Expert Advice: 800-769-5668

7.1-Channel, XM-Ready Home Theater System

Once you hear it, you will understand what your friends have been talking... and bragging... about. With seven speakers and a 230-watt powered amplifier, the Onkyo HT-S790 guarantees that your living room will not go unrocked. In addition to the basic necessities, this system is compatible with XM Radio, HDTV programming, and your iPod. So... what are you waiting for?

why dont you own this yet?

Reviewed By: angelo zielinski - chicago, il

im not what you would call an audiophile however, i am a discerning and highly scrutinizing consumer. assuming that people who read these reviews share my passion and curse of researching purchaces to death, i would like to assure you, this system is excellent. it has met and exceeded al expectations, and given the reviews, that bar was set quite high. cnet has a great review and im sure youve seen nothing but great things elsewhere on the net. well if you need more affirmation here is my review after my first month with the system

like others have said, the box is HEAVY! but all that hard work lugging it into the house will soon be redeemed. out of the box it is super straight forward. speakers are labeed AND color-coded. now others have mentioned this feature but allow me to emphasize. not only are the wire color coded but the tabs on the speakers and the connectors on the reciever are coded. match the wire to the brightly colored connector and your set. the speakers also say where they belong as well. center, left surround, right rear surround, etc. there is absolutely no guesswork here. the next thing youll notice is no hdmi. i was worried at first but i ran hdmi from my inputs to my tv and then used the optical out and into thereciever and is more than suitable. also unless you have a 1080p monitor does it really matter. your components will be more than suitable. but remember! there is no signal conversion in this reciever. this means that if your input signals into the amp are s-video, for example, you need to use the s-video outputs, the same is true for using component connections. now if you need to mix inputs make sure you are using ALL the corresponding outputs or you be wondering why its not showing up. after you got those few connections down youre set! assuming its plugged into the wall

sellecting a source from the remote is simple, so if youre not going to be using a 3rd party universa remote, not to worry, it is quite easy to use. you can eve program this one to be your universal. throw in a movie or cd and open your manual. i know itll be tough for a lot of you guys, but swally your techno pride, youll thank me. it will help you set the individua levels of each speaker and give you optimal sound as well as set some basic yet useful options. again, all of this is very straight forward and quite simple.

after all that which honestly will take you no more than an hour from the time you rip through the box like a 12 year old at christmas you are set for phenominal sound. it is honestly nothing short of breathtaking. if youre a music lover go buy yourself a live concert dvd of your favorite band. i didnt used to be into those but now it is the cosest thing to being there. it is just incredible the way the system handles every note.

there is one other consideration. the speakers are huge. the front channels are probably about 20 tall. theyre great looking with or without the romovable grilles on. the center is the same size. all the surrounds are large too. 14x8 a little larger than a tissue box. and remember, youll have 4 of those puppies. but the truth is that that is what make them sound so great. also theyre not made out of plastic like all the others out there, theyre made out of much more sound friendly wood construction. also if ou dont have the need or the room for the extra 2 channels you can put them in another room and hook them to your b speakers for sound in another room and have a 5.1 system in the main are. still a great sound, and possibly more appropriate for a small room.

in summary
if you are a deal saavy shopper and not looking to drop $2000 dollars on a sound system that youll need to hire someone to install, this is your system. ivee tried the bose lifestyle $1400, numerous yamaha systems and the denon 5.1 thats $100 more and none of them compare to this. the bose system is convenient and more streamlined but it cant produce the sound out of those 2 speakers that the dual 5 14 cone and tweeter in EACH front speaker has. the range is tremendous. however, if you NEED hdmi in your reciever look into onkyos ht-s990thx. a true thx certified 7.1 with hdmi and under $1000! but if you can do creative routing like i did to get the 1080p signal or dont need hdmi because you have a 1080i, 720p, 720i, or less, then this is for you! te system is super flexible and has some of the newest decoding technologies for all of your media. it is by far the best bang for your buck. make that an explosion. so if you value sound and as much as you value a good deal or even if youre not worried about the price, look no further, youll be hard pressed to find this quality in systems 3 times the price. so if you dont mind the large beautiful sounding speakers hanging out in he room add this to your cart. the last important question is the first why do you not own this yet?

