Customer Reviews

Samsung HT-AS730ST Home Theater System

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Sorry, this is going to be a book.... If I could give this review a MINUS five stars I would. I ordered this unit as I have a LOT of other Samsung products (two flatscreens, Blueray player, monitors, washer/dryer, etc.) and have previously been happy with their products. I wish some of the other reviews had been posted when I ordered, I would have run far and fast.

First, I get the unit, what a nightmare to install, instructions are vague, and non-existent in certain areas, as others have stated, the setup procedure is flawed and isn't all in the manual to begin with. After numerous calls to tech support (in India, I assume from the accents and lack of understanding) I finally got sound out of the unit when watching cable (I had successfully figured out the Blue Ray player and my DVD recorder).

Second, the input choices and radio station presets don't stay when you power down.... I hope you enjoy or get darn good at programming that thing every time you turn it off. It takes three or four pushes and choices to get the sound working again from the cable box. The display is also dim, so if you are at all visually challenged, hang it up, put the glasses on and get real close to see what you are doing. I had this silly notion that because it was a Samsung unit, it would have onscreen display with the TV, shoot, my SONY DVD recorder does....

Third, when I ordered the unit, the Samsung website said under "specifications" that is was "wireless ready-yes" and "wireless module included-yes", well, they LIED, no wireless module in the box. I called them on this and they would supposedly send me a wireless module.... that was back in mid-May and now, over halfway through June, I get a call today that "forget it, we are out of stock on wireless modules and tough cookies, no refunds, no compensation, just tough". Oh, by the way, they changed their website now, but I have printed copies and screenshots of the website stating the wireless module was included.

Fourth, I got the unit May 13th, took me a couple days to install it and it quit working on May 19th, even with the unit completely powered off, the subwoofer had a large amount of feedback hum coming through it. Called Technical service and they said send back the amplifier and the subwoofer, keep all the rest of the stuff there and they would repair it. It takes the slow boat to Samsung in NJ, and they finally receive it on May 28th... according to UPS, because Samsung can't find it, doesn't know where it is, and isn't fixing it. After numerous calls and emails, all of which have to be initiated by me, they decide they will send me out a new unit, this is as of June 9th. I am told I will hear from Customer Executive Service within 48 hours as to what the status is. I call again on June 15th to find out what the heck... only to hear they are holding the new unit hostage until I send back their stupid speakers and remote control THEY told me not to put in the box when I sent the amp and sub back. After umpteen calls to their service, which they won't give you a supervisor, they tell me as soon as UPS shows the box in their system coming back, they will ship the new unit. Today (June 18th), after UPS shows the item in transit, they now state they won't ship the new unit until they get the old parts!!!!! Oh how I love being lied to and held hostage!

I am so sorry I spent my money on another Samsung product, I can't express how amazed I am at their utter lack of professionalism and concern for their customer. Their idea of "customer service" is to have some lackey on the phone going "I'm sorry sir, yes, that isn't right, but there is nothing I can do about it, and no, I can't transfer you to my supervisor...." So, before you spend your hard earned cash, save yourself some grief and go buy another brand, any brand, doesn't matter, can't be as bad as these folks.

As other reviews of this product have indicated, the unit is defective. Here's my story - I bought my original unit on 24 October 2009 and hooked it up. It turns out that the unit will not retain the speaker volume and distance settings after the power is turned off. This problem is noted on the Samsung website, but it requires that the unit be sent back for repair. My first step was to simply exchange the unit for another one which I did, only to find that the second unit had the same problem. I returned the second unit for repair, only to find that it wasn't fixed and sent it back again and was advised that it could not be repaired. So Samsung sent me a third unit which I hooked up last night, only to find that it had the same problem as the previous two units.

I am now returning my current unit for a full refund.

I am putting this review on here so as to alert other potential buyers to the problem that they may experience. I don't believe that Samsung, or any other distributor for Samsung, like Amazon should be even selling the unit, knowing about the defect.

If you search other websites, you will find quite a history of the same problems with this particular model.

