Onkyo SBT-A500 3.1.2 Ch. Dolby Atmos Sound Bar System,Black

I was in the market for a new soundbar due to my previous Sony soundbase becoming unusable in my new house's entertainment location. I wanted a Dolby Atmos system, but didn't want cable running everywhere and didn't want to spend over $500. I used to have an Onkyo Dolby 6.1 system that was totally awesome, but the speaker wires drive me nuts as they were highly visible and ran everywhere. I found this system was originally listed for $999, but it was being sold on Amazon for under $300 before Thanksgiving 2018. Seems like most reviews I've seen here and elsewhere complain about the sound at the higher price point, but for $300 or less it is a steal. The sound from this thing is incredible! Disclosure - I am not a major soundphile, but enjoy quality speakers. I've played some concert movies/events on this system cranked up to just less than 50% of the volume (which is LOUD), and it sounds like I am actually in the audience of that concert. Movies in Dolby Atmos sound awesome, but I don't really have anything to compare it to there. The need for Onkyo to create a separate receiver to hook the soundbar to seems to take up more space than most other soundbars, but it is worth it in the end. Tons of features are included because of the receiver - wifi, bluetooth, 4 HDMI ports, 4k/HDR passthru, every sound/video connection possible, etc. The system is also updatable over wifi and Onkyo keeps adding features (even though this is not a high selling item that I can tell). They just added Dolby Vision support/passthru to the latest firmware! Yes, this system is on the low-end of the Atmos-certified speaker systems - 3.1.2 is the lowest that Dolby certifies. There are 3 front-firing speakers, 2 up-firing speakers, and a subwoofer. The subwoofer looks small, but man does it boom! The receiver also includes an onscreen menu, which is good for changing numerous settings. The Onkyo settings are plentiful and something I am used to, but that is where the problem lies for most people. You have to fine-tune the system to your specific entertainment area - an Onkyo "feature". My previous Onkyo needed to be tweaked and the speakers placed just precisely to get the best sound. I've seen a few reviews complain that this system sounds muffled, etc. That is only due to the settings and placement of the soundbar. If you are off-center and have not fine-tuned the settings, it will sound "flat". Onkyo includes with most of their systems a placement sound calibration speaker to adjust settings to your setting, but it is only a starting point and you will need to adjust from there. Also, this system seems to struggle with voices at low volumes <10 (out of 50). Regardless, I love this system for the price ($280) that I got and hopefully it lasts quite awhile. Highly recommend if you can find it under $300 as it should be priced around $500 for the sound.

I was initially put off by the low reviews for the product here on Amazon, but after doing some external research, it sounded like 50% of the people were happy with the soundbar, and 50% were unhappy with it. Since it seemed to check off everything I was looking for (Slim size, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Wireless subwoofer, etc), I figured I might as well give it a try. The package arrived quickly from Amazon, it was not packed in another box, but everything was very securely packaged inside the Onkyo box. Setup was rather painless, the receiver was bigger than I thought it'd be, but it still fit fine in my entertainment center. The microphone jack to calibrate is on the back of the receiver, which was a small pain, as I had to pull the unit out to connect and disconnect it, but really that's a small complaint. The on screen guide was pretty straight forward, setup didn't take long, and everything operated about how I expected it to. I'm running a fairly simple setup, Samsung 4K HDR TV to the Onkyo soundbar, and an Xbox One S w/ UHD drive connected to a DirecTV Genie. ARC/CEC had to be turned on, but it is working fine with the Samsung TV, volume/power is linked and functions properly every time. HDR and 4K pass through perfectly. I had some issues initially with intermittent black screens and/or no sound, especially when changing sound 'modes' via the remote. Shortly after experiencing these, I connected the unit to my Wi-Fi (easy setup, though the on screen keyboard is a little slow to use) and it showed a firmware update (released 02/23/17). The firmware update took approximately 20 minutes to download and install, when it was finished it shut down the unit. I powered the unit back on and have not had the issue with black screens or cutting audio since. The Xbox Kinect does not have a specific code for the SBT-A500 unit, but otherwise controls volume properly and turns the unit off. Still working on getting it to turn the device on via Kinect. 4K UHD blu-ray disks output Dolby Atmos properly to the unit from the Xbox One S. The Onkyo will detect the signal and turn on Atmos mode automatically. Occasionally it will not register the Atmos stream, and there will be no sound (menu sounds still work). Going back to the main menu and restarting the disk enables proper audio. Dolby Atmos support is still in beta on the Xbox One S, so I am not sure if this issue is with the Xbox or the Onkyo. It's a little annoying but takes two button presses to resolve, every time, so it's not a huge thing. I am coming from an older (2011) Yamaha 2.1 soundbar, so to me, the sound quality of the Onkyo unit is fantastic. The bass from the sub is good and deep, and the audio output covers my (small) living room. The Dolby Atmos output is.. interesting. I've never heard/seem it before. I need to do some more calibrating/testing/listening before really commenting on that feature. I have a number of 4K UHD disks with Dolby Atmos tracks, so I just need to find the time to watch them with a quiet house! The soundbar also includes a number of network music services built in, though I've only used Pandora so far. It works.. about as good as I'd expect? The song title is displayed on the receiver as it's playing, which I thought was cool. The music sounds good, and has a number of different modes/settings you can select to tailor to your tastes. As I use the system I'll update the review if anything pops up that seems notable.

