Review...Panasonic HT-870

The other day I woke up and had the feeling my room was missing something. Looking around, I realized I definitely need a new TV, Hi-Fi and Bed! The TV I presumed I would get from Kent Freeads and the bed from Ikea….which only left the stereo.

I came to the conclusion that getting a decent sounding system would set me back in the region of £300-£500 easily…a little steep for something that only plays CDs (ne pas mp3!). So, I thought I’d get a DVD Home Cinema System!

I bought the Panasonic HT-870 from my local Comet store for £300. The key selling point was the active subwoofer and a total of 1000w (RMS) output…twice as much as the Sony DAV-C450 sitting downstairs!

The unit itself is very heavy…nearly 50kg in total, which made it a pain getting up the stairs. Setting up the system wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. The instructions in my opinion were incorrect in the order in which to setup the different devices (speaker, sub, etc). To make matters worse, it was mandatory to feed 10m of speaker cabling through the stands provided…that sucked! Anyway, about 5 hours later, everything was setup in place.

Styling:
For the price tag, this system looks like it’s worth a hell of a lot more then it really is. In fact the Panasonic HT-1500 looks exactly the same and is £800 (the difference being the HDD recorder). The so called “Big Boy” speakers add a touch of class to the room!

Sound:
This is probably the most important part of any system…does it sound as good as it looks? The answer is yes….and no! Being 1000w, I was expecting it to blow a hole through my wall, but in all honesty it is only the addition of the active sub which makes it comparably different from the Sony system. The very deep bass the system produces is clean and heavy without distortion even at high levels. However, it doesn’t feel omni-directional, which all subs should be.
The speakers are exceptionally good. From what I can make out, each speaker contains 3 individual 2 inch speakers as well as a tweeter and a port for airflow. They produce excellent mid-range and treble frequencies as well as being incredibly responsive when watching a multi-channel film.

Image:
I won’t talk about the image quality produced by the DVD player too much as I think we’re now at a stage where all DVD players produce very sharp, clear images.

Functionality:
This is where the system really shines; the player can play almost everything you can throw at it! Alongside the usual formats, it also supports MP3s, WMAs, JPEGs, DVD Audio, DVD-RAM and a couple of others which I was unfamiliar with (HDCD and HighMat). Having tried it with various different media, I couldn’t spot a fault with it.

Overall:
This system packs a punch from a price which is peanuts in comparison to other home theatres in a box. I highly recommend it to everyone who is thinking of getting such a system…or even those who want a Hi-Fi. A solid two thumbs up!

+nicks