Mini compo: instant solution for home theater<\/p>\n
Doharto J. Simatupang, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
With a mini compo set in his possession now, a friend of mine
\nno longer feels an urge to go to the movie cinema. He prefers to
\nspend his whole weekend at home, watching films on his DVD
\nplayer, a built-in facility in his compo. He enjoys watching the
\nfilms, especially because this gadget is provided with a Dolby
\nSurround AC3 sound system and six satellite speakers with a
\ncapacity of 7,000 PMPO! For the monitor, he has a 29-inch flat-
\nscreen TV. In short, with this mini compo set he can bring the
\njoy of watching a film in a grand cinema to a normal living room
\nin his home.<\/p>\n
Today's many mini compo sets are provided with external
\nspeakers such as a pair of surround-sound speakers, a center
\nspeaker and a sub-woofer. There is even a mini compo set that
\ncomes with 2 sub-woofer speakers at the same time! With its 6
\nsatellite speakers, a mini compo set may be considered Dolby-AC3-
\nready. Nowadays, not only a built-in AC3 decoder but also a DTS
\nsurround and Dolby Surround Prologic II can be fitted to a
\npremium-class mini compo set.<\/p>\n
When a mini compo set is provided with the right number of
\nspeakers and a cinema-standard lighting system, it becomes an
\ninstant solution for those planning to own a home theater. The
\nquestion is in what way is a mini compo system superior to a real
\nhome theater?<\/p>\n
First of all, if you decide to buy a mini compo set, you can
\navoid the confusion and trouble that you may experience when
\ntrying to find the right brand, type and power of the receiver
\nset and the speakers in an attempt to build a real home theater.
\nThe market offers a great variety of brands and types of
\nreceivers\/speakers. Some receivers may even have a better audio
\nquality than some AV receivers that are best for a home theater.<\/p>\n
As for the speakers, some are of a bookshelf type (small)
\nwhile others are of the floor-standing type (high). Choose a
\nbookshelf type if you wish to enjoy (high-end) stereo music. You
\ncan use this type as the front speaker or the surround speaker in
\nyour home theater, but when you wish to use it as the front
\nspeaker, this type still needs the aid of a sub-woofer speaker.
\nAs for the floor-standing type, it really fits a home theater and
\ncan serve as the front speaker without the aid of a sub-woofer
\nspeaker. In view of this, the time needed to decide what to buy
\nwill be shorter if one opts for a mini component system.<\/p>\n
Second is that it is much cheaper to purchase a mini compo
\nsystem for your home theater rather than buying a receiver and
\nspeakers. Take a DVD compo complete with 6 satellite speakers,
\nfor example. A JVC HX-Z55D (4400 watt PMPO) costs Rp 2,840,000
\nwhile an LG LX-D5640 (120 watt RMS) is available at only Rp 1.72
\nmillion! You want other brands? There are many on the market: a
\nPanasonic SC-VK80D (4800 watt PMPO) with 2 sub-woofer speakers
\ncosts Rp 3.52 million; the Philips FW-D596 (3300 watt PMPO) is
\navailable at Rp 2.5 million; a Pioneer EV61DVD (5600 watt PMPO)
\nsells for Rp 3.1 million; a Sharp CD-DVD700H (4000 watt PMPO)
\nwith 2 sub-woofer speakers is sold at Rp 3.86 million; while a
\nSony MCH-RV999D (4800 watt PMPO) is obtainable at Rp 3.93
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
While a mini compo system may have DVD\/CD\/VCD\/MP3\/JPEG\/DivX,
\ndouble cassette and full karaoke features, even a heavy-weight
\nreceiver has none of these. Other superior features that you may
\nfind in a mini compo system of a particular brand or type are the
\nprogressive scanning, a mini disc, a front Audio-Visual input
\nterminal and a touch screen display. Another additional, but
\nquite significant function of a mini compo system, is an audio-in
\n(Aux-in) terminal, which can be used when you wish to reinforce
\nthe audio signal that comes not from outside the mini compo, for
\nexample from an audio source in a TV set, a play station or a
\nkeyboard. See, then, how complete the features of a mini compo
\nset are.<\/p>\n
The third superior edge of a mini compo set is that it does
