When I moved into my new home, one of the things I wanted to do was upgrade certain rooms with a home theatre feel to them, and one of the most important rooms that I wanted to accomplish this in was in my recreation room downstairs, where I primarily watch all of my sporting events and also watch movies. Having just bought a home though, money was tight, so I did a little research, and we settled on the Panasonic SC PT960 system. Was I able to get a good system at a low price? Let's take a look.
For my money, the answer is a resounding yes. Ok, some of you folks out there who have very sophisticated tastes and like to build your own systems with custom components can certainly say that there are better setups out there. For someone on a limited budget though, this is a quality system at a price that is probably affordable to most. That was reason one for this system. 380 was an awesome price for the performance we are receiving.
The second reason why I rate this system so highly was the ease of setup. Now I might be a computer wiz, but when it comes to dealing with electronics and getting them setup correctly, this is certainly not a strong suit of mind. I was delighted though when I pulled this system out of the box and started what I thought would be a long and arduous task of getting it setup with all my components. Surprise! A set of instructions that were very clear and precise and told you exactly what to do. What a concept! Add on to that that they color code all the wires for you and even an electronic novice (that's me) can complete the task correctly and within a reasonable amount of time.
Another nice thing that I found was the flexibility you have when hooking up the speakers for the system as well. Instead of being a slave to the amount of cable you get with some systems, as I found out with an old entertainment center I had, you can put these speakers about anywhere you want. You also can do something nice with these in terms of being able to place them on speaker poles as I call them, or you cannot use the poles and hide them around the room.
The system even has a wireless hub that you use with the rear speakers, which I found quite effective. My old system confined me to a certain distance from the main component, but with this one I was able to place to speakers in all four corners of the room to give that true surround sound effect.
The system also is availed with an optical connection port in the back, which I had not seen before in other systems, but has really paid off with this one. I presently have my high definition TIVO box plugged into it and have been amazed at the results from it. The sound has been crystal clear and I really do not experience the distortion that many might encounter with less expensive systems such as this one.
Is this system perfect? Of course not. It has its problems. I personally had an early issue with the rear speaker placement as it relates to the main box. You have to do a little moving around to clear the bit of distortion I encountered.
The other complaint that I read about in reviews before I got it was issues with the remote and it not working with systems other than Panasonic itself. I had seen this written numerous times, but when I started to set the system up on my Magnavox set, I was easily about to program the correct code in so that one controller controlled everything. So that problem was a myth.
Folks, if your a high roller and you want that really expensive system like Kobe Bryant probably has in his game room, pal this is not the system for you. However if you're a budget conscious fellow who is looking to upgrade at an affordable price, then I highly suggest you look at this system. It might be just what you're looking for!
More details
Sound Quality
Excellent sound quality
Ease of Use
Very easy
Design & Look
Excellent
Value for Money
Excellent value for money
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