Sony Bravia HT-IS100

I was somewhat skeptical that such small speakers could produce decent sound. After having the system for a couple weeks now, I?ve come to love it. I live in a condo so I needed a system that I could enjoy even at low levels and it covers all the ranges perfectly. Of course the small speakers and having the receiver and sub integrated into one unit makes this system ?wife approved.? You?ll notice that there?s a speaker on top of the sub and that?s in addition to the driver that?s below. I?m no audiophile but I believe the speaker on top makes up for the missing mid and low tones that the small speakers can?t crank out.

I was considering the Bose V20 system, but I couldn?t justify spending more than what my HDTV cost. I have to say that the V20 might sound a bit better, but it?s certainly not worth the extra money. This Sony system has some great features for the price. The automatic speaker calibration and the HDMI switch works great. I was pleased to find out that you could set HDMI audio pass-tru if for some reason you didn?t want to use the HTiB speakers. The iPod docking kit that comes with it is just icing on the cake.

Overall this is a great system for the money; the sound is amazing and it?s feature-packed. It doesn?t have much power compared to some 1000W systems, but could still make your ears hurt if you like to turn it all the way up. My only complaint is that the system doesn?t come with a programmable universal remote and I still need to use a separate cable box remote.

The main reason for getting this unit is its size. It does not have the great audiophile sound of a much larger system, but considering it's small diminutive size, it's outstanding. The subwoofer does a nice job of creating a nice full rich sound.

For the majority of the people buying this system, it is a great one if you don't want speakers which you can see all over your living room.

For comparison, I have a Pioneer Elite top of the line receiver, and Infinity full range speakers with 3 subwoofers. Another room in the house has the same Pioneer Elite receiver and Boston Acoustics speakers. While you can definitely tell the difference from the bigger system, it is really dependent on the room you're trying to fill.

Does it sound great? Yes. Do I recommend it? Yes.

Remember, I purchased this unit from Dell.com for less than $320 including shipping (brand new unit including the DMPort). For the other systems that I have in the house I easily spent over $2000 for the receiver alone.

Typically I am not a fan of Sony products, but I do have to admit for this particular one they did a very nice job.