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Klipsch Synergy Quintet III Home Theater Speaker System (Set of Five, Black) Review

Klipsch Synergy Quintet III Home Theater Speaker System (Set of Five, Black)
Average Reviews:

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I recently upgraded my system with a new receiver and needed some new speakers to complement them. I wanted the Bose Acoustimass speakers forever but couldn't bear dropping a G on them. I also wanted to stay in the "bookshelf" size speaker as it suited my set up better. So I decided to try these for less than half the price of the Bose. I figured I could return them if they didn't thrill me. Short story....they did.
I was floored by the fullness of the sound. They hit the highs, mids, and lows like a champ. I like to use the action bits on Terminator 3 to test out new recievers and speakers and these really impressed me with a huge wall of sound. I knew they were good when I got excited while watching a movie I'd seen so many times before. It was almost like listening to it for the first time. I also popped in some cd's and I swear I heard things in some of my music that I've never heard before.
I'd heard those Bose speakers a dozen times at Comp USA and Best Buy and really do feel these are better for a full sound. The Bose do the highs an mids really well but not the lows. These are designed to be the total package with their horn/tweeter design and they certainly perform as such. They can actually be used without a subwoofer, which is good for people who don't like the booming and rumbling that subs provide. Klipsch suggest their own subs(of course) but I felt the price was a little rich for my blood, so I use a $100 Sony powered sub and it works just fine.
They look and feel like they're made from good quality materials. In fact, I accidently dropped one from 2 1/2 feet onto a wooden floor (oops) and it was completely intact without any marks and still works perfectly. The posts on the back of the speakers make speaker wire attachment a snap. You just unscrew the cap, the wire goes through the middle of the post, then you tighten the cap back down. No problemo. A great feature. They also make placement and mounting easy as you can sit them on a shelf, like in the picture, or flip the stand part back to mount on a wall. They also pivot to point in most any angle you'd want. The center speaker doesn't though.
There are only a couple of slight negatives here. The center speaker sounds a little boxey. It could use some more treble as it leans a little more towards the mid range. Since the majority of dialog comes from the center speaker, I wanted a little more sharpness. This is minor though and doesn't hinder the experience at all. The other is the balancing. Pairing them with my new reciever to find the best sound was a bit tricky. Again, these are very slight negatives and shouldn't deter you from looking into these fabulous speakers. I'm just trying to be as honest as I can here. I never once thought of returning them though.
Klipsch has a great reputation in the audio world and touts these as their best selling compact speaker system. These are a great deal for the price as they sound huge and like they should cost alot more. If you're starting to get serious about your audio for your home theater, there's nothing else out there that's gonna top these at their size and price. Believe me, I looked.

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Synergy Series Quintet III 5-Piece Home Theater Speaker System

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Samsung HT-Z310T 5.1-Channel Home Theater Surround Sound System (Set of Seven, Black) Review

Samsung HT-Z310T 5.1-Channel Home Theater Surround Sound System (Set of Seven, Black)
Average Reviews:

