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| Date Reviewed: 03/10/2007 |
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Strengths: The system picture quality is great and the wireless speakers are a great convience. Sound quality is pretty good.
Weaknesses: Setup took quite a bit of time and it only has 2 other inputs for other devices besides the DVD.
Summary: This Sony system is very powerful with 1280 of total power. The setup for the system took quite a bit of time because of the assembly of the speakers and then the configuration of cabling and the system itself. After it is all setup it is pretty easy to operate and there is a noticable picture quality improvement when playing DVDs. The picture is a lot crisper. The sound quality is also very good for the DVD Audio and the TV audio. Overall I really like the system and think it was a good purchase.
 100% of People (3/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 11/27/2007 |
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Strengths: Sounds great! wireless is very convenient.
Weaknesses: Nothing so far
Summary: It is a good choice for my family to have such a home theater system. This Sony system is very powerful with high quality of sound and DVD audio. The picture is a lot crisper.
100% of People (1/1) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 01/15/2007 |
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Strengths: Upconversion of standard DVDs is VERY impressive when viewed with HDMI connection to a Sony 50" Grand-Wega HD set. Wireless speakers are great. Wife approved.
Weaknesses: Manual - printed in TINY type and not well organized. Have to stop playing whatever is playing to insert/remove a disk.
Summary: The manual is the biggest shortcoming of this system. I finally went to Sony's website and downloaded the PDF of the manual and printed it on 8.5x11 paper. - making it much more useable. Anyone over 40 is going to have serious problems trying to read it. It also skips steps or doesn't explain them well. The color coding of the speaker cables is really pretty important, and they have you assembling the rear speakers before ever explaining about the color coding. The "quick setup" instructions do tell you to turn the surround speaker amp on - but no illustration left me wondering exactly what they meant by that. Even my wife - who normally actually reads the instructions was flummoxed by this. Finally figured it out after about 15 minutes of frustration. Picture quality for up-converted DVD disks is great. I saw a BlueRay in action at several stores the same day I purchased this setup and the difference is negligible, plus it means you're not starting your DVD/movie library from scratch again. Sound quality is generally quite good. The various "sound-field" selections are useable, but not well explained in the manual. It isn't a system I'd be listening to classical music on, but movie music sound great, and sound effects are clear and well defined. Remote - which shares the same basic layout as my GrandWega one has too many buttons too close together (that over 40 thing again.) I hope to be able to use JUST this remote to control the TV and Home-Theatre. It appears it supports most of the functions needed for my Sony TV (go figure!) It would be nice if it had a separate setting to use with the cable box, but it isn't clear that it does. Overall - for Home Theatre in a box - an admirable job. Price was good.. I bought it through a local electronics chain 6th Ave Electronics) where they were happy to meet the best Internet price I was able to find with no argument, they just said "YES.. we can do that." Since shipping from any Internet vendor would have been fairly expensive, I ended up saving money by buying it locally.
88% of People (7/8) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 06/22/2006 |
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Strengths: wireless, floor-standing speakers biggest selling point for me by far; HDMI out; XM radio compatible for those who care
Weaknesses: performance-wise this is as basic of a home theater as you can have; limited inputs; dvd player won't play PAL DVDs
Summary: Overall, I'm pretty happy with the purchase though the system certainly leaves a few things to be desired. Wireless speakers are great; I have enough wires running along the wall - to have additional wires running accross the room would've been a deal-breaker in my apartment. The sound is very good for a small-medium sized room. The HDMI out is practically a must for new LCD TVs. As for the negatives - it's pretty much the same for all HTIBs: limited AV inputs, very basic dvd player, limited power output. Still, after much research I found it to be the best buy on a limited budget.
85% of People (34/40) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 09/20/2006 |
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Strengths: Wireless Rear Speakers. Home theater sound in a box.
Weaknesses: no equalizers to control.
Summary: The sound from this system is GREAT, it's a SONY of course. I am a little picky though & must say I did expect a little more from such a large company. I have a few gripes: 1. the instructions are a little confusing to follow & are not in color. So, it makes it a little more difficult to put together than expected. 2. SONY doesn't include ANY extra parts. Including the small pegs you will need for the rear speakers. So, if they break or get lost....sorry! Oh, & you'll need audio cables since the system comes w/everything else except those. 3. All of the sound settings are already preset from the factory so there is no messing around with the bass, treble or midrange, but that can also be a good thing considering the product is a SONY one & they do know what they are doing. 4. The remote control has indiglow buttons that are supposed to glow in the dark, but they do a poor job of doing so. All in all I must say that I am very happy with the system. It is easy to control, has great sound, and makes viewing TV/movies or listening to the radio more enjoyable. Oh, did I mention the wireless rear speakers? Well, they are EXCELLENT. So, for the price of this system, it is well worth it!!
