Apr 142012
Onkyo HT-S3500 5.1-Channel Home Theater Speaker/Receiver Package
- 4 HDMI Inputs and 1 output with support for 3D and Audio Return Channel
- WRAT Amplifier Technology,2-Year Warranty
- Direct Digital Connection of iPod®/iPhone® via Front USB Port
- Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio
- Easy Settings Change with On Screen Display via HDMI
Welcome to Immersive, Affordable and Complete Home Theater. For small- to medium-sized rooms, you can’t go past the well-balanced and affordable HT-S3500 home theater package. Newly equipped with Onkyo’s WRAT (Wide Range Amplifier Technology), the AVR and six-speaker set will surprise and delight with audio performance you would expect from a more expensive system. The package is easy to set up right out of the box, thanks to the intuitive HDMI®-overlaid On-Screen Display and wall-mountable
List Price: $ 399.00
Price: $ 289.00
Good entry system,
Update 5/8/12:
I’ve now moved into my new house and have this system set up and wall mounted.
A few things:
-Attaching these speakers using mounts is a pain. They only have a keyhole mounting option, and the mount set I bought which said it was compatible with keyhole speakers did not work. I had to buy some additional nuts and washers to get it to attach. I decided to only mount the rear speakers with the mounts, and have the front speakers hanging on wall screws. Mounting directly to the wall with screws actually works pretty well though. I attached some adhesive felt pads to the back of the speakers to eliminate any possible vibration against the wall.
-The ozone smell I mentioned initially is mostly gone.
-Low volume listening is still a bit of a pain. I find myself upping the center channel to make the voices stand out more late at night when the wife is asleep. The sound is great at higher volumes, though.
-Edit- I fixed the low hum, it was a ground loop caused by my cable line. Completely unrelated to the speakers.
I’m still happy with the purchase. The price is cheaper now than what I paid, I think it’s a pretty good deal.
Original review:
This is Onkyo’s new entry level 5.1 system for March 2012. I was a little wary about buying this system because of the problems with the previous generation HT-S3400, but have not had any problems so far.
First off, this is my first ever surround sound system, so I do not have a lot of history to compare it to.
Pros:
-Initial setup was very easy. Just unpack the receiver and speakers, and hook them all up. The speaker wire it comes with is color coded for each speaker, and is shorter for the front speakers and longer for the rear. I have a PS3 and HD Cable. I just hooked those into the receiver via HDMI, and ran the HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV. Done.
-The on screen setup is very convenient and fairly easy to use. The options in each category are not always intuitive though.
-Several different listening modes, pretty easy to cycle through and try them all.
-There is a convenient USB port in the front for hooking up an IPOD for music playback. You can then control the music through the receiver remote.
-The speakers are nice and clear. The sub is passive, but puts out a decent amount of Bass. I had to turn it way down as I live in a condo with neighbors below.
Cons (none of these concern me too much, but could be important to others):
-Like most systems of this level, the included speaker wire seems fairly cheap. It works for now, but I will probably replace.
-The receiver puts out quite a bit of heat, make sure you have some ventilation space above it. There is a sticker on top that warns it can get quite hot.
-With the heat is coming a bit of an ozone smell while it is running. I think this is beginning to fade, and hope it will not be noticeable after some more time.
-The speakers do not have any threaded screw holes for mounting at all. There is only a hole and slot for hooking over a bolt. I’m probably going to get stands with adhesive to mount these.
-The wire inputs in the back of the receiver and the speakers are all spring loaded clips. Again, I think this is fairly standard for this price range.
-The setup menu is not always intuitive to use. I read through most of the included manual (on cd) to figure out all of the more advanced settings. The good news is the manual is well written and does a good job of explaining everything.
-There is a night-time (dynamic compression) option, but it only works in Dolby 5.1 mode. My wife goes to bed very early at night, so I need to use this quite a bit for low volume listening. Depending on your component/source Dolby 5.1 is not always a listening option with the receiver, though. For example, my cable is transmitted in 5.1, but On-Demand programming does not appear to be. So I can use the night-time listening with live TV, but not On-Demand. Frustrating.
