buy the Onkyo receiver and/or the 5.1 speaker system but then ended up buying this one. Excellent buy at the price, when I ordered the system earlier on. Easy to set up, the automated speaker calibration works cool and it indeed helped. I did not use the speaker wires provided with this system but instead bought 14 and 16 gauge wires from the local Frys instead, since in some cases the length of the wires exceeded 20-30 foot when run through the walls. The only problem as many folks have stated here is that the receiver becomes hot but so far I have not been witness to system shutting down automatically as a few of them have observed here. The speakers (all 7 of them) are not that heavy and can be easily placed on the wall. Overall, we are extremely happy with the system so far.

This is an excellent product. i would strongly suggest it to buyers. i bought it from amazon direct..with a good discount, and the sound is just awesome.

one disadvantage though is the speaker cables are very short (especially for the surround rears), i had to buy wires from bestbuy to make it work...but still it is really worth it.

Really simple to setup. 2EQ audio calibration works wonders... The sound became more clearer and very crisp after the calibration. If you plan to upgrade your existing dvd player to a blu-ray in the near future then DO NOT get this system! You will loose out on Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio decodings(True 7.1). Better get a THX certified system capable of decoding these HD formats!
The receiver runs really hot!!!You need an air conditioned room to keep it running longer. I purchased a $6 small fan from Target and it keeps the system running very cool. If any of the speaker wires gets short circuited or if the system becomes very hot then automatically the system shuts down to protect the circuitry and there are instructions in the manual on how to reset the system...pretty neat feature.
Also you need speaker stands especially for the satellites and the front speakers. you can get Gemini I and II speakers stands from circuitcity or bestbuy. Not very expensive...Goes great with the black speakers!

Overall very good entry system and so far the best sound you can hear from this set is a DTS ES 6.1 Discrete (Lord of the Rings)based DVD. The DTS decoding is amazing!!!
Also if you connect your cable box to the receiver, try using digital optical out and then use DTS Neo6 (I found this to be better than Dolby PLIIx) DSP setting. The surround effect is really very good.
Iam very happy with this system so far...