bunnydojo

Hello dear friends at DVD Talk. I'm looking into buying a home theater system, but am not rich by any means. I saw this Kenwood HTB-205 @ Bestbuy for around 300. Here are the specs, could somebody please help me and tell me if this is a good deal? Just to tell you, I already have a DVD player, I just want the 6 speakers and receiver.

Total System Power
600W
Front Surround Power/Channel
100W x 3
Rear Surround Power/Channel
100W x 2
Subwoofer System
8" active, 100W
DVD Disc Capacity
No
Dolby Digital Decoder
Yes
DTS Decoder
Yes
Dolby Pro Logic Decoder
Yes
DSP Soundfields
5
Number of Speakers
5 + subwoofer
Satellite Speakers
3" full range
5.1-Channel Input
Yes
Digital Input
1 optical, 2 coaxial
Digital Output
0
Stereo Audio Inputs/Outputs
6/2
Rear A/V Inputs/Outputs
6/2
Front-Panel A/V Inputs
0
S-Video In/Out
0
Component Video Input/Output
0/0
Tuning Presets
40
Video Monitor Output
1
Preamp Outputs
0
Multiroom Capability
No
Headphone Jack
Yes
Remote Control
Standard
RF Antenna Input
Yes
On-Screen Display
No
Total Harmonic Distortion
0.7%
Component Dimensions
5-3/4"H x 17"W x 13"D
Front Speaker Dimensions
6-1/4"H x 4-3/8" x 5-1/8"D
Center Speaker Dimensions
6-1/4"H x 10"W x 5-1/8"D
Rear Speaker Dimensions
6-1/4"H x 4-3/8" x 5-1/8"D
Subwoofer Dimensions
14-1/2"H x 11-1/4"W x 12-7/8"D
Total Unit Weight
53 lbs.
Warranty Term — Parts
1 year
Warranty Term — Labor
1 year

Any info you could provide would be appreciated.

ckolchak

i bought the Kenwood 503(?) htib in feb of '01.
i've always though it was a great bang for the buck.
the weak area was the speakers, although seemed to serve me well for over a year.
the reciever is ok,
sub is ok.
not exceptional, although fine for the money you will be laying out.

the system you describe sounds like it has different speakers (possibly even better than the ones that came with mine).
the 503 system is useless for music, and its actually starting to give me a headache.
for these 2 reasons i've been shopping around for new speakers and the more i look, the more i appreciate the kenwood package as a whole.
if you plan to upgrade in the near future, realize that everything will have to be upgraded. the reciever really doesn't have enough balls to drive most good speakers (that 100w is really only about 35 real watts).
the sub will most likely give you the chest thumping boom you expect, but is almost certainly pretty sloppy (not having owned a surround system before would you be able to tell? probably not).

bunnydojo

Thank you very much! If there is anyone else out there who can provide some information, it'd be much appreciated.

renaldow

Just to echo what ckolchak says, really. Kenwood seems to be fairly decent for the HTIB's. It's a good foray into home theater, but you'll probably want to upgrade as time goes by. After buying it I'd suggest starting a 'piggy bank' to upgrade as time allows.