I rent my home, so I'm hesitant to go with a full blown home theater component system tailored to my viewing room, so I stick with HTIBs. The blu-ray HITB market is relatively sparse at the moment, so I shelled out more than I expected on this system. Luckily, it was well worth the money.
These tiny speaker "bars" (I don't know what else you could really call them) are incredible. They are smaller than I expected from the photos and descriptions, but once set up and configured for the room (set up is a bit bothersome, but configuring once all the equipment is in place is quick and easy) I was blown away. You just have to hear them to believe all that sound comes out of those funky, fragile looking wafer speakers. The sub, though passive, pounds out the deep tones.
The system comes with wall mounting brackets, and are small and light enough that I'll probalby mount them up this weekend. It only comes with desktop stands - if you want to mount the speakers on the floors, you'll have to purchase a set of extenders to raise the speakers up to the appropriate level. Given the small height and footprint of the stand-mounted speakers, I was able to place the front speakers on the same stand as the TV, and the rear speakers on small tables next to my couch.
I was unsure about having wireless speakers, but the included S-Air system works nicely. The S-Air unit plugs in to an electic outlet and connects wirelessly to the receiver, and the rear speakers plug into the S-Air unit rather than the receiver, so there is no worry about batteries. The surround sound through the unit was flawless.
The only drawback to these speakers is placing the wires into the speaker connectors. Sony has a pretty good idea on doing so, but it's just not up to snuff yet. The wires terminate into nice sized gold plated points that get inserted into the bottom of the speakers, and they should lock into place, but the small size of the enclosure and the flimsiness of the speaker cable just above these connectors (where you tend to push from) make it a bit challenging to do correctly. I'm not quite sure all of the wires are in correctly, or the locking mechanism isn't up to par, as you are supposed to be able to "gently tug" on the wires without them pulling out - but they all seemed to come out quite easily with minimal force. Once I gave up trying and figured it would be good enough, the rest of the installation was simple, and the speakers are working just fine.
Also watch out for the tape on the front of the system that holds the drive door closed. On mine it was quite easy to miss, until I pressed the open button on the remote and realized something was wrong.
I still think 2,000 is a bit on the expensive side, but I certainly do not regret purchasing this system, as I'd rather have spent too much and be sastified than to have spent much less and be underwhelmed.
Special note of appreciation to Sony for a pretty detailed manual and the extra explantions on the on-screen menus to help guide setup/configuration. In a time when most companies give you very little printed info aside from a single, poorly documented fold out sheet, this was a treat.
Pros:
Great looking system
small, light speaker bars
outstanding sound
easy setup of system configuration
easily upgraded via a direction network connection
plenty of in/out options (2 Particularly light volume).
S - Air Force's ability to upgrade to 7.1 system
Disadvantages.
Connect speakers to the tower instead of the floor price is not included in the expansion tank.
Sony ES BDV-IT1000ES 5.1 Channel Home Theater System Features
- Blu-ray/DVD Integrated ES Home Theater System
- 5 ?incredibly thin?powerful speakers
- S-AIR wireless for rear speakers (included)
- HDMI Repeater (2 ins/1 out)
- IR in/outfor custom Installation