If you're looking to add surround sound to your HDTV, the HT-AS730ST offers some nice features but is also lacking in a few areas. This should probably be expected given its relatively low price. First off, the system does not include a Blu-ray player or DVD. You'll have to supply that on your own. If you add a Blu-ray, then be sure to connect it to the 730 with an HDMI cable and set its digital audio HDMI output to PCM mode (not bitstream). This is required because the AS730 does not decode the new HD audio codecs (DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD). However, if your player *does* decode these to PCM then you can enjoy these new surround formats on the AS730 in all their lossless beauty.

The set-up (assigning HDMI inputs, etc.) is not entirely intuitive. It took me a little while to find out how to do it, and I've been doing this stuff (professionally) for a long time. Also, the AS730 does not transcode analog inputs (component, S-Video, composite) to digital HDMI outputs, so if you hook up things like a Wii or your iPod, you will also need to hook up a composite video and/or component video cable between the AS730 and your TV. I say "and/or" because for the iPod dock, it definitely requires a composite video cable to your TV but for a Wii, if you are using the component video cable adapter for the Wii then you will need a component video cable from receiver to TV as well.

As for its iPod support, this is really more limited than I expected. Yes, it is compatible with iPhones, and most iPods (except the Shuffle with its non-standard pin outs) but there was no on-screen interface while navigating through content. The Samsung remote does operate the iPod but you have to look at the little iPod display to see what's happening. And by the way, you *CAN* output video from the iPod to your TV, but to do so, you need to turn the external TV display ON in your iPod *and* you need to connect the afore-mentioned composite video cable from the AS730 receiver to your TV.

In terms of sound quality, the AS730 system is a little better than OK. It's certainly *much* better than the sound from virtually any TV and it does create a nice discrete surround sound field when watching movies or other surround-encoded content. But the subwoofer is a little boomy and not terribly extended and its integration with the small satellite speakers leaves a bit of a gap in the mid to upper bass. Also, fine details in the mix can be a bit muddy when compared to 5.1 speaker systems from known dedicated speaker brands (e.g., Polk, Boston Acoustics, Energy, Aperion Audio, NHT, etc.).

As others have pointed out, there is nothing especially "wireless" about this system. The speaker outputs are all standard speaker wire outs, and adding wireless speaker capability can be done via Samsung kits (hard to find) or 3rd party wireless speaker modules. The AS730 system comes with 5 speakers and a powered subwoofer (5.1) but the amplifier itself does support 7.1 channel output with the addition of rear channel speakers (not included). You'd be best off using 4 ohm speakers to match the impedance of the included satellite speakers.

The AS730 does have some nice features -- 3 HDMI inputs, auto-speaker calibration, 7.1-channel support, iPod integration -- and offers decent value for money, but it falls a bit short in the area of performance and usability. Prospective buyers might want to check out Panasonic's SC-BT200 instead which sells for about the same price but includes 7 speakers plus subwoofer (7.1 right out of the box) as well as better iPod integration *and* a built-in BD-Live-enabled Blu-ray player.

A full review of the AS730 system is available on Big Picture Big Sound dot com.

This appears to be a common problem with every unit made. The speaker distance settings are not retained after entering power off standby mode. This may not be obvious to the casual user because the speaker distance settings are very subtle. To the advanced user, this is an annoyance.

This issue is wide spread all over the Internet. Samsung has no solution other than to give you your money back, but only after you send the whole package back to them. They claim there is no fix. Many customers have tried to send the unit in for repair only to find that the firmware update or whatever they did does not work.

I did a little experimenting and this is what I can determine on how it doesn't work.

When entering your speaker distance settings, whatever you enter for Center ends up going to Front Left and whatever you enter for Surround Left ends up going to Front Right. All the remaining distance settings are forced to 10ft. This weird corruption occurs anytime you make any changes to the speaker distance settings and then power the unit into standby mode.

Now knowing how it works, you can use this a little to your advantage to compromise with some settings that will be "good enough". The listening delay is based on about 1ms per foot of distance. The speakers that are nearest to the listening position will receive more delay. The speaker that is the farthest away will receive no delay because you want to get the sound to the user quickly because it has to travel the greater distance.