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I purchased this surround sound system with my Samsung LCD 46in 750 series HDTV.
This is a great surround sound system for the price. I was not looking to spend a crazy amount of $$ for a surround sound system. Some go for over $1000.
I am overall extremely satisfied with this product. Setup was easy, but the manual is somewhat confusing.
Sound is great. I use an optical digital audio cable (NOT included--about $30-$50 depending on length) from this system to HDTV. This is the best way for me, as I then don't have to connect anything else to the surround system. Any device that I use (Cable, Wii, XBOX 360), gets connected to the TV & the sound goes from the TV to the system via the optical audio cable.
Also, has anynet+. Which means that any other Samsung device's remote with anynet+ can operate the system (& vice versa) without programming.
Had built in up-converting DVD player. Is not an HD-DVD, but will up-convert any DVD to a better digital looking & sounding DVD. The built in DVD player gives you one less device in your home theater
Issues that could be better (therefore 4 star):
Wires for rear speakers could be longer. They are only about 30ft. Need to be at least 50 feet, or maybe even longer, to adequately run the wires over doors so they don't run across the room
Also, the speaker wires that connect to the samsung system itself are attached to a special connector. Therefore, you can't just run your own speaker wire from the system. You need to "splice" additional wire to the wires provided (Samsung doesn't sell longer wires, I called them).
The wires that do come with the system are not great in terms of gauge (samsung doesn't even known what gauge they are--level 2 support had no idea), but based on the size, I'm guessing about 18, maybe even 20 gauge)
You can go wireless for the rear speakers, but that's an additional $100 for a wireless receiver. ALSO, BE AWARE, that with any wireless speaker device, it WILL INTERFERE with wireless internet (you will get bumped off router if using in same room when receiver is on), certain cordless phones & certain microwaves. For this reason, I didn't purchase the wireless receiver.
Others have mentioned issues with mounting, as the mounts cannot be turned towards a specified direction. This is NOT an issue for me, as my speakers are not mounted, so I can't comment
OVERALL, This is a great sounding system for an unbelievable price!!
If you are an audiophile, this is NOT for you. Spend over $1000 for something else. If you want great sound at a great price, then this is for you

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The Samsung HT-Z310T 5.1-channel single disc home theater surround sound system is high performance and high style. Now there are more ways to enjoy your home theater system. Got an iPod? It also has a dock so you can listen to music from your iPod whenever you want. This home theater system is also wireless ready, so there's no need to hide wires or trip over them. Hear the amazing sound, enjoy more capabilities with the SAMSUNG HT-Z310T.

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Sony STR-DG710 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver Review

Sony STR-DG710 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver
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I've been playing with my STR-DG710 for two days, and this is my early review. The sound quality is good (only 1% Total Harmonic Distortion or "THD") in stereo, but gets ridiculous (10% THD!) when listening in surround sound. I realize that this is an entry-level video receiver, and that most people aren't really fanatical about sound accuracy when they are watching their special effects laden 6.1 surround sound Hollywood blockbuster. Nevertheless, any THD over 1% is noticeable, so this specification should be noted.
The same people who care about THD also wouldn't be using a receiver as their video switcher, but Sony did a good job with this unit. If you use either or both of the HDMI, the receiver doesn't mess with the signal and sends it as is to the TV, which is great. The only limitation as far as this hands-off approach goes, is that if you want to take advantage of a 96 kHz surround source, your video resolution is limited to 720p or 1080i. In other words, if you go with the highest quality audio (96 kHz sampling frequency), you won't be able to also use the highest quality video (1080p). In case you really want the best of both worlds, hook up the HDMI straight from your source to the TV, and connect the audio from the source to the receiver.
Also about the unit's video switching capabilities, it switches fine, but it doesn't convert. Other receivers, even in the same price range, will take a composite input (yellow RCA connector), a component input (red, blue, green connectors), and an S-Video input, and will output all of them to a component output to your TV, for instance. This is good because it means that you never have to switch anything on the TV, just leave it on Video 1 (or whatever) and the receiver does the conversion. This Sony unit doesn't do that. It sends the component inputs to the component output, the composite inputs to the composite output, and the HDMI inputs to the HDMI output. This means that you will need to switch the TV to Video 1, Video 2, etc, depending on how different your source outputs are. This is no big deal, and you can just program a macro on your remote, but it's also worth mentioning.
Speaking of inputs and outputs, most stores (including Amazon) and reviewers are taking Sony's word for gospel on this, but they are all wrong. This receiver has no S-Video inputs or outputs. The only site I saw that got this right is Crutchfield. They probably looked at the back of the unit before publishing their specs. Even the SonyStyle site says how this receiver has "3 S-Video Inputs and 1 S-Video Output" - it does not. Check out the photo, here on Amazon or any other site that sells it, there are no S-Video jacks on the back. Considering how this receiver already has component, composite, and HDMI, I realize I shouldn't be complaining, but in my case, with a couple of older non-HD components (2nd Gen Tivo, for example), I could have really used S-Video ins and outs.
Lastly, and this is good, I promise, Sony did a good job allowing for customization of the unit. You can switch inputs around, rename inputs ("Tivo" instead of "Video 1") and radio stations, and tweak all kinds of levels for that perfectly balanced sound.
The STR-DG710 is a fine, flexible audio/video receiver for a good price. It sounds good and has a lot of special effects for you to play with if you dive into the manual. Now that you know its limitations you can make a better comparison with other low-end receivers. Hope this helps!

