We purchased the Onkyo SKS-HT540 so that our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and review it. Read on for our full product review.

It’s not often that you come across a product like the Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 for such an attractive price. As it turns out, not only is this system great for the price, but it would be a steal if it were sold for hundreds of dollars more. You’d normally expect to pay close to a thousand dollars for a pair of speakers that produce this level of quality audio.

The SKS-HT540 is a simple, attractive pair of surround sound speakers. They are designed to be subtle and to blend into a room, not overly dramatic or attention-grabbing. The bulk of their design consists of a rigid composite board with a black wood grain exterior.

The rear surround speakers, while largely rectangular, have subtly contoured fronts. The subwoofer is similarly shaped, and features a wide, plastic opening at its base with a glowing red power status LED. The plastic here is a little cheap, but because it’s silver, it doesn’t show the easily visible scuffs and grime we’ve noticed in the black plastic of this type of plastic in other systems we’ve tested. On the back of the subwoofer, near the power cable and audio jack, is a rotary knob that lets you manually adjust the subwoofer’s level.