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This review covers the Kenwood HTB-503 which is similar to the HTB-504 (the HTB-503 is not listed here).

Even though I used to consider myself well informed on stereo components, I had lost touch over the past few years. I wanted to get a home theatre system but was intimidated by the huge number of choices in the components and features. Since the budget was somewhat limited, for my first home theatre I decided that a “home theatre in a box” might be the best route.

Consumer Reports is the first source I check when shopping for a major purchase, and they had a good article on home theatre components. Of greater value was a layman’s explanation of all of the various connection options and the pros and cons of each. I also checked out Crutchfield.com, which has a lot of good info available either free or for a nominal charge. With all this info in hand, it was time to start shopping.

I had known that Kenwood was a quality brand but started by shopping at all the major electronic chains. After some comparision shopping, the Kenwood HTB-503 seemed to have the most “bang for the buck” when looking at all the other systems.

Setting up the Kenwood system was fairly straightforward. In addition to owners manuals for each piece of the system, a large diagram shows the most common hookups. An adequate supply of speaker wire is included, and it is color coded to assist you in connecting the speakers correctly. The speaker wire supplied for the rear (surround) speakers was somewhat short though, and I had to go purchase a spool of speaker wire. The wire for the powered subwoofer is pretty short too, allowing placement a max of only a few feet from the receiver. If you want to place the sub in another spot, you will need to purchase a longer cable.

Once connected, you must run through a setup of the sound levels for the various speakers. After you are done with that, you are pretty much ready to go. The Kenwood manual for the receiver is OK but not great, and not organized very well. Some of the instructions for functions I would consider basic are buried near the back of the manual for some reason.

I did have some trouble configuring the Kenwood for the various “modes” (surround, Dolby 5.1, etc.). It can be confusing to pick the “mode” that you want, and I did find that sometimes it takes some trial and error to determine which mode will make all the speakers work– some inputs (like from a stereo TV) will work with stereo mode (front and center speakers only) or “surround” (all speakers plus sub). Perhaps I just need more practice. The Kenwood does show on the front display which speakers are on, which is a nice feature.

The sound of the Kenwood system is great, but not spectacular. Probably about what you would expect in this price range. The powered sub provides lots of bass during explosions and similar effects when watching DVD movies, but at other times the speakers are somewhat tinny. I found that the system sounded better when I boosted the subwoofer level up through the menu.

The Kenwood VR-407 receiver in this system has plenty of power (100 watts per channel x5) plus the 100w powered sub. It also has Dolby 5.1 discrete inputs and built in DTS decoding. This means that you would not have to get a more expensive DVD player with the DTS decoding built in as the Kenwood will handle it for you. This receiver should be a good building block to a decent midrange home theatre system if you wanted to upgrade the speakers later on.

The only complaint I have with the HTB-503 system is the remote. It is very small and the buttons are extremely hard to see and use. There is no backlight feature, and the remote just seems cheap for this range of system. I have seen remotes for cheap mini-systems that are far more functional than this. I see that the newer model sold in the stores now (HTB-504) has a much bigger, more functional remote.

The Kenwood is a solid choice for a first system, and has enough power and features to provide for future upgrades. It would be a great system for those wanting to enjoy home theatre but not wanting to “break the bank”. Having everything matched and included takes a lot of pain out of the selection process, especially if you don’t have the time (or inclination) to research all the nuances of home theatre.

Finally, recently I saw a Kenwood HTB system at Sam’s Club for only $299 (I can’t recall the model number but it was not the 503). The features listed on the box seemed the same as this system though. This may be worth checking out before buying at a big box electronics chain.

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