Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 Channel Home Theater Speaker System

3 Responses to “Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 Channel Home Theater Speaker System”

1. Jalen Anthony Krupa "Jalenk" says:

   December 31, 2011 at 1:53 am

   137 of 140 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Great Sound at a great price!, January 1, 2007

   By 

   Jalen Anthony Krupa “Jalenk” (Reno, NV USA) –
   
     

   This review is from: Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 Channel Home Theater Speaker System (Electronics)

   I spent a good 2 weeks looking for a surround sound speaker system for my home theater. I was only looking to spend around $300 and I really wasn’t expecting to find anything great at that price. But then I continued to hear wonderful things about Onkyo speakers and I had to try them out.

   I purchased them here on Amazon for $280 ($230 + $50 for shipping). The speakers were nicely packed and arrived farily quick. The speakers not only look great but they feel as though they’re high quality. No one would ever guess that these speakers cost under $300. Especially when you hear them. They sound amazing.

   Movies sound great along with video games, (xbox 360). The speakers let you hear all the action, and the sub-woofer lets you feel every explosion. Onkyo’s SKS-HT540′s Surround Sound Speaker System is a treat to listen to and you will not be dissapointed with this purchase. A 7.1 speaker package with a 230 watt powered sub-woofer for under $300? That’s a great deal!

   Only downside, (and I’ve read this in other reviews about these speakers) is that they don’t sound great when listening to music. They don’t capture the full sound that tower speakers would. Which makes sense, so if you’re going to listen to music with these speakers, you may feel a little dissapointed. If it’s just movies and video games… You’ll be happy.

   I will say this about hooking up surround sound speakers (and this goes for all of them), when you first plug in everything, you have to configure your receiver to get the best possible sound out of your speakers. For instance, treble, bass and speaker size are going to dramatically change the sound of your theater. So, if when you first hear these speakers and you’re not satisfied with the sound… You didn’t set them up right, because my system sounds incredible once I dialed everything in.

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2. N. L. Steele "Early Adopter" says:

   December 31, 2011 at 2:06 am

   56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

   
   SKS-HT540, February 17, 2009

   By 

   N. L. Steele “Early Adopter” (Springfield, IL) –
   
     

   This review is from: Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 Channel Home Theater Speaker System (Electronics)

   I’ve had the SKS-HT540 speakers for about a week and am using them paired with an Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver to play movies from a Phillips DVP 5960 upscaling DVD player via HDMI and music from an older Sony 5 disc changer with stereo outputs as well as for video-gaming on an Xbox 360 via the optical output.

   The box these come in is gigantic, and you would think it’s a small refrigerator, but that’s good packing for shipping as they arrived completely undamaged. The size and wattage are the same as Onkyo represents them; the guy that claims the fronts are smaller than listed is way off base. The speaker wire that comes with them is crap as is to be expected (buy your own 16 AWG and you’ll be fine); even the most expensive set ups don’t come with nice wire, and most don’t come with any wire so put a plus in the Onkyo box.

   I’m currently only using the front three speakers as well as one of the surrounds and the subwoofer, because I have a pair of 5″ driver bookshelf speakers that are better voice matched as surrounds for 5.1 sound with the front three, I put the surround speaker in there as a 6th channel for 6.1. I’ll say the surrounds are substantially weaker than the front three (my AVR set its cutoff at 120Hz vs. 80Hz for the front three and the sound that comes from it is noticeably thinner than the fronts and my other surrounds; this is reasonable since it’s a 3 1/8″ driver and .75 tweeter, and its sound would likely be less noticeable mixed in with the other four of its kind). The one other negative I can cite for the subwoofer is that it doesn’t have a phase switch so if you find you’re having trouble with resonance, you’re going to have to place it differently.

   Those negatives aside, this speaker set is so much better than its price would indicate (I got it refurbished for $219 elsewhere online). The subwoofer puts out surprisingly tight bass and powerful LFE effects for movies. The front three speakers and subwoofer alone would be worth the money paid so the additional surrounds are bonuses in my mind. Movies are fantastic, surround imaging transitions are very smooth, highs and lows are equally well handled, and the subwoofer has more power than I can use in an apartment. I can feel the bass vibrating the furniture and occasionally creating a slight breeze in its direct line. My movie collection has come alive and I’ve started hunting down well mixed 5.1 sound tracks to audition (Master and Commander and Saving Private Ryan are great; The Indiana Jones Trilogy is nice; the X-Men movies are starting to seem better even with the weak writing of the last one).

   I had assumed that movies would be well handled, but that I would be sorely disappointed with music through these. I couldn’t be more wrong. Varying back and forth between Prologic modes, direct handling, and stereo that allots below cutoff bass to the subwoofer I’ve been extraordinarily pleased with the sound on my favorite jazz (Coltrane’s Blue Train; Miles Davis Kinda Blue; Getz & Gilberto; and some Woody Herman) bluegrass (Rounder Record’s 25th anniversary 2 disc) and other variously chosen others that I hoped would tax the system and show its flaws (Dire Straits; Jethro Tull; Cyprus Hill; Grieg’s Peer Gynt; Ray Charles the Atlantic Years). I’ve been playing these at half volume (for reference, I play movies and TV below half and my wife gets miffed), and it’s like I’m in the studio or venue with the musicians. I’ve heard key chatter on the saxophones, Stan Getz’s breathiness on his tracks, Joao Gilberto’s voice wavering at the deep registers… the detail is phenomenal to me (granted I’d never label myself an audiophile). I’m discovering layers of information I’d never known was there in my CDs. The sound is warm and oddly sweet to my ears. I haven’t found a passage or instrument that can make the front three stumble and I’ve tried hard. They do a very nice job at reproducing dialogue in movies and male voices as well (a weak spot for many smaller satellite packages with small drivers).

