Great sound, easy setup, remote

humm & hiss again

I actually have the Integra version of this receiver. I haven't spent much time with this receiver and when I did it's been crazy with kids running around with lots of noise, so I never really noticed the h&h's. After reading these reviews, I went home to check out if my receiver had these humms & hisses, and sure enough, it did. The center channel has a small humm or buzz, and there is hiss out of the other 4 speakers - this is whether or not the TV was on or off - not very loud, but enough that I could here from 6' away. I use all monster cabling and have the receiver away from the other components - all go into a heavy duty surge protector.

Besides that, I love the receiver and it's features, especially the remote with which I control all of my components - I use the macro buttons to turn everything on & off with one button. Watching DTS Dvd's is awesome going through my Energy xL-16's.

Oh,as a side note, I also picked up the Integra DVD DT6 6/disk carousel changer at the same time. Funny thing - it doesn't have random shuffle play! HELLO???!!! McFly, is anyone home? Why do I need a carousel changer if I can't shuffle my CD's??? I think the techs from Onkyo were smoking some real good stuff when they were engineering this player. I nor the salesman who sold it to me didn't realize this missing feature until I actually went to use it. Needless to say, I'll be returning both pieces and going with the Denon AVR3300 and a Denon DVD player. Onkyo needs to clean up their sloppiness on otherwise good equipment.

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HK AVR500

Sonic Quality, Lots of Power, Good selection of inputs and outputs

Humm and Hiss

I just traded in the AVR 65 last weekend. What a difference. Although the HK sounded OK, the video problem was unbearable. I definately like the sonic quality of the 676 much better and I don't have the video problems of my previous receiver. Gotta love all those digital inputs as well. There is a humm in the center channel but plan on getting this remedied as soon as I hear of a solution. 4 stars because of that.

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HK AVR 65

Plenty of power i think 85 watts is an understatement. Plenty of current. Sound is full and natural. 5 D stereo is just bomb I love it. Its very versatile with basically any kind of music. I recommend this receiver and any other onkyo to anyone that enjoys music and surround sound I dare you to try it.Great remote one of the best in the business.

The only thing is the memory settings it doesn t keep the changes made to it. The buzzing im used to you cant hear at my volumes.

I currently have the 676 the M 504 by onkyo and the Dv535 dvd player.I can tell you one thing about Onkyo the value is unbelieveable theres nothing in its price point that sounds or even is made better. I used to work for circuit city and other electronic stores. Its has always been a rivalry between onkyo and HK I don t see why though. HK receivers are over priced and underpowred the sound that comes from them is thin and tinny. Its all highs that are colored, the music or stereo is weak unless te VMAX chip is on not need in Onkyo.Has no depth. Onkyo has a more fuller sound and a hell of alot more top end power. It stays cool under loud volumes and at 4 ohm loads, I run a pair of cerwin vega DX-9 that are 400 watts and the 676 makes them sound so sweet and realistic. I didn t mention sony, pio, jvc, tech because they are not really in that class. I ve used yamaha, denon, and Hk that onkyo stays together alot better at higher volumes stays smoooth seems as though the louder the volume the better it sounds. I make sure that I use all 12 gauge speaker wires all over. I even have a set of 15 s on my rear channel that receiver pushes it all without a blink.If you are looking for a great product buy Onkyo.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo,HK,Sony,Jvc,Pio,Yamaha,Denon just about everything outthere.

Sound, remote, power, realism, build quality.

Size, can't get the on-screen display to work.

