Battle of the Home Theater packages: Kenwood HTB-205 vs Cambridge MovieWorks 56

[tomdkat]

Ok, here are the contenders:

Cambridge Soundworks MovieWorks 56

-- vs --

Kenwood HTB-205

This will be a Christmas gift for a friend who lives in a somewhat small apartment on the first floor.

I don't know the dimensions of her place, sorry. This will be a surprise so I can't get the dimensions.....

I DO realize the Kenwood system comes WITH an A/V receiver and the Cambridge package does not. I will see if I can audition the Cambridge package tonight, since they have a store near me. I'm not sure if I'll be able to audition the Kenwood package unless you can recommend a place in the S.F. Bay Area (East Bay preferably) where I can check out the Kenwood.

My friend _already_ has a DVD player, so I don't need a package WITH a DVD player.

I was thinking about a "slim" A/V receiver, like this Pioneer to conserve space but I don't know if I can get this unit in time for Christmas...

Now onto the question: Will the Cambrdige package have better audio (speaker wise) than the Kenwood package or will the speakers that come with the Kenwood package be "good enough"?

Both systems are comparable in price, so I'm trying to focus on which would offer the best audio.

I'm also open to other A/V receiver recommendations, but would like to keep the A/V receiver to $250 and under in price ($200 and under would be preferred).

Lastly, if you have any other ideas, please post them here. I would prefer components I can buy in a store as I don't want to risk "late shipping" and don't want to pay for overnight shipping, unless it would really be "worth it".

My friend is NOT an audiophile, so audiophile audio is not the goal here....

Thanks in advance!

Peace.....

[SidcupMartin]

I recently got the Kenwood HTB-205

I have no complaints but if your looking for slim-line receiver then this does not fit the bill... it's a bit chunky.

But for the price you get DD, DTS and ProLogic II. The speakers are ok but could be better and the supplied wire is like floss (I upgraded straight away and noticed the difference). I can upgrade the speakers at a later date and I'll still be left with a receiver which for the foreseeable future will do everything I need it to.

[tomdkat]

Thanks for the feedback. Do you find the passive subwoofer to be adequate?

Thanks.....

Peace....

[SidcupMartin]

Originally posted by tomdkat
Thanks for the feedback. Do you find the passive subwoofer to be adequate?

Thanks.....

Peace....

For my needs it is fine.. with the supplied cable it seemed to be a bit too boomy but after the upgrade it calmed it down a lot and now it is a lot more punchy.

[octopus1256]

Have you seen the new Sony DAV-S550 system? It comes with all these:

Small receiver
Five satellite speakers
Subwoofer (passive)
SACD, DVD, CD, CD-RW playback
Component, S-Video outputs

It looks very nice, and costs about £600 in the UK. What Hi Fi gave it product of the year:

[tomdkat]

Originally posted by octopus1256
Have you seen the new Sony DAV-S550 system?

Thanks for the info on the Sony. I went to Best Buy last night and had a chance to try out some of the HTiBs there, including one of the Sony DAV systems, (possibly the one you listed was one of them) and the Kenwood HTB-205. I think the Kenwood HTB-205 will work out just fine for my friend and will probably go with that unit.

I also went to Cambridge Soundworks, but they were just TOO busy to help me out so I never got to audition the MovieWorks 56 system.

Thanks!

Peace...