I was looking for a sound bar as we bought a new Sony 4K HDR TV, and the TV's audio was pretty poor compared to our previous Sharp Aquos TV. I originally purchased the Sony HT-ST5000 from BB, but returned it after I found they sold me an open box item as new. I did some further research into soundbars and focused on the Onkyo SBT-A500 and the Nakamichi Shockwafe systems. I initially leaned toward the Nakamichi system with the rear satellites and dual sub-woofers, but the more we discussed it the more I didn't like the thought of speaker stands in our family room with an active 9-year old boy running around. I shifted to the Onkyo system, and the more I looked into it the more I liked it. The reviews weren't great, but most were early purchasers who seemed to complain about the price of the system. The price has dropped significantly since the system was introduced last year, and I've had a pretty good experience with my Onkyo TX-NR717 AVR in our basement TV room, so I decided to give the Onkyo a shot and I'm glad I did. As most know, the system has three pieces: soundbar, sub-woofer, and a "receiver" unit that actually houses all of the connections, which enables the soundbar itself to be very low profile. Setup was very simple: I connected our cable set-top box/DVR and the Xbox One X to the receiver unit via HDMI, then ran one HDMI cable from the receiver to the ARC-enabled HDMI input on the TV. The only issue I've encountered is that the receiver unit will not connect to our wifi network on the 5Ghz band, but it will connect on the 2.4 Ghz band. I also wish Onkyo had more info available on the 4K upscaling capability of the receiver unit, like they do for the dedicated AVRs. So far I've been impressed with the audio output from the soundbar/sub-woofer - it's been perfect for our 18x20 family room. I can understand that many wouldn't have been impressed with the sound relative to the price when the unit was first released in 2017, but at current prices it is great. Bottom line: great sound from a compact sound bar package, especially at current prices.

Update: 2 Months and the Unit died...pick another Atmos Soundbar. As a Sound Bar, it’s Amazing! As a Atmos Sound Bar it’s “flat”. I played with all the settings, tested it out on a few different HDR Atmos iTunes movies and I really enjoy the sound but it does not surround you like other Atmos Sound Bars. BUT it sounds better then other traditional sound bars with both Atmos content and standard content and it’s miles ahead of the stock tv speakers. I also tested it out with a few Atmos Xbox One X games with similar outcome...sounds amazing, you can sense there is a dimensional sound wall but it’s not surrounding. I would recommend this as a sound bar that can code Atmos and out perform other standard sound bars and provide you with a dimensional wall of sound very similar like Atmos but half the cost.

I'm not an audiophile by any means, so I was aware of the potential for less-than-great audio performance based on other reviews, and that does seem to be the case. This did replace a Yamaha 5.1 surround system so I knew it couldn't match it in sound quality, but I appreciated the compact nature of this system with an external receiver and support for multiple HDMI inputs. My largest issue is with the reliability of this unit in less than six months of ownership. First, my receiver started killing the video signal from any attached devices after being on for a minute or two. Onkyo support made me do a factory reset which seemed to resolve it. A few months later, while using the system with an HDMI device, it randomly switched to 89.1 FM with no audio, then said "clearing" on the display, and the unit factory reset it self and went back to the initial set up screen. I was simply watching content and not interacting with the system at all. Most recently, the sub-woofer just straight up stopped working. I was not taxing it or playing loudly at all, I just noticed all of a sudden I had no bass. The sub-woofer does not appear to connect to the receiver at all, and the orange light on the back does not illuminate, which leads me to believe it is not even powering on. Now the entire system is at an "authorized Onkyo service center" run by a single individual who stated that the repair will take 2-4 weeks and it will be a learning experience as this new model has not yet been worked on. I'm thinking it is going to be a lot longer than that and it won't be my only repair over the duration of the 2 year warranty. I expected better from a brand like Onkyo.

I've only had the Onkyo SBT-A500 Soundbar for about a week, but so far I cannot understand the negative reports (CNET Review - I generally use & trust their reviews too) regarding this 4K/Dolby Atmos ready soundbar. I received the item packed very well, and then connected the components within minutes. It took a little longer (another 30-45 minutes) to calibrate and fine tune, but the end result has been very well worth it. I have heard reports of no real Atmos or 3D sound, and perhaps my ears are broken, but I am actually surprised by the quality sounds I am experiencing from a 3.1.2 soundbar! To be fair, I am an Onkyo fan, and I also have an Onkyo TX-RZ820 Network AV receiver with capability for both 7.1 Surround as well as 5.1 surround with 2 additional Dolby Atmos (front-high) speakers, and while that system sounds absolutely incredible, the SBT-A500 does a better than fair job of keeping-up for a fraction of the total cost. So please know that going in, I would not expect the fidelity of "true" 7.1 or 5.1 Atmos enabled sound - this sound bar won't match it, BUT if you are in the market for quality & convenient sound with a ton of flexibility at a fair price (purchased mine at a reduced retail of $400, and today it's $300 - Shoot!), I'd absolutely recommend the Onkyo SBT-A500. Hope this helps & Happy Listening!

quality is questionable? set up is painful

I purchased this as a reconditioned system from seller on Amazon for almost nothing. It looked like it was brand new in the box except for the labels on the back saying reconditioned by Onkyo. Let me state that my primary system is an Onkyo TX-RZ900 coupled with KEF Q300 & Q600 speakers. Although there is a significant difference in power and specifications, the image and the quality of the sound of the A500 system is just unbelievable for the money. The reconditioned set cost me a little bit more than $260. As an old audiophile I can tell you that once this is set up properly then you would have to spend over $1,500 to $2,000 to get a sound and image that is comparable. It is not going to rattle your windows or garner complaints from your neighbors, it will however give an accurate image and a good Sound Stage for a medium-sized room. Then again I've been wrong before. Ask any of my ex-wives.