The first thing I wanted to know is how the system sounded with music, so I grabbed one of my favorite recordings and put the system through its paces. The first disc I listened to was Donald Fagan' s "The Nightfly" on DVD-Audio. This disc is a superb recording and has an excellent DTS track. The first thing I noticed was that the speakers were fairly well timbre matched. Nothing drew attention to itself as being too glaring or too deficient. Treble was clean but lacked any real detail and sounded a little smeared at times. Midrange was clear but seemed forward. Bass was actually a little better than I expected. Even though I knew there would not be much bass, I also expected it to be boomy. To my surprise it was not. Due to the 6.5" woofer, bass was far from room shaking, however it was well blended with the rest of the system and should be more than sufficient for providing enjoyable low end in a small to medium sized listening room. The rear surround unit was placed high on a shelf in the back of the room directly behind the listening area. It conveyed a sense of depth but no real left and right separation. I suspected that this would improve a bit in a smaller room in which the side walls were a little closer to the surround speaker.

Sound stage and imaging were on par with a system in this price range. As always, we recommend placing these types of speakers in a more intimate, near-field environment to improve stereo separation and imaging. Smaller systems like this will rarely disappear into the room or provide an invisible surround field. This is more than acceptable performance for a system of this price range. The receiver has a couple of sound modes including one for games. I preferred all settings off with bass and treble controls set to neutral.

The next test was to see how the system performed with movie soundtracks, as this is what the system is intended for after all. The movie of choice was Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring (the Extended Edition). I chose the DTS track because it is superb and I am very familiar with it. Yes, I am a Lord of the Rings junkie. I started right off with the Shire sequence with Bilbo narrating. Dialogue was clear, but a little thin or hollow. This is due, no doubt, to the very small driver size of the center channel speaker. In a smaller room for which this system is suited for, it would be less of an issue. The background noises could very clearly be heard from the surrounds, but as I mentioned previously, it was difficult to discern left and right surround information. This configuration did provide a good sense of depth and all other sounds seemed well placed throughout the room. At this point I also listened with the optional front surrounds in conjunction with the wireless surrounds. As expected the rear surround stage collapsed and became even less discernable. I am sure this was due to the fact that my side walls are treated with DIY acoustic panels and not allowing much reflection of the front surrounds. I feel this optional setup would be very room dependant and would require further experimenting on the user' s part.

The next scene I listened to was the "Khazad Dum" Mines of Moria sequence. Here is where the small sub showed that it was the weakest link in the system. The small woofer could not generate the kind of low frequency energy and dynamics needed to convey the impact contained in the recording. It never sounded boomy or overly distorted but lacked any real power. In a smaller room this would improve a little as optimal speaker placement can couple with the room and generate some additional SPLs. The rear surrounds performed as before with good front to back effects and good depth. It was at this point I pushed the system hard to see where it would give out. At around 95 or 96 decibels on my SPL meter is where I started noticing the speakers compressing and distorting. I backed off a little and it cleared right up. That is plenty loud enough for any movie in a small room and totally in line for this type of theater system.

Final Thoughts

If you' re a person looking for a starter system with decent sound then this is a system to consider. Its wireless surround makes it stand out as an obvious option for those looking to get surround sound into a room that may not easily allow rear speaker wiring. With an MSRP of $650 (and the selling price from many online retailers being much lower) it is a good budget system. It offers believable sound, great aesthetics and a setup process your grandmother could handle. This Pioneer HTP-4600 would be a good choice for a bedroom or small apartment where disturbing the neighbors could also be a consideration. If you are looking for a system to upgrade or build upon, then this is not the system for you. The lack of inputs, video switching and no subwoofer output, make it a standalone unit that will satisfy until you want to replace the whole system with something more expensive. So with that in mind, I can recommend it but with reservations.