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The satellites are all one-way designs featuring the same 2.5-inch "woofer" and no tweeters; the center speaker doubles up on the woofers. The subwoofer has a 6.5-inch woofer on its right side. The speakers and sub come with permanently attached cables, with stripped, bare wire ends.
DVD, iPod, and CD media playback
The SC-PT650's DVD player can upscale video to 720p, 1080i, and 1080p via its HDMI jack. Unfortunately, when we tested the performance of the player with HQV's benchmarking DVD, we were a bit surprised with the results; the SC-PT650 did not pass a single test. As we've iterated in the past, failing a benchmarking test doesn't necessarily mean terrible real-world performance--many DVD viewers, especially on smaller TVs, likely won't notice problems at all. For instance, the King Kong DVD, a movie that the majority of HTIB players have no problem with, looked about average. However, the opening scene of Star Trek: Insurrection was a jaggy mess, indicative of lackluster 2:3 pulldown performance. In other words, if you've got a decent HDTV, you're probably better off using the component output, setting the resolution to 480i, and letting the TV handle the upconversion instead. This result will vary with every HDTV, but we recommend giving it a shot if you're unhappy with the SC-PT650's video playback.
The SC-PT650 also comes with a universal iPod dock that will support iPods with a dock connection (fourth generation and later). Included with the system are plastic dock adapters which will fit most of the varying iPod sizes. The dock connects to the unit via a proprietary connection interface and performs well. The SC-PT650 will even allow you to control the iPod with the receiver's remote; however this is limited to basic controls (skipping tracks, pausing, etc.). If you want to navigate your music in more depth, this must be done manually.
The SC-PT650 also supports MP3, JPEG, and WMA playback off a data CD. These features perform as expected, and menu navigation was completely painless.
Audio Performance
Looking at the pint-size satellite speakers and baby subwoofers, we didn't expect to be all that thrilled with the SC-PT650's sound quality, but once we gave it a shot, we were pleasantly surprised. The sound was rich and full, with good satellite-subwoofer integration. The system could play loud enough to fill a moderately large room with sound.
We started our auditions with a truly great concert DVD, Larry Coryell: A Retrospective. Coryell is known as a jazz guitarist, but on most of the DVD's tunes, he's in a playful mood, sounding more like an evolved Jimi Hendrix than anybody else. Coryell's fleet-fingered Stratocaster soared and roared in all the right places, making the little Panasonic sound not so little. True, the sound was nowhere as vivid as we've heard from the better and larger HTIB speakers (with tweeters), but without the anemic, underpowered screech we've suffered through with so many micro systems. The SC-PT650's big sounding subwoofer gave Coryell's rock-steady rhythm section solid support.
A jazz CD with acoustic piano from Anat Fort entitled A Long Story was also enjoyable in ways budget HTIBs rarely are. The piano was clear and clean, and the acoustic bass' definition was above par. Rock music was also pretty impressive--just don't expect the wee speakers to generate high volume. Taken at a comfortable clip, Arcade Fire's Funeral CD had respectable impact and presence.
We next tried The Ring DVD, a scary movie that depends on creepy atmospheric sound effects to keep you on the edge of your seat. The Panasonic communicated that really well; dialog was natural sounding, and the surround ambiances were enveloping. The SC-PT650's most obvious sonic shortcoming is dynamic range--there isn't much--so all the sounds come out more or less equally loud. The sub can sound overly thick and muddy when played loud, but it still impressed us overall. For something that small, it makes its presence known, big-time.
The SC-PT650 scored well in every area: value, an up-to-the-second feature set, compact speakers and subwoofer, and most surprising of all, it even sounded sweet. We wish the SC-PT650 would have handled video playback better, but if you're on a tight budget and sound is of most importance to you, the SC-PT650 makes for a solid choice. Just be sure to see how much more the SC-PT750 costs before you seal the deal.
Assistant Editor Jeff Bakalar contributed to this review.
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Panasonic SC-PT650:
