High Current, Display, Binding Posts for all channels, Can connect everything you could to it, Future upgrade ability vie pre-amp outs, Price 810.00 delevered

RCA Outs not Gold plated,

System Layout:
Onkyo TX-DS777b AV/Reciver
Onkyo DV-C600 6-Disc DVD/CD Changer
Sony CDP-CX225 200 Disc Carousel
B&W DM 602S2 Fronts
****THE FOLLOWING IS CRAP******
Cerwin-Vega Rears
Cerwin-Vega DIY SUB
Cerwin-Vega Center
****GOING TO BE GIVEN AWAY SHORTLY WHEN I CAN AFFORD ANOTHER PAIR OF B&W'S******************************
Soon to have Velodyne SUB and Rest of the Speakers B&W.

I must say first off this reciver is awesome. When I purchased my B&W's it was that much more amazing. Alot of what makes sound is the speaker. I dont care how much money you have invested in theater if you have a cheap pair of speakers your sound will be crap. Your sound will only be as good as what your speaker can produce. The sound clarity and deatil is brought to life by this reciver paired up with the B&W's. I have over 300cd's or better everything form Beethoven to Symphon X to Backstreet to Pink, opera, Andrea Bochelli etc... you name it I have it. Every thing I have thrown at it is spit back in my face like hearing it for the first time. Soundstage is wide and spacious. Highs are crisp and clear and detailed. Voices sometimes make me turn around and look to see if its the music or if some is there. Theater Reproduction ahhh, Amazing. I have a friend who has done cameos in movies who is an actor movies are his life and He is still amazed over the amount of clarity and detail he says it rivals some of the bigger more elaborate theaters. I must say onkyo did right. I could not be anymore happy with my purchase. I reccomend paring this Reciever up with a pair of B&W DM 602 S2's. You will not be dissapointed and you will get many an oohhh and ahhh from friends and family and yourself. Take care, I hope this helps your decison.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DE935, Sony STR-DE835, Pioneer VSX something

Features and Performance for the $$$.

No Component video switching.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fan on this unit. Well, actually I'm not considering that it's totally silent. I opened mine up to take a look at the workmanship and design standards and lo and behold, a fan resides up towards the front of the unit just to the left of a large, extruded aluminum modular heat-sink assembly!!! I never would have known because I've never heard it.

Anyway, this receiver has been great from day one. I use it to drive my M&K 750 THX setup and the sound is excellent for HT and Audio listening. The high current, low-impedance amp design was a must for my 4-ohm M&K setup and Onkyo's more conservative power ratings have always impressed me more than some of those brands that rate power at a single frequency (1 kHZ) with one channel driven.

For me the only thing lacking is Component video switching, everything else about this receiver has impressed me.

$805 - Next Day Air from Onecall.com

Speakers used:

M&K 750 THX Select w/MX-125 Mk 2 upgrade

Similar Products Used:

Various DD/DTS receivers.

Power (is more than enough for a livingroom), THX, program-remote, easy setup

None, and I do mean none!

After ten weeks of searching trough a wood of reviews and filtering none from good arguments and listening to the things we have in our audio-shop (Smits Arnhem has it all!), I decided to buy the following things:
Onkyo TS-DX777 receiver
Onkyo DV-S535 DVD-player
Tannoy Saturn S8 main speakers
Tannoy Saturn S6C center
B&W DS6 dipole surround speakers
Tannoy mSub 10 subwoofer

Ofcourse I bi-wired the main speakers with Van den Hul CS122 cable and I also used all kind of Van den Hul interlink-cables.

Furthermore I kept my Technics CD-player and Technics DDC-deck.

Wanna know why I took the Onkyo receiver? Well, it all has to do with 'the most you can get with less money'. You know Dutch people... they all want to pay nothing for only the best. And I'm proud to be one! :)
I could buy the more expensive Harman-Kardon AVR7000 which has a 100 on the dampingscale. That's a lot more than the 60 of the 777. But when you use the right cable, no bananaplugs, 8 ohm speakers and keep the cable as short as possible, the REAL damping you get could be up to 47 and that's not bad at all. So, the 7000 could have been mine but the reviews I read on this site, weren't very good. (example: volume turning up by himself to maximum?? Thank you, neighbour!) Then I found out from a more experienced college of mine that Harman-Kardon has all kind of this failures. No 7000 then...
The only receiver that left with the best price/quality was at the end the Onkyo. And boy, am I sure glad that I bought this beauty! It has all you could wish for! It realy makes my Saturn-speakers rock the house when I'm playing my CD's, the 5-channel Stereo setup sounds almost even better and what about the 5.1 and THX. Man, The sixth Sense made us hit the ceiling every time we scared! In THX the receiver actualy made us believe our house was driven by a few uge engines in basement when we watched Titanic.... And then The Mummy and The Matrix... GEWOON VET!

