Home theatre speaker question

Nanfeishen

Nanfeishen

Executive Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2006
Messages
9,166
Reaction score
3,026
Location
Neither Here Nor There
I have been considering the following system :
http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/home-theater-systems/hts3276_98/prd/za/
however the way my lounge setup works , the 2 standing speakers would be better suited to be the 2 rear speakers, and the smaller speakers as front speakers, however the system works the other way around.
So could i swop out the 2 front speakers for the two rear speakers ?
According to the specs, the Satelite speakers are all one spec, with the centre and subwoofer as being different.
So can i assume that the 2 front and 2 rear would be the same, and that they fall under the satelite spec, making them swopable?
Satellite speaker drivers 3" full range woofer
Satellite speaker impedance 8 ohm
Satellite speaker freq range 150-20000 Hz
Center speaker drivers 3" full range woofer
Center speaker impedance 4 ohm
Center freq range 150-20000 Hz
Subwoofer driver 6.5" high efficiency woofer
Subwoofer type Passive
Subwoofer impedance 4 ohm
Subwoofer freq range 40-150 Hz
Click to expand...
 
I'm not sure about your satellite speakers question, but I have a Philips HTS3565, and I'm not too happy with it.

It works great in terms of sound quality etc, but the software/firmware/user interface sucks. It's not very user friendly, and the USB doesn't work so great either. I can only connect a drive if it is FAT32 formatted. Can't connect any NTFS formatted device, which sucks since the max file size of FAT32 is 4GB, and most downloadable HD content (read torrents) come in 8GB .mkv files. In any case, my HTS can't read .mkv files either. I get some decoding issues as well - either it plays the video, but there is no audio, or vice versa (it says audio/video codec not supported), or is simply can't read the video because it doesn't support either the video or audio codec (it says can't read file). So it doesn't play all the different media formats.

Also, it freezes or gets confused, but only sometimes, and only if playing content from a connected USB drive. Then I have to turn both my TV and the HTS off at the wall plug. This is the only solution that seems to work. Soft powering-off doesn't work. It has to be a hard reset. I think because of the HDMI link, it confuses my TV as well.

I even updated the firmware on the device, which I downloaded from the Philips website, but this hasn't made any difference.

So overall as a HTS I would say it works great - the sound quality is excellent and the DVD playback just works.

But as a media player, it really sucks. If you want it as a media player, I would ask to test it out at the store first, and see if the user interface is intuitive and makes sense. I'd take a USB flash disk with, which contains some videos (try many different formats/encodings), images, mp3s, etc, and see how well it works. Also get some reviews over the internet.

However, for a multimedia device, I would get an MVix or one of those Netgear Media players, or the many other great ones out there. I almost only watch downloaded/copied content from my USB drive. I hardly ever watch regular TV. So the media player functionality is important.

Don't know if you can get a simpler HTS system, with basically the speakers and amp, sub, and the usual inputs and outputs, and no DVD/USB functionality. I would rather go for this. All it needs to do is output sound, and leave the multimedia capabilities to a dedicated multimedia player, which is built by a reputable company, that supports all the codecs out there, supports NTFS formatted drives, and has a good user interface/firmware/software, and provides updates to the firmware.

Thats my 5 bob.
 
Last edited:
From the specs page, I would tentatively say that the front & rear speakers seem identical in specification, albeit packaged differently. I don't see anything on the web page to suggest you can't. I suppose 'satellite speakers' means left & right, front & rear...

However, might I suggest you try to find a store with a demo/display unit, or one willing to open a system so you can get the manual under eye. The manual normally contains much more complete specifications which should show any differences.

Actually, scratch that. I see there's a link to the user manual in .pdf on the website. The manual says:
Speaker impedance:
• For HTS3276: 4 ohm (centre), 8 ohm
(Front/Rear)
• For HTS3371, HTS3378: 4 ohm
(centre), 4 ohm (Front/Rear)
• Speaker drivers:
• Centre/Front/Rear: 3” full range
Click to expand...
and
Total output power:
• Home Theatre mode:
- For HTS3276:
420 W RMS (2 X 100 + 4 X 55)
- For HTS3371, HTS3378:
1000 W RMS (6 X 167)
Click to expand...

To my knowledge input wattage & impedance are the two factors to consider. With all systems covered in the manual, this seems to be the same front to back. The physical speaker cones all seem to be the same size as well. From what I can see, it SHOULD be fine, but I'd wait for a couple more replies. ;)
 
The front and rears are probably swoppable, as the fronts are probably just moulded into stands for a more suitable look. If the front has the same config, ie one 3" driver and a tweeter like the rest, then you should be fine.

I have a similar Samsung system in the bedroom, and even there the fronts seem much bigger than the rears. Upon measuring their impedance it and checking the speaker, it is the same units all around, so I just went to Samsung and swopped my fronts for a pair of surrounds and Bob's your uncle.
 
I say you're fine. If that's the system you're decided on, go for it. Those speakers are totally swop-able.
 
I'd also say you're fine. I have the exact same system and the connectors are colour coded, so right front will be red and left front grey etc, but I'm not sure if they're all the same size. I know the subwoofer connector is a different size but I didn't really take note when setting it up.
It sounds pretty good btw.
On another note I have it connected to the HDPVR but the optical input doesn't work. I get no sound when selected on the reciever. So I use the coax input to get 5.1 DD. I know not all channels broadcast in 5.1 but with the ones that do I get no sound from the "optical in". The red light from the pvr is coming through the cable but just no sound.

Any ideas anyone?

1 more thing Nanfeishen, I suggest you go to the store with your own media to test the system. I wish I had done that because the store only had some romance nonsense.
 
ToxicWazte said:
It's not very user friendly, and the USB doesn't work so great either. I can only connect a drive if it is FAT32 formatted. Can't connect any NTFS formatted device, which sucks since the max file size of FAT32 is 4GB, and most downloadable HD content (read torrents) come in 8GB .mkv files.
Click to expand...

It may not be possible in windows, but there are utilities capable of formatting even very large drives with fat32.

Here's one: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/FAT32format.shtml

just google for 'fat32format'
 
Hi there, firstly thank you all for the answers, once again the members of the forum have given me better advice than any salesman i spoke to :)

So finally i settled on the system in question.
The two standing speakers have 1 - 3" driver, with 2 tweeters, and the smaller speakers have 1 and 1, so not a major issue.
Will just have to cut and splice cable to length required.
kang said:
I'd also say you're fine. I have the exact same system and the connectors are colour coded, so right front will be red and left front grey etc, but I'm not sure if they're all the same size. I know the subwoofer connector is a different size but I didn't really take note when setting it up.
Click to expand...
I simply swopped out the front left, right with the rear left, right by plugging them into different sockets and bingo the sound worked. Will probabily push the front two up 1 dB and reduce the now 2 larger rear by 1 or 2 dB to balance it a little better.

Even if i had kept the original config, i would have had to cut and splice wires for the rear speakers, as the cables are only 15m and i require 20 - 25 m running around the perimeter of my lounge as i have to run the cable up a corner, over a 5 meter door/windo combo back down and along the skirting (tiled floor so cant run them across)

Hooked up a stand alone DVD player with the Coax sound , and worked very well, picked up the surround sound nicely , so i am a happy chappie.
Tested the sound with opening battle scene from Revenge of the Sith - very nice :D

Once again thank you all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X