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REVIEWS
STRAP
First Run
HEAD
Sony KL-37HW1 37-inch Widescreen Back Projection TV,
£3,700 ****
Why’s it here? In the scheme of things, back projection TVs
slot in between the largest CRT-based televisions -- currently up to 36-inches
-- and front/rear video projectors, that can create images up to 200-inches
across. Most back-projectors use high-intensity CRTs to generate the image; the
KL-37W1, which has a 37-inch widescreen display, is one of the first to use LCD
panels, which should mean a longer life, lower power consumption and a
significant weight saving.
Any unique features? Despite its size it is remarkably
light, just 29kg, that’s less than some 21-in tube TVs, and it takes up no more
floor-space than a typical 28-incher. It has a multi-system (PAL, NTSC and
SECAM) capability, a 100 Hz display -- to reduce flicker -- and the widescreen
display can be configured to handle all current screen formats (including 16:9,
of course), with zoom and ‘smart’ modes, that reduces distortion and cropping
on 4:3 pictures blown up to full screen width. The set has twin tuners that are
used for a unique twin 8:9 PAP (picture and picture) display, with two channels
(or external inputs) shown full height/reduced width on either side of the
screen. It has NICAM, fastext (30-page
memory) and multi-mode DSP with pop, rock, jazz, vocal and user presets, plus a
manual graphic equaliser. There’s also an auto-install tuner, sleep timer,
parental lock and a rather nifty on-screen display, with computer-style
graphics. Set-up is automatic and it requires minimal maintenance; the
projection lamp has to be replaced every 6000 hours or so, and the air filters
for the cooling fan need to be cleaned every month, using a vacuum cleaner.
How does it perform? Back projectors generally have fairly
shallow viewing angles, and the 37HW1 is no exception. The screen needs to be
at eye-height and the best viewing position is head-on. From the sides or above
the picture looks quite dark. It lacks the pin-sharp clarity of the better CRT
models but line-structure is minimal and there’s none of the tell-tale
pixellation that’s sometimes evident with LCD video projectors. The 100Hz
display eliminates the annoying flicker that larger screens tend to emphasise.
Every so often it threw up some minor digital artefacts, with slight blurring
of rapid movement. In the wide and smart display modes some material -- notably
live broadcasts -- occasionally produced an odd mid-screen ripple.
The screen is reasonably bright, not quite as well-lit as a
CRT TV, but there’s no need to pull the curtains or dim the lights. However,
there’s not a lot to spare and the brightness control our sample had to left on
maximum most of the time. In the past LCD display panels have suffered form
poor colour fidelity, that’s not a problem with this set, there’s a slight
emphasis on reds but in general colours look clean, natural and well-defined.
Sound escapes from three rather small (less than 4-inches)
speakers hiding behind the impressive-looking grilles beneath the screen,
output power is quoted at a miserable 2 x 5 watts (music power...) and 20 watts
on a centre channel. The large cabinet helps makes the best of a bad job, but
Sony have clearly decided -- probably quite rightly -- that anyone buying this
TV will be using it with a meaty surround-sound system.
Our Verdict
A couple of teensy gripes, and the price is a bit stiff, but
this really is a rather splendid TV, a delight for those with the room to
appreciate it. Picture quality is good, confirming the role LCD technology now
has in this application.
Sony KL-37HW1
Features 37-inch
back projection display, 3 x 3.4-inch LCD panels (51,000 pixels per panel),
100Hz picture, 4:3, 16:9, ‘smart’ and ‘zoom’ display modes, 2 x 8:9 PAP
(picture and picture) dual display, twin tuner, PAL, SECAM, NTSC multi-standard
display, NICAM, fastext (30-page memory), auto-tuning with channel display,
menu-driven on-screen display, parental lock, graphic equaliser (manual and 5
preset modes), sleep timer
Sockets 3 x
SCART AV, S-Video, line audio in/out (phono), front AV terminal (S-Video &
phono), headphone (stereo minijack)
Dimensions 920
x 825 x 390 mm
Picture Quality ****
Sound Quality ***
Build Quality *****
Features ****
Ease of use ****
Overall value ****
Competitors
Ferguson RP46NU £2500 HE29 75%
Philips 46P912 £2700 HE26 70%
Pioneer SD-M1047 £3600 HE25 85%
Sony UK, telephone
0181-784 1144
Captions
Big screen, big box, but tiny speakers. They’re okay for
monitoring but it needs to be used with a serious sound system to give its best
Sony’s first vacuum cleaner... Filters behind the left-hand
speaker panel trap airborne dust, sucked in by cooling fans. They need cleaning
about once a month
The screen viewing angle is quite good for a projector TV
but it still needs to be positioned carefully, with the centre of the screen at
eye-height
HEAD
YAMAHA YST-SW150, £280 ****
Why’s it here? Comparatively few mid-range AV amps or
systems have a dedicated subwoofer channel. Even if they do mixing and matching
passive subs with existing components can be a headache. Active sub-woofers,
like the YST-SW150, a 125 watter from Yamaha, (and it’s 85 watt stablemate,
YST-SW80 at £180), are possible solutions; they’re the essential
stomach-churning, room-rumbling ingredient, that can turn a good home cinema
set-up into a great one.