There are no words for what this animal can do. Ofcourse, there are better receivers, but you pay a lot more than the difference is worth!

For more info, just mail me: riesart@dolfijn.nl

Similar Products Used:

Before this imaginative sight and sound feature I used a Technics SA-X550 Pro-logic receiver.

easy to use, clearness of sound, amount of power, TXH, value

B speakers work only in stereo, unit automatically changes "a" speakers to stereo when "b" is turned on, no balance, manual could be more explanatory

I changed from a Denon AVR 3000 (similar to Onkyo 777 w/o DD/DTS). Denon was excellent, quite clear, with 110 wpc r/l/c and 35 x 2 for rear. Onkyo has 105 x 5. Easy to use, rotary select switch easy to choose variables such as processing, room size, reverb, increase/decrease volume levels per speaker. I did not like being put into stereo mode each time "b" speakers were turned on, since I have multiple TV's throughout the house displaying the same thing, I would like processed sound (dolby) to those "b" rooms too. The lack of a balance control was a minor problem. Video display to control receiver easy to use; intuitive. However, I did not like controlling the levels from each speaker via tv screen without the ability of hearing each adjustment as they are made; you must exit that screen in order to experience the difference. If you want to adjust the volume of each speaker and hear the change as you make the adjustment manually at the receiver. The unit runs warm, so I added 12 volt 4 inch fans to the top of the unit, and it cools adequetly. The unit is easy to use, labels are clear. Volume control very smooth. Bought a "b" stock from one call at 677; no problems at all, just minor inconveniences as listed. Also manual tells you how to operate but does not explain. TXH feature is great, not found on many receivers and certainly not on units selling for the same or less. Overall very good to excellent, value excellent.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 3000 (being replaced), also compared with Yamaha, Denon 3300, Sony ES 555

value ,accuracy ,inputs outputs, power, quality build,not outdated for future technology

using with velodyne sub,infinity reference series 1b and hi definition mitsubishi 16/9 55 inch display with proscan direc tv satellite hi def reciever the sound must blend with hi def image and it does!!! makes sense this onkyo for future applications as well will not be outdated I am using 2 and have a new 1 for sale $700 please call 212 768 4641 for any info on reciever or about hi def tv info be a pioneer

Can get very loud, very clear. Wonderful highs, pronounced midrange, "tight" base.

Some switching lag and setup hassles..but overall nothing that bad..

Let me just say this much: It's 2:37 in the morning and I finished installing the reciever 4 hours ago..I'm not sure if I'll be going to sleep tonight.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-3300

THX Certification, 5Ch Stereo, Intellivolume, Learning Backlit Remote, ProLogic Decoding, Ergonomic Front Panel, Powerful Amplifier Section, Well built, General Availability in stores and through the Internet.

Weak Tuner Section, Noisy Pre-Amp Section, Source Bleeding, Some Channel Bleed, Navigation tablet on Remote, Speaker Binding Posts not Gold plated and not true 5 way, I/O Jacks not Gold Plated, Bad Press due to earlier Hum Issue.

So you're in the market for a receiver huh? Checked out everything, from the small HT in a box jokes to real receivers costing a couple of thousand dollars, and still not sure what to buy?

Well here's a receiver that gives you everything you needed, and more, all for less than $800.. and if u'r lucky for even less than that. Arguably the best buy for under $1000.

I had my eyes set on the Onkyo due to it's amazing sound. I purchased an Onkyo TX-DS575 after a couple of tough single blinded auditions with the Denon offerings in the price range. Very soon I realized that my inefficient speakers needed more juice and I upgraded to the Onkyo TX-DS777.

Initial observations. Damn it was heavy climbing up to my first floor apartment!! a sign of a well built amplifier. The packing was well done and my dealer double boxed it just in case.