I was a little leary about this unit after reading all the horror stories about hiss/hum. Also unsure about ordering something this big and expensive over the net. No one locally and Crutchfield could touch Onecall.com's price of $565.42 plus about $30 shipping. Got it in 4 days and in one piece via Federal Express. Had to do some carpentry to my entertainment center to make it fit. Hook-up wasn't too bad, and away I went. Played some CD's through it while I set it up for speaker size, distance from listener, etc. It really is pretty simple and the manual is pretty clear- not too much Japanese- English. All I'm running through it now is an old RCA stereo TV, a Yamaha 5-CD player, an old Dual turntable and a Panasonic stereo VCR. Everything sounds a lot better with the Onkyo than the 12-year old Pioneer it replaced. I want to get a DVD player and a bigger TV next.I'm really happy with the 676 and even my wife can hear the differance! As far as build quality, this thing is built like a tank! I've been around a few rock bands, and this sucker reminds me of a Crown power amp.That kind of quality. The 676 sounds great, is easy and fun to use and I'm glad I bought it from Onecall.com. Oh yeah, I'm running it through Infinity speakers, SM-150's ,SM-Video center speaker,and SM-62's for surrounds. Infinity efficiency with 85 high current watts, gets plenty loud! The "B" speakers are in another room, a pair of ancient,inefficient Dynacos and a Cerwin Vega sub-woofer. It's all good!! Check it out! Also-NO HUM/HISS.

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Kenwood, Pioneer

quailty and price

hard to use OSD FUNCTION

THIS UNIT MET AND EXCEDED ALL MY WISH. HAD LIMIT BUDGET SO THIS B MODEL WITH ONE YEAR FACTORY WARRANTY WAS A NO BRAINER. I KNEW THE PROBLEM WITH THE 676 SO I FELT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FULLY CHECK OUT AND REPAIRED BY THE FACTORY. IT IS A AWESOME SOUND PRODUCE AT LOW VOLUME.WE USE MANLY FOR MOVIE AND EVEN JUST T.V. IT MAKE A DIFFERNCE. I CANNOT SAY IT THE BEST BECAUSE I HAVEN'T HEARD ALL THE OTHER RECIEVER REVIEW ON THIS SITE BUT IF YOU WANT A GOOD QUALITY, SUPERIOR AUDIO, MANY USEFUL FEATURES WITH OUT PAYING THE EQUIAVENT OF A DOWN PAYMENT ON A HOME CHECK OUT THIS UNIT.I TOOK THE PLUNGE NERVOUSLY AND PURCHASE ONLINE BUT IT WAS WORTH IT. OH YES THE BAD IS I CAN'T USE OSD BECAUSE I HAVE NOT FIQURE OUT BUT SO WHAT THE REMOTE DOES THREE KEY ITEM SHUT ON/OFF VOLUME AND I CAN CHANGE FROM ONE INPUT TO ANOTHER ANY THING ELSE I SET-UP AND WITH INTELLEGENT MEMORY FOR EACH DEVICE IT NO PROBLEM.

SPEAKER T70 SAT
MATCHING SUBT70B
TOSHIBA 2150 DVD
SONY 32IN PROSCAN

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YAMAHA DENON

Sound Quality, Power, Tons of In/Outputs, Learning Remote

Remote too large??

After reviewing this site and others for 5 weeks, I bought this receiver to be the hub of our new home theater. So for I am very pleased. CD music is clear and distinct with lots of detail. Great sound separation with DVD's and even VHS sounds good. Has plenty of power to drive the Polk CS400(center), RT55's(main) and RT35's(surround) to sheetrock-cracking levels with no distortion. No sub yet.

Unlike other reviews, I have not noticed a hiss or hum at any volume, in any speaker or in any DSP mode. Bought Monster cables for everything when the receiver was purchased so I can't say if the cables made any difference.

Receiver setup took ~3 hours. The manual is a OK but takes time to sort through the details. The on-screen display/setup is neat. My speakers are not symmetrically placed about the room so the individual speaker adjustment is nice.

The remote is awkward to operate with one hand but I had no problems programming it to operate the TV, DVD and VCR. I have had trouble getting the macro feature to work correctly, but this is a minor issue.

I recommend the receiver and I would buy it again, but I would shop around more. Paid $770 at the local Circuit City.

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None

Excellent reciever - couldn't be happier....

