85x5, AC-3, DTS, great learning remote. Beautiful sound.

Great receiver with plenty of power and cutting edge technology. If you are interested in purchasing this receiver at $579, contact me at adb3@lehigh.edu
The TX-DS777 is also available for $749.

Similar Products Used:

ONKYO TX-DS656, TX-DS575, TX-DS777

power, beefy receiver, nice remote etc...

none yet

I listened to the Onkyo 676 today and I was pretty impressed. The room I auditioned the receiver in was spacious, and the speakers were B&W 601's, not very large. However, they had more then enough power to drive any room, and with larger speakers, I can just imagine how good this receiver can be. The problem is I'm trying figure out if there is much of a difference in sound quality with the 777. I spoke to an onkyo rep, he mentioned there was no real difference in power performance and sound. The onky rep was very helpfull, great cust. service. I've narrowed it down to the Onkyo 777 and the denon 3300 as well as the 676. Anyway, if anyone has any insight about the two Onkyo's please get back to me.

Similar Products Used:

yamaha 992, rotel 965, denon 3300

Clarity, Features, Remote

None

This is a great HT Receiver as its clear sound and great channel seperation attest. It has all the features of more expensive receivers and an easy to use remote control. Comparing it to the 777 you loose a bit of power and an Opitcal out port so if you can do without that this unit will save you lots of dollars. As far as noise, I hear some small amount of hiss without any input selected but only with my ear to the speakers and not when I am listening to anything.

Nice power, one of the best remotes on the market, dts-es, 6ch stereo

poor sound quality. it sounds like a curtain is dropped in front of the sound stage, but this is the sound I hear from all ONkyos

I work in the audio dept. at Circuit City, it is a great reciever just as long as you don't care about getting great crystal clear sound. I must applaud onkyo on it's remote it is the best one I have seen on the market. Even better than those lcd remotes because you don't have to look at it to use it. A better receiver could be purchased for the price from denon or yamaha. Hk is good to but you won't find dts-es with them.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, denon, Harmon Kardon, Sony

Solid clean sound & power! Great Remote! ON SCREEN display!

No Tape monitor or Pre Amp input so you can't use a graphic EQ unless you use it for only 1 source such as CD player. Must manually search for radio stations! A little pricy!

Have to say this is an awsome unit! With 85 watts of high current power it truly rocks my audio video room, as well as the rest of my house. My complaints are minimal. for one, there is no scanning mode for am/fm stations, so you'll have to manually search for your favorite stations and program them into memory, but this is really no big deal as once they are all programmed in, you wont need to scan anyway. Complaint two! I have a graphic equalizer but can only use it for one source because this unit has no tape monitor, and only pre-amp out. If you never plan on using an EQ or only want to use it for one source anyway, this will be no problem for you! Now for the good! This receiver has lots of good clean power, 85 watts in high current mode and 105 watts in low current mode. It has very crisp and clean sound with no evidence of hiss or distortion. You can name all of your radio stations as well as input source's. On screen display makes setup and adjustments a breeze. The remote is great, you can program it to control all your audio/video components, plus it has 2 macro keys that you can program a sequence of up to 15 commands with one button. For example, you can push one button and turn on your TV, set the TV to DVD mode, turn on the receiver, set it to DVD mode , turn on the DVD player and start playing a movie. Makes life a little easier! Plus the remote is backlit so you can see it in a dark room! This receiver has no place for a battery to back up the memory in case of power outage, but I unpluggeg it for over 15 hours one time when we were getting some bad storms and it stilled maintained all it's memory when I plugged it back in, so it must have some sort of internal backup built in! Cool! There's lots of audio/video inputs and outputs including 5 S-Video, 2 digital, 2 optical, 1 multi channel and 2 subwoofer hookups. There are lots of other great features that I don't have time to explain, but I will just say that I'm very happy with this unit, albeit a little expensive, but very satisfactory performance and features. If you shop on the internet you can probably save as much as $200 on what I paid making this receaiver a real bargain. Just look at what some of the other reveiwers paid and see what I mean! Almost gave it a 5 stars if not for the minor complaints



Here is the main components to my killer Audio /Video setup


Sony KP53HS10 53" High Def. Projection TV

Onkyo TX-DS676 Dolby Digital Receiver

Acoustic Research AR9 front speakers

JBL PB12 12 inch 250 watt powered subwoofer

JBL N-Center center channel speaker

Optimus Pro7 surround speakers

Similar Products Used:

JVC rx660v (105 watts per channel)Channel(The Onkyo flat out blows it away)

excellent 2 channel stereo reproduction in DIRECT mode

auto detection digital circuitry "clicks" and cuts off audio signal, clipping in DPLII

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2001 ONKYO TX-DS696 MODEL.

I decided to take a chance on the 696 despite all the negatives I saw here and at Home Theater Forum.

