 "Onkyo Home Theater Experience" | 2008-10-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3IH2UT6I7WLYR |
We actually purchased 2 Onkyo TX-SR304B receivers about three weeks ago from Amazon at a surprisingly good price. We're using one Onkyo in our living room and one in the bedroom to enhance the sound from our new HD Samsung TVs.
[1] The dark black receiver looks great.
[2] The audio experience brings a new dimension to the HD experience. I can't begin to describe the difference between listening to the tiny TV speakers vs. the sound coming out of true audio speakers.
[3] The connectors in the back are plentiful and color coded so that part of the process was relatively easy.
[4] Although it isn't great, the Onkyo user manual is actually better than I expected. It helped me set up both systems with only one minor problem. And that one problem was my lack of understanding on how to set up a surround sound speaker system. I contacted Onkyo's live tech support via telephone and that was very helpful. It's nice to know you can call them up with any questions.
One of our HD systems has the traditional 2 bookshelf speakers and the other one is a Polk Audio surround sound system. For most TV programming the 2 bookshelf speaker system is more than adequate. However, with Verizon FIOS HD programming, there are a couple of HD channels that broadcast concerts in surround sound and that's where the Polk Audio speakers [relatively inexpensive @ $400 for the entire system] truly shine. The surround sound system also makes a difference when playing DVDs.
However, in my opinion, if you simply hook up two traditional quality bookshelf speakers to the Onkyo receiver, as opposed to a surround sound speaker system, you will be very happy. At the very least, the audio experience is far better than listening via the TV's speakers.
I've always read about Onkyo's quality and this is the first time I experienced it myself. If you're looking for an outstanding receiver at a very fair price, I highly recommend the Onkyo TX-SR304B. |
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 "Almost great" | 2008-09-21 |
| - Reviewed By mattrael |
I bought this about six months ago to trick out a home theater. For most of the time it's been a great, but a few weeks ago it picked up a strange quirk: whenever there's a loud noise like a gunshot or an explosion (in the movie I'm watching, I mean), the receiver shuts itself off. Very annoying.
Fortunately I bought it from Fry's with a protection plan. Depending on how the repair/replacement goes I may revise my rating. |
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| "An Amazon * Best Buy *" | 2008-08-30 |
| - Reviewed By mjpdreagan |
| Onkyo TX-SR304B Home Theater Receiver (Black) This was supposedly a low priced economical way of setting up a home theatre system. It accomodates five sound inputs, six speaker outputs, and any 6 speaker combinations in Stereo, or Surround sound. Every circuit is identical to the same in their most expensive models, because Onkyo won't shortcut quality in any product they manufacture. I have no idea of what I didn't get, because this receiver does more than the very expensive Pioneer it replaced. I couldn't be happier. Mike Reagan P.S. It's volume can break things... |
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| "Awesome" | 2008-08-19 |
| - Reviewed By stepheninsanger2 |
Thru my years I have had many home theater receivers but this is the first one that had the proper amount of in and out rca ports and easy to set up. When I turned it on the sound was pure and I could hear every word clearly. At 68 you tend to lose some hearing but not with the Onkyo.
I recommend this model to everyone. |
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| "sound value for the price" | 2008-08-17 |
| - Reviewed By cpizagno |
| Purchased this and I am very happy with it. For the price you get good features... and for me ... a unit with digital audio input so I can bypass the poor speakers on my plasma TV and listen to much better sound thru this unit etc.Onkyo TX-SR304S 5.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Silver) |
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| "Just as it should be" | 2008-08-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2U7Y4U2VDY2ZU |
| Works exactly like I wanted Have really found no problems other than the receiver makes a loud click when turned on and off but just being picky. For a entry level 5.1 this is a good choice but if you have todays newer technologies in your home theater you may want to look higher |
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 "Wrong unit for my needs" | 2008-08-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A31I5XZQ03SVN1 |
I mostly watch cable TV and listen to CD's and occasionally watch a DVD. So my experience with the Onkyo TX-SR304 reflects those listening habits.
When I opened the box and began setting up the receiver the first thing that got my attention was that the remote had access buttons for just about everything but TV. While it didn't take long to figure out that you got your TV signals from one of the video component channels (V1,V2,V3) on the remote, the use of non-TV designators suggested that I was going to be dealing with a "techie" unit. And that proved to be the case. I think that buyers should be aware of this before making a purchase. Because the Onkyo appears to implement the full range of 5.1 options. For people like me, who only want a little boost in sound quality for our day-to-day listening, the TX-SR304 might not be appropriate.
A big problem with the Onkyo has nothing to do with the unit itself: that problem is the lack of 5.1 surround sound formatting in cable programming. A lot of the time there's no surround sound formatting which the Onkyo can exploit. I asked a sound engineer friend of mine from Oregon Public Broadcasting about this, and he said that 5.1 programming is very difficult to format and even more difficult to deliver, and that I shouldn't expect much for years to come. So if you expect great sound from everyday cable TV broadcasting, you're going to be disappointed. I was able to somewhat compensate for this by taking advantage of my cable provider's range of virtual surround music channels, which emulate 5.1 pretty well. If your provider's setup is like mine, you can run an analog cable from your provider's Set Top Box audio outputs to your Onkyo's audio inputs. If you then tune to your provider's music channels, you'll get some pretty fantastic listening without consuming TV watts (you just turn the TV off after using it to tune in a cable music channel).
My biggest disappointment with the TX-SR304 is the CD player hookup. The instruction manual glosses over the fact that your CD player must have a pre-amplifier built in. I was able to finally listen to a CD from my non-amplified unit by cranking up the TX-SR304's volume to the max. But the problem in doing so is that, when you switch over to another input source like the DVD player, the maximum volume will blast you out of your house (quick, where's the remote!).
The TX-SR304 succeeds best in movie modes using the DVD hookup. The sound quality is rich and full, approaching theater quality. Sound gurus will enjoy how the Onkyo is able to not only able to automatically detect the appropriate soundtrack format, but also let the listener dabble with format options. And the ability to select both A and B speaker sets contributes a lot to the surround effect. But because I don't watch a lot of DVD's, I don't enjoy this as much as I should. I just wish I had known beforehand that this is how the TX-SR304 primarily excels. I feel really frustrated that I have to continue to play my CD's on my 15 year old Sherwood analog stereo.
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 "great for the price" | 2008-07-28 |
| - Reviewed By vthawk |
| I needed to replace a unit that had died. I decided to stay with 5.1 technology so I bought a fairly low end item. The unit performs well - it sounds big. I find it easier to program and use than the Pioneer unit it replaced. I was surprised to find it does not have a switched outlet so I have to manually turn on the enclosure cooling fan; an irritation. The more expensive Onkyo unit have switched outlets. I never looked into the documentation deeply enuf to note the lack of a switched outlet, I thought all decent receivers had one. |
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| "Not a Good receiver but useable..." | 2008-07-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1GFS6RTH383YF |
| I though it produces a good sound with my TSS 1200 but it produces unreal sound.... But it's better when plays Orchestra. However, with 150usd ... that's good deal.... 3.5 stars |
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| "Great A/V Receiver for the price" | 2008-07-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1ELU6C44R85LD |
| I checked consumer reports for the best Audio and Video Receivers and they ranked the Onkyo among the top. I found that this particular receiver was at a very good price for all the bells and whistles. I am not dissapointed. This receiver has great surround sound options and was easy to set up. I would highly recommend this A/V receiver to anyone. |
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