all home theater systems

I have been shopping for a new stereo for the past 10 years. I have since moved into a house, acquired multiple televisions, VCRs, DVD players, but no home theatre system. Instead, everything ran through my television speakers. My shelf was loaded with an Xbox game console, a cable box, a low-end DVD player and an unreliable VCR. Spanning 5 shelves, there is no room for much else.

Then this system came along. My initial budget was $1,200 (About $500 for the receiver and the rest for speakers.) The Toshiba SD-V55HT is an out-of-the box home theater system packed with features to free up my shelf and upgrade my audio life. Priced at less than $300, this was an easy buy. I have had the system now for 2 months and I'm very happy with it.

The system comes with a VCR and DVD player and stereo receiver housed in one unit. The receiver has 5 different sound modes including Dolby Prologic II, Movie, Music, Matrix and 3-D Surround. In addition, there is also By-Pass which determines the type of audio is being received and handles it accordingly. It has one additional input in the back for my Xbox and another in front for the occasion when I want to hook up my video camera which I haven't tried yet.

The speakers are lightweight. At 60w each for the 3 front speakers and 2 rear speakers and 100w for the subwoofer, this system is ideal for a small room which I have.

The setup was a breeze. This is "stereos for dummies". Each of the speakers is color coded with a matching speaker wire. The manual helps you figure out how to get everything in the right place. The trickiest part is probably was getting my TV and cable box wired up properly, but essentially, its standard fare.

Once you are up and running, you can run the setup to tell the system where the speakers are to optimize the audio experience.

The system is silver and black with nice lines. The bookshelf speakers are short and small. It fits in well in my messy sun room without standing out.

The big win is the addition of a DVD player, MP3/CD player and a VCR in one unit. Everything plays great. I have no complaints about the sound but I upgraded from my television speakers.

I was a little disappointed that the AM/FM radio antennae are independent from the cable antenna. The package comes with a cheap loop antenna for AM and a wire antenna for FM. I pull both along the side of my entertainment console and then hide them both behind a clock. The reception is passable.

The remote is fairly familiar to handle the VCR, DVD player, MP3/CD player and radio. But you can't give up your other remotes. It doesn't handle the television or the cable box. This is really a bother since my TV is also a Toshiba.

The MP3 screen display unfortunately doesn't make good use of the space. The left half of the screen displays the track and navigates folders fine enough. The right have is reserved for manually assembling a play list which I will likely never do. I would have rather liked to see a full-screen with each track well displayed and this split screen only when I decide to build a play list.

The presets for the radio are a bit tricky. Each slot can hold an AM and FM station. This gets confusing when you switch to the radio and the wrong station comes up. I would have preferred that each slot is configured for one station and either AM or FM. A minor nit.

This plug-n-play system came with a DVD player, a CD and MP3 player, a VCR, AM/FM, cable and two other inputs. No doubt about it, at $299 this is a great price. Comparable systems lacked a DVD player, MP3 player or the VCR for the same price or more. One day, I am may still upgrade to the system of my dreams, but this is a nice step in the right direction.

Pros: Packed with features and well worth the price.

Cons: AM/FM seems like a poor add-on.

Bottom Line: Boat-load of features for a great price for a small room.