\nnot require ample space. If you want to have a real home theater,
\na lot of space will be needed for six quite big speakers and more
\nroom will be required if the speakers are surround speakers,
\nwhich usually have their towers.<\/p>\n
If you use a mini compo set for your home theater, the
\nweakness lies in the audio quality (power output) and a real home
\ntheater is far superior in this respect. Then, unlike an AV\/audio
\nreceiver, a mini compo set cannot be upgraded and has fewer audio
\nout\/aux terminals than a real home theater. Besides, a great
\nvariety of surround systems such as Algorithm THX, Dolby Digital
\nEX, DTS-ES Discrete, Dolby Surround Prologic Iix, Cinema DSP
\nprocessor and so forth will be available for a real home theater.<\/p>\n
Following the downtrend of the prices of DVD players, the
\nprices of DVD compo sets have now become more affordable. In the
\npremium class, a JVX MX-JD3 (2400 watt PMPO, Progressive Scan)
\ncosts only Rp 2.2 million while a JVC MX-JE3 (1800 watt PMPO) is
\navailable at Rp 2.1 million. Compare them with a Philips FW-D750
\n(3300 watt PMPO, Dolby Prologic II), which is sold at Rp 2.17
\nmillion or a Sony MHC-GNZ7D (2200 watt PMPO), which is available
\nat Rp 2.5 million<\/p>\n
For lower-end models, you can have an LG LM-D2340 (1300 watt
\nPMPO) for Rp 1.5 million or an LG LX-D2640 (sub-woofer speakers,
\nDolby Prologic II, 1500 watt PMPO) at Rp 1.4 million; a Samsung
\nMAX-DS530 (1300 watt PMPO), meanwhile, costs, Rp 1.7 million;
\nWant lower prices? You can have a Polytron DiViDi GV-812 at Rp
\n970,000 or a Polytron GV-912 (1000 watt PMPO) at Rp 1.2 million!
\nIf you think these are still too much for your wallet, then you'd
\nbetter stick to local TV programs!<\/p>\n
When you choose a mini compo set, you must observe how many
\n\"ways\" the front speaker has. The more features a front speaker
\nhas, the better. Usually, in a standard mini compo set, there are
\nonly two ways, namely one woofer (a source for low\/bass notes)
\nand a tweeter, which produces a treble\/high notes. Today,
\nhowever, many manufacturers allow three ways for the front
\nspeakers of their mini compo sets, namely one tweeter and two
\nwoofers, or, one tweeter, one mid-range (for vocals) and one
\nwoofer. In many brands, there is a built-in sub-woofer speaker in
\nthe front speaker. This built-in sub-woofer speaker allows a mini
\ncompo set to freely produce notes at low frequencies.<\/p>\n
Now that you have seen how a mini compo set is superior to a
\nreal home theater in many ways, have you made up your mind which
\nto buy: a mini compo set or a real home theater? Hope you make
\nthe right choice.<\/p>\n
Glossary<\/p>\n
1. Bookshelf speaker : a kind of speaker in the form of a
\nsmall-sized box measuring between 18 inches and 24 inches high.
\nIt can be put on a table or stand on a support.<\/p>\n
2. Dolby Digital : surround sound system format discretely
\nbased on an AC-3 compression format and can be found in DVDs,
\nLaser Discs and Ditital TVs.<\/p>\n
3. DTS : a surround-sound system format that is packaged for
\nmusic or films. Similar to Dolby Digital but its compression
\ntechnology is incompatible. The two are even competitors.<\/p>\n
4. Floor-standing speaker: specification of a type of speaker
\nthat comes out in a box size and can be directly put on the floor
\nwithout needing a special pedestal like a stand.<\/p>\n
5. Mini Disc: a format of small-sized digital disc used as a
\nplayback medium and producing a sound equal in quality to that of
\na CD. The 2.5-inch disc is placed in a box-like medium.<\/p>\n
6. Three-way speaker: system of speakers using three parts of
\na harmonic frequency band in an audio system plus the frequency
\nof the output peak.<\/p>\n
7.THX: a criterion of specification and certification designed
\nby Lucas Films that will guarantee optimum audio-visual show
\nreproduction in a cinema.<\/p>\n
8.Touchscreen: the type of a video monitor screen that can be
\naccessed by a touch to get an application going.<\/p>\n
9.Treble: an indicator of high-frequency voice.<\/p>\n
10.Tweeter: a component driver speaker capable of handling
\nhigh-frequency ranges of between 2.000 kHz and 3.000 Hz.<\/p>",
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