Because I had little desire to wire my living room for surround sound (much less to convince my wife of the benefits of doing so), I researched 2.1 home theater systems to mate with my Hitachi plasma.

My first pick was the Bose Cinemate, which in a word was underwhelming. Not much kick, if any, from the subwoofer (perhaps that's why Bose clumsily calls it an "Acoustimass module" instead). And the satellites didn't provide much improvement in clarity or range over my TV speakers.

Then I got this system, and boy what a difference it made! First, I could distinctly hear and enjoy sounds not previously audible over our TV speakers, and less noticeable over the Bose. Second, the subwoofer packs quite a powerful punch despite only 40W of power. In fact, to balance the sound output between the three speakers, I had to turn down the subwoofer's level three notches. Now the system produces sound that has theater-like presence, and matches the image quality of our... Read more

Prior to any comments regarding the performance of this system, I should note that, due to extensive research on DVD players,there were no surprises here. I've been reading product reviews on this subject for over a year and selected this unit based on my individual needs. The Sony DAV-X1 was to be used in conjunction with my Sony SXRD rear projection TV in a relatively small family room. The fact that a HDMI cable could be used here was a factor. The two speakers, plus woofer, work out nicely in a limited space area. And, there is really no sacrifice in sound quality that is meaningful. If you happen to literally have a home theatre in a large room and have no problems with setting up and enjoying four or more speakers, this is not the unit for you. To paraphrase an old saying, "Anything over an earful is wasted." How often can most of us crank up the sound without waking the kids, the neighbors, or inflicting damage to our eardrums. I have always equated the sense of sound with the... Read more

What i like:

-Good Sound quality

-Very easy to set up. Only one cable for speakers/sub.

-very reliable so far. i haven't had any problems with this unit since i bought it. i bought this because my Bose 321 no longer works properly.

-Remote control can be programed to work with other audio/video units.

-i bought a display model at Circuit City for more than half its orignal price, which makes this a very good buy.

-the unit runs very quiet. you won't notice it when it's on.

What i don't like:

-Subwoofer is weak if not placed right and it's not much to look at.

-no clock. i don't know why bose321 and this unit decided to leave this feature out.

-Slow boot-up. It took this unit longer to power up and play a DVD movie compared to a stand-alone DVD player.

i didn't gave this a five because a five would mean the unit is perfect.