supahonda's Full Review: Denon DHT-700DV Theater System
Denon has been making quality audio componants for years, and this boxed set is no exception. I have never bought a boxed system before because I have always worried about the stereo-type of low-fi, crappy quality loudspeakers. I wanted to see if this stereo-type was true, so I went to my local electronics store and picked up this set, only not for myself (I'm to scared to take the risk! I'm weak, I can't help it!). I bought it for my brother, who is just starting unviversity and was lacking some sound quality in his dorm.
First of all, this is a very good looking system. All light grey's and silvers, this would look good anywhere. I helped him set up the Denon DHT-700DV HTIB that weekend and I was fairly impressed with the quality, ease of use and value. I was a bit biased because I was coming from my system, a $10,000 dream system I built from scratch, but I managed to appreciate the quality. The DVD even looked pretty good. I was impressed.
The Denon DHT-700DV HTIB comes with some fairly high quality stuff. Out of the box, I found that it came with a good looking ADV-700 DVD reciever, four little SC-50S satellites and a very impressive SC-50C center-channel speaker. The Denon DHT-700DV HTIB also comes with a DSW-27 subwoofer, which I believe is the whole downpoint of the system. The system also came with all the right cables to set it up.
I found the 4 satellites that came with the system to be adequate, but nothing that really stood out to me. The speakers are wall mountable and fairly good looking, with their nice, soft rounded edges. Basically, they fit your everyday needs, nothing truely amazing. The speakers are fairly small and will fit almost anywhere. I noticed a very annoying static sound when I turned the speakers up loud. I also noticed the tweeter cut out at sometimes, but most people don't even know what a tweeter does!
The center speaker is very impressive. Tiny and good looking, it looks great on top of any TV. Even at loud volumes, it still managed to produce a crystal clear, realstic sound, which is good because the center is the most important speaker in the system!
The subwoofer is, in my humble opinion, the greatest turnoff of the whole system. Crackely bass and ugly design make it aweful to listen to and look at. All the stats for it check out, but it just doesn't preform.
The most important part of the system, the reciever, is very well done. The DVD player is of average quality and looked pretty good when hooked up through optical. Once again, the brushed silver-aluminum faceplate and 3.5 in high reciever looks amazing, with sound to match. The ADV-700 comes with 3 S-VIDEO inputs, 2 digital optical inputs and one DO output. Features 35 watts per channel, which is adequate, but it also tests with a 10% total harmonic distortion, which is disgusting. Even a cheap $200 reciever will get you less than 1% THD.
One major problem with the system is that the reciever only puts out enough power to power the little Denon speakers it comes with, so upgrades aren't in the picture.
The Denon DHT-700DV HTIB is very easy to set up and only took us about an hour. Perfect for the newbie to the audio world.
Also, the remote that comes with this set is ugly and doesn't function very well. A lack of buttons and the inabilty to function with any other componants makes it a really biotch to handle.
Well, overall, this is a good budget intro system that works and sounds pretty good. Oh, and it looks pretty darn fine in the right set-up!
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