I tested Onkyo’s sub-$300 bookshelf speakers — and they’re the easiest way to get premium on a budget performance

The Onkyo GX-30ARC speakers are a fantastic option for improving your home audio, and they’re some of the best speakers you can get for the money. Their amazing sound quality and competitive price make them feel like an absolute steal.

They look great, have versatile connectivity options, and are super easy to set up. While minor, the lack of EQ customization and hi-res Bluetooth codecs like LDAC and aptX might put off wireless listeners. Even so, the GX-30ARC are bookshelf speakers at their core, so are intended to be used wired.

To find out if these are the home audio upgrades you need in your life, keep reading this full Onkyo GX-30ARC review.

Onkyo GX-30ARC review: Cheat sheet

• What are they? Minimalistic bookshelf speakers with great connectivity options
• Who are they for? Anyone looking to make home audio upgrades
• What does it cost? $249 / £339
• What do we like? They provide amazing sound at a competitive price and are extremely easy to set up
• What don’t we like? No EQ alteration and only SBC

Onkyo GX-30ARC review: Specs

Onkyo GX-30ARC review: Price & availability

The Onkyo GX-30ARC are bookshelf speakers with a middle-of-the-road price point, offering amazing sound without breaking the bank. They’re available at Amazon U.S. for $249, and at AV.com in the U.K. for £339.

These Creator Series monitors have some pretty fierce competition, as you can get some budget bookshelf speakers with decent audio for under $10. Take the Majority D40X, for example — they cost just $99 but still offer great sound quality and style.

Moving higher up the market, well-known budget brands like Edifier start to creep in with offerings like the Edifier M60, which are compact speakers priced at $199. Or the $149 Edifier R1280T speakers, which don’t have Bluetooth but are the cheapest way to get premium sound.

Onkyo GX-30ARC review: Design & controls

The Onkyo GX-30ARC are some of the best-looking speakers I’ve had the pleasure of laying my eyes on. With the mesh speaker grill attached, they have a minimalistic style that complements any home interior, whether that’s next to your television, turntable, or computer.

With the speaker grill detached, the driver and tweeter are exposed, giving a more modern finish to the speaker. But the covers still protect the speaker from dust and debris, and also offer some acoustic modulation and soften the treble, although in this case it’s slight. How you set the speakers up is personal preference.

The speakers measure 8.7 x 5.8 x 6.7 inches, which sets them at around the same size as the Majority D40X (8.8 x 5.4 x 7 inches). But with the Onkyos, you have the option to perch them on a wooden-finish plastic stand, which increases the height and depth slightly to give dimensions of 10.6 x 8.3 x 5.8 inches. Since the stand is made from plastic, it feels a little light and flimsy, which is a let down — but the effect still looks great.

You also get a speaker stand with the Edifier M60 speakers, and I wish more audio brands would include stands with bookshelf speakers. Mounting speakers at an angle like this can help to direct the music in the room for better sound. If the sound waves from the speaker are reflecting off the surface below, the sound will become dull.

Two indicator lights on the front indicate the source and the sound mode, which are visible through the grill. My only issue with the design is that the power cord is pretty short, so you’re going to want to set it up as close to a plug socket as possible.

Onkyo GX-30ARC review: Features & connectivity

The front of the Onkyo GX-30ARC speakers is extremely minimal. You’ll find all the connectivity ports and controls on the rear of the primary speaker. Here we have the power button, inputs for all the different connectivity options, including HDMI, USB-C and Aux, and the power settings. There’s a lot more connectivity scope here than what is offered by the Kanto Ora4 ($399) speakers, which are smaller and less well-equipped, but better sized and shaped for placing on a desk.

You can use the GX30ARCs as desk speakers, and they’re very good for that. But they’re a lot larger, and all of the connectivity options mean they can be used with your television or turntable. The speakers come with a remote, which is easy to use and feels well-made.

The speakers use Bluetooth 5.3 and only offer the SBC audio codec. This left me a little bewildered at first since speakers like the Edifier S80DB MKII ($499) support hi-res 24-bit streaming with LDAC. But the Onkyo GX-30ARC speakers still sound brilliant. While I would have liked to see a higher resolution codec in these speakers that look and feel so premium, their performance means it’s not the end of the world. Besides, you can use them wired for the best results anyway.

Onkyo GX-30ARC review: Audio quality

I was totally impressed by the sound of the Onkyo GX-30ARC. I tested by streaming my music over Qobuz in high resolution, over Bluetooth, a 3.5mm jack, and via RCA when plugged into my turntable.

Firstly, I listened to Play It Out by Wolf Alice, which has powerful vocals. The speakers did a great job of bringing harmonies to the forefront of the track, without allowing the vocals to overpower the guitar-led instrumental. Every layer of the frequency range was well-rounded without overpowering the delicate sounds at the high end.

To test out the bass performance, I listened to Midnight Sun by Zara Larson. This song is full of high-energy beats and impressive vocal riffs, so I was impressed to hear the speakers keeping up with the runs so easily. The bass carried well across the song and felt extremely powerful, but at the same time, the other instruments and vocals remained well-balanced.

Since you can use these speakers with your television if you want to (although you’d certainly be better off with one of the best cheap soundbars), I wanted to test them out with one of my favorite movie soundtracks. I listened to Planetarium by Justin Hurwitz from the movie La La Land, an orchestral track. I was able to hear every nuance with the speakers, and their wide soundstage gave the song all the room it needed to grow.

While there’s no personalized EQ customization with this speaker, there is a button on the controls to make the sound flat or more dynamic. This is great, as the dynamic option certainly enhances bass performance, but if you’re not in the mood for shaking floors, you can go for the flat setting. While there’s no indicator when switching between these (which would be useful), you can hear a stark difference in the settings.

I also plugged the speakers into my turntable and listened to Hayley Williams’ Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party. This was very easy to set up with an RAC cable, and sounded crisp — it carried the tracks with heavy distortion really well. No faults here.

Onkyo GX-30ARC review: Verdict

The Onkyo GX-30ARC bookshelf speakers offer amazing sound quality at a competitive price. The minimalistic and sleek design means they fit into any household, and the versatile connectivity options make them perfect for anyone, whether you want to use them to listen to your records spinning or hook them up to the television.

They’re super easy to set up, but the speakers only support SBC audio, so hi-res fans will be feeling left out over wireless. That said, the sound is still stellar and you can hook the speakers up wired for high-res playback anyway. There’s very limited EQ customization, which feels like an oversight, and the stands feel cheap, but then again, they do look good.

These speakers are a great option for anyone who wants to upgrade their home audio but doesn’t want to splash major cash. And with sound this great on such a budget, they’re the perfect addition to any setup.