Onkyo HT-S5200 7.1-Channel Home Entertainment Receiver/Speaker Package with iPod Dock (Black)

I thought I would be getting a really good deal but as usual, I did not. The subwoofer rattles and I'm getting almost no surround effect. I would not purchase this item again and If I had the original packaging I would ship it back.

This product is great...It was a christmas gift for my husband..He loved it..He got it together without major problems, Customer service was very helpful in answering a few questions he had...great sound system.

I bought this system as a replacement for my 17-year-old Pioneer Surround Sound receiver that finally gave up the ghost around Christmas. I read the reviews and was very comfortable with the HDMI pass-through issue. I'm totally OK with it because I connect my HDMI sources directly to my TV and then just need to run an optical digital cable from the TV audio out to the receiver's optical digital audio input. Order the optical cable online for less than five dollars - don't be surprised on the day you're setting it up and be forced to run to Radio Shack to buy one of their overpriced ones.

I used the supplied color-coded speaker cables for the left, center and right speakers. They're good enough for a short run. I chose to buy longer, 16-gauge ones for all the surround speakers since I'm wall-mounting them on the far corners of the room.

Getting set up took me about an hour, and that's with a fair amount of hookup - Cable STB, TV, VCR, DVD, Blu-ray. The subwoofer is pretty heavy and large; I ended up putting it behind the TV which goes across a corner of the room.

I found the Audyssey EQ setup to be a lot of fun. You put the supplied microphone in each of your listening positions (I chose two couch spots and one side chair), and it goes through a sequence of making quacking, squawking sounds and listening for the frequency and delay through the microphone. It then adjusts automatically so you get a smooth sound. My kids cracked up at the sounds it makes during the calibration.

The manual is better than average. It actually explains the features instead of just naming them. There are lots of hookup diagrams for various situations.
I've had it for about a week, and I haven't found any downsides yet. I haven't yet tried the IPod dock.

Replaced my old 500 watt Aiwa surround sound system with the Onkyo 1200 watt HT-S5200. What a huge difference in sound quality and appearance! Easy to set up and fine tune to utilize it's full potential. Would highly recommend to anyone that's upgraded to a flat screen and Blu-Ray player!

I bought this system to help cover all the A/C background noise that overpowered the TV's lousy speakers in my mom's living room. Consumer Reports had a great review of this system, making it one of their top picks. I was pleasantly surprised at how it not only covered the ambient noise, but we didn't even have to turn it up too high for it to do the trick. The sound was very real and has me considering ditching my old Phillips system to get another of these for my own house.

One of my favorite features is the test microphone that you use during set up so the system can balance itself based on your arrangement. It was pretty quick and easy to do and makes a HUGE difference.