Great sound for the money. AMP is incredible bass producer. Watch out for the stereo Hall reverb mode. I get a strange TWANG effect in the false reverb. The pro logic mode for stero TV is great.

This unit give a very metallic sound or electronic one may said, plus the power is not enough in the surrounding speakers (what is 50w now?). The remote is kind of cheap, and the unit itself looks more like a mid-fi receiver (Pionner, Kenwood, JVC, Sony). I cant understand why is it so much expensive considering all of this.

Great 5.1 separation and detail

no dts, 5.1 input

I have owned the unit about 4 months and I have enjoyed it thoroughly. I looked at this unit about a year ago and decided not to jump into the home theater arena then. After finally trying to decide between the Yamaha 2095 and the Sony ES 50 and decided on the Yamaha. Ironically while in Circuit City I saw an open box for $579 and I immediately purchased it. The receiver has a serious lack of bass response but a good subwoofer solves that problem. The speaker adjustments are good and the overall sound is great.

Great clear sound with incredible sterio imaging. Really woke up my Polk speakers.

Reliability, remote.

I have owned the 838 for nearly 3 years (I got one of the first ones) and have really enjoyed it. Remote wasn't too cool so I replaced it with a learning remote. I will have to say though, that it gets an F in reliability. I expect exectronics to last longer than 3 years. My 838 developed a problem where it will not power up consistantly and then will power itself off and then after a few seconds back on. After three weeks and two trips to the service center they cannot fix it. Thank goodnnes I have an extended service plan from CC or I would have a very expensive door stop. They are supposed to replace the unit and I hope they make good on their policy. I would be happy with another 838 because it does everything I want it to and worked perfectly until recently. Given my experience and some other postings on this site, I would suggest that everyone purchase an extended warranty with any high end audio product from any manufacturer. These things are so complicated now and have so much software in them that it just makes sense. It is too bad that they do not have an interface to allow them to talk to a computer for diagnostics and software upgrades.

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon, Yamaha

I bought the Onkyo TX-SV838 about a year and half ago. During this time I had no problems with the receiver and the sound it put out. However, about two months ago I had some trouble with the sub output. It just stopped working. That's right, STOPPED, . with no output signal at all. I had to take the unit in to my discount home theater store for repair since my Onkyo warranty had long since expired. They worked on the unit for about three weeks and determined that it could not be fixed. Upon hearing the news that I was out $1399 from the two-year-ago original purchase price, I became highly disappointed in Onkyo products. However, because of my extended additional warranty protection plan purchased with the unit, I was compensated with yet another Onkyo TX-SV838. This time, once I open the box problems arose. The face plate that covers the digital display fell off when unwrapped. I immediately returned the unit, this time wondering if I should reconsider the Onkyo TX-SV838 for a Harmon Kardon unit. Upon hearing the comments of my friends who own Harmon Kardon systems say that my Onkyo sounded better, I opted to give Onkyo and the TX-SV838 on more try. I figured, the 3rd time had to be the charm. Success! I have had no additional problems with the new unit and things are working, knock on wood. I guess old or new, all things can wear out.

I work at circuit city in trumbull and after weeks and weeks of research I decided to go with the harmon kardon avr65, WHAT A PIECE OF GARBAGE, I found that the righ channel output and the s-video connection were defective soon to happen to all Harman Kardon recievers. I then returned it and bought the 838 for a measley $878 buck. I am truly satisfied with the warm high quality sound that this reciever puts out. I am very impressed. I never thought I could get this quality out of my $1000 dollar set of nuance speakers. I don't believe I'll ever need to buy another reciever considering I have a five year warranty that covers anything but throwing it out the window. The only thing I am concerned with is that it doesn't have a dts decoder. If the problem with the volume spikes begins to occur I will take it in to circuit city to get a brand new one in its place.
My recommendation is to buy it without even thinking. When you get it home you won't be dissapointed.

Enjoy

I have always wanted an Onkyo system and would love any feedback on the 939 and the 838.

If possible, please give reference to the Yamaha 9092
& the new 2093 and the Denon modles (Do I want DTS and what
are the benefits of it ?????)

Thank you and looking forward to your feedback

I just purchased the 838 a couple of weeks ago and this is how I hear it. I owned a Yamaha rx-1130 before this and because the amps blew in it twice over six years I figured I would shop around. It seems to me that my Yamaha had more volume and cleaner sound. Maybe it was a slight lack of bass that made it sound cleaner, I'm not sure, but the Onkyo definetly has more bass and overall dynamics. I have a Denon cd player, a sony cassette deck and a Magnavox vcr and I can't get the remote to work on any of it. Who ever heard of a non programmable remote? The pro-logic stuff works real well with the rented tapes I've been playing but as far as I'm concerned the steps to just turn up the rear channels while your watching is unnesararily time consuming. All in all I think it is going to be a good unit and I'm hoping for more reliability than the Yamaha gave me. I wish it had just a little more power, I don't care what anybody says!, and a better remote.

The Onkyo 838 is a great reciever. I am very satisfied with the sound quality and control that is gives you. I have had mine for about a year now. I have found one MAJOR problem with the unit. I use the Remote volume alot, I have found that the Volume Servo wears out fast. When you go to change the volume, it spikes (digitally). It can sometimes spike 5-10dB. Other than that, I LOVE the DX-C330 CD Player.

I AM THE OWNER OF THE ONKYO 838, SONY S3000 DVD PLAYER, NHT 1.2'S VS 1.2'S, THE SW2PI SUB WOOFER AND A PAIR OF SUPER ONE'S, ONKYO 330 SIX DISC CD CHANGER, AND I REALLY LOVE MY SYSTEM. I THINK THAT THE SET UP THAT I PRESENTLY OWN SOUNDS A LOT BETTER THAN ANY MOVIE THEATER. I CAN FEEL THAT I CAN SAY THIS WITH SOME AUTHORITY BECAUSE I MANAGE A STATE OF THE ART MULTI-PLEX CINEMA WITH THE SONY SDDS, DTS, KINTEK STEREO, DOLBY DIGITAL AND FOR THE SIZE OF MY VIEW AND LISTENING AREA IT'S OUT STANDING, I DON'T EVEN WATCH MOVIES AT MY LOCATION ANY MORE BECAUSE I THINK MINUS THE POPCORN AND NACHOS I HAVE ONE THE BEST SOUNDING SYSTEM OUT AT THIS TIME. BY THE WAY I'M NOT NEW TO THE ONKYO SYSTEMS I'VE OWNED THE TX 2500 AND A PAIR OF ONKYO 160 SPEAKERS SINCE 1978 AND THE ALSO CONTINUE TO PERFORM VERY WELL.