Sony HT-6600DP Theater System

I'd considered a home theater sound system a luxury until my Darling Daughter (tm) blew the speaker on our television. So, off to shop for a replacement sound system, and I found the Sony (whose DVD player I was already using happily) DAV-DZ120 at an affordable price.

Upon opening the box after delivery, I was surprised at the size of the speakers - the voice (1 in each corner) speakers are less than 4" x 6", the center speaker is not quite 4" x 11" - only the sub-woofer, at 9.5" wide and almost 15" tall and deep, seems serious.

On the bright side, hanging these speakers from my walls (except the sub-woofer)was easy - one screw/anchor for each of the 4 voice speakers, and two for the center speaker. There was plenty of wire for spreading the speakers (wires were very overlong for placement in my 10' by 12' TV room - even the speaker in the corner opposite to the player), and though they had the usual tendency to tangle, the connections at speaker end were the simple wire clip style I like for speakers, and the plugs on the receiver end were easy, obvious, and color-coded.

The receiver is larger than my previous (a Sony DVP-NS315) - just as wide and tall, but much deeper - it hangs out from my media center by an inch or two. (Dimensions - 17.5" wide, 15" deep (with room for cables, add another inch or two), and 2" tall - but with vent slots on the top, so stacking could be problematic.

With no more than the expected confusion and digging out manuals for my TV and VCR, I had them all hooked together and ready to set up. Then the surprises started.

Sony includes a microphone for an automatic balance adjustment - you set the mike where you'll be watching from, press the buttons on the remote, and listen to about 3 minutes of loud noises from each speaker - then it sets itself for stereo at the point the microphone was placed. (There's a socket on the mike for a tripod - I stacked it on a bunch of VHS cases.)

The flippin' machine wouldn't recognize the microphone - kept claiming it wasn't there. On about the 5th desperate attempt, I pressed *really* hard on the jack, and it clicked into place. No harm done, but it was frustrating, and it does seem like a lot of pressure to use on delicate electronic equipment. I turned the sequence on from another room, and let it do its thing.

Okay - ready to put a DVD in and see how well it works. First unhappy surprise - the on-receiver controls aren't labeled. Really? Nope - nothin... oh, wait - they're just very faint, slate blue on medium grey - a flashlight is REALLY useful to see them. Okay - put a DVD selected at random, and check it out. It works, but with no sound. Try the volume adjustment, and there's sound after all. Whee!

Hmmm... considering the size of those speakers, that's really pretty good sound - I was happily surprised.

Switch to another DVD, looking for a scene where the surround sound will be relevant - and bingo, it works as advertised - the door opening in the movie was heard from behind us. I can get used to this....

Darling Daughter (tm) wants to try a different scene on the first DVD - okay, lass, swap the discs.

MAJOR surprise - this disc starts up just where we'd left off. From what I can gather from the manual, it'll keep track of where I left off on 40 discs - or start back at the beginning if you press 'stop' twice when you stop the movie. I dunno how useful this will be to others, but I watch movies in chunks, and which movie I'm watching will depend on my mood and whether DD is watching, too - so it's going to be a well-used feature in my home.

Okay - set a few of the FM station presets (will *anyone* use all 20?), grumble that the controls on the remote are hard to locate (It'll control some Sony televisions as well, and seems much better set up for that than as a stand-alone remote). The menu navigation buttons are clear and obvious, as is the volume control - but fast forward, replay, previous/next chapter are somewhat obscure. Pause/Play are easy to find, but the all-important Function button is third down on the right, between TV/Video and Display (neither of which I'm gonna use much). There are a total of 53 buttons on this remote, and I'm probably going to need a few hours to learn what they all do, and why I'd want to use them. The numeric keypad *must* be just for TV control - or is it? In any case, setting FM presets is fairly simple, and no more tedious than elsewhere - and not something I'm going to be doing much of, so that's all good.

Later that day, after listening to FM for hours, it's time to watch a movie for real - not just test purposes. Second unhappy surprise - the volume output is very different for different functions. A comfortable listening level for FM is about 11 or 12, but a good listening level for DVD playback is about 23 - an inconvenience when switching from FM to movie, almost painful when switching from movie back to FM. This is probably going to be one of those things that annoys me constantly, rather than something I get used to and get over - there's no good reason for signal to the speakers to change so much between functions.

Another oddity - if I cycle the disc tray to put last night's movie away while listening to FM, the receiver assumes that I want to switch to movie mode - and I have to switch back. I'll get used to this, but I'll bet that this is one of those things that seemed a better idea than it really was.

On the other hand, it also plays my MP3 audio library discs, JPEG photo discs, and my Darling Daughter (tm) can use it to play music off of her MP3 player - so it's not only replacing my DVD player, it's becoming the main audio player for that floor of the house. All in all, I didn't need all of the features it offers - but for what I use, it was a remarkable bargain. I'm certain that there are better home theater systems available, but I highly doubt I could find another one as good for $250US.