Digital Trends

Kenwood HTB-506

October 26th, 2003 | by Yongki Go

System Setup and Performance

The Kenwood HTB-506 system is easy to setup. The Quick Start Guide that comes with the system explains the step-by-step setup procedure quite clearly. Unless your room is very small, the supplied speaker wires most likely are not long enough to reach your surround speakers. For this evaluation, I put the front speakers on the stands about two feet away to the left and right of my 32 inch television. Their distance from my listening position was about 10 ft. The center channel was put on top of the television, while the surround speakers were put about one feet higher than my ears: two on the side and one behind my listening position. After carefully calibrating the speakers, I let the system warmed up for many hours before starting my evaluation.

The VR-707 receiver is quite easy to use and as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't have serious operational quirk. The receiver doesn't have an on-screen display feature, so one has to refer to the receiver's display to find out the status of the receiver.  If no setting is changed, the big lettering in the middle of the display shows the active input. This main part of the display can easily be read from 10-12 ft away. If a setting is changed, for example the volume level or the surround mode, the main display shows the changed setting for about two seconds before displaying back the active input. The surround mode, as well as the speaker configuration, is shown on the display all the time, but they are too small to see from farther than 3 or 4 feet away. One of the nice features of the receiver is that it remembers the last surround setting associated with an input. Hence, you don't have to cycle through the receiver's surround modes every time you change the input.

The FM reception of the receiver using the supplied antenna was rather weak. I couldn't get clear reception of some stations, which I could easily get using my mini system or car tuner. I didn't try the AM function of the receiver as I never listen to one, so I had nothing to use as a reference. To improve the radio signal reception of the VR-707 one might have to use a powered antenna. Unfortunately, I couldn't plug my Terk powered antenna on the VR-707 to try, as the plugs were incompatible.

For home theater, the system performed respectably well. The fact that it could handle DD-EX is a plus. It didn't produce an enveloping surround effect as smooth and as transparent as some separate surround processor with multi-thousand dollar set of speakers, but nevertheless, the surround effects the HTB-506 system produced were quite good and enjoyable. The Auto EQ function expanded the sound space a little bit and added sparkles to the sound, which I found to be desirable for some movie program materials. Your personal taste would dictate whether you would use this function or not. The provision of Prologic II was very useful for getting the most out of your analog video sources or TV watching experience. If you are not satisfied with your small TV speakers when watching regular TV programs, I found this system to be an excellent solution for improving your TV watching experience. The fact that it could handle DD-EX, which is a 6.1 format, is a plus, especially considering its sub $500 price

The center channel of the system, even though small, was capable of delivering quite clear and intelligible dialogs in the movies. The other speakers complemented the center channel nicely to deliver nice surround effects. The powered subwoofer that comes with the system didn't have the finesse and the impact of the other big boys subwoofers out there, but it was sufficient to provide some oomph for home theater effect. Unless you listen to your system at ear-piercing level, the subwoofer output level should be sufficient to fill medium sized room with some authority. In my setup, this subwoofer could go down to slightly below 40 Hz easily. It wasn't a deep-bass subwoofer by any means, but it did provide nice base for the sound coming from the satellite speakers of the HTB-506 system.

The weaknesses of the HTB-506 system were exposed more in music applications (either stereo or multi-channel) than in home-theater ones. Especially noticeable was a slight lack of transparency of the speaker sound. There was a slight trace of boxiness in the overall system sound, but this was only obvious on some songs. The midrange of these speakers was rather recessed and the highs were not that extended when compared to the better speakers out there. But expecting perfection from a $500 system is really asking for too much. Despite all those shortcomings, the HTB-506 system served its purpose as small all-in-one system well and produced nice overall sound.

Conclusion

The Kenwood HTB-506 provides one with an easy to setup and simple to use home-theater-in-a-box system. It has some shortcomings here and there which was especially noticeable only in music applications, but it is quite satisfying in home theater applications.  If you need an all-in-one receiver-and-speakers solution and you are on a limited budget, this system is worth checking out. For $500 and with 6.1 capability, the HTB-506 represents a very good value.