Once upon a time, in my youth, I dreamed of a chic floor-standing speakers with clear sound. Years went by, my financial situation changed, and I became the happy owner of a home theater with huge floor-standing speakers. The clearest sound, firm bass – listen and enjoy it! But with this happiness the problems appeared – my wife hated this device. The speakers interfered with the cleaning, it’s unreal to move them for a fragile woman, the spikes spoil the floor, the subwoofer weighs under 40 kg and the dust under it is difficult to wipe, wires get in the way under your feet and the child is constantly tripping.
The receiver is no lightweight either and sucks electricity even in standby mode. I always found myself scratching my heart seeing my teenager trying to cram pencils into the bass inverter and my dog playing with it and knocking the speakers over. After five years of suffering I got tired of it and decided to change the “music”.
Listening to home theater “in one box” was not satisfactory, not only that the sound is “plastic” wires did not get less, and the subwoofer also took up space. The soundbars made me happy a little bit more, but they have too much high frequencies, again, a subwoofer and dimensions are big – it is necessary to find a place and tighten the wire. And the soundbar itself is rather a bulky thing. And so we got our hands on a Panasonic.
First acquaintance
When I first saw Panasonic SC-HTE80, I didn’t even want to listen to it – what can a box of 46x6x28 WxHxD centimeters give out?? But work is work, I had to plug them in and listen to them.
Connected quickly, a large set of connectors on the rear panel. We had a Sony Blue-Ray player with an HDMI jack and a TV with a similar jack, and the Panasonic fit nicely in the middle. Plugged it in, switched it on and then waited. There was no sound. Started looking for the power button. It was hard to find, it’s on the right side panel and not very noticeable.
Turned on . There was a blue glow inside the front panel, a click, and the room filled with SOUND. I didn’t capitalize it for nothing, it was really the sound – powerful, clean with the most real bass. So I took a closer look at this marvel.
Design
After the first look, I took a closer look at the cinema. The design is interesting – the case is made of satin-finished steel with a wraparound speaker grid. Inside the front panel, behind the grid, is hidden information board, beautifully glowing blue.
Interesting that the device can serve as a TV stand with a support platform, the dimensions of which do not exceed 460 x 180 mm and weighing no more than 30 kg, which corresponds to a 50-inch TV Viera 2013 model year line.
You can install the movie theater separately, for example on the shelf under the TV, where it will look very organic. And most importantly, a minimum of wires without sacrificing sound! And it gets rid of cumbersome speakers, a subwoofer and wires that crawl around the room like a spider’s web.
What it sounds like?
And now my own impressions. I was immediately captivated by the sound. Looking at the size of the device, I doubted if it could reproduce at least some semblance of bass. The sound was great. We watched the cinema in a room of 30 square meters. This is the room it voiced at 50 percent volume.
The bass is elastic, dynamic, clear, the treble is striking with its purity, the surrounding sound envelops, the dialogues are extremely clear, without rattling and dips. Unlike most soundbars, the sound does not come out from under the TV, but it seems to come from the center of the screen. A big number of settings lets you set the unit to any taste.
I did not have any complaints while playing MP3 via analog input, the CD holds the stage splendidly when playing via optical cable. We listened to the acoustic guitar concert – full presence effect, in the center of the guitar, on each side of the saxophone and banjo, behind the hall.
Interface is not bad – RCA audio input, optical Toslink input, USB 2 port.0 Type A, HDMI input, HDMI output.
Besides sound processor, the theater has a video processor which is fully compatible with FULL HD 3D TV and 1080p output x.v. Color, Deep Color .
The remote control is ergonomic and functional. Full control from the remote control, and the information display shows the full set of settings and functions. If you have somewhere to put the remote control, the main functions are available from the control console on the right panel of the device.
That is, this baby is also a substitute for the receiver. The weight of the device is just over 3 kg, and the receiver weighs about 18 kg, and you can not put the TV on the receiver, the receiver must be placed in an open space for cooling . Yes, and the TV will sell the receiver.
What else?
Power consumption for normal use is approximately 27 watts. My old receiver used to consume 300 W in standby mode but this model uses 0,25 W.
The sound board supports Bluetooth wireless technology and NFC – wireless audio streaming. One-touch connection via NFC of your tablet, smartphone or other mobile device. This requires you to install the Panasonic Music Streaming app downloaded from Google Play in your mobile device and simply swipe your tablet or smartphone over the theater. That’s it, the connection is established!
If you are too lazy to bother with the settings, the unit provides automatic gain control, ARC audio return channel and VIERA Link HDAVI Control 5 .
Using USB port you can connect to the cinema any storage device or computer and play audio-video files in available formats.
Result
It’s already a month since my old cinema has moved to the country to breathe the fresh air, and I am amusing myself with a new toy. Though I’m not afraid to put a TV set on it. I put the panel on the shelf under the TV set. Sound panel which is what I call it for myself sounds equally good in day and night modes.
But.. I miss a couple more HDMI inputs. When you watch DVD after the digital TV you have to switch cables, and to do this you have to climb behind the TV and make manipulations.
And personally I miss the tuner. I understand that nowadays the radio plays through a smartphone, qualitatively and clearly, but I want a built-in option. All in all, I’m happy with the space and the sound quality combined with the great picture. And the blue display shines so nicely in the dark..
Specifications
Total output power in home theater mode RMS – 120 watts.
Home Theater Mode RMS :
Front view, in the center – two 30W speakers 1 kHz, 6 ohms, 10% THD
The subwoofer is 60 watts 100 Hz, 3 ohms, 10% FD , two drivers and two airstream ports, which makes the bass deep and dynamic, without any residual hum.
Built-in decoders – Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Virtual Speaker, DTS.
Six equalizer modes – standard, news, music, stereo, cinema, stadium.
Audio technologies used: Clear mode Dialog, link level control, dual built-in subwoofer, Linear PCM input via HDMI, up to 7.1
