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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Good value in a compact 1.1 system"
Pros: sounds good, easy connect, lots of I/O, compact
Cons: it's not 5.1
Summary: I've owned this unit for a few months now and have had a chance to get better acquainted with it. I bought it from Sharp Direct online.
The first thing one has to understand is that while there are noticeable surround f/x, 5.1 this is not. In fact, how much surround you get will likely depend greatly on placement and the shape of your listening room. Really though, to an extent the same can be said of 5.1.
My placement, which can't be easily changed, means that I get pretty decent surround on the right and little on the left. The sound quality itself is good and the slim sub cranks out the bass surprisingly well. I tried hooking up my AR 12" powered sub in place of the one that comes with the Sharp, but it offered no apparent improvement.
The unit has plenty of connections, 3 digital (2 toslink, 1 s/pdif) and 3 analog. I did use a couple of the analogs for a while, but now I'm using only the digitals, which results in an overall better sound.
Ease of use is about as easy as it gets. There's some sound pre-sets or you can mix and match. The remote is small-to-medium size, light, and also easy to use. You can power the unit on and off with it.
If you -must- have true 5.1, look elsewhere, but if you have space considerations or don't want wires everywhere, then at around $330 including shipping, the Sharp is a lot of bang for the buck.
