Customer Reviews

Samsung HT-X710 2.1 DVD/DivX HDMI/USB Home Cinema System (Set of Four, Black)

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

 

 

Received this Cinema system as a bonus with a television purchase. It arrived ahead of schedule and in good order.

Opening the package revealed the main control/player console, a subwoofer and two speaker towers. These units are in Samsung's gloss piano-black finish with A Touch of Color (red) accents. Everything was packaged very securely in the box, and wrapped to prevent scuffing.

The box also contained a multi-function remote which could be programmed for your tv, an iPod/portable media player dock with many cradle adapters, speaker wire, and wall mounting brackets for the console (and the other bracket may have been for the subwoofer).

A brief glance through the setup and owner's manuals told me that my current system, at least in terms of audio, blew this system away. So rather than connecting it, I gave it to a college-bound friend for his dorm room.

Without evaluating sound quality, I'll share some of my discoveries.

The speakers, at around two feet tall and with a touch of red, were incredibly sexy, and I considered keeping them for back-channel speakers on my current system (replacing the bland little gray boxes), but I didn't want to break up the Samsung system. The console and subwoofer also feature an attracive, rounded-corner, fluid aesthetic -- very non-traditional.

The console has only 2.1 speaker outs, and did not have an optical/digital out which might allow the system to share multi-channel audio with other components (ie: into my HT receiver). It wasn't clear if the HDMI connection would pass 5.1 or 2.1 audio to the TV.

The speaker-out connectors look similar to a large Firewire connector - not an RCA, spring-clip, or screw-down post. The included speaker wires have this connector on one end, the other ends are bare.

It does have component-out and HDMI out for video, but no composite out - meaning it must be connected to a newer/better tv. The console has a composite video and left/rt audio in to receive from a VCR for example. It also had an iPod port and a USB port...altogether I was pleased with the amount of inputs. It also has an antenna-in for the stereo receiver (and included antenna).

For existing HT owners this system will probably be a step backwards. However, it would be an excellent starter system for someone who had a rag-tag assortment of devices and wanted to simplify, or who was otherwise starting from scratch. The 2.1 sound is only a limitation for users wanting an immersive HT experience. The beautiful styling make this a system to show off.

Others have reviewed the technical specs well so I will focus on the things they did not spend much time on.
The unit is in my living room. I needed something that would be part of the furniture and not look like an obvious audio system. I needed it to sound good, but not be very loud. I also wanted very few wires and a small footprint unit that I could hide away. The Samsung meets all of these objectives. It's got one power cord and the speaker wires are very easy to hide. The odd shape of the speakers is an advantage if you mount them on a pedestal. It is difficult to distinguish the speakers from the furniture - they look like art. One of my guests was looking around for the speakers because the speakers do not look like typical speaker units. The sound quality is good, but not great. The sub-woofer is sufficiently powered to be loud when needed, but won't blow out your windows. I have played classical, jazz, instrumental and rock/pop and they all sound good. There are no equilizer settings, but for casual listening, it's fine. The surround setting are not very effective, so if you really want simulated surround, this system might underwhelm you. All in all, it's a great buy at the price point (mine was $285 on AMZ) and it's still a deal at anything less than $350.

This is a good simple all-in-one stereo system, as mentioned by others. The sound is fine and I think the nontraditional look is cool. The unit does not switch from one input mode to the next very quickly, but that is a minor issue to me.

The main problem I have is that the box and advertising would seem to indicate that the central unit can be placed 'upright', as shown in this image, or laying flat like a more normal system. Lies! The system is useless when laying flay; the DVD player makes a complete racket and you can't read the display on the unit. Therefore, if you need a home theater to lay flat in a standard AV cabinet then you must look for something else. If you want it to sit under your TV looking like it does in the image (as I do) then you should be fine.

I have had this system for about 5 months. I agree with other reviewers, it was easy to set up, it looks GREAT, I love the quality of the DVD pictures (or could that be my Samsung Touch of Color 42" TV which I love?) however there are some problems with the design and functioning.

First of all, because the DVD inserts vertically on the top of the unit, I could not center it on a shelf so it looked nice as it hit the next shelf above. If you are wall mounting or putting it on a top shelf, this should not be an issue.

The most frustrating part has been that after a few months and with increasing frequency, discs are freezing up in the player and will not eject. The online troubleshooting gave instructions to remedy, but did not work. I will give up on it as the sound still works fine, then all of a sudden (up to a day later) the dvd will just eject. It will work fine for a few hours or days and then repeat this nonsense. I am rather tired of it. AND I do not want to pay $65 to ship back for service.

The sound quality is adequate. There is probably nothing wrong with it, but as another reviewer said it is a starting place - better than TV speakers, but not much more. It should not even be called surround sound as there really isn't much of that.

Overall, I still like it for how it looks and matches my TV, but am super frustrated with this quirk it has. Perhaps it is just my unit.

I purchased this system a couple of years ago, and rarely use it to play DVD's, in about 15 month's from the time i bought it, the system froze with the DVD movie inside it, i read on the web all sorts of tricks to get it out but nothing worked, i left it alone and a month later decided to click the eject sensor and voila, disc is out, sonce then i only use the audio function and often radio, Samsung doesn't post any firmware updates to it and tech support asked for it to be shipped back, figuring it can cost a lot of money i ecided to keep it and buy a none Samsung DVD player, i definetly will not recommend this to anyone

The Samsung HT-X710 works perfectly with my 50" Samsung plasma. I think that what ever brad of TV one has you should get the same brand in a sound system or sounnd bar. Matching brands will give you the most function between the TV and sound system. Buy a optic audio cable and a HDMI cable to hook up the sound. Buy additional HDMI cables for each device (DVD, VHS or TIVO ) .

Sounds good great bass much better than any TV sound. Great for bedroom or small living room.

The touch of color looks really nice with my ln40a650. The iPod cradle was definitely a selling point for me. The Sound quality is great but some might find the 5.1 underwhelming compared to a "tru surround sound" experience. I love these speakers and DVD player. Their functionality is impecable. It really completes my Entertainment unit and looks very tasteful in my living room. What I especially like is that the unit ran me about FREE-NINETY-NINE!! I had to jump on that.

Excellent product. Very easy to setup right out of the box. If you have a Samsung TV and are looking for total compatibility, you cannot go wrong with this product. I compared this 2.1 product and a leading competitor's 2.1 system and quite frankly, the sound was as good if not better and at a significantly lower price.Samsung HT-X710 2.1 DVD/DivX HDMI/USB Home Cinema System (Set of Four, Black)

I've had my share of home theater systems from large scale to small. This "mid size" model is not only modernly attractive, but has very respectable sound and function. Hook-up is easy, function is easy, and it is very compatible with the new Samsung HD TV I purchased making it a talked about item when company is over.
Happy that I made the buy, and would tell you it is worth the look if you are in the market.