SC-HT700 One-Box DVD Home Theatre System review

Most consumer electronics companies lavish all their attention on high-end models with fat profit margins, but the fierce competition at the low end of the HTIB market must have spurred Panasonic to go all out on its least expensive kit, the SC-HT700. Except for having perky sats instead of elegant towers, the HT700 is nearly identical to the $500 SC-HT900. The entry-level system also has much in common with the $1,000 SC-ST1 and actually betters it on some counts. Listed at $349, the HT700 is a great value among one-box home-theater packages.

The HT700's receiver/DVD changer is a mere 2.5 inches tall, but its nearly 17-inch depth makes it a tight fit for some cabinets. That pancake profile mandated a token number of tiny keys, but the volume control felt smooth. Panasonic added a touch of luxury with the aluminum-clad remote, whose minimalist button deployment made it easy to use.

Each of the four silver, plastic satellites stands 7 inches tall and is wall-mountable. The one center is 9.75 inches wide. All the speakers are admirably compact, but the subwoofer has less modest proportions. At 17.5 inches high and 16.75 inches deep, the sub weighs an impressive 26.5 pounds.

All the sats hook up to the subwoofer, which connects to the receiver/changer via just one cable of medium thickness. Setup proceeded without any hitches, though the sub emitted a click whenever the HT700 entered or exited standby mode.

Powered subwoofers aren't terribly common in HTIBs of this price class, but the HT700's sub has a potent 140-watt amplifier. To keep the receiver nice and slim, Panasonic's engineers also squeezed all the other amps into the sub. They deliver 30 watts each to the front and rear sats and a mighty 110 watts to the center speaker. We haven't a clue why the power distribution is so radically uneven.

The four satellites and the center are all tweeterless. Each relies on a small woofer of unspecified size, one per sat and two in the center speaker. The subwoofer has a 6.75-inch driver. You can tweak the sub's level with the remote.

The receiver/DVD carousel changer can swallow five discs. It offers just the bare-bones Dolby Digital and DTS processing modes, but it can spin DVD-Audio discs. The HT700 is one of the least expensive kits with that capability. All our MP3 songs played, and the screen always displayed complete file information. And the changer wasn't finicky with any kind of DVD-R.

Panasonic's connectivity suite will satisfy basic needs. You get three sets of stereo inputs; one line output; and composite, S-Video, and progressive-scan component-video outs. Unfortunately, the HT700 lacks a digital-audio in, so you can't have a satellite receiver for a source.

The twisted Confessions of a Dangerous Mind flick is a biography of TV game-show producer and possible CIA hit man Chuck Barris. The film's perky '60s music was pleasantly warm, and the tweeterless sats surprised us with their detail and resolution. More-demanding DVDs such as Pearl Harbor occasionally overtaxed the HT700, and the sound during the bigger battles was harsh. We solved that problem by turning down the volume, so we recommend you keep the system in a room no bigger than 250 square feet. At moderate levels, the sub demonstrated decent poise under pressure, but it couldn't reach down as deep as some of the better HTIB subs we've heard.

We next moved the HT700 into our small den and rocked out with the Who on the Kids Are Alright DVD. The kit brought home all the exhilarating excitement and power of the band performing at its peak. Funny, the towers of the HT900 and the ST1 didn't fare nearly as well on this test, and they didn't "disappear" into the sound field as nicely as this system's baby sats.

Unlike many entry-level HTIBs, the HT700 handled music as adeptly as home theater. Its excellent sub/sat blend resulted in well-balanced sound. Van Morrison's Moondance CD was sweet; bouncy bass lines and jaunty horns perfectly framed Morrison's soulful vocals.