Customer Reviews

JVC THC5 Home Theater System with 5-Disc DVD Player and Floorstanding Front Speakers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a step up from my 420-watt Sony Receiver with a separate DVD player. I've been wanting to upgrade because I've wanted to play DVD-Audio discs. I think this is a great bang for the buck. You get 1000-watts with a 5-disc changer, ability to play DVD-Audio in 5.1 at 96khz/24-bit. I like the fact that it is an all-in-one system--less fuss and muss in the back of the player. I also like the Hand Clap setup that makes it a breeze to calibrate each speaker. I set this up very easily. If there is a downside, it's that this system is very BOOMY. I live in a rather small apartment so I've had to turn the bass nearly all the way down and the treble all the way up. And even then, there's some BOOM leftover. I had a JVC DVD player back in 2001 and they've definitely improved on their players. I also love the fact that your front two speakers are towers. Very nice. Now I have to go and revisit my whole collection of DVD-Audio and DVD-Video discs...

System hooks up pretty easy...Great looking. I have a JVC Silver Matching TV Set and stand...Sub has high bass...Have to set it at a minus 2 so the pictures dont fall off the wall...I like JVC products and this system sounds great

If there is one movie that you watch on this system - it was to be War of the Worlds. The sound is crisp and the bass really sucks you into the movie.

Aesthetically, it's very pleasing. The towers site nicely, flanking my TV. I just have to find the time now to pull wire through my house so that I can mount the smaller satellite speakers to the back wall. I think it'll be worth the time though.

There were a couple of other similar systems that I looked at (Sony and Panasonic) and this one really had the best bang for the buck.

This system is complete and can be set-up in 15 minutes. Everything is color coordinated so if you are like my wife with AV equipment you can figure it out. The sound works well in a small to medium sized room if that is a concern. There is a lot of low end from the subwoofer. Sometimes it is a blessing and sometimes it is a burden. The easy surround or (hand clap set-up) is a no brainer for set-up. Just sit in your listener position and clap your hands once, done. The two standing front speakers are a nice edition. It is a rarity for that anymore. The omni-directional rear speakers are great for your stereo surround sound. The center channel is longer than the ones that I have used in the past so it fills up the listening area with more sound. It includes all the wires to have a basic set-up. I would recommend that you use the component connection or the s-video connection if you are able to. It has a 5 disk changer that I have used for DVD, CD, and MP3 disks. I have not messed around with DVD-R disks yet. The instructions for this are very easy. There are a few surround modes such as a movie surround, a music surround, and all stereo surround. Don't worry it defaults to the auto select. In all it was a great purchase. I found it here through the amazon marketplace shops for almost $200 less than I did at the retail stores.

...it was my setup! The bass is waaaayyy intense so I had to turn it to -6 and then, wow, it sounded much better. I thought it was too boomy and generated a lot of static until I started fiddling with the settings and found the perfect selection of bass and treble. I do wish it had more inputs, like for my ipod, but an A/B box ought to take care of that. The speaker wires that come with it are long enough to run through the floor and under the house to set the rear speakers in the back of the room.

I have the unit playing right now at top volume (60) and I feel the vibration through my bones. This system replaced a Bose.

This is a cool system and I must say I work it very hard... I've watched Saving Private Ryan and Terminator 2 after recommendation regarding great movies for surround sound and I wasn't disappointed but movies make up 5% of what I use this system for... 95% is concerts viewed at ear splitting levels. Most will never use a home theatre in this capacity and with that said for most this system is exceptional and in my capacity it's still not far off from exceptional. The only limitation I've found is turned all the way up the system has an overload protection circuit and when the bass starts boomin' the system will shut itself off as it's supposed to do to avoid damaging the unit. The downside is you lose your place on the DVD when the system powers down then you have to search to pick up where you left off. I found that placing a small fan blowing directly into the front vent fins usually keeps the unit cool and doesn't shut down. There's a fan on the back but mine doesn't work apparently. Summed up, just as everyone else stated... This is a great buy for anyone and I've done the endurance testing for you for the past two years. Dollar for dollar, there's not a better buy available. That's why I bought the unit. Good luck!

UPDATE (10-8-2007)- I've found that adding a small desk fan from Wal_mart ($8.00) blowing into the front vent eliminates the unit shutting down. I eliminated the cheap rear speakers with a set of small wall mount BOSE was a great fix. All this might be in vain because electronics have a limited production and I'm sure this system is no longer available. But maybe there's one or two left out there. We're still rockin' ours and it's a great system that continues to wow and amaze our friends.

I've owned this system for almost 2 years and it is quite hardy for a "value" priced theater. I've put it through frequent torture (very loud movies, music, etc.) and it sounds as crisp as the day it came out of the box. I agree with all the other posts in that it's got power to spare, which may be its only downfall.

When the time comes, my next system will be like this one in that it will have crisp treble and thundering bass, however, I will make sure it has an active subwoofer and not a passive one like this. The digital bass setting only goes so low and even then it is sometimes a bit much. With an active adjustment control, I'll be able to acutely adjust the level with a small knob. With it you can even eliminate the bass altogether.

It was extremely easy to set up, so easy that my technologically-challenged wife took over after 5 minutes and finished up in 20. Not bad for a rookie!! LOL

Overall, this system rules! In my opinion, if it had an active sub, I would have nothing but praise!

The sound from this system is very good. It is easy to use and has multiple inputs.

However, the annoyances and idiosyncrasies overcome the excellent sound quality.

The same base tuner/DVD player is used for the THC4, THC40, THC5, THC50 and THC60. These comments would apply to all these models. The differences are with the speakers and subwoofer.

The DVD often looses it's place, even with the "Resume" feature turned on. It does this whenever you turn the unit off or switch to a different input, say your cable-TV or VCR. This is very annoying, especially when I have to repeatedly sit through the endless copyright notices.

The on-screen prompts never display which DVD is playing. Minor but yet another example of a poorly thought out design.

The "Universal Remote" isn't. It will only operate *some* JVC components. For example, it will not operate a two-year JVC TV!

No audio out!

Headphone usage: You cannot connect headphones without cutting off the speakers. Since there is no audio output, there is just no other way than to use the headphone jack in front. Unplug the headphones and it takes 5-6 seconds to switch the speakers back on. Sometimes when listening to music, I want put on the wireless headphones while working around the house, but I do not want to wear them all the time. Maybe I just want to run into the kitchen and do not want to miss any dialog.

Even with this limitation, there is a killer problem. Headphones will only work for a few minutes before. Then, without warning you get ear-splitting hiss. Unplugging and plugging in the headphones corrects this but what is the point? At first I thought my headphones had died so I bought another pair. It was not the headphones. Headphones are useless with this unit.

So, if you always watch a DVD from start to finish, never use headphones, and own nothing but recently manufactured JVC products, I think you will be happy. If you do not, I think you will like the sound, but will be often annoyed.