Aiwa NSX-DS11 Audio Shelf System

There are a lot of home-theater-in-a-box systems out there, some of them good and most of them bad. This is one of the terrible. For the price, you'd think you're getting a good deal, after all it has a 5cd changer, 410watts of output (unevenly between 5 speakers) and has a built-in dolby digital decoder. That last feature is what interested me in this package.

Just in terms of the connectors on the back, the ds11 is in poor shape. Every speaker connecter in the back is flimsy, and all but the L&R are RCA jacks. The speaker wire included with the L&R speakers is very thin; I would replace the wire, but there aren't any binding posts on the backs of the speakers.

The "Pro Logic" setup is the only sub menu that addresses the surround & delay setups. You'll be disappointed to hear that the L&R surround speaker delays can be set only in increments of 5ms in a range of 0-20ms.

For the home theater buffs who can't wait to try out the dolby digital 5.1, make sure you already have a subwoofer. I found the L&R speaker bass to be waaayyyy too bassy and muddy; it would be suitable for other applications, such as listening to Tag Team's "Whoomp There It Is." When I hooked it up to my own subwoofer the sound wasn't tight at all. The bass was disembodied and not quite right. Don't use the aiwa's internal crossover!

The overall sound of the system is very brassy and very very bright. The soundstage is small and there is no perception of space in it.

Stay away, even if you are a beginner.
Ron