Product Description

Panasonic home theater audio systems give you the ultimate home theater experience in all-in-one complete package. Panasonic home theater audio systems are a breeze to install and pleasure to use.Panasonic SC-HT80 is DVD-equipped DynaMovie home theatre system. For movie theatre power and atmosphere with the high picture and sound quality provided by the latest DVD movie and music software, just hook up to your TV. The system's multi-channel DSP has functions for advanced AV effects-virtual rear surround, multi-rear surround, center focus, super surround, simulated stereo and seat position settings. Six presets offer sound field control (SFC) with the following options: Heavy, Live, Clear, Soft, Hall or Disco ranges. Since there's a built-in Dolby Digital decoder, the heart of a DVD surround system, and a six-speaker package, there's no need to buy an optional decoder or speakers. You already have all you need to experience the outstanding sound localization and amazing realism of high-performance digital multi-channel surround delivered through the included center and surround speakers and front speakers with built-in super woofers.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #136424 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: SC-HT80

Features

• 5-disc DVD/CD changer
• 5.1-channel amplifier (30 watts per channel)
• Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic processing
• 6-speaker system includes center channel and subwoofer
• Fully remote controllable

Amazon.com Review
Perhaps we're merely growing more cynical as time goes by, but we tend to look askance at manufacturers claiming to sell "complete" anythings these days. Look really closely at the fine print and you'll find that "complete" means "all but..." (fill in the blank).

So you can imagine how surprised we were to open Panasonic's SC-HT80 "complete home theater" and discover that everything we needed was there. All the wires, all the speakers, a subwoofer, a surround processor--even a five-disc DVD/CD player. (Panasonic does assume you have a TV and a room to put it all in.)

Heightening both our surprise and our pleasure, the system is also easy to assemble. Even neglecting the instruction manual, we had the whole shebang up and running within 10 minutes. Wires are clearly marked, as are all connections. Assembly just doesn't get easier. (And kudos to Panasonic for including a high-quality S-Video connection on the SC- HT80's processor/receiver.)

The identical front (left/right) and rear speakers are small--so small that we wondered if they would be up to their job, but they proved impressive performers. It's possible to overload them, but with good placement and sensible listening levels you can get impressively large sound without compromising quality.

We were also happy to see that the center channel is a larger speaker than the others. Despite the fact that many manufacturers still treat the center channel as an afterthought, it's still the case that the center channel provides up to 80 percent of a film's soundtrack and about 100 percent of the dialogue, which, for obvious reasons, is critical.

The SC-HT80's subwoofer pumps a lot of bass from an 8-inch driver, though we'd call it a woofer rather than a true subwoofer, given its 41 Hz roll- off (that's low, but still a good octave above the region of deepest bass). Still, it gives reasonable body to the sound from the other speakers. The subwoofer is controllable from the remote, and this helps tune it to both the room and its position. We like the subwoofer best when placed near the listening position, and we don't recommend the maximum bass-boost setting, which makes everything sound tubby.

We also appreciated the SC-HT80's flexibility. It has audio and video inputs for a VCR as well as a tape deck, and its built-in AM/FM tuner works well. The unit did what it was supposed to do and we found it easy to use. It's hard to complain about a product that does all that for less than $700. We give the Panasonic SC-HT80 two big thumbs up. --L.V. Phillips

Pros:

• Extraordinarily easy to use
• Center channel speaker is robust and clear
• Subwoofer is remote controllable for fine room adjustment

Amazon.com Product Description
The Panasonic SC-HT80 DynaMovie DVD home theater audio system offers total output power of 240 watts in home theater mode with six-channel amplifier configuration. It comes with a built-in five-DVD/CD changer that includes a built-in Dolby Digital decoder. Its multichannel digital signal processor has functions for advanced audio-video effects such as virtual rear surround, multirear surround, center focus, supersurround, and simulated stereo. Six presets offer sound field control with options including heavy, live, clear, soft, hall, and disco ranges.

Four satellite speakers, a center speaker, and a subwoofer with on/off switch and volume control are included. Three audio inputs let you easily connect a TV, VCR, and auxiliary sources. The SC-HT80 comes with built-in Dolby Digital decoders and advanced home theater receivers.

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Customer Reviews

"Bose" quality for a realistic price
Ok its not as good as the bose system, but for the fraction of the price it's good. I really can't tell the difference between mine system and my brothers bose which cost 1500 dollars more without a dvd player. If you have super sensitive ears and your loaded get the "bose system" if you looking for a dvd/audio theater system that sounds great, plays cds, dvds and really looks good too, get the panasonic

What's not to like? Only 1 thing:
I do love this system for all the reasons others stated, but what nobody mentioned that prevents me giving it 5 stars is that the speaker wires are hard-wired into the back of the speakers!! How much money could this nonsense have possibly saved? Believe me, pulling wire through a false ceiling (or anywhere else) is a whole bunch easier without a speaker stuck to one end. And what if you already have wiring in place? Well, seems like a minor point that didn't bother anyone else, but I wish I'd had this foreknowledge...

Two Words: Simply FANTASTIC
After waiting for 2 months, my system was delivered late September, and since then Movies and Music havn't been the same. I personally think it has a Veryclosesound to the Bose system that the other reviewer mentioned. It is far superorto Sony's DAVS300 Home Theater, i mean a 120 watt Sub to a 30 Watt, thats no comparision. The only thing that dissapoints me is that the 6 Channel Amp dosn't support DTS, all though the 5.1 Dolby Digital does still sound fantastic through the compact sattelite speakers, i've had my system at full volume and there wasn't one little bit of distortion. Another bad thing also is that the CD player dosn't read CDR's which is a slight dissapointment, the Sound Field Control (SFC) which features Heavy,Disco,Live,Hall etc. Each of them don't sound different at all, whether thats a problem with my system or not? The Sub-Woofer when set to SW 4 is very powerful with enough Bass to blow down your Front Door! The 5-Disc Changer is a great idea but a little slow in changing discs (11 Seconds from Disc1 to Disc 5) When playing back Music Cd's the System automaticaly responds, producing such a high quality which matchs my Brother's Denon and Polk Audio $5000 System. Even watching a Video (HI-Fi) sounds great filling the room with the Dolby Pro-Logic. So do yourself a favour buy this Fab Home Theater, even though you might have to wait a little while I'd give it 10 stars if i could