Any unique features? Auto power switching circuitry senses
the presence of a input from the main amp and turns the unit on from standby,
and off again when it’s not being used. Yamaha’s Active Servo system uses a
Helmholtz resonator (ported air woofer cabinet design) and negative-impedance
driver circuitry, to deliver a smooth coherent bass. This helps ease the load
on the rest of the system, allowing it to concentrate on mid-band and upper
frequencies. Installation is quick and simple -- it connects between the front
channel-speakers or it can be driven from the AV amp’s line-level (low pass)
output, if it has one. It has volume, switchable phase and high-cut
adjustments, so it can be configured for virtually any set-up, from a humble
DPL TV to a high-performance component system.
How does it perform? The hairs on the back of your neck
stand to attention as ED 209 growls into life; walls shudder as the huge robot
stomps into the boardroom, machine guns blazing. The Circle of Life reaches a
crescendo, a lion roars and the heavy tread of a herd of elephants feet shake
the floor. Moments from two movies -- Robocop and The Lion King -- transformed
by the presence of the SW150 on full song. Placement is important, and it’s
worth taking time to experiment with the high-cut and volume adjustment -- especially when using smaller speakers or
lower-powered amps. However, there’s no mistaking the correct settings. The bass
suddenly slots neatly into place; it’s deep, controlled and seamlessly
integrated with the main speakers. The box is solidly built, there are no
rattles of vibrations, even with the volume control set to danger level!
Our Verdict. The SW150 feels as though it’s there all the
time, ready to swing in to action,
suddenly and dramatically with big explosive effects, or rumble quietly
away in the background. The price and performance stack up very well indeed
against the competition. Powerful, atmospheric attention-grabbing bass, without
tears.
Yamaha YST-SW150
Features active
servo technology speaker system, auto power on/off, line-level or speaker output drive, high-cut and volume
adjustment, phase switching, 125 watts output
Sockets speaker
inputs/outputs (binding posts), stereo line input (phono)
Dimensions 252
x 620 x 418 mm
Sound Quality ****
Build Quality ****
Features ****
Ease of use *****
Competitors
Boston Acoustics V500 £400 HE35 85%
Jamo SW400 £330 HE26 75%
REL Strata £500 HE26 85%
Yamaha UK, telephone (01923) 233166
HEAD
JVC UX-D66 Micro Hi-Fi System, £380 ****
Why’s it here? Micro hi-fi systems have been selling like
hot cakes and it’s not difficult to see why. The better ones prove you can get
big sounds out of tiny boxes, they’re just the right size for our shrinking
living rooms, bedrooms and bedsits, and manufacturers are cutting each other’s
throats -- and prices -- to get their products noticed.
Any unique features? The UX-D66 is JVC’s most powerful micro
system to date with a hard-working 20 watts per channel. The two cube-shaped
audio components have an eye-catching brushed silver finished; they connect
together with a single ribbon cable and can be placed side by side, or stacked
on top of each other. Dynamic axial drive woofers and active hyper bass
circuitry beef up the bass and the sound output can be contoured with
independent bass and treble controls. The auto-reverse cassette deck has
soft-touch logic controls, Dolby B NR and auto tape selection whilst the CD has
a 20 track memory, repeat and random play features, plus synchronised recording
to the cassette deck.
How does it perform? The CD and tape decks appear to be good
quality items. They sound reasonably coherent and well matched to the rest of
the system. Noise levels on both decks are low, the tuner is a tad hissy
though, and not especially sensitive; it needs a good aerial, even in a strong
signal area. Considering the size of the speakers and modest power levels, the
various bass enhancements do a fair job, providing a suprisingly gutsy low-end.
The sound is smooth and reasonably detailed; middle frequencies are well
represented but the treble appears to tail off quite early, it can sound a
little thin at times. It pays to play around with speaker placement as this can
have quite an effect on the sound; unfortunately the captive leads are quite
short, which doesn’t give much rom for manoeuvre if the cables have to be
routed around shelves or furniture.
Our Verdict. Unlike several other micros we’ve seen recently
this one doesn’t have the feel or look of a parts-bin special, hastily cobbled
together from the bits left over from last year’s portables. It sounds okay,
fine for smaller living rooms, though it’s a trifle under-powered for larger
spaces.