So knowing this, the distance numbers really don't mean anything, but after making any changes to the settings, we understand that the CT, SL, SR, and SW will all be set to 10ft. You can use this fixed number in a relative fashion to create a compromise for the FL and FR delay. For example, if you enter 15ft. for the FL and FR (entered into CT & SL as already explained above), then you are essentially saying that the FL and FR are 5ft. further away than the CT, SL, SR, and SW which have now all been forced to 10ft. due to the bug. This means that the CT, SL, SR, and SW speakers will receive 5ms of delay. Conversely, if you make FL and FR smaller, for example 7ft., then you are indicating that the FL and FR speakers are 3ft. closer than the CT, SL, SR, and SW. Thus, the FL and FR receive about 3ms of delay.

Again, the numbers don't mean anything in absolute terms, but they can be used relatively. All that you can do here is indicate the relative difference between FL and FR together vs. CT, SL, SR and SW. You can create a compromise by using this relative method and by moving the speakers around the room a little bit if you can.

Five out of five units I've tested in three Best Buy stores all had the same problem. I'm in the Detroit area. Is it me or is it Samsung?

This hone theater looks nice, sounds pretty good, but operation is not quite logical or easy to decipher.

I bought this to go with my new samsung led hd tv. The tv has lots of hdmi inputs but it's surprising weakness is that the digital optical audio output does not pass through the various surround sound signals from the hdmi inputs. It just puts out an enhanced 2 speaker signal. I found this surprising for their top of the line tv. Even the salesmen did not believe me when samsung's customer support finally figured this out for me. So, I found I needed a home theater that could switch audio sources. This system seemed to be the answer.
It does perform this function, however, I found that the system did not save the settings I was using to get the best sound. I found I had to select the sound source and input slot every time I turned it on. Samsung's customer support, level 2, were incredulous that this was the case, but could not tell me how to make it work as one might expect, keep the same freaking settings when you turn it off and on again.
Also, I needed to read the manual multiple times to even figure out the settings and I had to play with it a bit when the manual did not have sufficient directions. Customer support was not really much better than the manual. In fact, some of their instructions did not work as they described, but I managed to figure the settings I needed with experimentation.
This was my second try at a samsung home theater. The first try revealed the weakness the tv audio output and samsung design and customer service. This try reinforced my disappointment in samsung design and customer service. I finally decided that the operation was too complex and I just could not accept the weakness of samsung engineering and customer service.
I returned the system. Amazon made the return easy, but they did take their cut.
If you are willing to buy an expensive remote to perform a chain of instructions with one button push, or are willing to go through a process each time you turn it on, you would probably be happy with this system.

I was very disappointed by this Samsung Home Entertainment system. I initially purchased to accompany my bran new Samsung 46" LED HDTV and Samsung Blu-Ray player. The promise of the Anynet integration was very appealing to me, and this was THE reason I purchased this specific system. Unfortunately there is a very poor integration of Anynet (basically supposed to be a full integration of the Samsung components, using a single remote). There were too many buttons to push when switching from the TV to the Blu-Ray to the gaming system, and my kids simply could not use it. I expected a one button switch in such an integrated system, not three or four buttons on two different remotes. Furthermore, the system always reverted to a default configuration I did not like whenever switched off and on, something for which I was told there was a recall from Samsung, but the unit I purchased still had that problem. The sound was also extremely weak for a system of that price. To hear anything I had to set at 90-95% of the maximum volume. Anything lower than that and I did not hear well (and I am not deaf).

I ended up returning it and purchasing the Denon AVR790 7.1-Channel Multi-Zone Home Theater Receiver with 1080p HDMI Connectivity receiver for the exact same price (without speakers) and used my old speakers from 15 years ago. With the Denon, I now have a one button switch between the different components, that the kids have no problem using, and the sound is about 10 times louder and better than with the Samsung system. Not even remotely comparable in quality of the two systems. I listen to it at 10-15% of maximum volume, and I crank up if I want to make the roof vibrate.

I was very excited to complete my home theater system with this item. I already had the Samsung Plasma and Samsung Blu Ray.

