Customer Reviews

Onkyo HTS894 5.1 Channel Complete Home Theater System w/ Single Disc DVD

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just received my HT-S894 a couple of days ago and have spent quite a bit of time setting it up and reading through the manuals that came with it. The system looks good, sounds great, and comes at a nice price, especially if you shop around (I wish I'd known that refurbished models were available about a week ago... Their price is quite surprising).

Now for the stuff I wish someone had told me... Not that the info would have necessarily stopped me from buying the HT-S894, but I think others will find these details important. If you connect the receiver to your TV with component cables, then anything connected to the receiver through HDMI will not display any picture. This is verified in the manual. Stranger yet, if you hook the receiver to your TV with HDMI, then anything connected through component cables will not show a picture on the TV. On top of that, the receiver's on-screen menu will not display on your TV through the HDMI output. Very irritating, considering HDMI was one of the selling points that convinced me to choose this system. I can't even use it now, because I want to be able to use the setup menu and have more devices that use component outputs than HDMI outputs. It's really a shame that I have to choose between using HDMI or component connections. Some may want to note that the receiver uses HDMI v1.1.

Movies sound great out of the box, and music sounds just as nice with some tweaking. I prefer to turn down most of the channels by about "3" or "4" and crank the LFE (subwoofer) up by "8" to get the punchy sound that I like. With default settings, the sub seemed almost ignored. I've yet to figure out how to save the adjusted channel settings. They keep getting reset when I turn off the unit.

One very pleasant surprise was that the included DVD player handles DivX files. I've tested out quite a few files that all played fine, except for some high-definition movie rips that are over 2GB, meaning they're burned with the UDF file system (if I remember correctly), which is not supported by the player. Otherwise, TV shows and standard-definition rips work nicely.

While it sounds like I'm not extremely happy with this system, I really do like it enough to hold on to it and just ordered two pairs of Sanus EF-SATB speaker stands for the front & rear speakers [...]

I just received my HT-S894 a couple of days ago and have spent quite a bit of time setting it up and reading through the manuals that came with it. The system looks good, sounds great, and comes at a nice price, especially if you shop around (I wish I'd known that refurbished models were available about a week ago... Their price is quite surprising).

Now for the stuff I wish someone had told me... Not that the info would have necessarily stopped me from buying the HT-S894, but I think others will find these details important. If you connect the receiver to your TV with component cables, then anything connected to the receiver through HDMI will not display any picture. This is verified in the manual. Stranger yet, if you hook the receiver to your TV with HDMI, then anything connected through component cables will not show a picture on the TV. On top of that, the receiver's on-screen menu will not display on your TV through the HDMI output. Very irritating, considering HDMI was one of the selling points that convinced me to choose this system. I can't even use it now, because I want to be able to use the setup menu and have more devices that use component outputs than HDMI outputs. It's really a shame that I have to choose between using HDMI or component connections. Some may want to note that the receiver uses HDMI v1.1.

Movies sound great out of the box, and music sounds just as nice with some tweaking. I prefer to turn down most of the channels by about "3" or "4" and crank the LFE (subwoofer) up by "8" to get the punchy sound that I like. With default settings, the sub seemed almost ignored. I've yet to figure out how to save the adjusted channel settings. They keep getting reset when I turn off the unit.

One very pleasant surprise was that the included DVD player handles DivX files. I've tested out quite a few files that all played fine, except for some high-definition movie rips that are over 2GB, meaning they're burned with the UDF file system (if I remember correctly), which is not supported by the player. Otherwise, TV shows and standard-definition rips work nicely.

While it sounds like I'm not extremely happy with this system, I really do like it enough to hold on to it and just ordered two pairs of Sanus EF-SATB speaker stands for the front & rear speakers (they have a very nice price here at Amazon.com). Overall, I'm fairly satisfied after paying a couple hundred less than list price for the system. It's an awful lot of bang for the buck.

I shopped around and finally bought this one when I saw it listed under $700. It is really nice to get a receiver with this kind of connectivity (2 HDMI inputs, one out, and all the other connections you could possibly want). The receiver appears to take whatever you can throw at it, and it was a snap to get my components integrated with it (digital cable and dvd). The bundled DVD player up-converts signals (something I was also looking for, and a nice touch even though you can pick one up separately for a pretty low price), which is nice. The speakers are very nice. The sound quality is crisp, not at all muddy, and works well with both movies and music. I am not an "audiophile" but I know when I hear something that sounds good, and this unit blows away my old Bose based system (which was too bass-heavy and didn't accommodate the mid-range frequencies needed to carry dialogue).

I'm using this as a springboard to get me into the 21s Century and will be getting an HDTV monitor in the next couple of months, so I can't really speak to HDMI connectivity, as another reviewer did. I hooked my system up to an old TV with a composite video/analog out, and did experience the same issue with video signal not coming through from the DVD (which I connected using the included HDMI cable), but I'm hopeful there is a workaround - we got everything to work just fine eventually by deferring the HDMI connection for the time being. I've read about other Onkyo systems having a wonky treatment of HDMI video and audio processing, but nothing that prevents usage altogether.

