Pretty good for a small unit - better with a changer...
Written: Mar 13 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good sound, well built, lots of options
Cons: One disc only, two remotes, not too many components in silver
The Bottom Line: A good first home theater system - good sound, built like a tank, easy to use. Except for the lack of a changer, a great value for the money.
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| stevens_ce's Full Review: Sony HT-1700D Theater System |
This is a solid home theater system. I wanted a Sony - every audio and video component I have is a Sony - and when we looked at systems, I thought about what I'd REALISTICALLY use it for. I tend to buy electronics (computers, PDAs, TVs) with all these grand ideas about what I'll use the features for, only to find I use 1/10 of what it has. When I bought this system, I was looking for three things. It's a Sony, it's solidly built and it sounds good. This unit fits all three of those characteristics, and does so with a wealth of other features I never use, but might some day.
Both the receiver and the DVD player are suprisingly heavy, despite their plastic outer coatings - and are solid. The same can be said for the speakers - heavy and solid. The subwoofer might be the exception to this - it feels a tad bit light - but since it's just a big empty box I guess that's the way it should feel. Everything is that nice brushed silver found on the WEGA TVs, which looks nice until (A) it gets scratched or (B) you look at adding another component. This isn't a show stopper - in fact it's a nit-picky item, but if you're as anal as I am about those type of things, it's something to keep in mind.
The sound is good. It's not great - I didn't pay for great at $500 - but it's solid. The five speakers will fill a large room - my living room is 24 x 16 - with no problem, and the bass is very good. The fifteen or so listening modes (three cinema, four other surrounds) have their place, and it's nice to have the freedom to edit so many settings. As I said, though, I've been suprised (pleasantly) with how few of these features I've used. I opened the box, ran through the setup directions and menus and forgot about it - it just sounds good all by itself. I've tried just about every DVD that is supposed to measure true cinema sound, and the unit has performed well in every instance.
I do have a couple of gripes though. First, Sony packages this unit with two remotes (both in black, which seemed a little dumb given everything else being in silver) - one for the DVD and another for the receiver. The receiver remote is supposed to control all the DVD functions, but in truth only contains about half of them. Sure, some really aren't needed a lot, but it might have been nice if Sony had been able to integrate these remotes. I switched to the Sony universal remote (it's silver and has a touchscreen - I mainly got it because it was cool) but using both remotes isn't a hassle - it just seems like extra work.
Perhaps my biggest complaint is my own fault. For the extra $100, I should have purchased the 5500 unit - it's the same except for a 5-disc DVD player. While it's not an issue when you're watching a movie, I have found after a lifetime with changers that having only one CD slot is bit of pain. For $100 it's worth it.
Overall, this is the kind of mid-range sound and high quality I would expect from Sony for $400-$500 bucks. It's a good unit - plenty of room for expansion, plenty of options for input (optical/coax/s-video/component), good layout, good controls, plenty of modes and really good sound, all in a simple package that your grandma could put together. This is a good mid-range, single or double-room system that will last you a while.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
stevens_ce
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Location: Northeast Pennsylvania
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Male, 32, Married, Engineer/Project Manager, Mac/PC owner, Love Gadgets and Video Games
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