Opinions - Onkyo HTiB (1 Viewer)

[Wes K]

Of those of you that have top of the line home theaters, it this HTiB decent?

Onkyo HT-S3700 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver/Speaker Package

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LU0GPAI/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

 

[Al.Anderson]

It's not a bad system for the money. It's main downside is that it uses a passive subwoofer. And the main problem with that is it'll be difficult to upgrade (it's not easy to find a passive sub). But if you're considering it a one and done, it's much, much better than any HTIB out there. The second issue with it is the satellite speakers are not great, but that's compared with, say bookshelf speakers. They *are* as good as any other speaker you'd get with a HTIB, and you can upgrade them (see below)

And by the way, we would call that a "pre-package" system, not a HTIB, because it has a real receiver and real speakers, just all shipped in one box. BTIBs are reduced capacity systems and are generally not upgradeable, so if anything goes (receiver, speakers), you have to trash the entire thing.

So all-in-all, not bad. But if it were me, I'd go with something like this:
Receiver:
https://www.amazon.com/YAMAHA-HTR-3...37290&sr=1-19&keywords=receivers+home+theater

Speakers:
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-NS-P4...737606&sr=1-42&keywords=home+theater+speakers
or
https://www.amazon.com/Kardon-Chann...7737491&sr=1-5&keywords=home+theater+speakers
or
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-10...737491&sr=1-18&keywords=home+theater+speakers

And if you want to wait a bit, the Pioneer speakers are know to be very good at their price point and a little better than the pure satellites. They go on sale for about half price periodically.
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-B...id=1477737678&sr=8-4&keywords=pioneer+speaker
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-C...id=1477737678&sr=8-6&keywords=pioneer+speaker

 

[Wes K]

It's not a bad system for the money. It's main downside is that it uses a passive subwoofer. And the main problem with that is it'll be difficult to upgrade (it's not easy to find a passive sub). But if you're considering it a one and done, it's much, much better than any HTIB out there. The second issue with it is the satellite speakers are not great, but that's compared with, say bookshelf speakers. They *are* as good as any other speaker you'd get with a HTIB, and you can upgrade them (see below)

And by the way, we would call that a "pre-package" system, not a HTIB, because it has a real receiver and real speakers, just all shipped in one box. BTIBs are reduced capacity systems and are generally not upgradeable, so if anything goes (receiver, speakers), you have to trash the entire thing.

So all-in-all, not bad. But if it were me, I'd go with something like this:
Receiver:
https://www.amazon.com/YAMAHA-HTR-3...37290&sr=1-19&keywords=receivers+home+theater

Speakers:
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-NS-P4...737606&sr=1-42&keywords=home+theater+speakers
or
https://www.amazon.com/Kardon-Chann...7737491&sr=1-5&keywords=home+theater+speakers
or
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-10...737491&sr=1-18&keywords=home+theater+speakers

And if you want to wait a bit, the Pioneer speakers are know to be very good at their price point and a little better than the pure satellites. They go on sale for about half price periodically.
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-B...id=1477737678&sr=8-4&keywords=pioneer+speaker
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-C...id=1477737678&sr=8-6&keywords=pioneer+speaker

Wow that's a lot of great info, thank you

 

[Drtrcr22]

The Yamaha yht-4920ubl is what I've been looking at and it's bout a 100 bucks more and you can up grade powered woofer and from the reviews I've read speakers aren't bad bad quality but not Top of the line of coarse.

 

[ArmSC]

I agree with Al I would stay away from that particular set because of the passive sub. There are other options out there that you can look at that would probably get you in a better place for the money. Assuming your budget is around $350 (the cost of the Onkyo set) I would look at this.

AVR - Denon S510 BT refurb $190 or Yamaha RX-V381 refurb $220
Speakers - Yamaha NS-SP1800 refurb $120, new $150 or the Yamaha NS-AP1405 $150 that has a 10" sub.

These will get you going with a 5.1 setup that will be 4k ready. You'll likely need speaker wire, HDMI cables, and possibly an optical cable but those are all very cheap on Amazon. Speaker wall mounts or stands could be helpful in the future if you wanted to tidy it up. I would recommend that you upgrade the front three speakers at some point to really get on the road to a better setup but these sets will do a decent job for now.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Hey, those Pioneer's I mentioned up above are on sale today:
https://www.amazon.com/s/browse/ref..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=K36KQGXV04KHYMCEQRJQ