Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great value! Best cheap surround sound i've owned yet., October 7, 2007
This review is from: Sony HTD-DW790 Component Home Theater System (Electronics)
I've always had cheap surround sound systems. Usually i'll get one as a gift for xmas or something, over the coarse of a year it'll break just in time for someone to get me another cheapie the following xmas. Well, I finally invested a healthy sum of money into a 61 inch DLP televesion, so I figured... what better to go with my new TV then another cheapie surround sound system! (but this time I would buy it). My previous system had a couple busted speakers, so it wasn't worth much. I had limited funds because I spent so much cash on the TV, so I ended up buying this.
I believe people are being too critical about this system. People seem to expect a flagship quality system when they buy a system that costs less then 1/2 as much as a decent receiver alone.
I saw this system at Best Buy for a mere $150.00. Perfect. They had a model on the floor so I gave it a listen, was impressed and decided to buy it. I was happy that it came with an actual receiver rather then a crappy DVD combo type of deal (experience shows me that these always go faulty).
Setup was a snap, much easier then i'm used to thanks to the handy mic that comes with the system that helps your receiver automatically calibrate your speaker settings. I was happy with what I heard at the store, but I was blown away when I heard this in my own home (no sound pollution, like at the store). For a $150.00 system this sounds great! The audio is mostly clean, bass is pulse-pounding, mids and highs are good. So how does it compare to the $6,000.00 high end system my buddy has? Well, obviously not even close.
Here's what you can expect with this system:
The sound is mostly clean. The mids and highs are good, but someone seeking perfection may be a bit disappointed. Don't expect eye-blinking highs and super-rich mids. The bass is surprisingly powerful, but at higher volumes you will get "bass belching". The bass does thump pretty well but this bass module is passive so you wont get those strong soul-shaking bass thumps that you hear in high end systems. Worth mentioning is the form-factor of this system, well the speakers anyways. The speakers are nice and small, making this system discrete. The speakers have a nice feel to them, they don't feel like super cheap speakers. The receiver isn't as attractive because it's quite large and lacks substance because the buttons are very tiny - there's a lot of empty space.
So there are some issues with this system, why did I give it 5 stars? Well, first off, these issues are to be expected. One reviewer said that sony cut corners, I say - duh! Of course if you're going to build a complete 5.1 surround system including a receiver and price it around $150.00 then you're going to cut corners. Anyways, it deserves 5 stars because this is the best cheapie 5.1 system i've ever owned. I went in expecting crud and ended up with something that actually sounds pretty darn good! My movies are very immersive and my music sounds pretty good. That's all I need right now.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good for a simple setup, August 3, 2007
This review is from: Sony HTD-DW790 Component Home Theater System (Electronics)
This unit has everything I need. I have a pretty basic system in a one bedroom apartment, and it does a great job of filling the room with sound. The digital inputs in particular sound wonderful. It's not a high end system by any means but I think it's a good value for the money and works for small or medium sized rooms. My favorite feature is the sub, which seems bigger than it should be for a system of this size, and shakes my floor pretty well.
As other reviewers noted there are only 3 RCA inputs, but it also has coaxial and optical inputs (as well as the iPod jack in the front). I hooked the DVD player up with coaxial and my Xbox 360 through the optical, leaving only the TV and PS2 to be hooked up with RCAs.
Calibrating the speakers with the included microphone was really easy, but I still had to tinker with it. In particular the auto calibration does not recognize the sub, which I found to be too loud on it's default setting. Using a calibration program and doing it manually might produce better results.
The only real disappointment I have with it is that the (incredibly thin gauge) wires are fixed into the speakers. I have to run wire around the perimeter of my room, and then splice it with the wire fixed to the speaker.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An awesome system, September 26, 2007
This review is from: Sony HTD-DW790 Component Home Theater System (Electronics)
I've read a lot of review here, wow! Some people are so critical. This is a great system, especially if you're a college student on a budget. Someone said that it had so few imputs, do your research before you buy buddy. My only real gripe was the fact that the speaker wire is connected to the speakers, and it wasn't long enough. I took care of this problem by buying a Rocketfish wireless reciever and plugged the rear speakers into it, problem solved and works great (if you do this, autocal your system direct before using the wireless unit). Another person had a gripe about playing music on the system. I have a Zune with the media dock plugged into the system, the sound is crystal clear, I'm amazed by the clairity of sound. Several people have had gripes about having to turn up the volume way high. For music 35-45 is perfect for most styles of music. For movies around 55 is a great setting. I live in dorm, people live above and around me, and I live in a smaller space, insanely loud volume settings aren't necessary. If your viewing spot is in a large room and you've got a lot of money to work with, this system probably isn't for you. However, if your a college student living in a smaller space on a lower budget, I highly recommend this system, it's perfect.
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