Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker Package with iPod Dock
Review by Bogus : Great Value, easy setup, heat NOT an issue

I purchased this system on Black Friday, and noticed shortly after that it was "under review" by Amazon. Several of the other reviews state that the unit overheats and malfunctions if the vent is blocked, and were considering that to be a defect. This system could very well be a popular first home theater receiver/amp, so for those of you who aren't familiar with these kinds of things, think of it this way- the main unit is a video/audio processor packaged in a metal box which ALSO contains the parts that power the center, fronts, and surround speakers. The speakers don't have power plugs, they're powered directly by that unit. In other words, imagine placing a 20-pound power supply in a metal box with your laptop. Get the idea? There's a reason it ships with a warning label which clearly states DO NOT BLOCK THE VENT. I have no doubt that shoehorning it into one of those cubbyhole-style stands or placing a shelf directly above it will cause problems.

All that being said, I have my receiver on the bottom shelf of my TV stand with a good 8" above it before the next shelf, and the stand is open on the sides and back (glass shelves with wooden legs on the corners). I've run the unit for hours at a time with no problems whatsoever. Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe it's the fact that there's sufficient airflow. Either way, it works.

And it works really well. I'm not sure how the setup could be difficult, all of the ports on the receiver are clearly marked and the remote uses the same labels (the "Game" HDMI port and "Game" optical audio port are controlled by the "Game" buttons on the unit itself and the remote). The various audio modes are well described and the Audyssey setup is easy too (and highly recommended, it makes a difference). The subwoofer is huge, which is good or bad depending on your situation. I'm in a third floor apartment, so turning the knob to anything beyond 3 (out of 10) is inappropriately loud. On the other hand, in a "man cave" or home theater you can really crank the thing up and feel the soundtrack in your chest. For comparison, the subwoofer is slightly taller and a few inches wider than my Antec 900 computer case.

A few additional notes: as another reviewer stated, the Atlantic stands that are listed at the bottom of this page DO NOT directly attach to the speakers. The speakers have a wall-mount bracket towards the top of the back, but nothing on the lower-back or bottom. I just used the included double-sided tape and the speakers aren't going anywhere. If you have kids or rowdy pets you might want to look into another solution.

Also, Onkyo is kind enough to ship some speaker wire with the system, but it's super thin. Upgrading to some 14-gauge wire is a good idea, at the very least for the rear surrounds. You could probably get away with using the thin stuff for the front three, but you can get a spool of 100' 14-gauge wire for under $40. Also, don't bother with banana clips; you can't use them on the speaker end, and they don't seem to make a good connection on the receiver end. Just wire everything directly- it's quick, easy, and reliable.

For the price you'd be hard pressed to find a better system.

Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker Package with iPod Dock
Review by Shawn : Big sound in a big package

Pros -
The sound is amazing. Prior to this I had a Samsung All in One BluRay 5.1 surround system and I'm baffled by how much better this sounds.
The receiver has every kind of input you'll ever need.

Cons -
The SubWoofer is huge and the receiver is big as well. This was almost a deal breaker with my girlfriend.
It didn't come with enough speaker wire to reach the back surrounds. My living room is average size


Overall I'm very satisfied with my purchase. Just know that the system is going to take up a decent amount of space.

Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker Package with iPod Dock
Review by William P. Shivers "Paul" : Great Stereo, But I got Lemon.... and Amazon took care of me!

Bottom line is I like the receiver. The sound is quite pleasing. It has a sufficient number of HDMI inputs for my needs and met my 3D requirements.

I did discover an already known issue (That I did not know about) with DirecTV and most any 3D Audio receiver and 3DTV, it doesn't work right out of the box. One ends up with a "split screen" much like a side by side PIP.

It appears this is a problem of DirecTV's making but can be corrected using Samsung's 3D option located in the Content-3D menu, then selecting the icon that looks like the problem you are having, in my case a side-by-side image. This works but is only effective while watching the 3D program. It has to be reset each time when watching a DirecTV 3D program. 3D programing from my Samsung BD-6900 Blu Ray passes through the receiver without a problem.

My S7300 is only one week old and I have had to order a replacement from Amazon.com. After listening to the receiver for anywhere from 5-30 minutes, the sound begins to cut out. It begins clicking every few seconds through all speakers for about 2 minutes with the clicking increasing rapidly over the 2 minutes. The sound then goes completely silent. If I unplug the receiver for about 30 minutes, the sound will come back, but will go out again in about 5-30 minutes as described before.

