Onkyo HT-X22HDX 3D Ready Ultra Compact 2.1 Home Cinema System

I have been looking for a good sound system for my study for a very long time. I have tried many over the years and all fell away due to being specific to hardware, proprietary connectors that broke or of just being too big for a small space. I have a living room full of seperates and a ton of cables. I did not want that for the study. I wanted something small but with a rich quality of sound that would fill the room. It would also need to have scope for a large number of different inputs including digital optical, HDMI, digital coax and classic phono. It would also need to be 5.1 capable as I have a PS3 and workhorse PC with 5.1 digital out. I wanted to play games and watch movies with all the trimmings.

Which meant I ignored this for a long while, because it only comes with two front speakers. Then I found you can buy the extra 3 speakers for about £100 extra. So I added it and the extra speakers to my Amazon wishlist and debated and thought a lot more, but at a total cost of £330 it was more expensive than I wanted to pay. Except for all the things I wanted there wasn't much else of quality much cheaper, and everyone I know that owns Onkyo is in universal agreement - they are quality.

Eventually I gave in and at first got this package (2speakers). Out of the box the very first thing that struck me was the simplicity in setup. There are NO propriety connectors for connecting speakers which is a real bonus over most PC capable systems. I put the nicely weighted speakers on the desk, hooked up the supplied standard speaker cable, plugged in the PS3 stereo phono cables (I already own) and turned on the subwoofer/allinone unit. WOW. A rich sound of superb quality and clarity, the bass out of the box was setup perfectly for the small room and wife downstairs. And when I cranked it up windows rattled and it sounded incredible, although probably best suited for when home alone. I immediately got to wondering what it would be like with the extra speakers, which arrived two days later.

The real quality of this with just the two speakers was in the amazing sound. They are the size and weight of a large mug of coffee/tea. I should also mention the size of the main unit which is about 14 inches high and the same deep, about 12 inches wide. Its not small but not obtrusive and all the inputs, sub-woofer and display are in the unit. It's compact. The simplicity in setup out of the box is a real winner although it has a lot of the advanced features I have in my Sony Amp and separates downstairs, including speaker size and listening distance and different sound features for processing input and output. The simplicity also runs to the keyhole wall mount holes on the back of each speaker (two for the centre speaker in the extra speaker set). That allow you to simply put a 8mm screw into the wall and place the speaker onto the screw like you were hanging a clock. It even comes with pads to stick to the back base of the speakers so they dont rattle against the wall (although I used bluetack which also holds them in place).

With the extra speakers also fitted to the wall and the PS3 and PC hooked in using Amazon Basics digital optical cables the output is just incredible. Playing music in stereo or with the unit processing surround is superb, in games and watching movies with 5.1 it is all immersive and am even contemplating one for the living room now with a view to selling off all the seperates. Maybe.

I summary, I cannot imagine anyone buying this two speaker set and not immediately wanting the extra speakers, which is why I discussed them here as well. The two speakers sound wonderful but is a waste of the technology and ability of the unit, but it does allow the costs to be staggered I suppose. Very highly recommended indeed.

Link to the extra speakers below.
Onkyo SKS-22X 2.1 ch Full range Centre and Rear Speaker Package

Have had this now for the last couple weeks and had been holding back reviewing it until id tried out all the various inputs. Well first, if you dont want to read the rest of this, its brilliant!

I had been looking for a good cinema system for the samsung hd tv and preferred to go for the 2 speaker set up, additionally i didnt want to buy separate components and wanted the all in one set up. Initially i looked for the more well known makes eg samsung, sony etc but a couple of well informed friends advised me to look into this onkyo. Seeing no reviews on this website, i searched the internet and heard nothing but good things about this, not to mention that the previous version on this website seems to have been reviewed favourably. Now ill try not to get too technical as ill probably say something wrong, but what particularly interested me was the description of it being able to process HD audio - we have a sky HD box and blu ray player from the playstation.

So i took the plunge and ordered it - first a warning, theres no optical cable included (at least there wasnt when i ordered it) which youll need for the sky hd box or blu ray but you can pick one up for about 10 pounds. So having sorted that issue out i connected it up, it looks really slick and glossy and when i selected the right input on the onkyo started to have a listen.

'Normal' television sound is decent as youd expect but where it really comes alive is music, movies and particularly hd input. The bass is phenomenal (might need to be toned down for some tastes) and music has a really rich sound. Now to movies, non hd movies give a brilliant sound, for 2 small speakers and a relatively small subwoofer the sound is outstanding giving that home cinema feel that you want. I loaded up a blu ray finally as the last test and was blown away, the bourne identity was the movie and at one point i jumped out of my seat the sound was strong.

Im not sure what technical audio descriptive terms to do it justice, but put simply its a fantastic piece of kit for the price. Without having compared the hd and non hd input enough i cant say for certain how big a difference there is, but certainly having watched some hd movies through the sky hd box and blu rays through the playstation, the sound is incredible. There is also the option to upgrade later to the 5 speaker set up later if you wanted

The negatives? theres no headphone slot which might bother some people (not me!)

In short - fantastic

Can't really say much more about this great product that hasn't already been said in the numerous positive reviews I came across when researching it. Onkyo really have raised the bar with this system. Great quality and big sound, great features, solid build quality, compact size and excellent overall value for money. The ability to upgrade it to a 5.1 set-up later is also a really nice touch. The 3 HDMI inputs have made this unit the hub of my home set-up. All my HDMI peripherals plug into it and then I simply select which one I want to use at a given time. I use it with my Xbox 360, Sky HD box and also for my laptop which I sometimes use to watch media. Another noteworthy feature is the onscreen menu which makes customizing the unit settings really easy. It really is one of the best 2.1 set-ups for the money and actually out classes many other units in a higher price range. The unit also supports HDMI 1.4 for 3D TV and as well as HD audio standards which is really incredible. I couldn't be happier.