JVC UX-D66
Features 2 x
20 watts (RMS), dynamic axial-drive woofers, hyper bass, CD with 20-track
program memory, repeat and random play, single auto-reverse logic-controlled
cassette deck, auto tape selection, music scan, Dolby B noise reduction, 2-band
(AM/FM) tuner with 30 station presets, auto preset tuning, clock, sleep/timer,
remote control, motorised volume,
Sockets aux
line input/output (phono), digital output (optical), headphones (minijack),
speakers & AM loop antenna (spring terminal), FM aerial (coaxial)
Dimensions 500
x 262 x 267 mm
Sound Quality ****
Build Quality ****
Features ****
Ease of use ****
Overall value ****
Competitors
Goldstar FFH-212L £229.99 n/t
Philips FW 18 £369.99 n/t
Sharp CD-770H £379.99 n/t
JVC UK, telephone
0181-450 3282
HEAD
MITSUBISHI NICAM TV, £500 (excluding dish) ****
Why’s it here? Mega screen TVs are all very well for those
with the room to use them but most of us have to live with more modestly-sized
sets. Manufacturers used to save all their best gizmos and gadgets for their
larger sets; now they’re turning their attention to smaller TVs, like this
highly specified 21-inch model from Mitsubishi.
Any unique features? The CT-21AV1BS has an on-board 150
channel satellite receiver and Videocrypt decoder, pre-tuned to all currently
available Astra channels. Stereo
satellite channels and NICAM sound from the terrestrial stations is
piped through a ‘Multiport’ sound system. Audio facilities include a punchy 2 x
12 watt (RMS) amplifier plus wide stereo and spatial sound effects. A full set
of on-screen displays show channel names and the fastext system has an
subtitling facility that automatically selects the correct page for each
channel. Installation and tuning are fully automatic and stations can be
rearranged into any desired order. A sensor mounted on the front of the set
adjusts brightness and contrast to compensate for ambient lighting conditions
and up to four AV setting can be memorised to suit individual sources (TV,
satellite, VCR etc.). The tuner can handle
PAL and SECAM formatted signals, NTSC playback is available on direct AV
inputs.
How does it perform? Pictures on smaller screen TVs
generally look quite sharp but the black matrix tube used on this set has a has
a particularly good dynamic range, with crisp whites and deep blacks, even in a
brightly lit room. Heavily saturated colours are clean and picture noise levels
are generally very low, with a good strong signal. The satellite decoder works
well; sensitivity is a about average though, and weaker stations, like UK Gold
have a few sparklies, more so when signal conditions deteriorate, during a
heavy downpour for example. The speakers are mounted either side of the screen
and the stereo image is quite shallow, the wide mode helps but it tends to
diffuse if the seating position is more than a metre or two from the
screen. Audio quality is generally
reasonable though bass content is mediocre.
Our Verdict. A likeable little set with a good picture, fair
sound, a useful assortment of features and a realistic price, but the addition
of a satellite tuner sets it apart from most other 21-inchers on the market. If
you haven’t already got a satellite box this is a practical and cost effective to
reduce clutter.
HEAD
Mitsubishi CT-21AV1BS
Features 51cm
(21-inch) FST screen, NICAM, Multiport sound system, built-in Astra satellite
receiver and Videocrypt decoder, PAL/SECAM, NTSC on AV input, fastext, auto
sub-titles, on-screen display and channel naming, auto set-up, 16:9 display, AV
memories
Sockets 2 x
SCART AV, front AV terminal (phono & S-Video), headphone (minijack)
Dimensions 540
x 450 x 820 mm
Picture Quality ****
Sound Quality ***
Build Quality ****
Features ****
Ease of use ****
Overal value ****
Competitors
Philips 215321 £400 HE29 85%
Sony KV-X2182U £500 HE29 70%
Toshiba 2145DB £450 HE29 75%
Mitsubishi UK,
telephone (01707) 276100
TOSHIBA 2557DB, £750, ****
Why’s it here? Toshiba are keen to maintain their dominance
of the Dolby Pro Logic TV market and earlier this year they updated their their
top-selling 28-inch set. Now it’s the turn of their 25-inch model. The 2557B is
a much needed replacement for the 2539 which has been around since early 1994,
that was starting to look its age.
Any unique features? Toshiba have largely stuck with a tried
and tested formula, however there have been a number of enhancements, including
the addition of automatic set-up, a larger 100-channel tuner, more informative
on-screen displays and a 16:9 display mode. There have been changes to the
outside as well; the 2557 has a more contemporary monitor-style cabinet and a
new, ergonomically-shaped remote handset. Most of the core features remain the
same though, including the Dolby Pro Logic sound system, NICAM stereo, fastext,
a 5-mode digital sound processor with hall, theatre, disco, stadium and pseudo
surround effects. The improvements haven’t adversely affected the price, in
fact the 2557 is selling for £750, that’s £50 less than its predecessor.
