Just recently purchased the Onkyo 838. They are being used with KEF's TDM23F, 23C 23S and 45B subwoofer. It is in a word... awesome. The receiver has more clarity than any that I listened to within $500.00 of the price. The KEF's allow the true spirit of the 838 to show in the low end range and the left / center / right play in perfect unison.
I am not at all looking forward to the volume vontrol problem or the 5-10 db spikes, but I'll wait and see if they develop.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. It helped me in making my decision.

I have always admired Onkyo's build quality. This unit is no different. Very solid choice.

I've been in the market for a new system for a couple of months & had almost decided on the AV85 from HK. I made a snap decision while listening to the Onkyo 838. My ears said to buy it! Overall I'm very happy with it but could they make it any more difficult to connect everything in the back? How about a little more space between jacks? I would highly recommend this to anyone. I have 1 question about speakers, naturally I want to upgrade those now. I have Infinity Overture 3's that I want to use & the center channel. What about the surrounds? Do they need to have extra ump to make up for only 60 watts? Does it matter, or how about another set of the 3's? Yeah like I could afford that but wouldn't it be great. Anyway I give this one 5 stars just because it sounds so great it made my decision for me.

Purchased the 838 as a display for a great deal. SOunds great but cannot get past the inability to adjust sound parameters while listening to a program. Perhaps there may be a way around it but can't get to it. I have them connected to a Klipsh speaker system and they sound great. The system is very accurate and in AC3 delivers great dynamic sound reproduction. I contemplated purchasing a Harmon Kardon System and decided on this one. Glad I did.One big drawback is the clumbsy remote. I like it.

I purchased the Onkyo as an entry into the hoe theater arena. Having had Onkyo equipment in the past I was expecting great results. Well I was disapointed in the performance of this unit. The sound quality of this did not hold a candel to my older P304 & M504 system. All of my equipment is the Integra level so I thought I was getting a good unit. The stereo side for the cd and tape I could hear distotion in the sound that was not present in the p304/M504 assenbly. I was able to hookup both systems and compair the results and my older was much better sound quality. On the home theater aspect the hookup was fine, but anything not connected via "S" video did not work, even when all the connections were removed and RCA connections were used for the video. The salesmen was no help here and I got "it should work" from Onkyo. Overall I was very displeased with this unit and I returned it to the place of purchase. I would not recomend this unit to an above average listner as the quality of the product is not there.

I only had one good day of testing before something went wrong with the receiver. The second day I turned on the receiver, the bass from the 60-200HZ was gone from all channels on all inputs. I used a bass test CD and the low frequencies came out fine through my sub. I am returning it and will contemplate getting the Harmon Kardon AVR65 instead. As for the first day, the receiver performed great. It brought my speakers to life at ALL sound levels. I played some classical music and I could actually hear the fingers move along the instruments. It was extremely clear, even at the 0db level which was deafening in my theater room, which is 10 x 15. If you like bright sounding music this is a great receiver, but if you want to play hard rock, the bass will disappoint you. The volume spikes were also very annoying.

I have owned this great reciever for almost 2 years, and it's an outstanding performer - it has an exceptional perspective and a channel separation, I've never heard before at this price. In stereo it performs average, I'd place it among the lower middleclass stereoamps. Not bad.My only complaint, which prevent me from giving this reciever 5 stars, is that I miss a 5.1 input for DTS or MPEG decoders. Upgrading to state-of-the-art DTS is impossible, unless you build it into the reciever - difficult and expensive.
If there were a 5.1 input on the back of this bad boy, I'd give it 5 stars.

I HAVE OWNED THE TXDS838 FOR ABOUT 2YEARS AND IT HAS BEEN AN OUTSTANDING PERFORMER ESPECIALLY ON DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 SOUNDTRACKS.CLEAR AND INTELLIGIBLE DIALOGUE,DISCRETE AMBIENT SOUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS.MY ONLY COMPLAINTS ARE NOT ENOUGH DIGITAL INPUTS.SYSTEM INCLUDES;ONKYO DXC606,SONY DVPS300,BOSTON VR40,PARADIGM CC350,BOSTON HD8,PARADIGM PS1200. P.S.THE TXDS838 AND THE SV838 ARE DIFFERENT UNITS THE LATTER DOES NOT PROCESS DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1.

The Onkyo 838 has had outstanding sound processing ability. The AC-3 built in decoder has taken the term home theater to a higher level. I really don't have any major complaints about the 838 except one thing that the remote control is a pain to use, I just don't like the design. But for those of you that are waiting for the 939 don't, the 838 will be just as good if not better. In my views of the two the 838 Ac-3 reciever will out preform by far the THX 939 Onkyo reciever. But if you don't want to take my word for it just waste your time for the 939.

Solid

No DTS

I LOVE this receiver. Just wish I had the DTS. I guess
this could be a "ask a question review", what-how-is the
best way to add a DTS processor...such a s brand and conv.