The manual is thin, but isn't all that bad.. You can get your way around as the English isn't terribly 'Jinglish'. I hooked it up easily.. noticed the lack of holes in the speaker binding posts to secure the wire through them (I use bare wire as it gives the best connection IMO). The lack of gold plated jacks surprised me because most receivers at this price point have opted to include that feature.

I unpacked the FM and AM antenna and charged up the remote.. What a beautiful piece of equipment.. Onkyo has delighted me with their remote.. I was sold already with the TX-DS575's remote .. this one topped it as it was backlit too. All buttons are easily accessible and this gizmoid can learn all other remotes.. Referring to the manual and back to my other remotes I could quickly program the basic commands into this and kept on doing it later too. Got rid of all my other remotes and have programmed this baby to start the TV, DVD, Receiver, switch to DVD mode and Play the movie all in a couple of touches! amazing isn't it!!

Time for the audition. Connect the AM and FM antenna, Power On. Tuner. There is no autotune feature I could locate so I had to go manually through it all and had my favourite channels tuned in. Onkyo has been disappointing with their Tuner sections.. the TX-DS777 continued where the TX-DS575 had left off.. channels tuned in still sounded a little 'untuned' and though overall it's nice to have a tuner built in, the sacrifices are there.

Using the remote and connecting a video cable to the monitor, you get the useful OSD (On Screen Display). I proceeded immediately to navigate the screens and realised it wasn't all too easy. Onkyo has designed a 'mouse' on the remote which doesn't really take you where you want to go.. so it comes with some learning and practising in u'r free time.. make sure you're going where you fingers intended.

Settings for speakers are simple. This being a THX Select certified receiver, if all u'r speakers are THX certified too, select that option.. otherwise use the regular Large/Small/None options.. Setup the Distances for all speakers and speaker levels using a Radio Shack Sound Level Meter and u'r in business.

First off.. a test of ProLogic decoding.. most of my viewing is still ProLogic (TV broadcasts.. or VHS rentals).. the TX-DS777 extracts all channels successfully and channel separation is remarkable.. However at higher volumes you can detect some channel bleed. I tested with a Dolby Digital 2.0 DVD and it became evident there were traces of sound in rears when there shouldn't be.. More on this later..

TV was good.. the sub was being worked out well and the surrounds singing.. I popped in the digitally mastered Return of the Jedi (THX) VHS and sat back to admire the clarity of the sound, the separation, and most of all the overall reduction in noise that I noticed now.. The receiver passes with fair marks in it's Dolby ProLogic decoding.

Next test.. Dolby Digital.. In goes one of the most testing DVD tracks.. The Matrix.. Lobby Shooting spree.. and there and then I knew what this receiver was all about.. Sheer and absolute Power.. as and when the soundtrack demands. the whole room shook with bullets and the sub rumbled. Excellent. THIS my friends is one powerful receiver.

Saving Private Ryan in DTS was next and needless to say I was at the Beach with the boys in green and ducking bullets like crazy.. the format recognition is quick and seemless, although I have one peeve that there is only one 'mode' ProLogic.. keep it there and when a Dolby Digital track is recognized.. it changes to Dolby Digital and when a DTS is popped in, it changes to DTS.

Okay enough play and on to the serious stuff.. 2ch Music Playback.. time to check if I was keeping this receiver.. In goes a CD with female vocals and Piano background... the female vocals were clear.. VERY clear and all the chestiness was present.. you can feel the vocalist breath.. sigh and whisper.. without the "S's" becoming sibilant or the "ch's" becoming annoying.. VERY IMPRESSIVE.... hint of being a bit brittle.. but hey.. that's my speakers.. the cheaper tweeters employed in those Paradigms were showing their colour and I knew that very well..

Beatiful smooth midrange.. not thin, not in your face.. just there.. and somewhat laid back bass.. hmmmmmm this needs some more investigation. I changed tracks.. to a lively bass oriented track.. same result.. I attribute it partly to a slow sub.. (Velodyne) but since then I've checked other receivers too (Denon AVR-3300.. punchy dynamic bass on the same sub) I think i'd conclude that the bass on this baby isn't all that great.. BUT to my taste as at times it feels that the bassist has his guitar plugged directly into my sub.. the bass is just as you would get on stage live with those racks of bass amps and cabinets so I guess i won't complain about the bass from the TX-DS777

BUT If u'r into Hip-Hop or require fast, punchy, dynamic bass.. you need to carefully audition this receiver with u'r speakers and sub before you come to a decision as this may be one 'weak' link in music playback.. Otherwise.. if you like the 'Open' 'airy' sound with little or no coloration.. I haven't heard much that can beat this receiver.. Many receivers on the market today present either too bright an overall sound or a quieter background.. BUT the compromise is basically achieved by adding Noise Gates, or Filters which also compress or 'darken' overall sound.

