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Reviews (6)
May 05, 2009
Klipsch Quintet 3 "5.0" speakers make a big difference!
Have a HTIB and want more and better sound?
I purchased a Samsung HT-BD1250 home theater in a box. It came with 3 ohm speakers that weighed mere ounces. I set it up and listened to music via streaming pandora and movies on dvd and via streaming netflix. Only on movies did the sound really approach the listening level I wanted. The subwoofer that shipped with the Samsung system was ok, but the center and satellite speakers left me wanting more. The midrange and high end sounds were lacking. I could hear everything, but even on movies I felt the speakers weren't adequate. I had to crank the volume to hear the details and this was especially true when listening to music.
So I headed over to BestBuy and convinced the sales guy to let me hook his display Quintet III speakers to the Samsung HTBD1250 HTIB system he had on display. I wanted to try them out because the Samsung spec said 3 ohms and the Klipsch spec said 8 ohms. I had my doubts about whether the speakers would sound better. Wow. What a difference. Right there in the store, I switched back and forth between the stock speakers and the Klipsch and I was amazed! I snapped up the Quintet III speakers and headed home. These speakers list for $549. A typical ebay closing bid can be quite a bit less.
What you get.
The Quintet III system consists of 5 speakers. There are 4 satellite speakers, each with a 3.5 inch woofer and a .75 inch horn tweeter. There is a center channel speaker with 2 3.5 inch woofers and a .75 inch horn tweeter. These are heavy speakers. The satellites weigh 3.5 pounds each and the center weighs 5.5 pounds. These are about 4 times heavier than the plastic speakers that come with most HTIB systems! The satellites come with swivel feet that double as wall mount brackets. All 5 speakers come with binding posts instead of those cheap spring clips that come with a lot of speakers nowadays. Excellent build quality is evident in these speakers.
The results.
Once I swapped out the lightweight Samsung speakers for the Klipsch Quintet III speakers, I was delighted with the sound. I had turned down the Samsung subwoofer 3db (using on screen menus in the HTIB system) so it wouldn't overpower the wimpy little Samsung satellite and center speakers. Not any more! Now I can boost the sub 3db with the Klipsch Quintet speakers! They are heavier than the Samsung speakers and produce a lot more sound per watt so there is nothing lost for going from 3 ohms (Samsung) to 8 ohms (Klipsch). The biggest boost was the high end. The Klipsch horn tweeters do a fine job of reproducing cymbals and other sounds that the Samsung speakers struggled to emit even with the volume cranked above halfway. Our room is 13 feet by 20 feet with an adjoining 17 foot by 11 foot room. The entire space is filled with sound with the Klipsch speakers powered by the Samsung HTIB system.
Conclusion:
If you are thinking about a HTIB system and want other speaker options, consider the Klipsch Quintet III. They sound great and you can play your system at a lower volume setting but get more sound in your room. If you are dealing with a small to medium sized room these speakers are ideal. If you are dealing with a large to huge room, you may want to consider something larger. For most home theater in a box "upgrade" applications, these speakers offer the best bang for the buck. I was already happy with my Samsung HTIB system but adding Klipsch Quintet III speakers made me much happier.
Dec 03, 2006
sylvania dvdrw/vhs combo
2 of 3 found this helpful First of all, the unit works well and works as advertised. I'm a little disappointed in the remote. The button layout on the remote is quirky and I find myself staring at it to figure out how to do certain functions. Switching from dvd to vhs and back is not a smooth operation as many universal remotes are not fully aware of the sylvania dvr90ve combo so I find myself digging for the remote that came with the unit just to switch modes and I can then go back to using the universal remote (typically the comcast one).
The clock auto-sets. Setting the unit to timer record is a bit quirky as well. Overall, I give this unit high marks for a modest cost unit that performs well but I had to knock off a few points for the quirky remote.
Another area that is a little quirky is the long load time for the disk menu. It seems like an excessive wait before I am able to cancel out of the previews and get to the title I paid to watch. Often the wait time just to load the disk menu seems long.
One nice feature is the ability to listen to mp3 music. I haven't yet burned an mp3 dvd, but I expect this to work fine. This would make my dvd player able to hold more than a 4 gig ipod nano. I'll also try recording a double-layer disk and edit this review later. 9 gig would probably hold my entire music collection. Of course you must have the tv on to navigate songs and folders.
There are ample inputs and outputs, including a/v in on the front of the unit for transferring those pesky little 9mm tapes and mini-dv's to dvd. This is why we bought the unit, to convert our older home movies from various older formats to dvd. This is another reason for me to come back and edit this review.
Sep 04, 2006
WRT54G - low cost - so-so performance
4 of 6 found this helpful When I received the router, the parental control feature did not work. Fortunately the latest firmware straightened out that issue. The router periodically loses its mind and the Linksys tech support people told me to wipe its memory every time and reprogram it from scratch.
The router firmware is based on open source software and there are a lot of sites out there with alternate firmware. Make a note of your router's version number as some WRT54G's do not have enough memory to support aftermarket open source firmware.
The biggest down side for me was the failure to restore saved settings. If I wipe the router to try to debug it, I shouldn't have to reprogram all the wifi settings and mac address filters all over again. This is a fatal flaw that really should require returning the router to the store. Unfortunately, when I discovered this was after the return period.
Overall, this router is a workable low-cost option when you need a wifi router and your overriding priority is low cost, but it falls short on upgradability (unable to use alternate firmware), reliability (restoring config failed) and performance (some features failed to work without upgraded firmware).
Spend a little more for a higher end router and you will not be sorry.
Pros:
** Browser based setup - you aren't forced to use the cd
** adequate performance - pc's at the opposite end of the house two floors away got a good wifi signal.
** alternate firmware available - CAUTION: depends on hardware version
** low cost
Cons:
** unable to restore configurations - this is a show stopper for me and caused me to replace the Linksys.
** no reset option via browser.
** "easy setup" button wipes wifi settings without asking
** cannot use aftermarket firmware depending on hardware version
** occasional loss of router function and loss of sync with cable modem
** parental control feature inoperative out of the box
** security flaw: ssid "linksys" is broadcast and wifi is wide open by default - this is common with many routers
The WRT54G was a not a good experience for me. I have a Netgear now and I will think twice about Linksys in the future. In choosing router brands, Linksys has moved near the bottom of my list. Based on my experience with a few popular models, here is my consumer router brand ranking:
1 Netgear
2 SMC
3 2wire
4 Zyxel
5 Linksys
6 Belkin
I have not tried Dlink or Sonicwall and hopefully I won't need to switch routers again any time soon.
One thing I should note here is that mine was a version 5. Version 5 was known as being incompatible with aftermarket firmware. Linksys routers being sold are probably beyond Version 5 now, but you would do well to check the version number and google for wrt54g and see which versions support user firmware. The version number isn't easy to spot, either. It's on a label on the bottom of the router so you probably can't tell from the outside of the box. I'd rip that box open in the checkout line and return it immediately if it's a version 5.0. If the router you are considering is version 5, walk away! You can ask ebay sellers what the version number is before you buy. You won't be sorry you took the time to find this out before buying!