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Not a bad system, but you could do far better with Onkyo. With Blu-Ray's 7.1 around the corner for most people, I question buying a 5.1 right now...

considering most people still have 2.1 I see no problems buying a 5.1 and most people who have that don't ever position the speakers correctly so a 7.1 system would be a waste for the majority of people. Nothing worse then going over to someones house and seeing the surround speakers sitting on their tv. crazy people!

are the speakers wireless?

Blue ray pretty much sucks for most people.

But it is fun to say Onkyo...

For most people 5.1 is all that they will will ever need even with Blu-Ray. There just isn't much 7.1 content and when there is it's usually no big deal. Most people also find it hard to place rear speaker since they should be at least 5' behind the listener.

Onkyo makes very good receivers and although I'm not a fan of Japanese mass-market speakers somebody could do a lot worse for the money. If all you have is $300 then this is an excellent deal and the speakers can always be upgraded later.

7.1 = overkill unless you own your own private theater and a 70'' screen

i could never find room for 7 damn speakers.

#5... I completly agree.. Onkyo receivers are grade A. The speakers are ok, but nothing to write home about. As for the 5ft rule for the back sats I didnt have the room and had to place them on the far sides of the rear side of the room pointing at a 45 angle (not optimal but will need to do until I move.

Does anyone else think their name is the sound that the product of a pig mating with a donkey would make?
I got a similar system a while back that included a DVD player for the same price. Good stuff.

Are the speaker wires easy to hide?

It all depends on how you place the speakers. My front speakers are on an entertainment center, so the wires are hidden. The rears are on stands beside the couch so I just ran the wires under the house and came back through the floor for those, so they are hidden pretty well. The wires included will be crappy, I'd recommend buying some better wire from monoprice.

You'd be amazed at what a difference upgrading the stock speaker wire on the HTIB systems can do. Spend 10 bucks at radioshack, or less at monoprice for a big improvement.