Great Sound,Great Price, No Fuss!
Written: Jan 30 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent surround sound, feature-packed receiver, outstanding value at less than $500
Cons: Speakers not high-style, comes in a BIG box, supplied wires could be better quality
The Bottom Line: The Kenwood HTB-504 a top performer in the Home Theater-in-a-box category and priced right! It's worth every penny.
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| kyle_woolsey's Full Review: Kenwood HTB-504 Theater System |
Looking to take the plunge into the world of Home Theater, but don’t want to sell your children to do it? The Kenwood HTB-504 is the answer to big theater sound on a budget! This all-in-one home theater system will make the most out of your TV, DVD player and VCR, and will have you re-watching your entire movie collection just to hear the difference.
What it is: The HTB-504, simply put, is a home theater-in-a-box (HTB). With this system, all you do is add a TV and your favorite movie playing components, and your living room can become a digital surround sound movie house. (All without spending time and upwards of $1,000 assembling the components). Kenwood packs solid performers in the HTB-504, including a feature packed receiver, 5 speakers and a 100-watt 8’ powered subwoofer. Also included are a remote control, antennas, and color-coded speaker wire to hook everything up right.
The Receiver: The Kenwood VR-507 receiver is about the most “bang for your buck” performer available on the market, delivering 100watts of power to all 5 channels. Its digital signal processing covers Dolby Digital, DTS surround, Dolby Pro-Logic II, and SRS circle surround. Dolby Digital and/or DTS are the soundtracks you hear in the movie theaters, and are encoded on most DVD’s sold today. Dolby Pro-Logic II creates believable digital surround sound from your old Pro-Logic VHS cassettes! The receiver also has standard features like FM/AM tuning, and inputs for other music components like CD players, tape decks and even record players.
The connectivity of the VR-507 is impressive for a “budget” receiver, with multiple audio and video inputs for your other components. It also has several S-Video inputs for higher resolution video switching from your cable box, TV, or DVD player. Kenwood uses what they call KAM-1 circuitry to create its 100 watts per channel with minimal distortion. But be aware, this is not a high-current amplified receiver, so audiophiles will find its wattage overrated for use with reference quality speakers. This receiver also sells separately for around $299 at Circuit City and is a popular choice for budget-minded home theater aficionados.
Front and Rear Speakers: Kenwood includes a set of 5 speakers including two larger front speakers, two smaller rear (surround) speakers, and a medium sized center channel speaker. This equates to the “5” in “5.1”, the term often used to describe digital surround sound system speaker setups. While the speakers aren’t much to look at with their black ash-finished wooden boxes with black cloth grilles, they are capable speakers when performing as a set. The main speakers include two woofers and a tweeter, while the surround and center only have a single woofer. The center channel would benefit a matching tweeter like the front speakers, but the overall performance of the 5 speakers is quite pleasing. Surround wires are lengthy, but you may need additional wire to connect them to a far wall.
Subwoofer: Kenwood didn’t skimp on low bass, including a very capable 100-watt powered 8” subwoofer, the “.1” in “5.1”. This is one powerful speaker, and does an excellent job reproducing plaster-cracking bass sounds found in your favorite action movies. Kenwood includes the single RCA cable needed to connect it to the receiver, although if you plan to mount it in a far corner, you’re going to need to buy your own.
System Performance: The Kenwood HTB-504 does an excellent job creating surround sound for home entertainment, and for the money is almost impossible to beat. Speakers get plenty of power to play loudly without distorting, and the surround processing allows a myriad of playback options from video, DVD’s, and cable TV. It’s so gratifying to open a single box and in 30-minutes, have your family smiling ear-to-ear with digital surround bliss. That said, using the system to play the radio or other musical components is not the forte of this system. It’s great for having some tunes play while doing things around house, but not optimal for stereo music. The HTB-504 is also a good choice if you plan to upgrade later on, because it has everything you need to get started, and the receiver and subwoofer perform so well you may just decide to keep them when your ready for the next level.
The competition: Many mainstream audio manufacturers have come out with all-in-one systems for home theater. Some are very sleek and attractive, with stylish looking speakers and slick remotes. Kenwood even makes cheaper HTB setups that go well below the $300 mark for a truly rock-bottom budget setup. But few deliver the goods to your ears like the HTB-504.
Where to Buy: Locally, the HTB-504 can be bought at Circuit City or Sears for $450-$500. Online it can be found at mjshow.com for $379. The box is huge so shipping will be pricey.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kyle_woolsey
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Member: Kyle Woolsey
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 5 members
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