-No equalizer. You can adjust Bass and Treble, and calibrate each speaker by raising or lowering the decibels, but you cannot adjust the individual frequencies (that I have found at all anyway).
Other thoughts:
Overall I am quite happy with this system. It meets my needs, but might not be quite enough for some. There is no microphone or automated system for calibrating the surround sound, but you just go into the setup menu and adjust your sitting distance from each speaker to calibrate. It seems to work quite well. I was watching a war movie and had helicopters and bullets flying all around me. Initially I found the speech volume to be too low watching movies, but I just upped the decibels of the center channel, and now it sounds much better.
Note: I did not buy mine through Amazon, only because another retailer was offering free…
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|OK, But it is Limited,
I bought the HT-3400 last year and it is virtually identical to this one. I had an initial failure within 3 days and had to get it replaced and so far this one is working, however Onkyo’s quality is nowhere what it used to be. I liked the set up in the beginning because it was such an improvement over the tiny speakers that came with my TV, however over time I came to realize that much was lacking. What was lacking was a direct result of the low-end speakers that came with the system. It is difficult to expect 3 1/4 inch speakers to reproduce a lot of high quality sound. Even though they’re listed as having a frequency response of 80 – 20 KHz they don’t mention being measured at + or – 3 Db, which is the commonly accepted standard.
I ended up replacing everything except the receiver and sub woofer. Obviously money was a concern or I wouldn’t have bought a HTIB in the first place, but now that I have Sony SS-F6000 towers in the front, and BIC DV62Si’s for surrounds (great sounding speakers for little more than $100/pair) and a BIC DV52 center channel. The presence, imagery, and clarity are so dramatically improved that it is like going from mono to stereo. The sky is the limit when it comes to buying stereo equipment but good sound can be achieved without spending thousands. I wish that I had thought it all out before I bought the HTIB. I paid less than $300 for the HT-3400 and it wasn’t bad for the money, but realize now that it could be a lot better.
One thing to consider is that if you come to desire better sound, then don’t do what I did because your upgrade path is limited. Sure you can replace the speakers and get a much better sounding system, but the receiver and sub woofer are the sticking point. The receiver is fine as far as power and basic features, but I was unable to get it to get the HDMI to properly pass-thru both video and sound when the receiver was in standby mode despite that Onkyo said that it could. I had to add an active matrix 4 x 2 switch to be able to have everything work like it should have without the switch. However it all works well now since adding the switch. The thing that I didn’t consider when buying this HTIB was that the sub woofer is unpowered which means that you really don’t have the ability to upgrade it to something better because virtually all sub woofers of note are powered. So this creates an impasse where I can’t get a better sub woofer without also replacing the receiver and that’s more money than I want to spend at this point. Just keeping my fingers crossed that the receiver and sub woofer keep working so I don’t have to replace both, at least for now.
The HT-3500 at under $300 delivered isn’t a bad system, but it has its limitations and anyone considering this should weigh that against possibly spending more up front but being happier with what you end up with down the road. If you are considering building a budget home theater system then consider BIC America’s line up of speakers as they are very good and much cheaper than your average “name” brand and often times also outperform speakers costing several times more. It all comes down to what you are willing to spend, and understanding that a very good sounding system will cost more than $300 but can be had for something well south of a grand.
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|Great entry level HT system,
I bought this a few days ago while it was $280. I received it yesterday and set it up. So far, I am very happy with this system. For the price, you can’t go wrong. I really like the Iphone/Ipod support. You can control your music with the remote as well as see the songs/albums/etc on the receiver. It also charges through the USB. One thing to note is that the receiver gets hot. I have mine located in an entertainment center cabinet, so I keep the doors open while it is on. I think I will also buy a little fan to get some airflow just to be on the safe side. I cannot speak for reliability yet, as I have only had it for 1 day, but I will try to update my review once I have owned it for a while.
Pros:
-Great sound quality
-USB input
-Easy set up
Cons:
-No conversion to HDMI from composite and component. You must wire each type up to the tv separately.
-Speaker wire is very light gauge, but it works and you can easily buy your own.
-Receiver gets fairly hot
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