Kenwood / Boston Acoustics Unity DVD Home Theater System vs Sony C900
Written: Mar 27 '02 (Updated Mar 27 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent sound quality, inputs, features, easy to set up and use, universal remote
Cons: Holds only one disc at a time, no DVD-Audio or SACD
The Bottom Line: Overall, this Kenwood/Boston Acoustics system produces better sound quality than the Sony C900 and has more features.
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| dkozin's Full Review: Kenwood Unity Theater System |
The Kenwood Unity DVD Home Theater System actually consists of Kenwood DVD player/receiver and a set of Boston Acoustics speakers. It sells for $999 and is a substantially better system than the similarly-priced Sony C900.
The system’s speakers are oddly shaped, but deliver excellent sound with better sound quality than the C900. The subwoofer is powered and the system features new Dolby Pro Logic II in addition to Dolby Digital and DTS decoding.
The front panel features a shiny volume control knob in the right part and the lower right portion has a flip-out panel that hides front-panel inputs and radio controls.
The DVD player can hold one disc and plays DVD, Audio CD, CD-R, CD-RW and discs with MP3. The Dolby Pro Logic II provides 5.1 channel surround sound to the Dolby Pro Logic encoded material as well as stereo recordings.
Connections
The speakers connect to the rear panel of the receiver using color-coded proprietary connectors. Unlike Sony C900, which uses the same kind of connectors for all speakers and the subwoofer, the Kenwood uses a preamp-level subwoofer out with a different connector and the sub has its own AC power cord, since it is powered.
There are 3 A/V inputs with S-Video (one in front and two on the rear panel), as well as 2 coaxial and 2 optical digital audio inputs on the rear panel. There is also an additional optical digital audio input in front and a headphone out.
There is a stereo audio out, two composite outs (plus S-Video), one component video out and a digital optical audio out. The subwoofer out and proprietary connectors for speakers are also located on the rear panel.
Remote
The supplied universal remote control can control your VCR, TV, satellite receiver or a cable box in addition to this system. The buttons use different colors and shapes to allow you distinguish between them easily.
Picture And Sound
The picture and sound quality of the system are very impressive. The picture is sharp and vivid and the sound is well-defined. The subwoofer is very powerful and seems to produce more power than the Sony C900’s one, even though they are rated at the same 100 W. The stereo music playback, although not as good as similarly-priced stereo-only system can produce, is very good. And Dolby Pro Logic II makes it sound even better.
Feel The Power!
The system outputs 65 W to the front left and right speakers during stereo operation or 5x 25 W plus 100 W for subwoofer during surround sound operation.
Bottom Line
Overall, this Kenwood/Boston Acoustics system produces better sound quality than the Sony C900 and has more features.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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Location: California
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I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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