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Excellent system for the price. Panasonic SC HT75 Theater System The Panasonic SC-HT75 DVD home theater system has 5 disc DVD/CD changer, 5 compact 60W speakers and 200-Watt subwo...

Panasonic home theater Package Panasonic SC HT75 Theater System This new product is worth every cent. You will not be upset on the performance of the SC-HT75 home theater packag...

Back in November of 2002, I made a bet with my husband. He’d been talking about wanting to lose weight because he wasn’t happy with himself. So I said, okay - if you can get down below [target weight omitted] by Valentine’s Day, you can buy yourself a surround sound system. Christmas came and went with no progress, so I thought nothing of it. But after the new year, he lost the weight - and I lost the bet.

Knowing nothing about sound systems, I tagged along to shop for the new home theater system he had won in our bet. We don’t have a lot of money to throw around, which is why it was a bet in the first place, so he knew there was an upper limit on cost.

The purchase

Best Buy was just too expensive. Sears didn’t have a very good selection. Surprisingly, we took a peek into Boscov’s, and there is where we found the Panasonic SC-HT75 package.

The package is an attractive silver color. While it may not match the plain black of our VCR and TV, it still looks quite sharp. It was sitting there on the shelf with a nice big SALE tag. The system was originally $369, marked down to $319, and then we sent away for a $50 mail in rebate. So once that check arrives, the total cost of the system will be under $300. Not bad, considering the price of the other system we’d been looking at - the Sony SAVE-325 - was $329 on sale. (It was a whopping $379 at Best Buy!) And from what I could see, the Sony package included only speakers, not a receiver.

The set-up

We got our big Panasonic Box home, and Tom unpacked it that very night, even though it was too late to work on installing it. (We live in a townhouse, and we figured the neighbors wouldn’t be too thrilled if he began hammering away at some wall mounts while they were trying to sleep.) So it sat on our living room floor for a day or two until he got the day off.

Tom had anticipated having to buy extra cable and other hardware, but everything was included right there in the box. Come to think of it, I believe it actually said “Home Theater in a Box” on the box. My husband is neither a klutz nor a handyman, but somewhere in between, and he seemed to have no problem at all installing his new toy.

Three of our speakers sit atop the entertainment center, with the subwoofer hidden away on a lower shelf. The other two speakers are mounted on the side walls. The receiver sits on a shelf on the entertainment center. I didn’t mentioned it before, but the receiver is a DVD/CD player with a 5-disc changer. We didn’t even know about the 5-disc feature until we got home! The remote control is pretty straight forward, and simpler than the remote we had for our old DVD player. (What are we going to do with that now?)

The difference

Watching DVDs has never been better! I didn’t think a home theater system would impress me all that much; I always thought it was a boys-with-toys thing. But we watched part of The Fifth Element as a test run, and it was great. The sound was clear, and having the speakers set around the room really makes video watching an experience. There was no sound distortion, even at high volumes, even with quick changes in dynamics. Yesterday, we watched Stars Wars: Episode 2, Attack of the Clones, and I’ve never enjoyed it more. Today, I watched Moulin Rouge - to see if a non-action flick could still benefit - and I picked up on some sound effects and minor vocal tracks I’d never heard before. I was very pleased.

In summary

I had no real expectations for the Panasonic SC-HT75 home theater system, so the fact that I am blown away by the sound quality may or may not mean much to hard-core audiophiles. There are better systems out there, ones that are far more complicated to install and operate, and at a much higher price. But if you’re casually looking to break into the world of home theater sound, this system is definitely a good product with an affordable price.

Specs from the Best Buy online store:

* 46 Watts per Channel to 5 surround channels (Front left/right, Center, Rear left/right)

* Subwoofer with Integrated 170 watt amplifier

* Receiver has built-in 5-Disc DVD and CD A/V changer/player and a digitally-tuned AM/FM radio with 30 Programmable station Memory presets

* Plays DVD Audio and Video discs

* Can play DVD-R, CDR and CDRW with prerecorded MP3 files

* Built-in DTS and Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic decoders

* 3 Audio inputs for TV, VCR and Auxiliary

* Panasonic Universal Remote is compatible with many brands of A/V equipment

* Selectable soundfield control

* Each satellite speaker has a full-range Driver and is wall-mountable

* The subwoofer has a 6.75″ cone driver

* Easy on-screen menus and icons simplify control

*May adjust system to deliver optimized sound performance with your seating positions

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