There’s also a Web browser built in, though it’s not very convenient to use. In addition to its built-in 3D Blu-ray player, this system offers a version of Samsung’s Smart Hub interface, which provides access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, Pandora, CinemaNow, Vimeo, YouTube and pages upon pages of Samsung’s own apps. Outputs include one HDMI and one composite video connection. Inputs include two HDMI connections, a digital optical audio (Toslink) input, and one stereo pair of analog RCA plugs. The Blu-ray player/receiver packs an interesting feature set. The subwoofer is passive (meaning the amp that drives it is built into the receiver) and uses a 5.25-inch woofer. The surround speakers are roughly half the height of the front left and right speakers, and use a single 2.75-inch full-range driver. The slim center channel uses the same 0.75-inch tweeter as the main speakers, but steps down the size of the mid-woofers to 2 inches. One of the two mid-woofers handles the midrange, while the other handles lower midbass frequencies. Each contains a 0.75-inch silk dome tweeter and two 2.75-inch fiberglass mid-woofers with phase plugs. In an apparent attempt to make a more capable, musical speaker, Samsung has gone with a three-way, “half-tallboy” design for the front left and right speakers. Why can’t these systems just use little spring-clips on the back of the amp as well as the speaker?Īlong with the aforementioned pieces, we also found an iPhone docking cradle, remote control, batteries, set-up microphone, and a microfiber cleaning cloth (to help remove fingerprints from that glossy black plastic). That means there’s no easily replacing the wire with a higher gauge, and if something happens to the plastic connector, you’re out of luck. The speaker wires included with the HT-E6500W are par for the HTIB course: tiny, extremely long (13 feet) and terminated on one side with proprietary plastic connectors. We have a feeling this could cause some installation hassles in some situations. The wireless surround receiver is much larger than we expected - roughly the size of a thick book - and, because it has a little base-plate for a stand, it has to be set upright. Included with this system are a wireless surround signal transmitter and a receiver for the surround speakers. The main box’s chassis is all glossy black plastic with a smoked glass display window and a separate smoked-glass display bay for the system’s two vacuum tubes, which can be seen glowing from the top and front of the unit when powered on.
With that said, it is quite a bit smaller than we’re used to seeing from HTIB systems – we can thank digital amplifier technology for that. The combined Blu-ray player and amp is a bit chunkier than your average Blu-ray player since it must accommodate so many components inside. In our experience, such construction usually yields a pretty poor-sounding sub. The subwoofer on the other hand, is made of thin plywood and failed our knock test miserably. However, when we gave the speakers a rap with our knuckles, we were surprised to find the cabinets sounded relatively inert. The speakers are especially light, which caused initial concern since lightweight, plastic speaker cabinets rarely sound good. Each glossy black speaker is wrapped in a protective film, and further cloaked in foam sheets. Samsung packages this system well, especially considering the number of parts involved. The question is, does this flashy single-box solution offer compelling performance improvements or is Samsung’s efforts just smoke and mirrors? Out of the box Still, the HT-E6500W appears to be a big step up from the HTIB’s of yesteryear. The $600 HT-E6500W, reviewed here, sits just below the top-of-the-line HT-E6730W, which adds more capable main speakers, a beefed-up subwoofer and the ability to expand to 7.1 channels. But Samsung has other ideas.Įarlier this year, Samsung introduced a line of premium audio products featuring vacuum tubes in the pre-amp stage, including the excellent DA-E750 speaker dock and two HTIB systems which, in addition to vacuum tubes, feature upgraded speakers, wireless surround speaker transmission, Smart Blu-ray disc players and reportedly powerful digital amps. Combine that with the growing popularity of sound bars and dropping prices of A/V receivers, Blu-ray players and compact speaker systems, and you might get to thinking the HTIB is on its deathbed. Though they offer convenience in spades, their audio quality has historically been a huge let-down. Home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems have a reputation problem.
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