Why Should I Choose A 7.1 Home Theater System?
If you want a quality system for your home to sound the most like a movie theater you will want to look into a 7.1 home theater system. You can have a great sound in a confined space that will rock the house.
Investing in a theater system is an investment so you want to make sure you are educated enough to know what you want. You don’t have to become an expert in technology but you do want to be not taken for all your money and then not get what you want. For this reason even the best do it yourself person person may want to seriously consider looking to a consultant.
So with that said you will need to know why a 7.1 system is your best choice to get for your home. The 7.1 is the quality of the speaker system basically and you will hear the term 7.1 speakers. So when you hear the term 7.1 Home Theater system they are using the term for the quality of the speakers included in the system.
The reason for this is that is gets the most surround sound quality in the confined space of a small room. This quality gives you the THX quality as much as you can at this point in time in regards to home theater technology. I say at this time as technology rapidly changes.
The sound doesn’t blow out with these speakers like other speakers out there. They are more powerful than the 5.1 system or other products out there. They are good in size and large in quality. However you need to ensure that they are installed correctly for proper use and performance.
You will want to price around for the best products and pricing for a 7.1 speaker system and the other components you will need for your system. There are also several consultants you can hire to not only evaluate your space but install the system for you. These people know how to get your room ready for the system and the specks you will need with all the bells and whistles of a home theater.
A consultant may even be able to get you a good deal on a 7.1 home theater system. They may have contacts that sell to them wholesale. If you are not savvy with this type of system and want a really good system you may consider hiring a consultant to help you get the home theater of your dreams.
Onkyo HT-S9100THX 7.1 Channel Receiver and Speaker Package Customer Reviews
Reviews from amazon.com
Value for money…, November 24, 2009
I bought this, even though I was a little leery of ‘home theater in a box’ systems, because of Onkyo’s reputation in the field and also due to it having 4 HDMI inputs. The system is solid, powerful, and easy to configure/setup. Speaker calibration is performed by holding a special microphone (that comes with the product) in specified locations in the room and takes about 10 minutes. It’s that simple. It is very easy to program the system to match up inputs and outputs (the defaults it comes with are solid as well), and the sound quality is great, but beware of putting the sub woofer on settings above ‘THX’ as you may void your home’s warranty and set off seismic alarms in your area. This system can generate some serious power. It is more than enough in both terms of power, quality, and connectivity for my 20×17 home theater room. The only gripe I have is that it will only pass through 1080p signals on HDMI connections so you can’t use 1080p over component (I have a first flight XBox 360 that does not have an HDMI connector on the back so I can only do 1080p over component cables) but I have researched this and found this to be pretty much standard on receivers. It is a great value for the money spent.
Click here for more information and reviews.
________________________________________________________________________
Amazon is the best, November 23, 2009
i have heard horror stories on how the box comes damaged in most cases. Thats when i decided to go with Amazon even if their price is not the best always, because of their excellent customer service. My box arrived with not so major damage but i feel more peace of mind knowing that i have Amazon’s backing !
the system itself is impressive. a couple of gripes is i am unable to decide which of the many many listening modes is/are best for movies. also didn’t find the “THX listening modes” any better than other modes, so not sure what the hype of THX is all about. furthermore the included 22 AWG wire didnt feel any worse than 18 AWG i got else where, so not sure whats the hype about speaker cables being not the best out of the box.
Click here for more information and reviews.
________________________________________________________________________
Excellent Option for the Price, November 18, 2009
NOTE: Be sure to purchase after-market speaker wire for this system. The included wire is small gauge and limits the whole experience.
Excellent Home Theater in a Box option. Others might cost less, but few offer the component quality of this package.
Click here for more information and reviews.
________________________________________________________________________
Quite good system for a good price, November 17, 2009
I have it hooked into my PC, by HDMI through my 285 GTX and it has great overall sound. It is loud when you want it to be, and yet sounds crisp and clear at low volume levels also (and you can still distinctly hear dialogue in movies even when at low volume levels).
Lots of audio modes to choose from for what works best depending on the source material and aesthetics.
Thanks to Audessy (and the system/speakers as a whole) the soundfield is quite distinct and (depending on the source material) you can really distinguish the placement of different instruments and the bass is felt and heard without being overdone (which was a problem I noticed with the Logitech Z-5500 for instance…though that was also a great system overall for its pricerange).
Cons: The speaker wires that came with it were a bit thin I must say, and I did upgrade immediately to 12 gauge, but interestingly, I didn’t buy enough so I had to hook two speakers (surround right and surround right back) with the provided wires…and you know what… I can’t discern a difference.
Still, I bought the extra cord and installed it (just to be sure), but I am not really convinced that you will notice a difference. I would like all you others to be given a blind test and see if you really notice a difference, or it is the placebo effect.
Other Thoughts: I read many reviews that complained about volume levels. This is definitely not the case. I cannot turn it higher than -6 dB or I would probably disturb my neighbors (and I live in a house with a yard). I surmise that the issue is that you have very low input levels coming into the Onkyo amp (say from your CD player), as it can only amplify the source so much. For instance, if I turn my iTunes volume almost all the way down, I could put the amp to +13 and it would still be very quiet…
As to the reviews saying that there is a audible hum from the amp (or subwoofer), there is none at all. Perhaps you have some issue with your home electrical system, one of the devices you are inputting from, etc.
I could complain that I can’t get Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, but that is an issue with me using it with my PC which won’t send compressed Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio streams from my HTPC to the Onkyo receiver. Every other audio format works perfectly except for the HD verisions, however. Which is silly and unfair, but not Onkyo’s fault. And moreover, there are now soundcards on the market that provide full HDMI 1.3 capabilities from Auzentech and ASUS (and more to come for sure). So now, even this issue is resolved (I haven’t bought one of these soundcards because at the moment, the price is a bit steep, and there are some bugs that need fixin’ being new products on the market).
