JimmyC Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 Hi there, I thought I'd relay my recent experiences in the quest for Home Theatre and give those of you looking for a fantastic PMHT (Poor Mans Home Theatre) a product to check out! I've been looking for a cheap home theatre setup to tide me over whilst I save for a decent separates system. The Home Show was on in Wellington a couple of weekends back and the Radfords stand had the new Panasonic SCMT-1 system playing. It's a compact sub/sat/DVD combo with a claimed 400w RMS amp built into the sub which it distributes to its 5 channels. It was the first HTiB setup that actually made me think these compact systems could work at a reasonable price. I've listened to the Sony DAVS 550 and 880 systems and was stunned at how pathetic the bass was that eminated from their passive subs. These were tested at the Sony Centre and Sony Shop in Wgtn so I'm presuming they had them setup properly. At $1500 and $2k respectively they were not only expensive but very disapointing. The Panasonic system will be priced at around $1200 which I figured was still alot of money for something that I'd be wanting to replace as soon as I could afford. Being in the IT industry I like to keep abrest of new products etc and one that immediately tweaked my interest was Logitech's new Z-680 system. Supposedly designed for the PC it comes with a staggering aray of features, connection options and a lot of grunt. The amp built into the sub racks up an impressive 505watts RMS. That's real RMS, based on average not peak output. 63w to the 4 sats, 69w to the center and 188w on the sub. It comes with a decoder for Dolby Digital, DTS, Pro Logic II, and a couple of other surround formats for 2 channel music and movies. 2 digital inputs for Optical and Co-ax, 5.1 analogue inputs as well as a wireless remote to control everything from the couch. Individual channel adjustment is possible from the remote as well which is great because for listening to music you'll need to tame that sub quite severely! For my use I have it connected to my trusty $170 Mustek DVD player via optical out. The decoder unit automatically selects the right format of the DVD and away we go. I tested the Z-680's from Harvey Norman's who had them for $1099. If you look around you'll get it for less than $850. And after an easy and faultless 30 minute setup I kicked back to enjoy my first HT setup last night and reckon the Logitech Z-680 is the best $814 I've ever spent. $984 for a sound this big has to be a bargain I reckon. I'll be happy to post my opinions on it's sound quality for music and HT in another post, this one's long enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyC Posted July 1, 2003 Author Share Posted July 1, 2003 I tested the Z-680 at Harvey Normans with John Mayer's Room for Squares CD and a couple of DVD's. I knew I wanted it strictly as a home theatre system and had no plans for use as a musical reference set. I point this out because it's weaknesses with music are translated into a very rich and engrossing theatre sound. In a nut shell, the sub is loud... Each channel has an individual volume control and starts at a setting of 40 out of 80, with a master to control the overall volume from there. For music, I have the sub on 1 and even then, if listening at a decent volume, that can be too much. Take Christian McBride's acoustic bass in Stings All this Time dvd, it has a tendancy to boom badly at a good listening level. I'm not any kind of expert when it comes to sub placement and I'll certainly be doing some experimenting to try and get this smoothed out. If listening to a CD I found the boominess is almost totally aleviated when listening in Pro Logic II mode. This is not the pureists approach but then they wouldn't have bought this system! Just remember, it is a cheap sub and subtlety is not it's strong point. Having said that, this kind of sound may also be exactly what some people like for their differing preference of music... Enough on the low end for now. The mids and highs are well represented with no harshness or muddle in the sound. The sats and center each have a 3" paper driver with rubber surrounds and they produce a very smooth and well balanced tone for their size. At normal listening levels they combine very well with the sub which is another indication that the sub is just in the wrong place. My approach to music and movies is totally different. I may not want Christian's bass to boom but if it were to blow up, I'd really want to hear and feel it with no pretences! When it comes to big cinema sound IMHO the Z-680 beats any sub/sat combo I've heard up to the Kef 2005's which are stunning to my ear. They're also $2500 and don't come with an amp or decoder... Some reviewers have measured the peak volume at at 114db. The system has a rated peak output of 1000w. My living area is pretty small so it gets loud in there pretty easily. At loud volumes though the sound is never harsh or hard but well defined and full bodied. If you heard the RingWraiths from LoTR scream out in the Embassy Theatre, you wouldn't be saying what a lovely smooth sound they have, it was shrill, and it comes across as such at home. They don't miss a thing off the disc. That'll be enough waffle. I'm just impressed with the price and effectiveness of this very complete system. Marketed as a PC speaker system I'm not surprised it hasn't had mainstream advertising here. Find them and have a listen. If you have $1000 to spend, get a DVD player, an optical cable and these speakers, you'll be laughing yourself all the way to Mt Doom! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Davey Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 I heard this setup at Harvey Normans as well on the weekend. What is it about these, ahem, salespeople, that make them think that the bass channel is the only way to judge sound, the more bass the better, right?? They had a MP3 track playing from a PC connected to this system, with some fine tuning, I would bet it is more than possible to get a gr8 sound. Cant say it would be enough to fill my room, but for smaller rooms, it could be quite interesting. Sen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyC Posted July 1, 2003 Author Share Posted July 1, 2003 I asked them to plug a portable cd player into the line in on the front panel, much better sound. I think the PC they used had a very cheap integrated sound card which wouldn't help. You're right about the bass tho, my salesman was a metal freak. He loved the sub on the default 40 out of 80 setting. As I said, I have mine set on 1 out of 80 at home so we're all different! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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