Good value in home theater, may not be for audiophiles
Written: Sep 01 '01 (Updated Sep 05 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Stylish design, DTS & Dolby 5.1 decoding, lots of inputs/outputs, great subwoofer
Cons: Bulky "universal" remote with limited function, satellite speakers a little weak
The Bottom Line: The Aiwa HT-D970 is a pretty good home theater value, with lots of inputs and outputs, good looks and good sound, though true audiophiles might want better speakers.
|
|
|
| gksilli's Full Review: Aiwa HT-D970 Home Theater System |
Disclaimer: I am not an audiophile. I don't know sound systems, but I know what I like. On the other hand, I'm a sucker for marketing. Because "digital home theater surround sound" is all the rage, I knew I had to get a home theater system to complement my DVD player. But which one to buy? That's an easy choice for impatient people like myself who shop at Costco. I just go in there and they usually have only one type of whatever big-ticket electronic item I wish to buy. It's always a different brand each time I go in. This time, it was the Aiwa HT-D970 home theater system.
The HT-D970 is a pretty good system. The receiver/tuner is one of the heaviest pieces of A/V equipment I have ever lifted, short of a TV set. I guess that means its well-built. The only thing that seems a bit flimsy or poorly-built is the impedance selector switch on the back of the unit. The switch doesn't seem to be properly lined up in front of the opening for it in the back of the cabinet, so I'm really not sure whether it's fully seated in the 8 ohm position. This is a shame, since the supplied speakers are 8-ohm models. I guess if it was halfway between 8 ohms and 4 ohms I wouldn't get any sound at all, right? (remember, I don't know squat about electronics).
There are a LOT of inputs and outputs on this system. There are plenty of S-Video and digital optical cable inputs, as well as the typical RCA jacks. There is a set of front RCA inputs, which is useful for hooking up a video game console.
The system is supplied with 100 feet of 20-gauge wire, which is plenty to hook up all 5 speakers. The separately-powered subwoofer uses a supplied RCA jack.
The receiver cabinet, powered subwoofer, and speakers are all rather stylish looking. The satellite/center speakers don't look expensive, or even very sturdy, but at least they aren't ugly.
But what about the sound, you ask? Of course, that's the most important part of a system like this. Well, remember I'm not an audiophile. I'd say the sound quality is very good, maybe even great, but it's not so good that I don't wonder whether it could be better. Did you follow that? Let me put it another way... After extensive fiddling with the sound "customizing" options (and of course returning them to their factory settings several times), I can't say I've gotten the "ultimate surround sound" experience.
This could be due to any or all of the following reasons:
1) This system is set up in a large family room, and I am forced, as a matter of logistics, to place the surround speakers in the corners of the room, farther away from the "listening point" than the other speakers.
2) The satellite speakers are easily overwhelmed by the center speaker. In fact, when listening to a Dolby 5.1 digital source, the only way to get a very good front "stereo" effect is to turn down the center speaker. This can sometimes make hearing the dialogue difficult.
3) I just don't know what I'm talking about or what good stereo sound really is.
If you buy this system, make sure that you turn on the subwoofer through the menu system. If you don't do this, the system won't output any sound to the subwoofer. Also, for non-digital input sources (such as a TV, VCR or video game signal), it might be necessary to increase the input source sound level (it can be increased to +8, whatever that means). This gives you more sound at a given volume level. I have noticed that, for certain input sources (particularly DVD), I have to turn the volume up just a little closer to the maximum than I would like in order to get that "theater-quality sound". Don't get me wrong, it's plenty loud enough for any reasonably foreseeable requirement (house party, private screening of The Blues Brothers, etc.). It's just that, with so many speakers and so much power output, I expected to get ear-splitting sound with fewer twists of the volume knob.
At least I can say that the sound is clear with little to no distortion. After listening to a lot of DVDs, I don't think I've heard more than one or two "crackles" out of any of the speakers, and the few I heard were during "extreme sound" moments.
In any case, the booming subwoofer is almost worth the price of admission. This is one of the reasons most of the DVDs in my collection have a high "explosion factor".
This unit decodes both Dolby 5.1 & DTS digital signals, and I have played both types of DVDs and definitely gotten multi-channel sound, so I know that works.
My biggest complaint with this system is the remote control. It is very wide and flat, an ergonomic disaster. It is just very awkward to hold and operate. Even though it is a universal remote that "operates" my RCA TV and VCR, it can only operate Aiwa DVD players. Also, it doesn't have a TV input select button (at least not that I can find), so you still have to use the TV remote to switch between DVD, VCR, video game, etc.
So, all in all, this is a pretty good value for the money. If I had been in Costco on any other day, I could have easily bought a different brand, and might have been just as happy, or happier. But, at $350, I'd say I got my money's worth.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gksilli
|
|
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.