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Onkyo HT-S6100 7.1-Channel Home Theater System Review

Tremendous Bang for the Buck

"The living room in our new apartment measures 18' x 16'. I began researching systems online that would fill the space with surround sound without breaking the bank. I have owned a number of Onkyo components over the years, and have always been impressed with the build quality and price/performance ratio. The HT-S6100 is no exception.



COMPONENTS:

The heart of this home theater system is the AV receiver, which is essentially a beefed-up version of the Onkyo TX-SR606. The 606 is one of the most highly rated receivers you can buy for less than $600, and with good reason: 4 HDMI inputs, excellent on-board video upscaling, and the Audyssey 2 automatic speaker calibration. The HT-S6100's receiver adds more power to each channel over the 606.



The speakers are sleek and can easily be hung directly on the wall, using an anchored screw and the included rubber pads. The Left, Right, and Center channels are now wall-mounted around my LCD and not only sound great but look amazing. The Left, Right, and Center speakers are all shielded for placement around the TV. I was impressed by their heft and the build quality; these are a step up from the typical HTIB mini-cubes. One con was the spring-clip connection on each speaker; I would have preferred recessed binding posts for use with banana clips, which I used to connect the speaker wire to the AV receceiver.



I have set up the Surround Left and Surround Right speakers at ear level by the couch (the primary seating for the room), for a 5.1 system. I am debating putting up the rear surround speakers or possibly running them to the bedroom as "B" speakers. I like the flexibility and wealth of options the HT-S6100 provides for speaker configuration.



The subwoofer is a beast right out of the box, and I found with some fine-tuning it blends nicely with the other speakers.



SETUP:

The system was very easy/straightforward to setup. The only time consuming activities were mounting the speakers on the walls and running the surround sound speaker wire, which would take time with any system. The included (shoddy) cables are color coded to match their respective speaker and input jack on the receiver, but I used my own heavier wire.



The Audyssey mic calibration was great. I set up the included microphone as instructed and let the program run. It did a good job of calibrating the 5.1 system, identifying the active speakers and shutting down the 2 channels I am not currently using. I tweaked the setting a little bit (rolled back the subwoofer, brought up the center channel) and am very happy with the sound.



The iPod dock works as advertised, and allows you to use the remote to control your iPod. I have not figured out yet if there's any way to display the iPod menu on the TV while the dock is activated, but fear that it may not be possible with this system.



Nearly all the video on my system runs through HDMI, which is a breeze to set up. Cable box, Blu-ray, and computer DVI-to-HDMI all got their assigned HDMI inputs on the receiver, with a single HDMI cable running from the receiver to the TV. My Wii is connected via component in, but this did not present any issues. Additionally, I still have inputs galore that are free (including an HDMI input).



PERFORMANCE:

I mostly watch movies and listen to music, and the HT-6100 really delivers. The sound is enveloping and well balanced, and gives a great sense of space and placement. The center channel delivers especially impressive sound, given it's low profile.





CONS:

One pet peeve is the low-grade speaker wire included with the system. I sprung for a spool of 14 AWG wire to run the surround sound speakers and am very satisfied with the results.



Another con is the remote. I use a Harmony universal remote for nearly all regular controls, but it does not work well for some of the AV receiver's functions (especially the Audyssey setup). The HT-6100's remote is somewhat cramped and not layed out especially intuitively. In an otherwise stand-out package, it sticks out like a bit of a sore thum."