[Lohmar]

I'm just starting in HT, and with a limited budget, I'm very interested in a "home theater in a box" solution. Everybody seems to love the Kenwood HTB-504 (including Consumer's Report) but I recently stumbled across the Denon DHT-682xp. The Denon seems to have pretty similar features but is about $100 more. (see http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...HTB504&o=M&a=0 and http://www.del.denon.com/catalog/pdfs/dht682.pdf for system details).


Couple of questions for you experts:


1. Is there something that differentiates these two that I'm missing?


2. Is the Denon name (which seems very respected around here) worth the extra $100?


3. Can anyone explain what the following descriptions actually mean?: The Kenwood features "100 watts x 5 into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz) at 0.7% THD" while the Denon speakers' rated output is "100 W (6 ohms, 1 kHZ, 0.7%)/ 70 W (8 ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.08% THD)" Is that a significant difference? Which one is better?



I realize that these kinds of systems may not be up to snuff for a serious audiophile but they seem to be the best solution for someone strapped for cash. In any case, thanks for any help or advice!


Lohmar

 

[Joe_M]

This article should help to explain some things:

About speaker measurements


The first thing I noticed about the kenwood setup was the 80Hz frequency response of the speakers, that's very high. That means that anything below 80hz will be handled by the sub. The sub goes down to 40hz meaning there will be a big drop off below 40hz.

 

[Lohmar]

Joe,


Thanks for the link, that is a great site. I will have to check how the bass sounds on both, to see if I can notice the difference. Any other advice?


Lohmar