   In short…

   Pros
   -Excellent front three and subwoofer
   -Excellent music and movie reproduction (from these speakers)
   -Excellent dialogue reproduction (even male voices)
   -They look kind of pretty and are great in proportion to a 46″ screen (I’ll try and post a pic)
   -Surprisingly tight and powerful bass from the sub for its price
   -Astonishing price for all of this together (turnkey 7.1 ain’t cheap anywhere)

   Cons:
   -Weak surrounds comparatively, but still as good or better than many other satellite systems
   -Thin wire included (but many don’t even include wire so not much of a con)
   -Sub has no phasing switch

   In total, I couldn’t be more pleased or feel I got better value for my money. If you’re looking for inexpensive entry into a 7.1 system as I was, you can’t go wrong with this.

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3. J. S. Stoddard "Prowler573" says:

   December 31, 2011 at 2:18 am

   59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Outstanding solution for entry-level home theater well worth the price of the ticket!, March 25, 2010

   By 

   J. S. Stoddard “Prowler573″ (SHREVEPORT, LA, US) –
   
     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 Channel Home Theater Speaker System (Electronics)

   We were wanting to throw together a sort of “auxiliary” home theater for the kids to give them somewhere to go when they didn’t want to be under Mom & Dad’s elbows (and vice versa!). While certainly we wanted gear that would last and perform well we also had minimal extraneous budget to work with so we feared the available options would be, well, lacking to say the least.

   The entire setup includes a Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000 32″ LCD, a Sony DVP-NS77H upconverting DVD player, and the kids’ PS2 which still enjoys regular use. The Bravia LCD was chosen for its connectivity options and the price I found it for just prior to Christmas at our local Wal-Mart. The DVD player was chosen for its solid reviews, Bravia-Sync capability with Sony flatpanel monitors, as well as price; it was scored in a closeout sale locally.

   For sound reproduction for the above display equipment the Sony STR-DH800 A/V receiver was chosen for its on-board surround decoding options and the ability to control itself (obviously), the TV, and the DVD player from a single remote while negating the necessity for buying a third-party universal remote control. Price again was a factor as I had a merchandise credit which had been pending for some time with another online retailer and the price I was able to obtain this particular receiver for after deducting that credit was all but irresistible.

   And last but certainly not least the Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 surround sound speaker package was chosen for its 7.1 channel compatibility with 8 separate channels worth of speakers including the active subwoofer, mostly positive reviews online, and finally (our mantra, if you will) price. It was, hands-down, THE best available option, both locally and online, for under $240/shipped brand-spankin’-new. Though not an up-to-date model the expected level of performance compared to the cost far outweighed the fact of this choice not being the “latest and greatest” thing available. The inclusion of the SKS-HT540 for this setup in conjunction with the above supporting gear allowed us to complete our project well under the target budget even after purchasing all the necessary cabling to tie it all together.

   First please let me address a couple of items contained within the negative review prominently displayed when you choose the reviews option for this item. That reviewer claims that the speaker cabinets for each of the front three main speakers (front left, center channel, and front right) are a full five inches shallower than the given dimensions as per Onkyo’s product description. According to the manufacturer’s website each of the large front main speakers have a depth of 7 7/8″. My own measurements indicate a depth of 6 1/4″ not including the baffle on which the speaker’s three separate drivers are mounted or the removable cloth grilles. Including those latter two items gives a measurement of a bit over 7″ deep. Each of these three cabinets, while not the same exact dimensions indicated by the manufacturer, remains of an appropriate size for the type of cabinet used with the specific drivers chosen.

   The four surround speakers ARE significantly shallower than three front main speakers. However, the surround units use an acoustic suspension alignment (sealed cabinets) as opposed to the bass reflex alignment (“vented” or “ported” cabinets) utilized by the fronts. Combine that with the fact that the drivers in the surround units are both physically smaller (3 1/8th inch mid-woofer Vs. 5″ mid-woofer) and numerically smaller (single driver Vs. dual-driver) than the front anyone with half a clue about speaker enclosure design knows this makes perfect sense.

   Additionally the remark regarding the back panel of the active subwoofer unit displaying a claim of 130w while the product specifications claiming 230 watts of dynamic amplifier output is comparing apples to oranges.

   Upon inspection of my own unit I located a specification on the back panel of the subwoofer indicating operating parameters of 120v A/C current @ 60Hz / 140 watts. This labeling is in compliance with Underwriter’s Laboratories’ product listing certification. The 140 watts value has nothing to do with unit output power and is indicative of maximum rated power consumption.
   Additionally the 230 watt rating given in the product description IS provided as a “dynamic” output power capability. Anyone with half a clue about audio equipment would understand that in reference to amplifier power the terms dynamic, maximum, and peak are generally interchangeable and are values good for nothing more than marketing. These values are normally in no way equal to the “RMS” or “nominal” output wattage which will be a considerably more accurate representation of the actual real-world output levels the end user could expect to enjoy. While the actual RMS wattage ratings are not provided for some reason by Onkyo the 230 watt…

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