Pros: Price, quality, output sound, DVD-Audio ready.
Cons: Only 2 speaker brackets in the set.
The bottom line: I love them, and have no plans to change speakers for quite a while!
This is only my second review of a piece of electronics equipment. I'll do my best to make it as helpful as I can, but I don't think I'll have as much detail or know-how on what to talk about here, as I sometimes do in my film reviews.

Anyway, this is a review of the Panasonic SB-HEP20 5 piece surround sound speaker set. I only decided to review them as no one else on epinions has.

I use these speakers as part of my home theatre set up, with them connected to a Pioneer VSX510 receiver (which I've also reviewed: http://www.epinions.com/content_72926400132).

First things first, I'll talk about price. I bought these speakers from Richer Sounds in the UK over 1 year ago for £60 (at that time that was roughly US$90). It was my first venture into the home theatre land, so I wasn't wanting to spend too much money on the speakers, as I didn't know whether I'd really be able to tell the difference between a lower priced speaker and a high priced speaker. £60 for 5 speakers... that's £12 a speaker. Bargain I thought! And I think I was right!

Here are the speakers specs for the more technically minded:
*Configuration 2-way, 2-speaker bass-reflex
*Woofer 4 inch cone type
*Large Speaker Terminals
*Magnetically Shielded to be placed by the TV
*DVD-Audio Compatible
*Input Power Handling at 200W
*Sound Pressure Level (dB/W, 1.0m) at 80
*Crossover Frequencies at 4kHz
*Frequency Range (-16dB) at 70Hz-50kHz
*Features Bass Reflex Design
*Dimensions (H x W x D) 12 3/4 in. x 5 3/32 in. x 6 13/16 in.
*Weight 6 lbs per speaker

The things that immediately struck me when looking at the specs was that these speakers could handle input power of up to 200W. Admittedly to me those are just numbers, but I know it isn't advisable to have an amplifier/receiver who's output power is greater than the speaker power. My receiver has an output power of 80W per channel. So things are nice and managable there!

A lot of other speakers which I looked at had input handling power of 60W - 100W, and the 100W ones tended to be the pricier ones. So these ones being able to handle 200W I thought was fantastic!

Next thing I noticed was that the specs stated that the speakers were DVD-Audio ready. DVD-Audio apparently is able to cover a larger frequency range than standard CDs etc, enabling better sounding playback and more depth to the music blah blah blah. I listen to my music on CDs just now, and they are doing me fine, but someday I figured I might upgrade to DVD-Audio... I've upgraded from VHS to DVD, so the audio upgrade is a distinct possibility as well. With most other regular speakers (including virutally all the ones I was looking at in the price range that interested me), the frequency range covered by them does not cover the full DVD-Audio range, so if I did upgrade to DVD-Audio then to get the most out of it, I'd also have to upgrade my speakers. With these Panasonic SB-HEP20's I don't! Even though DVD-Audio hasn't caught on in a huge way, this was very forward thinking from Panasonic.

Now aesthetics: The speakers themselves actually look really nice, in my opinion. All 5 are identical. I have the Light Ash version (they are also available in Black). They are not too big that they look chunky and take up too much room on the bookshelves, TV, walls, and they are not too small that they look light weight and as though they will break easily. The exterior is a nice solid wood finish, and the front speaker bit is covered by a removable, well cover thing. I don't know what the technical name for the soft filter like thing is. But it has the Panasonic name on it in a rotatable badge type thing. So regardless which way you put the speakers, upright or on their side, the word 'Panasonic' can always be horizontal.

The speakers come with some wall brackets for easy attaching to the wall. Because each speaker isn't that heavy, no heavy duty wall bracket is required. My only gripe here is that there are only 2 brackets with the system. I've used both mine for my rear surrounds, but I could have used two more for my front surrounds. I have worked my way round this, but two more would have been far more helpful.

Anyway, looks and specs mean nothing, when it comes to performance. That is what is important above all else. Right, I am definitely not an audiophile, but I am very happy with my purchase. These speakers are designed for having very crisp and clear mid-range and high-range sound, they are not designed for having great amounts of bass. This is a given from the outset, so no negative marks or comments will be made for the comparitive lack of bass. They are designed for use with a seperate subwoofer, something anyone with a 5.1 system should have anyway.

The thing that made me first appreciate that these are good speakers was that one of the first times a particular song by a group called Spineshank came on (I can't remember the name of the song), I thought there was something wrong with my cd because it sounded slightly different. Most other songs before that didn't have anything noticably different sounding to them, but I hadn't listened to most other songs as much as I had this Spineshank one! Anyway, I was hearing faint things that I had never noticed before! I checked the CD and so on, and basically came to the conclusion that it was the speakers... not in a fault sense, but in the sense that I am hearing more of the song. Before I was just using 2 Jamo Sonic speakers, which were about 9 years old.

The midrange and high-range all sounded good. Everything was nice a clear with my music. For lots of bass I need to use my subwoofer with the speakers, but for at night, when I don't want to make to much low frequency noise that could wake my housemates, I don't use the subwoofer. However, I still think the speakers still give enough of the low-range frequencies to make them more than adequate for those situations.

In films they also sound great. Speech is crystal clear and sharp, sound effects are as they should be, and combined with a subwoofer everything just sounds fantastic. I've not nearly put my receiver up as high as it can go, but there is no need to. These speakers are capable of giving out as loud a volume as I think I'll need for any situation.


Well that's my views on these speakers, so to recap:
Cheap price
Nice looking
Not too big, not too small
Very good input power
Large frequency range covered
DVD-Audio ready.
Very good sounding


The first and last are probably the most important, and it is not often you get them both in the same package!

Highly recommended. I give an overall 5 star, but I'v given each individual area 4/5 as I know I am not an audiophile and am certain there must be better out there. But as a package and price, I can't imagine much better value for money!

Any questions, please ask!!