Onkyo HTX-22HD review

Onkyo HTX-22HD Review

Reviewed by: Ian Morris

Reviewed on: 6 November 2008

That said, we are of the opinion that if you spend £1,000 on a TV you should be spending some money on audio, too. Sound really is half the experience of home cinema, and if you do it badly you're cheating yourself out of a wonderful experience.

By default the setup of the HTX-22HD is pretty good. We found that the subwoofer was too keen at times, which led to a slightly bass-heavy sound. The good news is that it's incredibly easy to reduce the subwoofer level, and doing so improves the overall balance brilliantly.

The build quality of the 22HD is good overall. The included stereo speakers don't feel like they would stand up to much abuse though, so keep them somewhere where they can't fall to the floor. 

One of the small usability problems we discovered is the location of the screen. In an effort to stay simple, the Onkyo is controlled through its built-in display. This means that if you wanted to tuck the subwoofer away somewhere, you'd be stuck when the time came to adjust a setting.  

In our opinion, Onkyo doesn't include enough AV cables. You get one optical lead, but we would have hoped for at least two HDMI cables to be thrown in. A digital coaxial and second optical cable would be appreciated too, and given the price of the system, it's not much to ask for.

The included speaker cable is functional, but very thin and not particularly high quality. Speaker bindings are those nasty spring clip things, and while they're generally good enough, we'd prefer some proper banana clips or twist bindings. That said, the speakers are small, and clips are a space-saving function.

Conclusion
It's hard to criticise the Onkyo because it produces such good-quality sound. We do think it would be improved with the optional rear and centre speakers, but keep in mind that buying them increases the price.

In our opinion, the HTX-22HD produces a better sound than products like the Samsung HT-X715 and LG HT902TB, but it's more expensive and doesn't come with a built-in upscaling DVD player. Speaker bar systems like the Yamaha HTY-750 and Denon DHT-FS3 can sound great, but don't have anywhere near the features. So with all that considered, the 22HD is well worth your hard-earned cash.

Edited by Marian Smith