Panasonic SC-PT750
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"Great HTIB for the price" on by vvj99
Pros: Decent punch in the sound, DVD playback options are great. HDAVI works great. iPod dock works great and you can control iPod from remote.
Cons: No optical audio input (Panasonic's site says it does), so you're restricted to L/R RCA input from other audio components. No option for wired Surround Speakers. You HAVE to use the wireless option.
Summary: This is a sleek looking system and paired with my Panasonic Plasma TV gives a neat compact look to the home theater. The HDAVI control works great so you don't have to fiddle with multiple remotes. Changing inputs on the TV automatically switches the Home Theater to the right audio input too. And the one touch play is sweet. Hit the button and the player and TV comes to life with all the right inputs (as long as you use HDMI). While you cannot view iPod Video through this system, the iPod music control works great from the remote which unfortunately isn't back lit and has no glow in the dark keys (are those that expensive???). Set up is fairly easy and for casual users works great out of the box. Do yourself a favor and read the manual to get acquainted with all the features it has to offer and for speaker placement.
The 5 disc changer has a decent response times compared to similar Sony systems and is quiet. Reading a burnt DVD takes about 10-12 seconds, but that will vary with the different DVD burning options used. Surprisingly, this system is pretty loud for its size/price but it wont blow your roof off (if that's what you're looking for). So far I have played DVD+R, CD, CD-R, JPEG CD, SVCD and MP3 CDs and it played all of them with no problems.
Some users had reported problems with the wireless receiver system if you have a wireless network setup in the house (2.4 Ghz). I have placed the receiver about 12 feet away from the wireless router and so far it has never dropped the audio signal. While it says "wireless", it only means no wires running across the room from main unit to the rear surround speakers. You still have to run wires from those speakers to the wireless receiver input which thankfully is compact enough to fit under your couch so its hidden. -
"No digital audio input ?!?!" on by SOCALdesign
Pros: Great sound provided it's source is the integrated dvd/cd player
Cons: Why would you make a surround system without a digital audio input?
Summary: This system sounds great. Movies and music from the systems dvd/cd player sound and look great. I have it paired with a 46" Sharp 1080p LCD. I run all of my componets (even my 200 disc cd players w/no video)through my tv becuase it has so many connection options so it doesn't bother me that there is only one audio in on the system ... however, why not make that one input a digital input so I can enjoy digital 5.1 sound from hd t.v. programs (and game systems if I was so inclined) rather than the same dolby prologic and standard stereo sound I have been enjoying since birth. This is a major hicup from an otherwise superb system. I am still considering returning it for this reason.
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"The speakers that came with it are capable" on by gcdtrek
Pros: Wireless unit
Cons: passive sub
Summary: To be honest I only bought it at Sears for it was an opened box unit but was not used I happened to be there when they were going to set it up as a demo and got it for $208.00 plus a little over a C note for an extra 3 yr warranty I was surprised at how it performed and with the wireless unit alone it was worth it. To be honest I use other high quality speakers and just use the main unit. Still all in all a good unit
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"Great system for a smaller living space" on by blewgoose
Pros: Excellent sound, Easy to set up, Great Price
Cons: Not enough inputs
Summary: This is really a great system for the price. Sound quality is superb, particularly given the speaker size. Takes up much less space than my old system (Yamaha HTIB), and delivers the same punch and clarity that a system that had more power on paper. The subwoofer is about 1/2 the size of my old one and I can't tell any difference. There's also 4 subwoofer settings, so you can pump the base up to your preferred level. I have downstairs neighbors, so I haven't been above 2 and it's fine. The unit includes automatic settings for Movie or Music. I haven't toyed around with manual settings, but so far (1 week of use) I haven't needed to. Both settings give very nice range and power. The system goes up to 50, and I haven't needed to get much higher than 35 or so and I feel it's plenty loud to rock out to.
They lose at least a point for not having enough options for inputs in the back. There's just one auxilliary input, and if you want cable TV to play through it that's what you need to use - leaving my phonograph and wireless Mac Airport setup left out. They do have an iPod dock, so you just need to make sure you sync often with your Mac so your complete library is always available. As for the phonograph, I guess I just have to unplug the TV RCA jacks and plug in the phonograph when I want to listen to records...which isn't often (not sure if there's some kind of splitter for rear RCA jacks, but a few Google searches yilded me nothing, so I assume they don't exist).
