my first post in this forum, please be gentle...

[scottmoberly]

I have the ability to purchase a new, in box, Onkyo HTS 5600 system for $199 with free shipping and no sales tax. From my research, this seems to be a pretty nice, mid range system. I live in an apartment, and will be using this system in my living room.....and frankly, from my research, this system may be a bit of an overkill. At the same time, given my price vs. MSRP, I feel I can't walk away. Unlike other systems I have considered (Samsung HTF 6500, as an example), the sub woofer is not wireless and neither are the rear speakers....so I will end up either adding wireless adapters to the sub-woofer and surround speakers....another $250), or run wire (not really a desired solution--but if it saves me $250--I will likely do it), so now, I am at $199 and I lay the wire or $450 for the complete Onkyo system with wireless adapters, vs the current price for the Samsung at $499.

I can't seem to find a reason not to buy the Onkyo system...the value--price vs. product seems to be to high.

Am I missing anything...I was prepared to spend around $500....but $199 for what appears to be a relatively high quality system seems like a really great deal.

What do you experts out there think?

Thank you.

 

[ImcLoud]

I am against any system that comes all in one box, lol... Something about plastic speakers and 8" subwoofers just turns me off... Although it will serve most people well...
And as far as wiring goes, I would not get wireless adapters, the wires are pretty easy to hide and cover, plenty of options out there for much less cost, and you will thank yourself later....

I will offer one more option, for $500
Amazon.com: BIC America F12 12-Inch 475-Watt Front Firing Powered Subwoofer: Electronics
Amazon.com: Jamo S 426 HCS 3 WENGE 5-Piece Home Theater System (Wenge): Electronics
DENON AVR-1312 5.1 Channel A/V Home Theater Receiver | Accessories4less

that will murder the sq from any HTIB you can find, and you will be happy to run the cables once you have it all setup.... The truth of the matter is if you didn't care about the quality you wouldn't be asking the question.. all of the above items are discounted rite now, the towers in the jamo 426 are actually the same as these Energy EF-500 Pair Home Audio Speaker - Newegg.com just rebadged and come with the rest of the 5 ch setup....

 

[j_garcia]

If you want to see a reason why it isn't a great value, try to give an HTIB a listen somewhere The place where those packages skimp to hit that price point is the single most important aspect of the sound: the speakers. That is not to say they sound bad, but as ImcLoud is saying, you can get a lot more bang for your buck building from scratch.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I gotta disagree with Imc for this specific case - getting hts 5600 for $199 is a steal - grab it and run. You wont be able to piece out a better system even on 2nd hand market
The great think about Onkyo HTS is what they come with absolutely regular, albeit budget version, of regular Onkyo receiver. This means you could easily swap the speakers/sub later on.
Onkyo uses wood for cabinets and that system has a 10" sub.
Even more - you could upgrade lcr and use the onkyo speakers for surround duties later on.

Can you do better sounding 2.0 for $500 yes especially for music , but for Home theater this system will be plenty

 

[ImcLoud]

I gotta disagree with Imc for this specific case - getting hts 5600 for $199 is a steal -

That is not allowed, slap yourself 3 times with your right hand, pinch yourself with the left for 2 full minutes, and apologize, post haste... , lol...

He is rite, it is a good, but if you are going to upgrade, why not start with a denon, and some towers? Granted $200 for the onkyo is good, I agree... I bought that jam set for my sisters house warming {you may remember the posts}, and it rocked, for what it cost me $200 from amazon with free 2 day prime shipping!!!! I remember saying "how can anyone buy a HTIB?" And I have one of them 10" onkyo subs in my basement, my son used to use it for his little music system until he said it sounded better with out it, lol...

If your budget is $500 I would go with the separate system even if the onkyo was free, but thats just me, sure I would take it for free and give it to someone I know, but $200 isn't free, OK this is starting to not make sense to me, so I will stop here...

BTW the cheapest I see them for sale is $579 on ebay or amazon, but also keep in mind I see HT-s9400thx for 599 which is there best system I think, and I have seen them as low as 399 on sale

 

[scottmoberly]

I gotta disagree with Imc for this specific case - getting hts 5600 for $199 is a steal - grab it and run. You wont be able to piece out a better system even on 2nd hand market
The great think about Onkyo HTS is what they come with absolutely regular, albeit budget version, of regular Onkyo receiver. This means you could easily swap the speakers/sub later on.
Onkyo uses wood for cabinets and that system has a 10" sub.
Even more - you could upgrade lcr and use the onkyo speakers for surround duties later on.

Can you do better sounding 2.0 for $500 yes especially for music , but for Home theater this system will be plenty

That is really the issue...although I had budgeted $500...If I can find a satisfactory solution for $200....that is even better. If I can purchase a decent mid level system for $200 to use in my apartment living room until I have a house and a media room...this seems to be a great solution.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

That is really the issue...although I had budgeted $500...If I can find a satisfactory solution for $200....that is even better. If I can purchase a decent mid level system for $200 to use in my apartment living room until I have a house and a media room...this seems to be a great solution.

Don't get your expectations wrong, HTS 5600 is a decent system, but a yet a far cry from "mid level" - it's very much deep in the value/budget category, but without major terrible points.
Getting a proper mid-hi avr, pioneer 5.0, hsu sub for about $1000 = thats a beginnings of "mid level" system for me

 

[fuzz092888]

That is really the issue...although I had budgeted $500...If I can find a satisfactory solution for $200....that is even better. If I can purchase a decent mid level system for $200 to use in my apartment living room until I have a house and a media room...this seems to be a great solution.

I'm not sure I would qualify this as even mid-level, but that doesn't take away from the fact that if you do more HT/TV viewing than straight 2.0 music, this is extremely hard to beat for all the reasons BSA mentioned. I say go for it. Upgrading on the cheap isn't terribly hard either with the budget Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers, which can be swapped right in for cheap if and when you want a significant step up in SQ (IMHO).

 

[scottmoberly]

if you do more HT/TV viewing than straight 2.0 music, this is extremely hard to beat for all the reasons BSA mentioned. (IMHO).

Yes...generally this will be used for watching HD television and DVD's...listening to Pandora from thje DVR is the extent of music play...

 

[sawzalot]

Yes...generally this will be used for watching HD television and DVD's...listening to Pandora from thje DVR is the extent of music play...

I feel as though this is a budget minded solution in a box that would be a perfect answer to ones first intro into the whole HT experience, I would grab it at that price and enjoy the heck out of the set-up, if you are digging the whole idea well then you could build a mid level system from scratch using this one to fill in as you move up.Go for it and let us know how you make out after you get everything set up.

 

[j_garcia]

I agree with the others, the Onkyo systems aren't terrible, they are actually fairly decent. I think it is more of setting the expectation - as long as you don't expect a system like that to rival a hand selected (and generally more expensive) system, then it should do just fine.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Onkyo makes one of the best pre-packages HTiB systems on the market period. People can certainly dump on HTiB systems, and for good reason, but to devalue the quality which Onkyo delivers over say... Samsung, or Sony with their Bosesque proprietary 2.38 ohm package systems is a shame.

At a MSRP of $600 the Onkyo HT-S5600 is a really good value, period.

Let's look at it:
Onkyo USA | HT-S5600

7.1 audio with TrueHD/DTS MA decoding on 4 HDMI inputs. No upconversion, but component and plenty of composite if needed. Zone 2 (WTF?) and 5-way binding posts with the use of traditional speakers.

The speakers are an obvious weak point, but the use of a 10" subwoofer in an apartment is likely overkill by itself. Wood cabinet, though I'm sure it's cheap stuff, but still, not plastic junk like you see from others, especially at that price point.

Now, getting serious on things - jump on whatever deal it is you've found. Heck, if they have several, come back and share the link! This is a real find.

Most of all: RUN SPEAKER WIRE!

Wireless is a lousy way to do things. It's silly really. Get some low profile speaker wire and run it around the edge of your carpet in the apartment and you will be good to go. Remember, wireless speakers still need amplifiers, so they need to be plugged in and really aren't wireless at all. So, acoustically, the best thing to do is run your wires. It may take a few hours... Heck, it may take even longer. But, if you thing that $250 is a fair bit of cash, then why not spend a few hours doing some research on the best way to run wires, the best wires to use, and then do a great job running wires for $50 and maintaining the highest level of audio quality you can get from it.

Down the line, with upgraded speakers, the Onkyo receiver likely will continue to perform very well and gives you a great jumping off point. I know I got my first (clueless) system as a Kenwood HTiB from Sam's Club. The speakers were wood, and they were weak, but I upgraded to Def Tech speakers in a couple of years when I could afford it and the jump in quality was astounding. I have no regrets with my original purchase, and with a deal like you are getting, you should just buy, and not look back. Especially considering that you are in an apartment and not in a single family home. Shared walls means that you don't need the power of a better system and you shouldn't be spending the money to really treat the room like you should in a dedicated environment that you own.

Enjoy!