Great sound

Hissing noise

I puchased this as a refurbished model from soundcity.com for $600. I was scared to buy it new b/c of the hissing sound Onkyo is so famous for. I assumed that since this model was refurbished, the hissing problem had been fixed. I assumed wrong. I've had the reciever for 2 months and have never heard or noticed the hissing noise. Last night I watched Braveheart with the volume at 54. In any scene that had normal conversation, a faint, but audible hiss could be heard in the background. I walked up to my speakers and listened, praying it was just that scene. I could very audibly hear the hiss. I changed DVD's, and still I heard the hiss. I didn't turn on any DVD, I just turned the volume up to 54 and listened, and still I heard the hiss. I have the reciever 5 feet away from the tv and I have a complete set of Klipsch Ref speakers, so I know it's the reciever. Now I'm going to have to find a service center, unhook my setup, be without surround sound, take time to drive 30 min to a service center..... I can only blame myself. I was warned by others on this site and chose not to listen.

Does everything well that I require from it.

It's not a TX-DS939, or 989!
I suppose the tuner could be improved a bit.

This post is a follow-up from months ago. For anything less than top-dollar true "audiophile" level stuff, I can heartily reccomend this unit. A top contender.

As per the last review, I totally agree. Mine doesn't hiss, hum, or make any nasty noises it shouldn't. Mine also is a "Made In Malaysia" unit. It gets warm, not hot, when doing serious HT duties, but what do you expect for a high-current amp section?
I bought mine new in Jan2000. It never ceases to amaze and please me. A very satisfied customer. No, it's not as nice as seperates, but for what it is, it's one of the very, very best.
BTW, A nice pairing of speakers with this unit is the JBL Northridge ND310's.(which I own) Incredible sound. Especially in direct mode, volume above 50 on the display. WOW.
I'm still grinning....

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VSX508, which the Onkyo shames into tinker-toyland.
I took the Pioneer back after two weeks.

Power and reliability

not upgradable to 6.1

Awesome unit. Onkyo will be providing firmware updates through their service centers, but this model isn't upgradable to the 787 specs.

I am currently in the process of auditioning new main channel speakers and am pleased that all the salespeople I talk to love this unit. It has enough power to run any speaker out there.

If anyone has any suggestions on mains, please feel free to educate me.

Similar Products Used:

older model Onkyo and Denon

Nice front face and a very long list of features. Also a very good manual.

Hissed at all volumes and inputs.

I started looking to buy my very first A/V Receiver so I looked and looked and decided that I wanted to get an Onkyo. So a dealer friend of mine offered me the 777 for $550 so I couldn't resist and bought it. I brought it home and hooked it up. Immediately after turning it on I heard a hiss. So I turned up the volume and it got very loud. Then I thought I was doing something wrong so I moved and re-wired everything and still the same. Then I brought it back to the store and hooked up another one....same hiss. Then I decided that something was wrong. He also had a Marantz SR-19 so after a long time thinking I decided to spend the extra money and buy the Marantz. It was like night and day. I hooked up the SR-19 and it didn't even emit a whisper. AMAZING. Basically I am still in awe of the Marantz and extremely disappointed at the Onkyo. Actually it's a shame because on paper it looks great and I don't know how it got THX Select Certification. If it wasn't for the fact that the Marantz is that much better I would have given the 777 a much better rating.

PS - Yes I know there is a huge difference in price, but still for a receiver retailing for over $1000 it should not have produced as much noice as it did.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz SR-19

After reading the review posted here I decided to give it a shot. I am very pleased with overall sound quality of the unit. It has an incredible array of inputs and outputs. I also bought the unit from RichardG ext 702 at sound city
for 799 Delivered. I also compared this product with similar receiver from Yamaha and Denon but the Onkyo had the best bottom end and overall clarity of the unit was unequalled. Do not buy a receiver without listening to this unit first.