I received my Onkyo HT-S3300 surround sound system on Wednesday and so far I have been very impressed overall. First thing I’ll say is that the system needed some configuration to get the best sound. It came set to use large front speakers which made stereo output sound very bass light; finding the setting and changing it to small speakers remedied the issue; suddenly the room was shaking with bass. The small 3 1/4 inch full range drivers do a good job in conjunction with the 8 inch downward firing subwoofer; each speaker has identical 3 1/4 drivers which are rated to handle 110w each which I find hard to believe given their size but they are plenty loud enough with good definition and stereo image.
The A/V Receiver is well featured; settings for just about everything including inputting speaker distances from the amplifier unit for the Audyssey system which constantly adjusts speaker balance for optimum listening performance. The processing of digital surround sound is excellent; not as good as top of the range systems but given that the unit is only $300; it performed as good as some units at twice the price.
The HT-R380 supports all surround formats including Dolby True HD; DTS HD high resolution audio and DTS HD Master audio + the usual Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+ and DTS. The unit also supports Dolby Pro Logic II which really brings older movies to life; using it with Netflix stereo programming is a revelation, the sound stage is much larger than any other surround sound unit I have used in Pro Logic II mode.
Music reproduction is generally good although nowhere near as good as a dedicated stereo amplifier with larger speakers and I wouldn’t expect it to be; the sound is lacking a little mid frequency definition sounding a little bright when listening to music, but it’s passable for general music listening. The radio tuner is pretty standard fair; it works as a RDS radio system, it does what it says on the box.
All the HDMI inputs can be assigned to any of the available inputs and can be given a name from a list of sources including PS3, Wii, X-Box and the usual DVD, BD and CD. Although I have all my sources connected via HDMI; the unit also has two optical inputs and one coaxial; again they are assignable to any input and two component and two composite inputs; although this unit does not upscale these inputs which won’t be a problem for most people. So overall; a very capable system for the money; it does everything you expect from a surround system and in my opinion punches well above it’s price point!
Hi im also thinking of buying one of these, but without
the calibration mic how easy or not so easy is it to set up – Thanks Rich
Hi Rich,
The amp and speakers are incredibly easy to setup, it’s just a case of connecting all the speakers, plug in your HDMI cable from your source (or optical/SPDIF cable), connect a HDMI cable from the amp to your TV. Enable Audyssey and Dynamic EQ using the onscreen menu, it’s under menu item #7. Audio Adjust and you’ll be all set to go. If you want to use the latest Blu-Ray HD audio, you’ll need to set your Blu-Ray player to Bitstream digital output mode. The unit comes with a good manual which explains everything fairly well, overall for a amp at this price level, it’s a good amp/speaker package. PS I don’t have a calibration mic either, it works by some sort of magic!
What is a good price for the Onkyo 380 AVR in 2021 dollars?
Michael, I wouldn’t recommend buying the 380 A/V Receiver at all in 2021, there are far better options out there. But, if you really want one, they are available used online for between $70 and $150, I would say not to pay more than $100 for the receiver.