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Yamaha YAS-71BL Front Surround System (Black) Review

Yamaha YAS-71BL Front Surround System (Black)
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I've been searching for a simple budget out of the box home audio solution that had great sound, ease of use and set up, all the connections I needed and lastly esthetically pleasing and not an eyesore. I looked at all the recommended budget 5.1 and 7.1 system (Onkyo is the best deal for full 5.1 systems) and was frustrated by the price and the over engineered complexity of them all. Real surround sound would be cool but ultimately I just wanted a simple solution with strong, rich sound and any simulated surround would be nice too. I have a Samsung 630 and love the TV but the sound sucks. This YAS-71 sound bar and sub-woofer really have enhanced my home theater experience tremendously. I want to watch all the movies I've already seen in HD again now just to hear them in fuller sound. My wife even likes it, I don't think she's nearly as intimidated by it as much as 5.1 component systems would.
This unit has 4 audio inputs plus a connector for an ipod dock; 3 of the inputs are digital audio inputs (2 optical, 1 coaxial). 1 RCA audio input. I highly recommend using the digital audio inputs to get the best and clearest simulated surround sound. I have a PS3 (my Blu-Ray player), a Toshiba DVD player and my DVR hooked up to the digital inputs and the Yamaha ipod dock hooked up. The ipod dock works well and you can control the ipod to some extent with the remote, though the screen on the front of the bar gives you very minimal information and control for your ipod. There are times I'd rather just select my ipod manually on the ipod itself. My 3G iphone worked with it as well as a 30 gig ipod. They all sounded great.
I have a very boxy, enclosed small to medium sized living room (12' x 18') in an older home and it's perfect for that environment. At volume level 50 (halfway) it really fills the room up with rich sound, at the higher levels it gets surprisingly loud without distortion and blowout. Though If you have a very open or large contemporary living room I wouldn't recommend this system; I'd go with more powerful true surround system where you could space the speakers out to fit the room. This YAS-71 really works best in a room with defined walls to work off of. I wouldn't expect any true surround sound from the YAS-71 but there are times while watching 5.1 DVDs and Blu-rays I notice that some sounds really feel immersive and you can feel the simulated surround effect. Prices have dropped on these recently, they used to retail for $500-$600 and for around $300 this is an exceptional deal.
Positives:
* Easy to set up, there aren't a bunch of wires to run around your room.
* User friendly. Wife friendly.
* 4 audio inputs (3 digital) plus yamaha ipod connector
* Clear, surprisingly powerful, robust simulated 5.1 sound for such a contained unit.
* Great value for the money if you can find it at or under $300
* Looks nice in front of most HDTVs. It virtually matched my piano finished black Samsung.
* Great for enclosed rooms.Negatives:
* No onscreen information and controls on your TV screen, info is only on the soundbar screen. This does not have any video passthrough. (this hasn't been a problem for me though).
* It might not have have all the audio connections you need. Check your setup.
* All the inputs are on the sub woofer, so keep that in mind, you might need longer cables.
* Remote controlling ipod is very minimal.
* ipod dock sold separately ($50-100)
* Not so good for open areas.
Conclusion:
Powerful, clear sound and a good number of inputs for most needs. A simple solution for better home audio. I couldn't be happier with it.

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