Great system

Reviewed By: Joseph James - Aberdeen, Washington

Well me and my wife were walking in a store one day, and i came across this. It looked great so i stopped and turned it up a bit and was hooked. I had never had a home theater system before and i was awed at how good it sounded. So when i got home that night i looked it up and found a great deal on Vanns. Service was excellent. I ordered this item late Monday night and received it early Thursday afternoon. While reading other reviews for this item i seen most everyone was upgrading the speaker wires, but to me the speaker wires that came with it work fine. Maybe i might invest into some new speaker wire later, but this does for now. All in all this is a great system that looks good too. Speakers are a little bulky, but i kind of like that look. Dont hesitate, buy this system.

HT-S790

Reviewed By: Steven Fruehling - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Not knowing much about Onkyo, but using information from other sources, I decided on the HT-S790 system. This home theater in the box turned out to be as advertised. If there is a better system for the money Im not aware of it. The most challenging task is learning how use the remote.
My shopping experience at Vanns was easy and the service would be hard to beat. Ordered item late on Sunday with standard shipping and received it by FedX on Friday 1200 miles away.

Great system for how much you pay

Reviewed By: Devin Farr - Ogden, Utah

I recently purchased this system and was quite impressed with it! First of all, it was easy to set up. Although I didnt use the color coded speaker wire that it came with, it was still very easy to hook all the wire and cables up to the receiver. All of the connections on the back of the receiver were labled very clearly and was very easy to connect. There are plenty of connections for the average home owner.

After it was all connected, it was very easy to setup the sound exactly how you want it. The directions in the manual were very clear and easy to follow. The setup options on the receiver itself were easy to get to and easy to change. You do have to change everything manually though i.e. speaker distance, speaker volume levels etc. because there is no microphone setup option for easy setup of the speakers. Other than that, very easy to use!

The sound is wonderful! When people say this system packs a punch, it really does. My dad, who has a couple of thousand dollar system, was thoroughly impressed with the sound that came out of this system. It made him jealous! Im just sad I cant turn it up all the way because we live in an apartment with neighbors that can easily here it. So there is plenty of power for your listening needs.

One problem with this systems is the size of the surrounds speakers. They are larger than most satellite speakers included in most systems. They were a little hard to place because of there size. My wife thinks they are a little bit of an eye sore, but she wont care when she heres the sound coming out of these. Another problem is the tiny speaker wire that comes with it. The wire wasnt long enough in some cases and it was just such a small gauge. Invest in some 16 gauge wire and that should help the system sound better.

All in all this is a wonderful system and I dont regret buying this. I was originally going to buy a Sony system that cost less, but now I am very glad I got the Onkyo system. Dont think about it too much, spend the extra money and get this system!

Onkyo HT-S790 in Black

Reviewed By: Todd A. Macker - Columbus Township, Michigan

Onkyo made an excellent product in this packaged Home Theatre System. It has great sound, looks very sophisticated, and was very easy to put together. Once it is together and you turn on the POWER, there are so many different options and selections and settings to play with, it was great. Im a bit of a techie so I really loved it. It does sound good right out of the box, with no adjustments made. The remote that comes in the package actually works on all of the different equipment I have attached to the Receiver. The TV, satallite, and DVD player can all be controlled with this remote. Ive had Universal remotes before and there was always something that would not work with them. Some of the features I was impressed with are, Spring loaded covers for the Optical inputs, I always lose the little covers for them all speaker wire was tinned, the connections for the speaker wires to the receiver, are able to accept the banana tips or you can secure the wire right to the terminal, no spring loaded push-in type!, all speakers were well built, solid and sound pure. The speakers themselves do still have the spring loaded push in type connector. Instruction manual has illustrations and clear directions.
This system is by far the best system available in this price range. I have owned two systems prior to purchasing this system, and Im impressed. It is even capable of broadcasting XM radio. You do have to purchase a plug and play antennae and subscribe to XM radio, but that is all.
This system will work for anyone who loves good quality sound in their music, or loves to watch their DVDs, movies, and HDTV, with total surround sound. It is a quality system at an affordable price.
I recommend it. The box it comes in is huge, so have it delivered or take a truck to pick it up. The box weighs over one hundred pounds, so take a friend with you, also! Its worth it!