Not the Onkyo!! the vocals are clear and REAL.. if u'r a music lover who wants HT but doesn't want to give up on 2ch music quality, you can't go wrong with the Onkyo.. it doesn't take the joy out of music listening and still gives you an unmatched HT experience.

The Direct mode is really useful for music lovers.. If you have full range speakers.. the Direct mode will direct all sound only to fronts and bypass all processing.. really clears up the sound IMO and imaging is perfect in this mode.. If you have smaller bookshelves, use the Stereo playback mode as it uses the fixed Crossover of 80Hz and employs the sub.

The 5ch Stereo option is fun too.. tune into some Top-40's kinda music and suddenly all 5 speakers come alive.. full use of what you paid for isn't it?? Great for casual listening.

OK.. now for the reasons I had to take this one back and get a Denon AVR-3300 (which I returned too.. read the Denon review for details)

The pre-amp section wasn't really 'clean'.. With no source, there was an obvious source bleed at higher volumes.. With just the speakers connected.. there was an audible hiss in channels.. although this can easily be removed by using the Sound Level Meter and balancing u'r channels.... still it was enough for me to want to look some more and I returned the unit to venture into the realm of the Denon.. WHAT A MISTAKE.. read all about it in the Denon AVR-3300 review..

Ok.. i'm off to my final review of the receiver I finally settled on.. it's the Onkyo DTR-7.. so you see that my experience with the TX-DS777 assured me of the sound quality... and I highly recommend this unit especially at the prices you can find it!! it's a steal!

Happy Listening

River
====================================================

Equipment I used..

Pioneer DV-525 DVD Player
Fronts and Rears: Paradigm Titans V2 on Premier Stands
Center Speaker: Paradigm CC-170
Powered Subwoofer: Velodyne CT-100
Radio Shack Gold Interconnects
Home Depot 12 Guage Speaker Cable all around.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo TX-DS575, Denon AVR-3300

Power, Sound, Clarity, THX Certification, Build Quality, Little on no background noise.

Can't scan FM Stations (only goes through presets) from Remote. FM Sound can suffer from bad reception without Antenna.

I tested all the above listed models when shopping for a reciever, and they are all great in their own way. I was undecided till I saw this model on sale at way less than the 1000 MSRP, I could not pass it up. I had recently read a glowing review and qickly realized I had found a bargin. The only problem I have with my new reciever, Is that the wife (and neighbor) doesen't like it when I play it at the volume levels where this thing really shines. I would really recommend that you give this reciever a listen if you looking for a new addition to your hometheater.

Similar Products Used:

Previewed Denon 3300, Sony DB930, Marrantz SR7000.

Very Clear Natural Sound, Onscreen Display, Quality DSP Modes, PLENTY of power, IntelliVolume, Great Remote

none

Here's my current set-up:

I have two Infinity Sterling RS-5000 speakers, a Yamaha Center Channel NCAS200, a Yamaha Remote Control Sub YST-SW200, two CHEAP Kenwood Surround (These will be replaced!). I have a Sony Minidisc Player, a Sony 50 Disc Changer, a Kenwood Tape Deck, and a Sony turntable.


This is my fourth receiver in life. I feel like I'm moving up in the world. I replaced my Kenwood Dolby Surround Receiver with this one. I have no regrets! It has tons of features! I'm excited. No matter where I sit in the room, I can adjust each speaker individually. I followed the manual exactly and everything worked perfectly when I turned it on.

I also bought the Onkyo DV-C601 DVD player at the same time. My CD's sound three dimensional! I can't believe it. I may have to listen to my whole collection just to hear what I was missing.

Back to the receiver. The remote has allowed me to store away the other six remotes that I use. Programming the remote is easy. The volume is controllable at all times on the remote if you don't reprogram it.

The onscreen display makes up for the simple look of the receiver. You can have full control of the sound. But the receiver sounds perfect with everything flat in Stereo mode. In Direct mode, the sub will not play. This is fine if you have larger speakers or the speakers hooked through your sub.