I would easily give this 5 stars for quality and configurability, but I am docking one because I want to be cautious (but optimistic!!!) about the HDMI connectivity issue. I'll post a follow-up if I learn anything!

I've gotten some serious migraines from all the hdmi issues with compatibility until i got this system to complete my gamers paradise. I started four days ago with a Sony strdg510 receiver to replace my old pioneer 5.1 from 2005. To make it simple after two days of frustration and a new Sony sub in trying to get my ps3 and 360 to work with the digital out i sold the Sony garbage since even with a new sub my gaming didn't have any LFE output. When I got the Onkyo HTS94 home I was really hesitant on the hdmi features of the receiver but after some time spent fiddling with the remote i found the hdmi audio on option located in the hardware setup. For the FIRST time i heard hdmi audio on anything besides my Regza lcd. The first thing i did was i threw in NIN Blu ray to test if i had setup the wiring right and discovered i only had the surround right working and it sounded better than my old Pioneer 5.1 and the Sony put together. Word of advice "Take Your Time" setting up the wiring on the speakers so you get it done right the first time. My only complaints like someone else said was the first time setup guide didn't work on my hdmi so i had to resort to the manual and use the receiver as my display for configuration instead if displaying on the tv but a few days later i found out it works on the component input of the receiver. The ps3 now has many more real sound options with this receiver i mean before i've only known it to do 3 sound options now i have 11 options and don't have to use bitstream for a full surround PCM experience and my 360 is run through hdmi 2 so now i have a free hdmi input on my regza and best of all now i don't have to switch optical cables back forth like i did with the Pioneer due to the hdmi audio actually doing what it's supposed to do. All of my major components were easily setup and it can all be accessed with a click of a button through my Logitech remote. I've never heard the full potential of movies and games from the ps3 or the 360 until now. I couldn't be anymore satisfied with this Onkyo system and would recommend it to any gamer or blu ray fan.

I will get my complaints out of the way first and there is only one. Size of the speakers but to be honest it didnt matter for me because I placed them inside the walls. But i could see for a person that needs to mount this unit onto the walls it could be a little of a distraction. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, the system is amazing! It was kept very simple stupid with the directions they color coordinate wires and they make it very clear. But it will take you some time to hook up dont think that you can take it out of the box and 30 minutes later your watching your favorite movie in HD with surround sound. But if you do follow the directions and take your time you will enjoy the finished result.

This is my first surround sound system, and I couldn't have been more impressed with the ease of set up. The sound is nice, also. Color coded speaker wires came with the system, but I bought 12 gauge speaker wire, since the rear speakers are about 15 or 20 feet away from the receiver.

Replaced my 8 year old Onkyo receiver and mismatched JBL / Kenwood / Infinity 5.1 speakers with this bad boy. Let me tell you that I am not one bit disappointed. The setup I had before was really good and blew away most of my friends and family's systems. However, with the addition of my HDTV, an upconvert HDMI DVD player, a component/HDMI DVD recorder, etc... the system just didn't have the connections that I really needed. Started looking at every system out there and found myself coming back to this home theater in the box deal. After looking at it first hand at a local store, I dropped my earlier decision to get a 5.1 JBL speaker system and separate Onkyo receiver and bought this puppy. I now have 2 upconvert DVD players due to the included unit from this system, but I do have to say that I really prefer the Onkyo DVD over my Samsung. It seems to have a lot less hang up's over different types of discs. The receiver puts out a bang and it was a breeze to set up. Still looking for a good set of speaker stands that I like and I'm still toying with replacing the included speaker wire with a better gauge. Other than that, if you're looking for a great system that doesn't require you to take out a second mortgage, you'd be a fool not to grab this system up at the price and quality combo that it has going for it.

For the price this is a great system. This item includes all necessary speakers, the amplifier, and an up-converting DVD player which up-converts to 1080i. This is the perfect entry level system for a small to medium home theater system. This package is also very generous. It includes all necessary speaker wire and 1 HDMI cable. The speaker wire is not the best quality, and if doing in wall wiring I would recommend that you purchase other wire as there may not be enough length. I would highly recommend this system it sounds and looks great.

Bought this all-in-one system from Amazon instead of Crutchfield because I could find all my additional components here and get everything a few bucks cheaper. Boy, that was a mistake -- if anything in the package turns out to be faulty, which you won't of course discover until setting everything up, Amazon wants you to package the whole deal back up and send the entire thing back to them.

The receiver is of good quality, and it's easy to hook up, though the shared inputs are a bit confusing at first. After fiddling around in the configuration menu for a few minutes you should get a handle on how it operates and how to configure your system.

The provided speaker wires are a decent length, but they are cheap, 16-gauge, copper-strand wire. I would recommend going out and buying some 8 or 10-gauge speaker wire with decent shielding, considering how much power this thing pushes.

As far as the DVD player goes, I can't give you a decent review because mine was DOA. As stated earlier, Amazon refuses to replace just this one part, insisting that I disassemble and repackage the entire unit for replacement. I'll probably have to end up using Onkyo's warranty to get the thing repaired, assuming the shipping to and from a repair facility is less than the price of a new player of equal value.

Best system one could find without spending as much on the sound system as on the HDTV. This is when 40 inches cost $1400.