Overall very please with what I got for the money. -
"Serious about building an affordable home theater? Look elsewhere..." on by troubleticket
Pros: Good volume, mids and highs were clear and crisp, low-end bass was surprisingly defined
Cons: Lack of ANY digital or 5 channel component inputs is a joke, system lacks punch at lower mid range, wireless speakers nuke other wireless components, no real EQ, speakers are hardwired
Summary: During my recent move, the surround speakers for my Kenwood 300 Watt 5.1 channel surround system (purchased in 2001 for ~$300 new) were misplaced. After searching through the remaining boxes for hours on end I finally resolved to purchase a new surround system (since buying speakers separately is nearly the same cost as purchasing an entire system). After reading generally good reviews about the the Panasonic SC-PT750, I brought one home. Although excited at first, the excitement quickly faded to disappointment shortly after I began unpacking.
The first thing that came to my attention was that the speakers are hardwired. There are no terminals on the back of the speakers to connect your own wires. While cutting and splicing is simple, I would prefer they put terminals on the back like most other surround systems so I can replace wires when they get worn (or chewed by a new puppy). Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of what I found to be a very poorly designed system.
After unpacking the speakers, the receiver was next. More problems. I immediately noticed there a NO (not ONE!) digital or 5 channel component inputs. Can I be seeing this properly? A surround system that has no inputs for surround sound? I guess you are relegated to watching "upconverted" standard def DVDs through the theater system itself if you want surround sound.
I should have stopped while I was ahead, but for some reason I kept going. I unpacked the system and started plugging things in. Whats next? Well, the unit is BIG... Too big to fit on the shelf where I previously had a 5 disc changer and receiver stacked. Not wanting to rearrange my entertainment center components to move the unit to a larger shelf, here it is, perched precariously with the front three inches hanging off of the shelf. Shame on me for not measuring first.
Onward I go, already feeling buyers remorse. Perhaps the sound quality will make up for other shortcomings. I hardly own any blu-ray movies anyhow, so living with SD DVDs for a little longer certainly won't kill me. Unfortunately, as soon as I turn on the system, my Playstation 3 (acting as a streaming media player) immediately loses wireless connectivity. Crap. I start troubleshooting network issues, and on a hunch, turn the receiver back on. BING! Wireless network connected. The issue is, the wireless transmitter on the receiver is 2.4GHz... The same as 802.11B/G wireless. Due to the somewhat close proximity of the PS3 and the wireless speaker transmitter, the wifi connection on the PS3 is nuked immediately. I start fiddling with the channel settings on my wireless router, I find one that finally works (sort of). Connections are slow and drop from time to time, but at least I can stream some music over to test out the system.
I fire up Incubus' "Miss You" and "When it Comes." This is probably the only good thing I can say about the system... The little sub does an excellent job of reproducing the low-end bass notes. Clarity was very good for the mids and highs, and I turned the volume up as loud as I dared with little detriment to sound quality. I did notice that their seemed to be a bit of a "hole" in the lower-mid range. Undaunted, I look for the eq so I can adjust to my liking.
All I can put here is a frowny face
The EQ on this system is basically non-existent. There is a button to change the level of the subwoofer from 1-4, 3 presets, and a couple miscellaneous settings. Wow... This is bad. Settings 1 and 2 on the sub make the system sound like a clock radio. The choices for presets are Flat (Yuck), Heavy (OK), and soft (Yuck), which pretty much leaves you with two levels of bass and one EQ preset. Time to put this thing back in the box.
Bottom line: My basis of comparison was a 6 year old Kenwood surround system-in-a-box. The cost was almost identical, and the panasonic puts out 700 additional watts. In terms of features, sound reproduction, and fullness across the entire sound spectrum, the Kenwood is by far the all out winner in every category. I hope walmart will take this thing back. If not, and after reading this review you are still interested, check Ebay over the next few days because that is where this system is headed. I spent an hour trying to convince myself to keep the system, and just can't find a reason to. You will never watch blu-ray disks with true surround sound due to the lack of inputs. The wireless speaker transmitter kills your wireless network connects, so you can either run wires to the speakers or your media center, you can't replace the speaker wires without splicing or disassembling speakers, the unit is bigger than one would like it to be, and there is no EQ to adjust out a big gap in the lower-mid range.
I am not an audiophile, and I am not expecting a $3,000 system for $300, but one could expect a system in this price range to have decent quality and intelligent features. Features it has, but I certainly question the intelligence of whomever wrote the design spec. All in all, there are definitely better alternatives out there.
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