Onkyo Home Theater - HTS 790 A Master Piece !!!!!. Review on Onkyo HT - S580

I own a Onkyo HTS - 790 HTIB (Home Theater in a Box) for the last 2 years. Itz a 7.1 Channel HTIB. Prior to this I owned a Onkyo HTS -670 ( Named Dominator on ONKYO India's Website) for a year. Both of them are Masterpiece. You are sure to be entertained Audio at the highest level. Believe me you will get goose bumbs when you hear Onkyo for the first time.

It all happened like this. When I was doing my Higher school Std 12 ( 12 Yrs b4) , one of my close friend had bought an Onkyo system. It was then called a PTS (Personal theater system). I was amazed & completely blown away by the perfomance bcoz I never witnessed such an astounding sound quality in my life before. That day, I decided to own it sometime in my life @ any cost. I waited all the years to get one and finally it happened in 2005.I bought the first Onkyo model HTS- 670 HTIB and owned it for a year. ANd then due to the curiosity of the High Def systems, I switched to Onkyo HTS -790 HTIB.

Dont compare Sony music systems, Philips Music Systems to these as it is really unfare and they will be real puppets b4 this one. These systems are sure to get embarassed before Onkyo.

There is a misconception that everybody thinks Hometheater Includes a LCD/Plasma TV also. Onkyo does not have a LCD/Plasma as a part of thier HT. They sell standalone A/V (Audio/Video) receivers, HTIB ( Home Theaters in a Box), DVD Players and few others products pertaining to enetetainment market.

My personal opinion is that it you need not have an LCD to enjoy your movie. It is the sound that matters more rather then quality of picture.

Coming to the review...

My HTIB is a 7.1 Channels. For those who don't know what is a 7.1 channel - Each channel is a speaker. itz the L - Left, C - Center, R - Right, SL - Surround Left, SR - Surround Right, SBL - Surround Back Left.SBR - Surround Back Right + .1 - Subwoofer.

Product Description : My HT is rated 130 W RMS /Channel + 230 W RMS Active Sub woofer. RMS is different from PMPO. Most of the electronics ginat mislead with PMPO. RMS is the correct rating for a speaker output. 1 Watt RMS - 11 watt PMPO. So this system produces Approx 1140 RMS ~ 13, 000 W PMPO. This kind of a set-up is more than enough for the next 5 - 10 yrs even in the fast developing technological world.

Features - Decoders - DTS 5.1 Digital surround, DTS 6.1 ES - (Extended surround), Dolby Digital & Dolby Digital Ex ( Extended Surround)

DTS

DTS Neo 6 Music

DTS Neo 6 Movie

DTS 6.1 Es ( Extended Surroud)

DTS + Dolby EX

Dolby Digital

Dolby prologic IIx Music

Dolby Prologic IIx Movie

Dolby Digital Ex ( Extended Surround)

FM / AM - Auto tuner.

Each speaker adjustment in DB ( Decibles) & distance which you can manually set , Bass & Treble Adjustments & Double bass function which takes off the bass from the speaker and letz it to the subwoofer. The sub woofer is an active one - which means u can adjust the subwoofer according to your settings ( Increase or Decrease the thump). Some additional 5 DSP (Digital Signal/Sound processing) modes of ONkyo's

Remote : Keys on the remote are neatly laid out. Very comfortable to hold and operate.

Connections : I guess it has 3 co-axial inuts & 1 optical input. I connect it to my DVD player thru optical connection.

Perfomance : Here comes the most interesting aspect of the Hometheater.

Music : You can enjoy your MP3, Audio CD only in DTS Neo 6 Music Mode / Dolby prologic IIx Music mode and some DSP modes of Onkyo's. You cannot enjoy your Audio CD's & MP3 on DTS or Dolby bcoz it requires the source material to be encoded in the same format. There are DTS audio CD's in the market. I did find around 5 - 10 tamil film music on DTS Auio CD's (5.1). @ the moment there are no 6.1 DTS Audio CD's in india. But I got them when few of my friends who travelled to US. I do have 6.1 DTS Audio discs. Don't be taken away by the technology that they might cost high. They are resonable as any other Audio CD. You can get them for Rs 100/-. You Cannot enjoy music on Dolby digital mode.

Movies :  To enjoy the full perfomance on the system, I needed DVD's which should be encoded in DTS 5.1/6.1 ES. So I enrolled in a DVD rental store and would specifically pick the DVD's which are encoded in DTS 6.1 surround. I have watched almost all the movies on DTS 6.1.I never spend on the original copy DVD's of the movies. I accept them as compliments from my friends whover travels to US. Its waste of money buying in india. Rather I buy them from the pirate market. Which you would get a very gud print for 100 Rs and not so gud print for 40 - 60 Rs.

Most of the pirate movies are being encoded in Dolby Digital format. The pirate market people call them 5.1 Movie.So I enjoy them on my sytem on Dolby digital Ex. The Onkyo receiver expands the 5.1 movie to a 7.1 movie. Really amazing.I get immersed in a crystal clear sound when I am surrounded by 8 speakers to deliver the highest level of audio and enjoy it thoroughly.

Take my word, You are prone to Quality music/Movies addiction as you start playing the beast.

The only reason I bought this considering Yamaha, Denon & other products is their service. They are qualified professionals trained by Onkyo to attend the faults. When you invest 50 K - 60 K on your HT, you can't expect a local mechanic who may be capable to attend your system. Yamaha , Denon & other products have their products in India through dealers. I am not sure if they have good service network. But Onkyo has company owned outlet inChennai - Alwarpet and service center too. So thatz more realiable. I have not faced any problems with my Onkyo for the last 3 years. Thatz the reliability of Onkyo.

If you didn't get an oppurtunity listening to Onkyo, Make your way to Onkyo showrooms in your city and you will believe why I am telling this.

There is a system for every body's budget. But quality comes @ a price.

Thanks & Regards

Elango