How does it perform? We were mildly critical of the picture performance
on the 28-inch 2857DB, which uses the same chassis. However, the smaller screen
has helped reduced the impact of artefacts and pixellation on fine detail, generated
by the set’s digital processing circuitry. Colour fidelity is better too, and the
picture is generally crisp and detailed with a good contrast range and very low
noise levels. The front stereo and centre channels are cleanly resolved, bass
content is good; the DSP modes are vaguely interesting but the novelty soon
wears off. The set’s side-mounted speakers produce quite a narrow soundstage, a
pair of outboard speakers would improve imaging dramatically. The back channel
is a little restrained, the level has to be turned fully up to for the speakers
to make an impression but considering this set will be used in regular-sized
living rooms, it’s shouldn’t pose a problem.
Our Verdict. All of the improvements have been worthwhile. The
cabinet re-design, uprated features and competitive price has resulted in a more
refined, tidier-looking set. Toshiba had the 25-inch DPL TV market to
themselves for quite a while but in the past year or so several other
manufacturers have weighed in, the 2557DB puts them firmly back in contention.
Toshiba 2557DB
Features 59cm
(25-inch) FST screen, Dolby Pro Logic/Dolby 3 Stereo, NICAM, 5-mode DSP, auto
set-up, NTSC playback (on AV input), fastext, on-screen display with channel
naming, unified VCR controls on handset, bass boost, 16:9 dsplay, supplied with
rear channel speakers and console stand with built-in centre speaker
Sockets 2 x
SCART AV, front stereo and rear speakers (spring terminals), AV in/out (phono
& S-Video), front AV (phono & S-Video), headphone (minijack)
Dimensions 703
x 523 x 460mm
Picture Quality ****
Sound Quality ****
Build Quality ****
Features ****
Ease of use ****
Overall value ****
Competitors
Hitachi CT-2576TN £700 n/t
Mitsubishi CT-25AV1BDS £XXX
n/t
Philips 25727 £750 n/t
Toshiba UK, telephone (01276) 62222
HEAD
PANASONIC NV-HD605 NICAM VCR, £400
Why’s it here? You can almost sense Panasonic’s discomfort
at having to compete with the hoi-polloi at the budget end of the NICAM VCR
market. Nevertheless, they’ve gritted
their teeth and nipped in just below the critical £400 price point with the
HD-605, making it their cheapest stereo hi-fi machine to date.
Any unique features? Its predecessor, the NV-HD600, was a
bit of an untidy machine, and they’ve clearly learnt a few lessons. The HD605 looks
a lot more refined with a centre-mount tape deck and they’ve given it an auto
set-up routine, that programs the tuner and sets the clock. However, the
feature list is still rather brief. Crystal View Control (CVC) is a worthwhile
picture enhancement, though the off-button appears to be for the benefit of
dealers as it should be left on all the time. NTSC replay is an unadvertised
feature, probably because it’s only in black and white. So too are the
one-screen displays, which are accessed from a four-position button pad on the
remote. The instructions rather misleadingly refer to assembly editing functions,
backspace-editing is a virtually standard feature on pretty well all VCRs, that
allows scenes to be manually copied from a camcorder, using the VCRs
record-pause button. Basic functions on Panasonic TVs can be controlled from
the remote
How does it perform? Although largely devoid of convenience
features, inside the HD605 are key components from their more up-market models
and picture quality is well up to the kind of standard we’ve come to expect
from Panasonic. Resolution is a whisker below 250-lines and the CVC circuit
does a good job of reducing noise levels. The picture is very clean and colours
are accurately resolved. Still frame stability is fairly good -- some slight
jitter is evident -- and the single speed slomo is reasonably steady. Noise
levels on the stereo hi-fi soundtracks are respectably low, they have a flat, largely
uncoloured response.
Our Verdict. Panasonic have done a fine job updating the
HD600, and the addition of auto set-up and the cleaner cosmetics put it on a
more even footing with other budget models. However, whilst AV performance is
very good, it’s not what you would call an exciting or particularly interesting
machine, moreover the paucity of convenience features puts it at a disadvantage,
alongside some of its glitzier rivals
Panasonic NV-HD605
Features NICAM
stereo sound, Video Plus+ timer with PDC, auto set-up, on-screen display,
8-event/30-day timer, Crystal View Control, NTSC replay (b/w), TV control
functions (Panasonic models only), display dimmer
Sockets 2 x
SCART AV, stereo line audio out (phono), RF bypass (coax)
Dimensions 430
x 99 x 315mm
Picture Quality ****
Sound Quality ****
Build Quality ****
Features ***
Ease of use ***
Overall value ****
Competitors
Aiwa HV-FX1500 £350 HE26 90%
Grundig GV-540 £400 HE33 70%
Hitachi VT-F540 £400 HE27 85%
Panasonic UK, telephone (01344) 862444
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R. Maybury 1996 3006
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