Unplugged, Orchestra, Studio Mix, and 5 Channel Stereo are my favorite DSP modes for listening to different types of music. I haven't really tried the others for movies. Dolby Pro Logic and Dolby Pro Logic THX are great for encoded shows.

It took me about an hour to hook up everything carefully and correctly because my entertainment center is in a very awkward location and I have never had a digital receiver before.

The manual is pretty good. It is NOT written for a novice! I was fortunate enough to have hooked up a/v equipment several times before. Some other folks on this review section complained about the manual but if it was "thorough" enough, it would have been the size of a college workbook. This is a NOT budget piece of equipment so I figure that the company assumes that the buyer has a certain level of a/v knowledge. Everything that I needed to know was explained after careful reading.

The radio stations sound very clear. My satellite system sounds very clear. I will have to update that to a Dolby Digital satellite in the future as more DD programming becomes available.

I have a TX-DS777(b) model. I have no hum or hiss. Just pure sound. I don't have a heat problem either once I started opening the door of the entertainment center while the unit was on. It doesn't even get warm. It gets warm with the glass door closed and after being on all day but so did the Kenwood I had before.

I like the IntelliVolume feature which allows me to turn it down quickly or just a little bit.

I wish it had one more audio and optical input. I had to hook up my MD through the Video 3 input and I am going to have to hook up my DVD player to the coaxial input so I can use both optical inputs for my MD player and 50 disc changer. But that's no biggie.

I enjoy how you can hear every detail of the movies. I don't know if it's my receiver or the DVD or both! I'm loving it though.

This unit is rather HUGE. It is hanging out the back of my audio rack. Make sure that your furniture will accomodate such a deep unit.

My super old Sony direct drive turntable (circa 1982) even sounds great on this receiver!

The Circuit City store I first auditioned the unit at discouraged me. They tried to push the Harman Kardon $1500 model. It had fewer features. It had a slightly warmer sound but not $500 warmer! I have no regrets on this purchase.

I am a Crutchfield reader. I had considered the Sony ES line but I had once bought a Sony receiver which I took back because even though it had a gazillion DSP modes, it lacked a natural sound. Sony products are not what they used to be. The Sony ES receiver that I had looked at had a two way LCD. The Onkyo has an onscreen menu. I'm glad I picked Onkyo! Just viewing the construction of the Onkyo receiver grabbed my attention. The huge heat sinks. Onkyo does not slouch on the product's parts!

Sony has a lot of user friendly buttons and programming but the bottom line is AUDIO. The product has to SOUND good FIRST. Sony offers conveniences (more DSP modes, detailed programmability on CD players) but Onkyo has some serious sound. Onkyo allows you to fine tune the IMPORTANT stuff that you listen to. I don't think I would want to change through 30 plus DSP modes anyway. If a receiver doesn't sound good with everything set at zero, then any DSP added is probably not going to help.

Audio preferance vary from person to person. Plus CD mastering has changed since they first came out. Some of my older CD's lack bass. Some are louder than others. You have to be careful listening in the showroom with a different environment and speakers. My medium sized family room which is narrow and long is VERY different from the showroom. The Onkyo easy setup menu tailors the sound to the room.

Don't hesitate buy a TX-DS777(b) today! It rocks! I'll probably have this for years to come or until the next Dolby format comes out. : )

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DV-C601 DVD player

UN SONIDO MUY CLARO,EL BAJO ES MUY PROFUNDO Y SOBRETODO SU DD DTS Y THX ES UN SUPER RECEIVER ...MUCHOS DSP

NINGUNA .SOLO QUE SE CALIENTA ALGO

ES UN SUPER RECEIVER , TRAE TODO LO QUE UN AUDIFOLO PUEDE DESEAR .ES ESPECIAL PARA HOME THEATRE TRAE DOLBY DIGITAL, CON VARIOS DSPS TRAE DTS , TRAE THX Y TRAE UN CANAL QUE ES EL DE 5CH. QUE PARA MUSICA ESTA ESPECIAL

TRAE MUCHOS S-VIDEO PARA QUE CONECTES MUCHOS EQUIPOS DIGITALES

TOTAL ES UNA CHULADA DE EQUIPO. TE LO RECOMIENDO 100%

Similar Products Used:

DENEN 3300