71% of People (5/7) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 02/26/2007 |
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 This dream system turned out to be nightmare Strengths: Wireless feature, Auto Calibration, HDMI connection
Weaknesses: Infrared transmitter went in/out, sound quality was poor for the price, assembly was time consuming
Summary: I bought this system for $699 at circuit city during a sale. I thought for the money it would be a good deal but I was very disappointed with the "wireless speakers". It kept cutting in and out. Sony said that this only happens when there's interference, like when someone walks in front of it, however, it seemed to cut in and out even when no one was there. I called Sony's help desk about this several times but their advice was of no help. They told me to do things like power on/off and ck the connections.
Also the sound quality was very poor, the treble was not very crisp and the bass sounded muffled. The assembly took me about 2 hours so it wasn't an easy set up.
After two weeks of really trying to be content with it, I gave up and returned it. I ended buying a Samsung 2.1 HTIB system for $400, which I love. It was easy to assemble and the sound quality is excellent! The sound is crisp and sharp. The bass is clean too w/o any distortion. The best part is that it's a couple hundred bucks less than the Sony system.
In sum, I say don't do it (esp since it's a pain to disassemble and put in the box).
67% of People (2/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 10/24/2006 |
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Strengths: I would say wireless rear speakers that do not have to be run to the front of the room.
Weaknesses: Weakness would also be the wireless rear speakers because they have to be connected to each other.
Summary: Overall this system is great for a medium to small size room. Puts out a lot of sound and fills the room. If I had the chance again I would go with this system do to wireless rear speakers. The only thing I would say to other people that our looking into this system is to remember the rear speakers our going to be wired together. So look at your setup of the room and if you can hide the wire for the rear speakers your good to go. I have a 3 piece sectional sofa and I ran the speaker wire from one side of the sofa to the otherside. All wires hidden and the sound is excellent. The only other thing would be the directions were a little confusing and with HTIB you get limited component inputs.
63% of People (5/8) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 09/14/2006 |
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TERRIBLE SYSTEM - Doesn't meet specs
Strengths: Pretty on the face, and a sturdy box for shipping.
Weaknesses: Not really a wireless system - Doesn't meet Sony's specs.
Summary: BEWARE!!!! Sony's website and specs says "wireless rear speakers" but THAT IS NOT TRUE. Only one rear speaker is wireless, the other requires a wire. That defeats the entire purpose and utility of the system. And Sony will not stand behind the product - no refund, no replacement, just "tough."
As long as you're going to have to wire the speakers, you may as well get one of many better non-Sony systems that are available for less.
53% of People (9/17) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 05/18/2007 |
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 The good, the bad, the ugly... Strengths: Good sound, auto calibration mic is a plus.
Weaknesses: Wireless needs work, clunky base stands.
Summary: The system itself is very well designed. A little too much black for me, the dvd/reciever, subwoofer, and bases for the speakers were all black. The wireless aspect worked decent but didnt have the same reliability as wires obviously, I did notice the sound cut out just a bit when installing. But it is a nice touch for those who dont want the wires... be forewarned though that the bases for those rear wireless speakers are very clunky looking. The plus was the auto calibration mic which made setup a breeze! I probably wouldn't buy it again as there are probably better systems out there.
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| Date Reviewed: 02/23/2008 |
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 Sony Dream System Strengths: Decent sound semi-wireless rear speakers. Calibration mic is nice.
Weaknesses: There is absolutely no way there is 143w/ch coming out of this system not even close if you have a big house and enjoy loud enveloping sound. This is absolutely NOT the system to buy.
Summary: Sorry weakness category did not have enough so i will continue here.
The subwoofer has no real controls either boost or not and I can never really truly find comfortable setting.
You can not do anything to unit without it switching sources meaning loading dvd's etc.
My unit died after several months sent it to Sony for repair 2 weeks later they sent unit back with same problem waited 48 hours for shipping label to emailed to me so i could return ground because they wouldn't rush it. Then returned my unit ground so I was without unit for a month. This will be my last Sony product.
The wireless infrared broadcaster for rear speakers has to be out of way of objects moving in front of it or rear speakers fade in and out sometimes easier than others to orientate.
Overall I am rather disappointed with this system thankfully I got a very deep discount on it when I purchased it.
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| Date Reviewed: 12/28/2007 |
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Strengths: Beautiful speakers and all speakers come with one short and long stands. It took me less than 2 hrs to fully assemble. 5-Disk DVD player is useful. Remote easy to operate. Value for the money.
Weaknesses: Two Wireless speakers have to be connected using a wire. It was a surprise at first. Speaker wires that came the unit look thin. Audio cables not supplied. Remote control too big.
Summary: This is a great sounding system. It took about two hours to open the box, unpack it and assemble the speakers. The directions are little confusing but adequate. Surround sound is great and DVDs look awesome. The loading of the DVD is slow. Bottom line is I needed wireless rear speakers so its working well. For the money? Very, very nice.
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