Onkyo HT-S3400
 

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I'm kind of embarassed to admit it, but I have yet to invest in a surround sound system, mainly due to where I live. I've recently decided "screw it", and now I'm looking into getting one.

I've been shopping around and the Onkyo HT-S3400 seems a decent choice. It's going in a very small room, so I'm not looking for anything to bring down the walls. It's also in my price range.

Sadly, I have little to no experience with surround sound systems, especially dealing with Blu-ray and high def audio.

A couple noob questions:

1.) I own a Sony BDP-S350. I'm aware it doesn't decode DTS-MA internally, but will I get the same sound quality in the receiver (which has the decoder) if I bitstreamed it, or should I look into getting a new player to get the most out of the audio?

2.) I've looked at pictures and read through the manual, but I can't figure out how I would connect a device using component cables for both video and audio. I see the two connections for the component video, but where do you put the audio, if anywhere. My cable box as well as my Wii use component cables. How would I go about using them with the receiver?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

1. Connect the Sony to the new one via Opitcal In or the Coaxial.( it has 2 Optical Inputs)

2. The component cables are for video only. Connect the Cable box and /or Wii with either the rca audio imputs or the Coaxial input(it has one Coaxial input).

Good Luck

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand. Shouldn't I be able to get the audio I want from the s350 to the Onkyo through the HDMI alone? The Onkyo should be able to decode the DTS-MA, right?

As for the cable box and Wii, I guess I could just connect them to the TV and use an optical cable for the audio. No big deal.

EDIT: I'm going to go ahead and order this tomorrow and keep my current Blu-ray player for now. I think I have it all figured out. Thanks for your reply.

I'll give feedback about the system when I have it all set up. This is kind of exciting. I've only been getting half the Blu-ray experience all this time, now's that's going to change hopefully.

Your blu-ray player (http://reviews.cnet.com/blu-ray-play...-32868775.html ) can bitstream the HD audio formats, and the Onkyo s3400 can decode it. Use an hdmi cable from the blu-ray player to the Onkyo, then use another hdmi cable from your Onkyo to your hdtv. On your blu-ray player go to audio settings and make sure to set it to bitstream. On your Onkyo it will then tell you whether the blu-ray you're playing is Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD.

I'm looking to purchase my first HD home theater system, and I've considered this Onkyo, but I think I'm going to spend an extra $100 for the Onkyo s5400 which is a 7.1 system and it has a bigger subwoofer (10' vs the 8" in the s3400, plus it's powered whereas the s3400 subwoofer gets its power from the receiver which means that if you want to upgrade your subwoofer you'd need a new receiver).

However your room is small so I'm sure the s3400 will be powerful enough for your room. Let us know how it goes.

Most component cables come with rca audio cables (the red and white cables) just like composite cables. The red, green, and blue cables are for the video, and the red and white are for the audio. Something like this is what you need for the wii:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

For the cable box you just need a standard component rca (sometimes called component AV) cable:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Thanks for the replies. I have the audio bitstreaming to the Onkyo and it works great. I went ahead and just used an optical for the cable box, I'll have to get extended RCA audio cables or something for the Wii, no big deal. I'm more excited for the surround for my XBox 360 anyway.

I have to say, I'm blown away by the quality of this set. The sub is more than efficient, I actually had to turn it down. It's loud and crystal clear. I'm more than happy with this purchase.

How to Train Your Dragon and Avatar were the first two movies I tried out, they sounded pretty incredible.

I thought it would sound good, but not this good. For a sub $300 setup, I'm impressed.

I think I'm going to buy this set for my bedroom:D

I think you'll be happy with it.

I've got Gladiator playing right now...Wow. This is the best I've ever heard this movie at home, and I've watched the Blu-ray with a more expensive system in the past.

Yea quality audio is much more affordable now. I'm glad everything went well with your S3400. Hopefully I'll have the S5400 by this time next month.

Hey guys, i don't mean to jack your thread, but i'm new and cannot start a new thread. I searched under the threads and could not find any reviews for the Onkyo HT-S5400. I was wondering what your take was on this HTiB? I'm in much need of updating my "old" sony system from 2006 and after researching and looking under these forums i found that Onkyo has the best HTiB out there. I have a $400 budget and live in a decent sized apartment and i'm looking at either the HT-S3400 or HT-S5400. I know the difference between the two is a 5.1 or a 7.1 system; however, i'm looking for something that i can buld on in the future as well. I have a Samsung 40" LED now, i will be buying a bigger/better tv this summer once the 2011 models roll out, and a PS3. Any advice would help. Thanks.

The S3400 has a passive subwoofer while the S5400 has a self-powered subwoofer, what that means is that if you're looking to upgrade the subwoofer years from now, with the S3400 you'd have to replace the entire system, while with the S5400 you can just replace the subwoofer.

Other differences between the two is that the S5400 has bigger speakers, and the S5400 supports the Dolby Prologic IIZ codec (you could use your rear support speakers as high speakers).

If you like LFE the S3400 goes down to 30hz (which is pretty good) while the S5400 goes a little deeper at 25hz. The S5400 receiver can handle frequencies down to 20hz so if you want to replace the sub with one that does 20hz you can.

Do you guys know if this system (HTS3400) would be good for a fairly open room? I noticed most of you are purchasing it for a small space. I'm looking for something affordable but with good quality as my current setup is a dvd receiver which does not support hd audio.

Anyone notice the sound cutting out when playing movies? I usually have the volume set to 45 to 50. When a movies planing the sound will just randomly drop out every once in a while.

I got this system last night and I absolutely LOVE it. So much better than the crappy one I had before it. Can't believe the difference in AQ.

I have the S5300 and feel bad that I haven't even taken it out of the box yet. My house is total chaos while I do home improvement projects. I'm hoping that I can get this set up in the family room once we get it repainted and floored. Would be really nice to actually hear the sounds I'm supposed to when playing a big budget movie :)

My posts here ended up being deleted when the server crashed months ago, but I have the S5400 (since the end of May/beginning of June), and I must say I'm super impressed with it. It was ridiculously easy to set up (though I'm thinking of eventually buying some better wiring), and the AQ is quite surprising considering many members of this forum seem to hate HTiB. I watched the first two Indiana Jones films and I only have my volume set to about 12, and my apartment is shaking from the subwoofer. There were a few scenes with chains rattling that sounded as if someone was trying to break into my apartment. :o I ended up getting it on sale for about 400 CDN at Best Buy. I know some claim that the receivers run hot, but I haven't found that to be an issue for me at all. I do get some occasional flickering and picture drop out when I first load up a film, or swap over and/or boot up my Desktop, but I think that has more to do with the cheap Monoprice cables Im using.

My original reply got dumped in the server downtime as well.

Short wrap-up, I've had the HT-S3400 set for about 16 months now and have been very pleased with it for the price paid. Around $280 US from newegg at the time. Only swapped out the included wire for 16ga.