The problem does seem to be heat related as the sound goes out faster if the receiver is in it's enclosed space inside the Entertainment center. If I sit it out on a TV tray it will run for up to about 30 minutes before failure.

I'm a little disappointed at this point, but I am hoping the replacement will be trouble free. I will update my review after the replacement unit comes in....

When it does work, it works very well!

Update:
I have had the replacement S7300 for several weeks now. Perfect! Excellent sound, and no more problems. I have elected to leave the receiver in an "open" slot, (No Door), in my Entertainment center where the air can move freely and help with keeping it cool. This one runs a lot cooler than the original that failed, but it still operates a bit on the "Toasty" side. (Fans in the cabinet would be a good addition).

Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker Package with iPod Dock
Review by NEfanman : Made a Great Decision buying this Home-Theatre System....CR best buy!!!

I spent a lot of time reasearching Home Theatre systems for just about the past year. I was always taken away by the Bose systems in the stores that go in the $1,500 range, also the 2-3 speaker systems for $700-800. I have not had a home theatre for some time and my last big stereo purchase was a Aiwa receiver (5.1) with front and back speakers from Cambridge Soundworks. A nice little system that I have enjoyed for the past 10+ years. It was time to upgrade.

After researching long and hard I discovered the Onkyo systems. Highly rated in Consumer Reports (I tend to follow a lot and have never been dissapointed). The system I was after was the lower 5000 Onkyo HT series with bookshelf speakers/satellite speakers. I went to local Sears and I was impressed by the sound. My turn off on thelower system was the size of the speakers which would not fit on my TV stand. I opted for the Tower Speakers for looks and also a little better sound.

My system arrived and was in a pretty big box. Overall everything is really good quality. I was surprised like a lot of people by the size of the subwoofer....twice the size of the one that I had. Receiver is color coded and comes with wires that are coded the same. I have a small living room and not sure what circumstance you would have where the back speakers would actually reach with included wire. You will need extra speaker wire to install the back four speakers.

Wiring up the speakers was the quick part. I had some connection issues on the back wires (user error by me) that I made. Once I got these issues fixed (I called Onkyo support and tech was very helpful inwalking me through what was wrong) I was pleased. This unit produces INCREDIBLE SOUND!!! I can't tell you how good the sound is of this system, both watching TV, video games and Music. Powerful, clear, crisp sound like I never imagined. I would put it there if not better than many $1,000+ priced sound systems out there.

A ton of Modes for various sounds, different sounds you will use it for. I actually cannot believe that I went this long with listening to mainly the sound from my TV. This system makes every movie worth watching again and is also unbelievable when watching live sports...it's like I'm there. Pair this system with a good HD TV/Blu-Ray player and you have the ultimate combination.

I truly am happy with my purchase and hope my comments help someone else out there in a market for a great sound system. I typically do not spend this kind of money on a Stereo but in this case I would do it all over again. I feel if this system was priced at $1,000 I would still be happy with my purchase, obviously cost almost half that. Very happy and I look forward to enjoying my Onkyo for years to come.

PRO's: Sound quality (top-notch, better than systems that cost a lot more $$), # of sound modes, ease of hooking up, remote, overall look, tower speakers, center speaker quality

CON's: HDMI...I hooked through receiver but it was too much work to switch between components...wired all back to my TV and did audio out to receiver. Size of subwoofer.

Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker Package with iPod Dock
Review by Robert S. Zippin "Bobbyzee" : Heat causes intermittent sound loss

This setup is by far the best for the money. When I originally unpacked it and put it in the cabinet, the amp put out so much heat that the sound would go off for a few seconds after about 2 hours of play. I called Onkyo who said they never heard of such a thing and I should do a hard start(push power and vcr together) and if that didn't work I should drive the amp 30 miles to the nearest repair center. In the process of playing with the amp I pulled the cabinet away from the wall and pushed the amp to the back of its shelf so that I could get to the connections. Every time I did that, the intermittent sound loss stopped. I realized that the shelf above the amp did not block the amp vents when the amp was pushed to the back of the cabinet. I removed the shelf above the amp which gave the amp about 6 inches to vent the heat and from that time on there has been no sound loss and I have kept the amp running for 10 hours at a time. There are suggestions not to block the vent but it is a safety not a performance suggestion.
I would recommend this product to a friend, but not to insert in a cabinet without proper ventilation.