The HT-DDW660's secret weapon is its mighty mite subwoofer--its 8-inch driver trumps all of Sony's far more expensive Dream System HTIB subs, which make do with a smaller woofer. The satellites feature a single 3.25-inch driver.
The Sony HT-DDW660's tiny satellite speakers visually conform to the generic HTIB mold, but their sound quality is more than a cut above average. On Wilco's new A Ghost Is Born CD, the DDW660 acquitted itself with gusto on the densely textured freak-out track "Less Than You Think," and when the band dropped back to earth with "The Late Greats," the little system demonstrated its rock-and-roll heart. The DDW660 never sounded harsh or strained at reasonably loud volume levels, and vocals were pleasantly warm. Yes, we wished for more treble detail, and the bass could be tighter, but we doubt you'll find a $199 HTIB that can do better.
The Butterfly Effect is a scary psycho-thriller DVD armed with violent bursts of volume that'll make you jump out of your seat. The film's wonderfully weird surround mix was a lot of fun, and its startling low-frequency effects gave the brawny little subwoofer a chance to strut its stuff. This is the sort of DVD that will fall flat on some budget HTIBs, but the DDW660's confident poise under pressure was remarkable. The system's loudness capabilities are also impressive, so we can recommend it for midsize rooms up to 300 square feet.
Panasonic's stellar, $249 list SC-HT05 HTIB is the DDW660's logical competitor. We didn't have the HT05 on hand for direct comparison, but it is certainly more attractive and aces out the HT-DDW660 with its more-abundant feature list. Sonically, we'd call it a draw.
While we've never been all that enthusiastic about Sony's more-upscale audio offerings in the past, the company's least-expensive HTIB yielded a mostly positive experience. Call us pleasantly surprised.
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Sony HT-DDW660:
