good reciever, although a little lacking in the bass department. dolby digital is good. it could use dts decoding i give it 5 stars for value.

I got the DS474 last week and have been very happy with it's performance. Very crisp sounds, good features, and sturdy construction makes for 5 stars in my book. I got it from a local dealer for $350, a bit expensive compared to some of the on the net, but I wanted it right away.

Bought this receiver at Ckt City for $350 after reading all the 5 star reviews here. I already had a Aiwa AV-DV70 that I bought at Bestbuy for $180 open box, and wanted to compare the two, the Aiwa is 120x3 + 60x2, this one is 55x5. My main speakers are Cerwin-Vega 310s (fullrange 38Hz-20KHz). Both have AC-3 built in. Tried watching Godzilla (on DVD) and listening to a variety of music, rock, pop, metal and classical.
Comparative observations: Aiwa with its heavy bass is excellent for movies, but tends to overwhelm for music. Had to keep my subwoofer at min level, or turn it off altogether.

Onkyo with its clarity is much better for music. Tends to underwhelm with movies. Hardly drove my subwoofer, even with its internal level maxed out.

My final rating: 4 stars, those who are considering this one, check out the Aiwa AV-DV75, the current incarnation of the one I have, and shopping.com has it for $200 brand new. Listen to both before you decide. Also if you are considering buying this from Ckt City, don't. You can get this via mailorder for $300 shipped (at YawaAudio.com), and for $420 ($50 more than the $370 (incl tax) that you'd pay at Ckt City), you will get TX-DS575 (also from Yawa), which is a much better receiver with DTS built in and more power 70x5.

I am using the Onkyo with a pair of Tannoy M3's and the rear, centre and subwoofer are Onkyo. The Onkyo- Tannoy combination is good for stereo music, which I listen to 80:1 compared to HT. However, as mentioned the The Onkyo subwoofer is weak. I don't know if it is because of the receiver or the subwoofer. But for the price I paid for the entire set, i am not complaining. About 800 US$

DTS support; good panel and remote controls

not enough power for my family room; chintzy push-button speaker connects.

Part of first try at home theater for family room. We previously had 35 in TV for shows and Nintendo in there while we adults could relax with chamber music and Harry Connick Jr in the living room.
Contrary to a previous post, the TX-DS474 has only 55w/ch and even with a power sub-woofer Harman-Kardon 5:1 speaker system, it could not fill the room. In fact, 60 hz hum was oppressive. But then the room is 24 ft x 26 ft with an 18 ft ceiling and it's open to a breakfast room and beyond at one end. But even when attached to a pair of floor standing Advent speakers it did not fill the room nearly as well as the did the Yamaha (conservatively rated at 65 w/ch).
Bit the bullet and went with the TX-DS777 and Bose AM-15.
The TX-DS474 had nice features, actually a better remote and probably would have worked fine in a smaller room more consistent with a "home theater." Probably a bargain at the price (

Similar Products Used:

see my TX-DS777 review. Also Yamaha RX-485 receiver and an ancient Dynaco tuner/pre-amp/amp

Easy setup, DD, DTS, Turner, Remote, value for the money

none at this price

I have an 787 for the play and bought 747 for bedroom radio, paired it with Mission speakers and the result is so great. Think about it, for the price of a boom box, what do you expect? want something better? don't b**** here, buy a 787.

Similar Products Used:

787

Ease of use. High current. Lots of features. DD DTS. Optical and Coax digital inputs. Feels heavy like it cost 1,000.

Plain remote. No gold plating. Cheap speaker bindings.
No S-video...

In three words.... I LOVE IT! Why would anyone say bad things about something they paid half a paycheck for. It's kind of funny reading other peoples reviews because most people suffer from sweet lemon syndrome. I got it mainly to watch movies with my computer DVD player. But now I watch cable with Dolby Prologic on and it's the first thing I turn on after the lights in my apartment. Granted it is the first reciever I've ever purchased but I do have many friends who are audiophiles and employees of the Goodguys and Circuit City. I was able to test out many different models from many different manufactures before settling for this one. If they were cheaper I'd have picked a Harmon Kardon or a higher end Onkyo prefreably with THX and even more power just for future upgradability. It commandingly drove my friends 12" DCM's and now is driving some great sounding Polks. The features are easy to change and the Bass is amazing. Before I bought a sub I was just using the polk 6". Watching the Haunting I could hear every scary heartbeat, footstep, giant door slam and moan. The treble in the Matrix, during the minigun scene shattered my ears. The midnight theater feature is very usefull for watching scary/action movies at night. I especially liked the way everyting was individually configureable. You can lower/raise each speaker volume and then test them just from the remote. Though plain, the remote is easy to master and memorize for use when you just don't want to get up from that comfortable couch in the dark. Now of course there are always better recievers with bigger sound and more features but I couldn't pass up this brand name at 299 from a trusted friend, especially when he hooked it up in the showroom with some giant speakers and showed me the beginning of Batman Forever. I would have liked better speaker bindings. It's kind of sad when your speakers have better ones then your reciever. It doesn't have s-video ins or outs but come to think of it. Most TV's have that already and many DVD's if not all have component already. So unless you are switching between high quality videos and editing then you really won't miss this omission. This is a great unit with very clear and loud sound at an entry level price. I just can't wait to rent my next DVD to experience another movie theater replication!

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon Sony Yamaha

My package follows as this, polk rm 5400 M1,M2,psw150,the onkyo txds474.

Overall the unit is VERY clear, clean sounding,
the only drawbacks are the lack of dts, but DEFINITELY worth it if your are on a budget.

I think this receiver is best summed up by a comment my roommate said after hooking it up, "Oh my gosh! The bass guitar actually sounds just like a bass guitar!" And that was followed by several other comments on the realism gained from stepping up to this product from a two year old Technics Dolby Pro-Logic receiver.
I've got mine hooked up to Paradigm's Phantoms (older, better IMO model) and CC-100, and two surround speakers I built from JBL components. Oh, and a THX certified, 450 WPC amp driving two rediculously large subwoofers :)

The highs are crystal clear, the lows are distinct, and the mids are smooth. Dolby Digital is simply incredible, and the unit has a very solid feel to it.

To top it off, the radio sounds top notch.

Dolby Digital and incredible sound at this price? Wow. 5 stars and a pat on the back for the Onkyo engineers.

I also bought a Sony 725 three weeks before this Onkyo 474 was released. As soon as I heard that Onkyo released an entry-level Dolby Digital receiver, I returned the Sony. Not only does the Onkyo sound better, but it has two digital inputs, one of each type (as opposed to the Sony's single optical). Also, it has 6 channed input for future upgradability...I give it a 5 for value and performance!