Sony’s Class Leader Five Years Later: KV-32FX20U
Written: Jul 05 '03 (Updated Jul 05 '03)
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Pros: Great Picture; Fine Sound; Good Feature List
Cons: Old-fashioned looks - Drab Grey
The Bottom Line: Can’t complain about a £500 knock down price reduction.
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| MichaelHatton's Full Review: Sony KV-32FX20U 32 inch TV |
This 1998 world leading TV from Sony is beginning to look old fashioned. The KV-32FX20U was launched as the start of the true flatscreen generation initialised by Sony, and there WEGA series. Originally launched with a highly uncompetitive price tag of £1,300/$2171 it was the mid-range model in a three unit launch of the new perfectly flat and highly advanced CRT TV systems. The three models consisted of the same technology fitted in the same colour skins and in 28", 32" and 36" models and equipped with much the same technology. In 2000 I bought a 32" model for a bargain reduction price of £800/$1330.
It comes complete with its own solid MDF cabinet, which was a change to the usual Sony steel cabinet that many had to be recalled due to structural problems in '97 with the earlier TV models. The then new cabinet was made of 6 slices of medium thickness MDF painted in black and dark silver, easy to assemble with a single crank/allen key. It also has tinted glass doors, which were later replaced by open shelving; far more attractive but not as good as concealing cables - for the 2000 series of WEGAs.
At the time of looking for a new TV, there was consideration given to the new look models, but at the time, was difficult to find a unit with a low price point and without the unnecessary digital tuners that we don't want. The old model seemed a sensible choice and given its price is ideal for a home cinema setup.
Features
The 32FX20U comes equipped with 2 SCART sockets, capable of S-Video and RGB (red green blue) cable transmission. On the front is a complementing section of input/output sockets, S-Video 5-pin DIN, Composite, and RCA stereo outputs. There is also a 3.5mm headphone socket, and small push buttons all hidden behind a door flap underneath the screen. The rear also has a set of RCA stereo outputs for connection to an external amp.
The remote is not unlike many of the new Sony remotes, its actually the exact same model as on a 14" unit we have. Unusually Sony have replaced the boring and more complex black unit which has twice the width, for this new one. It's more simple to operate, and most of the controls are hidden behind colour coded buttons. Its solid and reliable.
There is FASTtext supported for Teletext/Ceefax access. It also is compatible with PAL and NTSC sources through all its inputs. Though for RGB SCART there is not much use for it here. It can also output the current picture to any one of its normally input terminals - except the RF input - which means you can hook it up to a separate projector or second TV which would display whatever is on the screen. This I think is probably one of the best features I've come across, as it lets you connect a chain of TVs to its sockets and be able to use a DVD player without hassle of Macrovision problems.
Its got a built in Nicam decoder, for its built in 4 way speakers. The oval shaped units lie on either side of the TV, and the reason there is four is to create a "Spatial" effect, accessible through the menu. Each speaker is rated at 15w, so there is a 4-channel 15w built-in amplifier, and a fifth one for a rear directed subwoofer, 20w. This isn't surprising as there was once a model for Dolby Pro Logic, which used one of those amps for the rear section and hence there was no Spatial soundstage.
The features of the TV can be accessed through either four colour coded buttons also used for the Teletext, or via the built in menu system. It's the original series of menu system, which is opaque - not like the new transparent menus of the modern TVs. The menu system is decent to use, although it is a slight bit sluggish. The setup areas for Picture, Sound, and TV operation are accessed via stem and leave structure. You can use features like Parental Lock, Sleep Timer, Picture Rotation, Input/Output configuration, Channel Labels and Tuning. It has an automatic tuner which can be activated manually or when it's first plugged in.
Its picture and sound settings are a little basic, and there seems to be a locked out Hue setting - I'd love to know how to open that up - you normally only get Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness and Colour. Through the years I have resigned the Sharpness tool, at 0%, as it only adds noise to the otherwise clean RF input. I normally set the brightness to 0-50% depending on the brightness of the room, and Contrast is 100%, Colour meanwhile is usually above 50%, even at 100% there is very little colour bleed.
Both sound and picture settings can be cycled through preset and personal setups - Personal, Movie and Live are the picture presets, and, Personal, Rock, Jazz and Pop are catered for in the sound mode. The sound menu allows you to change the balance, bass and treble, and access the spatializer setting.
Lastly, the picture modes are quite exceptional. You are not going to have to sulk with black borders or stretched 4:3 material. This 16:9 widescreen TV comes with 5 picture modes - 4:3, 14:9, Zoom, Wide and Smart. For most 4:3 broadcast material Smart is the best choice, as many stations now crop their screens for this particular ratio.
Build Quality
Its standard outfit is metallic dark silver, with an overcoat of dark grey. The front sections are in the silver and the rear section in the darker colour. Build quality is professional, the cabinet withstands the speakers without any noticeable vibration. The chassis is superbly robust, and at 65kg it's not going to move anywhere easily.
Picture & Sound Quality
Picture quality by today's standards is not exceptional. The colour and brightness of the picture lack a little compared to Sony's latest WEGA tvs. However, the contrast and geometry of the 32FX20U is still exceptional. While the picture settings drastically effect the TVs seamless and detailed picture, you can expect it to have the same excellent contrast range from any settings. The RF input TV reception is solid, the picture stretch modes work and quality is brilliant regardless. Switch to a solid analogue input like RGB SCART and the picture quality screams detail colour and awesome geometry. It's a seamless mix with DVD quality, even though it is not High Definition, it makes up for it with good colour range and zero colour bleed. In pure darkness there is a slight bright patch in the corners on high brightness levels.
Geometry in particular is weaker in the RF input, where it can be affected a little by natural magnetic interference. In my case, the TV is facing North-West and needs a 2 step picture rotation to combat it. There is a little warping in the left corner in the RF input mode. It doesn't appear in the other sources, so it could be unbalanced transmission in the cable. Because the TV uses the Trinitron mask system that Sony introduced many years ago, the vertical resolution is a lot sharper, the TV is respectably able to go to computer resolutions - about 1000x600. And even though it’s a 50Hz TV, there is no visible flicker on the interlaced inputs.
Sound quality is smooth and detailed. Acoustic music or artificial work seems to come through with a taut balanced sound with adequate mid-range. Treble loses a little to a bit of brightness at the very top end. Bass is full and never distorted; it certainly blends with the front sound easily.
The S-Video and Composite inputs do loose a little ground to the RGB input, particularly in terms of colour neutrality, although pleasingly the S-Video input is excellent in geometry.
Conclusion
The Sony KV-32FX20U is a great buy if you can find a store still selling them, even though it doesn’t feature the latest HD systems it still makes a decent partner for a Projector, second room system, or good brand TV in a budget system.
(Image on profile until next review)
[ Prices given in British Pound (for as long as its still around) and US Dollar at 1£ = 1.67$ ]
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1330
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MichaelHatton
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