For the most part it was very clunky to use and beside the volume, the anynet thing didnt work well together...I had to consistantly change the input back to SAT from TV (which is the antenna input)

It seems like a great system, but it simply is not. I am sending it back,

I bought this because I have all Samsung equipment. I didn't want to spend a lot of money because I have kids that can break stuff. And this unit had everything I wanted 3 HDMI inputs, Anynet+, and a powered Subwoofer. I am not a music elitist, so this thing sounds pretty good to me. Not so good from the ipod but good enough, and when watching movies, its perfect with the 52" Samsung Plasma. But there are a few issues that make this less than enjoyable.

1. The unit does not remember settings!!!! This is crazy. I figured I was just being lazy and as soon as I read the manual I would figure it out. No dice, it does not remember the settings for inputs (ie DVD player set to HDMI, turn the system off and it resets to Optic!!) That's a killer and requires pressing at least 4 buttons to get what you want.

2. Anynet+, I am beginning to think this is a complete waste. I used my one remote, to turn everything one, but if I turn the TV off, everything shuts off, sometimes this is what I want and sometimes I just want to listen to music without the tv playing.

3. No onscreen display (OSD). I have their DVD/VCR player and it has a useable, if rudimentary OSD. I am just surprised that it doesn't have this feature as you need to program everything from the small screen. Which if you read number one above is a waste of time because it doesn't save the settings.

4. Ipod. I thought this was going to be cool as there is an option for ipod audio and ipod video. I can't get the ipod video to play on screen via the dock only I believe it will play the video if you use the component cable that came with the iphone, but that defeats the purpose of the dock.

5. HDMI quirks. I use the HT-AS730 remote to run everything, and it turns on the Amp first, and then I press TV and it turns on the TV. I then configure my Xbox360 to play through the HDMI, and then the unit moves the settings to TV!!! Very annoying. I have read that some people lose connection via their HDMI cables but that has not happened to me.

Granted, I could get a remote that does all the little button presses for me, but that's what Anynet+ was supposed to solve. Knowing what I know now, I would not buy this HTIB I would piece together a decent system little by little. The key for me is the multiple HDMI inputs, OSD, sound, and price in that order. I hear there is a recall on this system, I will see what it takes to get the recall resolved. Thankfully I have saved the box it came in.

I will post an update if I proceed with the recall.

I already have a PS3 and was irked by the idea of paying for a product that already included a DVD or blu-ray player. One day, I found myself browsing the selection at Best Buy and decided that today was the day. While I tried each of the speaker systems, only this and a Sony system at $600 really caught my attention, and the difference between this and the Sony was marginal despite being significantly cheaper. It sounded incredibly smooth, looks great, and the combo earned it the coveted wife seal of approval. In fact, I came into this buying process with the full realization that a large system with a lot of buttons and knobs was not going to cut it. I did some comparison shopping before taking the plunge and ended up getting it on Amazon.com.

The system arrived the very next day (I had ordered two-day shipping with my Prime account, so this was a pleasant surprise), and given the reviews I was terrified of the setup. Fortunately, it was significantly easier than I expected. Within 30 minutes I was done. Admittedly, I have an easy setup with a PS3 with a set of composites going to a projector and an HDMI cable going to the Samsung.

The sound quality is fantastic. Is it a $2000 system? Of course not. But for the price, it sounds more than acceptable for both movie and music use. I would recommend playing with the DSP settings to find your preferred settings - a bit of tweaking significantly increased our enjoyment. Power and volume are more than sufficient for us, though I note that our home theater room is relatively small. For a large room you will need a more powerful system.

My only wish is that the rear speakers were wireless. I also cannot comment on reliability since I acquired this system only recently.

i went to sears and bought this system cuz it sounded good good i set it up and it sounded awesome for a bout a week. one minute it worked and i went and ran an errand and came back turned it on and my subwoofer burned up. so i took it back to sears and they gave me a new one. took it home set it up it sounded better than the first one for about an hour this time. subwoofer burned up again. im a professional at home theater installations and i know i had everything hooked up right but i dont know what would cause it to burn up two subs. its a great product but i just got my money back and went a bought a new Onkyo 5100 7.1 and it is worth the money for the same price.