My first impression was very favorable. Two channel stereo music sounded excellent in the DIRECT mode, better than the Yamaha. And a CD recorded in Dolby Surround definitely benefitted from DPLII Music Mode.

Then I put in a DVD! The first thing I noticed that the digital auto detection circuitry caused a "click" each time there was a bitstream change (Dolby D, DPLII Movie) which of course always happens between the opening menus and the start of the movie. This I could have accepted.

BUT not only did it "click" at the layer switch pause, but a second or so of sound was lost after the switch. This also happened during the some DVD "special features" where there is a momentary interruption of the bitstream.

The clincher was when I put in a normal 2 channel CD with deep bass and selected the DPLII Music Mode. At the point where the deep bass kicked in, the receiver clipped very badly. Instead of bass, I heard a "cracking" noise. The volume was no where near maximum and all my speakers were set to small so the bass below 80hz goes to the powered sub.

So back the ONKYO TX-DS696 goes. I guess Sound and Vision was right after all about its false power ratings.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha HTR-5280

Looks nice, plays DTS, over-all clean sound. Has enough inputs for me, optical, coaxial, s-vidio. Awesome remote, for me. I don't go to the theater anymore.

I read about all the power this unit had, well I guess I want more. My wife cannot figure out the remote. The on- screen view is kind of lame.

My first reaction, when I finally got the chance to turn up the volume, was: That's It???. So I called up the HIFI.COM #, and they told me to adjust the speaker settings to +10 db. That worked out OK. When I purchased this reciever, I also bought two Cambridge tower II's & a Cambridge center stage speaker. The reciever has just enought power to take me to the threshold of ear pain tolerance when the volume level was set to 55 of a possible 70. With the towers, the 30hz bass really vibrates your guts.

The remote is really nice, it can replace the tv, vcr, and DVD/CD remotes. The only hassle is that you have to push a few more buttons to get the job done.

I use the reciever primarily as HT, but do turn it up an blast metallica, I'd have to say for 400 bucks I got what I paid for and a little more. If I want more juice, I guess I'll have to fess up the $1500-$2000 and buy a 150-200 watt component system.

The DTS works fine.

Oh by the way no hiss, no Hiss, NO HISS.... ok... so far no hiss

Similar Products Used:

sony

Sound, learning remote, OSD, 5-channel stereo, optic and s-video, looks, and power.

No EQ or tape moniter in. No battery back-up or broken back-up. Remote joystick. See below.

I TRIED BUT NO HISS OR HUM FOUND. SOUNDS VERY GOOD. Unit is next to 36" sony TV, separated only by 3/4" oak.
I shopped receivers for approx 6 months. Bought this unit "factory refurbished with 1year warrantee." I can find no evidence the cabinet was ever opened, but unit has a dent in botton front corner. Dent value, approx $250.
Great looks, excellent remote, pre-amp outs for all (5.1) channels, 4 digital in's, plenty video/audio inputs (including phono),S-Video switching, switchable OSD (composite/S-video), binding posts for all speakers that accept banana plugs, can equalize levels of all inputs, ample power/channel, true 85w at 6 olms min. Mine stays very cool in cabinet open only in back.
I found all the answers I needed in the manual. Also downloaded one from Onkyo for when I lose the paper one.
Receiver set-up is work the first time, but easy when you know how. See below.
Remote set-up takes work, but there was nothing I could not get it to do with 4 non-Onkyo component's. Joystick is a good idea, but it is easy to press wrong because of its small size.
My unit does loose all set-up and tuner programing if power fails or powered off (not in standby mode) for short period. Pain in the back-side.
Everything has some trade-offs but I,m very pleased!

Similar Products Used:

Sony

Just want to report problem to see if anybody else has it too.

I programmed the remote with all codes from 3 other remotes: TV, VCR, and DVD. No problem. When, two weeks later I tried to add CD player - no success. Went to Good Guys and they exchanged the remote. Came back home and programmed all 4 devices in. No problem. Two weeks later tried to add two more codes - failure again.

Seems like after some time remote is loosing it's learning capabilities. Called customer service - they have no clue.

If anybody else had seen same problem - please e-mail me.

Thanks.

P.S. Otherwise DS676 is a great unit and the remote is the best remote around.

Luigi,

I too have the hiss and the humm. The hiss doesn't bother me that much but I don't like the humm. I get the humm only thru the center channel and only when my television is also on. I have emailed Onkyo to see if they are aware - it just doesn't make sense that it is only in the center channel. I have moved the center away from the TV and plugged the TV into another wall - but the humm is still there. Gonna just have to wait and see what Onkyo says.

Other than that (which you don't hear when listening to music - only when watching TV with 5 channel stereo) this Receiver is awesome and I love it.

Just want the humm to stop.