As cool as the other two low cost home theater in a box systems we talked about a bit ago are, the Onkyo HT-SR800 is definitely the product for home theater lovers on a budget. Unlike the other two systems which were 5.1 surround capable, the HT-SR800 is a full 7.1 surround system with 110w per channel. Other notable features are that the receiver is both XM and Sirius satellite radio ready and has Audyssey 2EQ/HTiB calibration.

The receiver uses HDMI pass-through switching, processing and amplification for multi channel audio formats. "As high definition sources and displays finally make their way into the mass market, the need for simple, yet high quality audio systems is greater today than ever before," comments Onkyo Marketing Manager Paul Wasek. "HD-DVD and Blu-Ray not only deliver the highest video quality ever available at home, they also carry the promise of matching audio reproduction as well. The HT-SR800 home theater package makes that promise a reality, giving consumers a simple, high-quality solution for high definition audio with as powerful switching and control features to make a complete theater systems easy to set up, operate, and enjoy." The receiver has seven amplification channels for multi-channel analog and digital audio and has multiple inputs and outputs including high bandwidth HDMI pass-through switching capable of transmitting 1080p video and Deep-color data via two inputs and one output. To keep the output linear each of the channels uses Onkyo exclusive WRAT (wide range amplifier technology).