Customer Reviews

Onkyo CSV720S Executive Shelf System with Universal DVD

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I own 2 of these because the first one was so good. Besides being able to play anything well (CD, SACD, DVD), the amplifier section generates a clean, cool 23W into 4 ohms, enough to drive the included speakers to very high levels, the baby speakers are fantastically good, the microfibre woofer-midrange really works. Give the speakers 100 hours or more to break in, because they are light, you may want to weight them down. I listen only to classical music and I switched to these speakers from Epos 11's, for those who know, I cannot say more about the quality. Just listened to Water Lily Acoustics' SACD of Shostakovich 7 from St Petersburg. All I can say is "wow". But Boulez and Cleveland doing Debussy from 1992 on good old PCM sounds almost as good. Who would have thought Onkyo could produce such a great miniature.

You really can't compare this system to more expensive two speaker systems. For one the price is nearly a quarter of them.

However this system fits a very nice nitch. It offers excellent sound quality for a smaller space. And it will play just about anything that comes on a disc. If you don't need a lot of power or 5.1 surround, but you're looking for a quality system this will fit your needs.

I got this system in 4/07 - and it worked fine for 3 or 4 weeks. Then, it began turning itself off in the middle of DVD's or even iPod playback, resetting the clock/time and all other settings. At its worst, it would turn off about every 8 to 10 minutes. It spent over 6 weeks in the repair shop under warranty service (about 1/3 of the time that I've owned it), and within 20 minutes of getting it back home, it had the same exact problem. I placed several calls to Onkyo, spent about 20-30 minutes on hold with each call, spoke with people named Don, Ray, and Felicia in their Parts & Service department, and the universal response was to continue to bring it back to the shop, despite the fact that it's a brand new system. In the end, I was told that Onkyo's policy is to repair it approximately 3 times before they will consider an item exchange. Considering that it nearly never worked properly, that it's been in repair for over 1-1/2 months,and that Onkyo thinks this is acceptable, seems unreasonable. The system, if it worked, would be great - but it doesn't, and the "customer service" was among the most uncaring experiences I've had. It seems that Onkyo cares more about its own convenience than the satisfaction of its customers.

I was pretty excited to get this stereo. I've been researching for quite awhile and was very impressed by the reviews of this product and had high expectations, especially with copy from the manufacturer like this: "Imagine turning up the volume and filling your entertainment room with noise-free, impressively powerful, true-to-life sound." So naturally i assumed that i would be getting a stereo that would produce wonderful sound for some of the quiet music i listen to. I like loud, aggressive music and I also love really quiet stuff, too, so i was pretty disappointed when set the Onkyo up and put on a quiet cd (Baird Hersey and Prana, "Eternal Embrace") and in the quiet moments all i could hear was a VERY LOUD disc mechanism spinning the cd. Sort of ruined the whole experience... I hoped that it was just new and needed to settle in but after a few hours of play it has not settled one bit and has even taken to clicking with each spin of the disc. Yuck!

Also, the speakers, as mentioned in some of the other reviews, obviously need to be "worked out" as they are bound very tightly and it made listening a bit tiring.

So, back to the search, 'cause this baby ain't it.

I can't stand to listen to the terrible sound coming from most mini-systems from Sony, JVC and others (even their high end mini-systems). It actually causes me physical pain to listen to them, well almost :). As a result I was going to buy the Denon or Yamaha mini-systems when I ran across this one from Onkyo. The sound is absolutely fantastic for a mini-system (great bass). The sound is comparable to the Denon or Yamaha. But the Onkyo has more features and is much cheaper. I bought one as a gift for a relative. But I like it so much I'm trying to find an excuse to buy another one for me.

Mainly echo-ing other reviews..for the price the sound quality of this unit is phenomenal . Like other Onkyo products I have bought the sound quality for the low to mid price range is hard to beat .
For the price you get a decent pair of mini-bookshelf speakers too . The sound is clean and undistorted with a decent bass response from the speakers (for their size) ..but you'll need a subwoofer if you want to go bass heavy / really crank it . 30W per channel is not going to shake the house either but it's plenty of power to listen to music loudly . And it plays mp3 discs and SACD .
In the end I decided to upgrade the speakers and move the included pair into my TV home theater set up . I got a pair of 400 dollar bookshelf speakers (higher price than the total original unit) which are much better quality (bi-wired etc ) and the sound quality took another jump up allowing me to hear a surprisingly good soundstage for both cds and mp3s .
Note: I fed my mp3s either from cd or from a computer/wireless device using lossless (FLAC) streaming and the unit's digital optical in ... hence was feeding in a high quality digital signal . Got very good sound quality (as good as the quality/bitrarte of the source mp3's would allow) . If you connect an Ipod via the optional analog Onkyo connector the sound quality of the mp3s is affected by the quality of the digital to analog converter of the Ipod itself . In my case 2nd generation Ipod = horrible analog output quality , hence the sound quality of the Ipod is not very good . But that is the case no matter which receiver unit I connect my Ipod to .

Summary
You're not going to get audiophile quality for under 400 bucks but this unit is good enough to attach some decent/higher quality speakers .

This small micro component is amazing. I know Onkyo is one of great audio makers. This is cheap but surprisingly talented. It can play SACD as well as CD and DVD. You should listen to the SACD with CSV720S. Every instrument is listened to independently and clearly. I was shocked when I played first. Also, this stereo is enough to play DVD in small room. The bass does not have any lack and the thearetical dimension function supports faked 5.1 channel. Everything is simple to handle. Finally you should remember the price is only $300.

I wanted a simple to connect, relatively inexpensive HTIB, with a good DVD player and not a lot of speakers to have to connect and find places for. Considering I only have the 2 speakers, the sound quality for my new JVC 56" TV is greatly improved. The DVD player works great, and has played all DVDs, as well as commercial CDs, burned MP3s, photo CDs, everything, flawlessly. The only glitch with the system has been a failure of the LED display to come on when I power up the unit occasionally, but it has always come on when I turn it off and on again. Other than that, it has been everything I expected.

I was looking primarily for a XM ready unit and stumbled upon this product without knowing the brand or rating of this device among other owners. I usually do my homework but this time I needed to make a quick purchase. Needless to say, I am amazed by this little unit.

The purchase was made for my mom who needed something simple to operate and could play a wide variety of formats as well as needing the XM capabilities.

After getting it all hooked up, I quickly became envious of what I had purchased for my mom. The sound is great...amazing! Easily plays cd's and DVD's. The XM stations sound great...especially the HD channels. All this for a great price and such a small package...you know what they say; "Big things come in small packages!"

I bought this product after spending a long time reviewing reviews :-).

Initially I was thinking about buying a home theater system with a high end receiver but as my search continued and I got input from some really audio savvy coworkers, I settled on the Onkyo Shelf System.

I have to say I am really pleased with the product. I have had the product for almost 6 months.

It really has the most clear sound you could ever imagine for a product at this price.

I mainly listen to classical music nowadays. In fact, the sound on Onkyo was so good that when I watched a live concert of Beethoven's piano concerto it did not sound that much better. Should I say more!

This is a great choice if you want to spend[...] It fills my whole home with sound that I have never had to go more than about 30% of the full volume.