Best HTIB In It's Price Range

Reviewed By: christopher kurry - cayucos, ca

After a month of researching different HTIB systems, there were no other systems I had my eye on. With incredible crisp, clean and true theater sound, this system is well worth the money. I'm very satisfied with this purchase and have no regrets whatsoever. I read in the reviews before purchasing the system that most people buy thicker speacker wire and rca subwoofer cable, but the thin wires included seem to work great for now. I intend to buy better wires in the future. I've had the system less than a month and have already had neighbors complain saying they can feel their house shake, no joke! An excellent buy!

The best 7.1 HTIB

Reviewed By: Nathan Ross - Iowa City, Iowa

This system is mind blowing, granted I am using a Monster sub woofer cable and Monster XPHP speaker wire, I did not bother with the factory cable which I recommend replacing to anyone. But out of the box with the cable upgrades I watched a few episodes of LOST and even though it isnt a movie dedicated to a surround sound audio editing and such it sounds better than any TV speakers ever will. Crisp Clear sound from all the speakers. After I played with the setting and adjusted speaker distance and individual speaker volume on the receiver I watched the Halo 3 announcement trailer because of the time that was spent putting 3D sound effects into the short trailer it would give me a better representation of the sound quality, one word describes it AMAZING. This is the best that anyone can get. This is the easiest way to get 7.1 surround sound all in one package and I must say hast to be one of the best ways to get it. No Regrets here.

Easy to Use, Great Sound

Reviewed By: Nicholas Richard Schneider - Madison, Wisconsin

I had been searching for a HTIB system for a few weeks and came upon the Onkyo HT-S790. Initially impressed by the features described on this site, I visited Onkyos website and did some heavy reading. I bought the system and it was delivered in less than a week.

Setup was as easy as could be due to the color coding. After I positioned all seven speakers in my room I turned it on and was blown away. The sound is incredible. I have listened to many HTIBs at various stores and this system is better by far.

Only two drawbacks. The receiver and subwoofer become pretty hot after a little while of use, so all you need to do is keep the space around them open. Second, which may be due to my own cables, when I play a DVD I get noise in one of the surround speakers. Even so, this could just be a connection problem or cable issue.

Dont hesitate. You wont be disappointed.

Onkyo - HT790 Just awesome

Reviewed By: Suresh - Brandon, FL

I recently ordered the Onkyo HT790 HTIB and am more than happy by the performance. After a detailed analysis from various websites, I found that HT790 is the best sounding HTIB in its price range. The speakers are quite good as well. If you wanna improve the sound quality, get better speaker wires since onkyo ships factory made not-so good quality wires. The receiver sounds incredibly good for both music and movies. The sub woofer is quite deep and tight.

Thanks to Vanns since the shipping was on time. Besides, I found the best deal with Vanns.

Great System

Reviewed By: D Pueppke - Omaha, NE

This was my first stereo setup in 15 years, so I wanted it to be great. The room is pretty big so it needed to have some power. The price was great with a name like Onkyo and 7.1 sound. Consumer Reports and all the other reviews said it was a solid system so I picked it up.

The setup was real easy. I am very pleased tons of sound options, nice bass, loud, universal remote. No HDMI though, but that can wait awhile.

Vanns.com was awesome. The item arrived, but the sub had a dent in it. I contacted a rep and they sent me a prepaid UPS label and I had a new sub shortly, no problems. Additionally, a few weeks later the price on the system went down. I emailed them, and that day they put the difference back on my credit card!

Onkyo 790 & Vanns.com 5 Stars!

Customer Service

Information

About Vann's