Philips HES4900/12 Theater System
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- Main Speakers Power Output: 20 Watt RMS
- Included Components: DVD Player
- Number Of Speakers: 5 Speakers and Subwoofer
- Subwoofer Power Output: 75 Watts
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The good, the bad, and the glitchy
Pros
Good audio. Easy setup. Comes with mounting brackets for speakers.
Cons
DVD player plagued with glitches. Volume levels reset to default when system is powered down.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
The DVD player's glitches really bothered me, but other users may not notice these problems, or may not find them to be as distracting as I did.
I was in the market for a surround sound system for under $300. I initially wasn't going to buy a system with a built-in DVD player, as I already had a player, but I saw this item on sale at Circuit City and decided to give it a try.
The package includes the reciever, five speakers (four identicle small speakers and a wider center channel that fits well on top of a TV), powered subwoofer, speaker cables, and some plastic brackets that enabled me to mount the surround speakers on my wall. Setting up this system was a piece of cake. Everything was packaged well and all of the speaker wires were color-coded to prevent any confusion when plugging everything in. It took me about half an hour to get everything set up, which included unpacking, checking everything out, hooking it up, and screwing the brackets into the wall. I hooked up the component video output to my TV (I already had the cable for this; it wasn't included) and the audio input from my VCR.
Once everything was hooked up, I popped in "Attack of the Clones" and tried out the system. My first impression came from the bass ... it blew me away. The lightsaber hums literally shook my furniture. It was a bit too much, so I quickly turned down the master volume and then lowered the subwoofer volume a little more. This is a nice feature of the system, which enables you to change the volume for the subwoofer, surrounds, etc. separately from the master volume. However, I later discovered that these sound levels automatically reverted back to the default levels (independent from the master volume, which remained where it was left) for whatever particular listening mode it was in, which turned out to be a big annoyance. I don't want to have to redo my adjustments every time I turn on the system.
I was definitely not impressed with the video portion of the system. I tried out a few more DVDs, and I kept noticing little glitches in the picture. These glitches appeared as blocks of digital data in the middle of the picture which flashed for a fraction of a second. This problem occurred on discs that I know were free of problems, as they played flawlessly on my older DVD player. Furthermore, the picture, while sharp, seemed over saturated, and bright colors bled slightly; no amount of adjustment on my TV would correct this problem. I expected more from the system, especially since I was using a component video cable to connect it. I ultimately decided to just return the system, since the DVD player wasn't performing as well as my older model from three years ago.
The package includes the reciever, five speakers (four identicle small speakers and a wider center channel that fits well on top of a TV), powered subwoofer, speaker cables, and some plastic brackets that enabled me to mount the surround speakers on my wall. Setting up this system was a piece of cake. Everything was packaged well and all of the speaker wires were color-coded to prevent any confusion when plugging everything in. It took me about half an hour to get everything set up, which included unpacking, checking everything out, hooking it up, and screwing the brackets into the wall. I hooked up the component video output to my TV (I already had the cable for this; it wasn't included) and the audio input from my VCR.
Once everything was hooked up, I popped in "Attack of the Clones" and tried out the system. My first impression came from the bass ... it blew me away. The lightsaber hums literally shook my furniture. It was a bit too much, so I quickly turned down the master volume and then lowered the subwoofer volume a little more. This is a nice feature of the system, which enables you to change the volume for the subwoofer, surrounds, etc. separately from the master volume. However, I later discovered that these sound levels automatically reverted back to the default levels (independent from the master volume, which remained where it was left) for whatever particular listening mode it was in, which turned out to be a big annoyance. I don't want to have to redo my adjustments every time I turn on the system.
I was definitely not impressed with the video portion of the system. I tried out a few more DVDs, and I kept noticing little glitches in the picture. These glitches appeared as blocks of digital data in the middle of the picture which flashed for a fraction of a second. This problem occurred on discs that I know were free of problems, as they played flawlessly on my older DVD player. Furthermore, the picture, while sharp, seemed over saturated, and bright colors bled slightly; no amount of adjustment on my TV would correct this problem. I expected more from the system, especially since I was using a component video cable to connect it. I ultimately decided to just return the system, since the DVD player wasn't performing as well as my older model from three years ago.
