subject: Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver-Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver Review [print this page] Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver-Onkyo HT-S7300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver Review
Bottom line is I like the receiver. The sound is quite pleasing. It has a sufficient number of HDMI inputs for my needs and met my 3D requirements. I did discover an already known issue (That I did not know about) with DirecTV and most any 3D Audio receiver and 3DTV, it doesn't work right out of the box. One ends up with a "split screen" much like a side by side PIP. It appears this is a problem of DirecTV's making but can be corrected using Samsung's 3D option located in the Content-3D menu, then selecting the icon that looks like the problem you are having, in my case a side-by-side image. This works but is only effective while watching the 3D program. It has to be reset each time when watching a DirecTV 3D program. 3D programing from my Samsung BD-6900 Blu Ray passes through the receiver without a problem. My S7300 is only one week old and I have had to order a replacement from Amazon.com. After listening to the receiver for anywhere from 5-30 minutes, the sound begins to cut out. It begins clicking every few seconds through all speakers for about 2 minutes with the clicking increasing rapidly over the 2 minutes. The sound then goes completely silent. If I unplug the receiver for about 30 minutes, the sound will come back, but will go out again in about 5-30 minutes as described before. The problem does seem to be heat related as the sound goes out faster if the receiver is in it's enclosed space inside the Entertainment center. If I sit it out on a TV tray it will run for up to about 30 minutes before failure. I'm a little disappointed at this point, but I am hoping the replacement will be trouble free. I will update my review after the replacement unit comes in.... When it does work, it works very well!
Also, Onkyo is kind enough to ship some speaker wire with the system, but it's super thin. Upgrading to some 14-gauge wire is a good idea, at the very least for the rear surrounds. You could probably get away with using the thin stuff for the front three, but you can get a spool of 100' 14-gauge wire for under $40. Also, don't bother with banana clips; you can't use them on the speaker end, and they don't seem to make a good connection on the receiver end. Just wire everything directly- it's quick, easy, and reliable.
A few additional notes: as another reviewer stated, the Atlantic stands that are listed at the bottom of this page DO NOT directly attach to the speakers. The speakers have a wall-mount bracket towards the top of the back, but nothing on the lower-back or bottom. I just used the included double-sided tape and the speakers aren't going anywhere. If you have kids or rowdy pets you might want to look into another solution.
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