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I did all obvious troubleshooting and then called Onkyo - they just said that it was my problem, and to take it to any service shop at my expense. Unacceptable. I was pleased with this at first. Their closest Onkyo specialist service was six hundred miles away. Save your money - buy something else. I did not use it heavily - it was a bedroom system, not my main one. After just over one year, so just out of warranty,it gave a loud bang and then made no sound.
There is a good chance I paid a new price for a refurbished unit that was never repaired. It was very difficult to get the unit in - the place was over fifty miles away and was open during work hours. Not only was the power unit broken and had to be replaced but the inside of the unit was dirty. I received this as a gift and didn't open the box because I didn't have anywhere to put it until after the 30 days to return to Amazon expired. The stereo sounds good but now I hope nothing else goes wrong since the warranty expired before I heard it play the first CD. I couldn't register the unit with Onkyo (required to get warranty work) because they didn't have a record of the serial number (). The CD/DVD drawer on the unit didn't work. The unit had a date of manufacture of 2005 - it was bought in mid-2007 so this was kind of odd.
The good things I read in reviews of this item are true for the unit I received. The unit is compact, the sound is full-sized. Plus, I can not believe that what I hear in theater listening mode is coming from only two speakers. I am happy I bought this set. It is versatile and has a fine sound.
Theatre mode does right fine for me in that respect.As always, a class act from Onkyo and, by the way, it comes with 1 year warranty. Digests everythings I put in the CD drawer although it has a nasty tendency not to show how many songs are on a disk nor does it show titles and artists unless you know how to manipulate the remote for the on screen menu.Speaking of such, be aware that the remote is a monster of 50 or more buttons that Albert Einstein couldn't figure out.Sound reproduction is good and the CD player seems quiet with the only detected hiss being on an analog CD made from an old vinyl record (so I imagine most of the noise was from the vinyl original and not the CD).By the way, if you want deeper, booming bass than you had been opt for the subwoofer. May not sound like much, but most only come with 90 days. Got mine for $93 on clearance at Circuit City who seems to have a policy of dropping everything at least 60% if it hangs around for a year or more. I originally thought of buying it at the previous sale of $199 but was glad I waited and got it for $106 less.This unit replaces a previous Onkyo that still played like a champ but couldn't handle SACD or MP3s, let alone video DVDs.So far, so good.
I have to say that what came out of the speakers just did not seem to sound real to me. I think I am going to have to get that thing fixed afterall- or buy a vintage receiver somewhere else. It seemed as though the reproduction of the music was based upon what someone thought I (the public) would like.
I guess I was spoiled by my 30 year old analog-based vintage Scott Receiver which had recently stopped working. Even with my newer cheap Sony speakers it sounded a hundred times better then the Onkyo. I inherited the Scott receiver from my brother after he left for college (Thanks Paul).
I recently purchased this and while the components all seem to be very well made, the sound just was not for me. Trying to listen to the Beatles and Bob Dylan and even newer band recordings was just upsetting. The moral of the story: If you grew up with analog sound (vinyl records and old receivers) you should think twice about getting this Onkyo system.
It was very digital sounding, very compressed, lacking any warmth. The only thing that was half way decent to my ears was listening to some classical music on the radio.
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