Strengths: Great sound, THX certified, Cost effective

Weaknesses: No HDMI in/out, needs larger wire for speakers

Summary: I purchased this system on a whim, I needed to use some trade credit with the store I purchased it from. I have not been disappointed. I looked online to try and find another complete boxed system that is THX certified. Good luck. The sound quality is great. The speakers are clear, crisp, and even at very high levels. The included powered sub is very impressive and fills the room very well. My 16x14 room can be hard to fill with good sound but this system does it masterfully. The speaker wires are very small, maybe okay for the front channels but to stretch all the way back to the surround or rear speakers I would definitely suggest bumping them up. Really like the dimming feature on the display (wish all my components did it) and the late night feature to bring quiet audio up and level the bass when the kids are sleeping. I also have speakers scattered through my house and into my back yard, this system runs all with ease at the same time as running all 7 channels on its system. Very good system, feature rich and sounds great. If you want THX certified, you are going to be spending a lot more money on building a system starting with a receiver that usually starts around $600 - $700. Good quality Good buy.

Strengths: crisp sound, multiple input for composite, component, and s-video user friendly remote control and diagram for connections included

Weaknesses: no hdmi input/output, bulky speaker size

Summary: Before deciding on purchasing this set, I spent some time on researching for a good system that is good for a medium size room within reasonable price range. I had an opportunity to compare the boss lifestyle 28II and the Onkyo hts990thx side by side at a local circuit city store. To my eye, they both generate very similar level of sound, but one is priced at the double of the other (no numbers mentioned). Without a though, i went with the Onkyo. Which was not available at the time for pick up, I had to have it shipped by CC. I have been having this system for 10 days now and enjoying it every night. The sound it produces are very crisp, and the included sub-roofer is powerful enough to produce good level of bass. The hook up is very simply, it took me about 1 hr to hook up all the speakers and lay wires. All speaker wires come in the box are color coded, but very thin. If one want to experience the full performence of this system, I recommend upgrading speaker wires to 16g. One might also want to consider solder tinting the wires before hook up, otherwise, the connections at receiver end could be fusy. The only draw backs in my opinion are: 1. no hdmi input/output, 2 bulky speaker sizes. But if one is looking for a bargain at a reasonable price, one can live with these minor draw backs, since you can also hdmi the dvd to tv, then component back to receiver from tv. I would highly recommend this system.