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Sound in a Box
We've got you surrounded with home-theater-in-a-box systems that deliver one-stop-shopping convenience without sacrificing first-class audio.
Steve Morgenstern
From the Print Edition:
Armand Assante, Mar/Apr 2008
(continued from page 2)
Sony Bravia Theater Micro System DAV-IS10
Many flat-screen TV buyers feel the boxy look of
traditional home theater speakers clashes with their slender video display. To deliver a suitably
anorexic aesthetic for this design-centric buyer, Sony has pulled off an ingenious magic trick,
shrinking the speakers down to golf-ball size. And I mean that literally—each front, center and
surround speaker in this 5.1 system is a tiny two-ounce cube, roughly two inches a side, which
sits easily in the palm of your hand. Yet when you fire up the system, the DAV-IS10 produces
room-filling sound.
How did they pull off this intriguing effect? It's partly clever design in the little speakers themselves, and largely an unusual balancing act between speakers and subwoofer. Ordinarily, speakers handle the high-end and mid-range sounds in a home theater system, leaving the sub to focus exclusively on bass. In this case, though, the sub unit fills in some of that midrange too, enhancing the overall richness of the audio. This makes appropriate placement of the sub unit more important than with other systems. Bass is perceived without much sense of where it's coming from, so you can usually tuck a subwoofer pretty much anywhere in the room. In this case, the sub unit has to sit near the front, within a set distance from the satellites and preferably next to a wall, and not obstructed by furniture. Fortunately, the included automatic calibration system does a nice job of balancing the fine points once the basic layout is accomplished. And while the subwoofer may be more visible than in other layouts, the central receiver unit is an unusually compact 8 7/16- x 4 1/8- x 18 1/8-inch block that houses an AM/FM tuner and slot-loading, upscaling DVD player. There is one HDMI input and one output (which the built-in DVD player makes just acceptable), and an iPod dock comes bundled with the system. My only significant quibble with the sound was the center channel during movie playback—the diminutive speaker is very directional, which tends to pinpoint the dialogue too precisely instead of spreading it across the front of the TV image. Overall, though, Sony managed to pull off a difficult trick with style, and at a reasonable price. ($800, www.sonystyle.com)
Onkyo HT-SP908
This Onkyo system is a perfect example of the home-theater-in-a-box concept
done right. You get everything you need—from a state-of-the-art receiver to seven substantial
speakers plus a powerful subwoofer, upscaling DVD player and iPod dock—right down to the
color-coded speaker-connecting wires, in one, albeit bulky, box, at a retail price well below
$1,000. (It lists for more, but at this writing, Amazon's price is $750, with free shipping.)
Unlike most stand-alone AV receivers, this system supports the latest HDMI 1.3a connectors, which
not only handle current Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, but are ready for enhanced video technologies
as they are released. The latest uncompressed audio standards from Dolby and DTS are also fully
supported, another rarity even in high-priced gear. The automatic calibration technology is a
premium Audyssey-branded system, you get a pair of HDMI inputs, and there's support for both
Sirius and XM add-on tuners. You can even pump audio into a second room, if you like. Of course,
all these cool features would be for naught if the sound didn't measure up—but it most certainly
does, providing a balance of warmth and accuracy that rivals my far more expensive home theater
setup at all but wall-rattling volumes. ($1,099, www.onkyousa.com)
Samsung HT-BD2
If you're ready to choose sides in the ongoing Blu-ray/HD DVD high-def
disc-format war, this combination of an elegantly curved, piano-black receiver with built-in
Blu-ray disc player, four impressive tower speakers plus two bookshelf-size rear surrounds and an
effective subwoofer could be just the (movie) ticket. There is a significant "but" in all this,
but let's start with the good stuff. Blu-ray movie playback (and DVDs, too, for that matter) looks
and sounds great. Watching the Blu-ray version of Pixar's Oscar-nominated short, Lifted, a
slapstick alien-abduction adventure, proved the dynamic range of the audio system, with lush
swelling orchestral passages contrasting perfectly with the squeaky chair wheels and barking dog
that sell the film's gags. Samsung merits special praise for providing an exemplary center channel
speaker, a key component (it handles the lion's share of movie dialogue) too often shortchanged in
wimpy HTIB systems.
Then where's the rub? The lack of an iPod dock, AM radio, satellite radio and auto calibration are all shortcomings, but it's the inadequate connectivity for outside sources, particularly cable or satellite set-top boxes, that really bugs me. With no jacks for incoming video at all, you can't use the HT-BD2 to switch between feeds to your TV. There are audio inputs (one standard analog, two digital optical connectors), but you have to connect the video from your set-top box, game console or whatever to multiple inputs on your TV (assuming it has them) and switch the audio and video components separately— a significant flaw in a system this expensive. That said, what the HT-BD2 does, it does very well indeed. ($1,499, www.samsungusa.com)
Bose Lifestyle 48
For the past few years, Bose has attracted attention mostly for table
radios, noise-cancelling headphones and pricey iPod docks, but the company's roots lie in
strikingly small high-performance speakers paired with innovative bass reproduction technologies.
In the top-of-the-line home theater system tested here, the four cube speakers are just 4.5 inches
tall, but maintain a pleasingly full audio range when paired with their big brother, the 26-pound
Acoustimass bass module. Audio snobs get cranky when I say nice things about Bose home theater,
but I think it's a great choice for the right customer. You should value convenience and elegant,
compact design to be a happy Bose owner. With artists ranging from Joni Mitchell to R.E.M. to
Bruce Springsteen, the musical reproduction is a nicely balanced combination of precision and
power, but if you want to listen to heavy metal cranked to ear-bleeding levels, this isn't the
system for you.
Unlike most home theater systems, I preferred music to movie soundtracks on the Bose. It handled the atmospheric party scene in Mission: Impossible III just fine, but missile- firing action scenes lacked the firepower of a system with larger speakers. The compact media center, the brains of the operation, is an appealingly sleek, low-rise device with an AM/FM tuner, built-in DVD player and a hard disk drive that sets this system apart, with the capacity for 340 hours of music ripped from your CD collection. In true Bose fashion, moving your music collection into the system is a breeze. No computer needed, thanks—the Lifestyle 48 will identify the disc, label the tracks and record the tunes. I also experimented with the system's multi-room capabilities by adding the RoomMate-powered speaker system and Personal Music Center II wireless controller package ($499), along with the Bose AL8 wireless audio link ($399) for communicating with the Lifestyle 48. It took no messy configuration at all to make the system work flawlessly—plug it in, turn it on and enjoy the music, with complete system control even from another room (thanks to the radio frequency remote, which travels through walls).
Oh, there is one more characteristic of a Bose home theater customer that bears noting—it helps to have money. Here again, my audiophile friends will grouse that a well-versed expert can buy sonically superior components for the same price, and I don't disagree. But ease of use, elegant, unobtrusive design and pleasing musical reproduction are the core Bose promises, and on those they deliver handsomely. ($3,999, www.bose.com)
Steve Morgenstern is a contributing editor who writes frequently on technological subjects for Cigar Aficionado.
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