The buzzing problem....

Just a quick note on the buzzing problem.

I auditioned this reciever (thanks to Circuit City's generous return policy) and loved it except for the buzzing center channel when it was put in any kind of surround mode as has been reported numerous times here. I couldn't handle the buzz and took it back within a few days.

I then auditioned a few other DD recievers and found that nothing could match the features of the Onkyo so I decided to bite the bullet, buy one, have the ground loop added and be happy.

Anyway, I ended up getting it from Sound City in NJ (DON'T belive the prices on there web page!!!! CALL THEM - I got a hell of a deal with no haggling and it was MUCH less than on their web page.) Anyway, I recieved it and was going to begin looking for a repair center and instead decided to hook it up for the hell of it. Guess what? No Buzz. So if you got one and had no buzz you either got a good one or you just aren't affected by the problem - but it DOES exist.

Otherwise, don't think twice about buying this beauty.

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Technics, JVC, Panasonic, Sherwood Newcastle

LOTS of power, LOTS of inputs, GREAT remote, GREAT interface...

don't think there is any... if I had to pick one though, it'd be that there are only 2 optical digital inputs...

This receiver is awesome... WELL WORTH the money i paid for it... paid $630 delivered from onecall.com... they were great to work with... very friendly and helpful and delivered quickly double-boxed... this is a new model and i think the center channel hiss problem prior people had has been fixed... have it hooked up to MTX AAL212 speakers... these speakers are hidden treasures... 2, yes 2 12" subs in EACH speaker... 300w rms/600w max... this receiver provides plenty of power for them.. the walls shake when i turn them up 25%... granted they aren't audiophile quality, but they crush Cerwin Vegas to the ground... BUY THIS RECEIVER

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Pioneer vsx-d608, JVC components

Sound quality, OSD, features list, REMOTE!!!

No S-video/Composite cross switching, manual OSD on S-video/Composite selection, remote has to be programmed

Wow this poppy rocks! It has more then enough juice - I can barely turn it to -10dB without feeling the pain and with 100W rated Kenwood I had no problem getting volume to the max. Was thinking about DS777 (105W) - not anymore.

Sound quality is great - very clear, natural on all sources. I tried DTS, AC-3, stereo with vocal, acoustic guitar, sintesizer and movie effects.

Front panel is very ergonomical. Button source select (one touch select), nice full size bright display (can be dimmed). Volume control doesn't have LED :-(

Features - I'm not gonna list them all, just mention a few - Source labeling, source volume adjustment

Remote - you should buy DS676 just to get a remote. It's full size, ergonomically designed (with joystick) learning device. Advantage - supports 8 devices, for each device each button can be programmed for any function. Plus macros support. Disadvantage - it's a lot of programming, though it's pretty stright forward. I spend all evening pressing buttons (you keep two remotes across and press buttons simulataneosly), but the result is great - I threw away 4 remotes and gonna use one!!!

And the last but not least - price. I've got it for $450 delivered from OneCall (http://www.onecall.com) It's a manufactor referbrished unit DS676b with one year manufactor warranty. Brand new condition, no hiss/hum.

I had a great expirience with OneCall. Knowledgable, nice people. Talked with Thomas from sales and he gave me that great deal (advertized price was $469 + shipping). They shipped 2-days FedEx the same day I've ordered. And they are authorized Onkyo's internet dealers. Anyway, you can mention my name (Oscar Ayzenberg) to get the same deal. They promised 1% comission - not sure they will honor that :-)

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Kenwood VR409, Sherwood 9090R

Price, Sound.
DTS and Dolby Digital.

Joystick on remote a little hard to use.
On screen menu not intuitive.
Remote can't control my Toshiba SD-2200 DVD player.

Great product. Bought a refurb unit from soundcityoutlet, no hint of hiss from center channel at all.
For my 1st foray into home theater, Love it.

On Cambridge SoundWorks Ensemble II speakers.