SLS Q-Line Silver Home Theater System - Product Review

1. A fully functional 5.1 Channel AV Receiver with Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Pro LogicII decoding.

2. The AV receiver features 125 watts-per-channel RMS output (6 ohm speaker load) x 5 with .7% THD (Total Harmonic Distortion).

3. All speakers are supplied: L/R Mains, Center, L/R surrounds, and a 100 watt RMS Powered Subwoofer. The impedance for the satellite speakers is 6 ohms, rather than the customary 8 ohms.

4. The Satellite speakers employ Ribbon Tweeter technology developed by SLS.

5. Composite video inputs and analog audio inputs for connection of VCR, DVD player, DVD recorder, and CD player.

6. Digital audio inputs (Two coaxial, one optical) for DVD player or other component with digital audio output.

7. Composite video monitor output for connection to Television.

8. 6-channel direct audio inputs for DVD-Audio/SACD compatible players

9. AM/FM stereo tuner with a total of 30 presets.

10. Cables and speaker wire provided - all wires are color coded for easy connection.

11. Wireless remote control

12. Front panel Headphone output.

13. Illustrated User Manual

If you do need to use the owner's manual, it is easy to understand, with good illustrations. Connecting your other components, such as a DVD player, VCR, etc... is very simple.

However, there is no provision for an audio turntable connection, which is becoming more typical in AV Receivers and Home Theater Systems in this price class.

Additional components used in this review included a Samsung LN-R238W 23-inch LCD-HDTV, and Syntax LT-32HV LCD television. DVD players used included the JVC XV-NP10S - Code Free Version, an older Pioneer DV-341. A Denon DCM-370 CD/HDCD player was also included in the testing setup.

Audio comparisons were made using a Yamaha HTR-5490 AV receiver with Optimus PRO-LX5II satellite speakers and a Yamaha YST-SW205 subwoofer. Shure E3c stereo earphones were used to evaluate headphone capability.

A sampling of the software used included standard CDs: HEART - Dreamboat Annie, Nora Jones: Come Away With Me, Blue Man Group: The Complex and Audio, Lisa Loeb: Firecracker (HDCD), Blondie: Live (HDCD), Telarc: 1812 Overture.

One Laserdisc was used: Godzilla 1998.

DVDs used included: Kill Bill - Vol1/Vol2, Master and Commander, Chicago, Lord Of the Rings Trilogy, House Of The Flying Daggers, Alien Vs Predator, Moulin Rouge, The Mummy, Ed Wood (Region 3 - NTSC), and Crying Freeman (Region 2 - PAL).

DVD-Audio/DTS music discs used included: Queen: Night At The Opera/The Game, Eagles: Hotel California, Sheila Nicholls: Wake, Alan Parsons: On Air. Also included: The Corrs: In Blue (Dolby Digital). Portions of other software titles in the above categories were used as well.

Unlike many home theater-in-a-box systems, the SLS Q-line does not come with a DVD player. As a trade off, the Q-line comes with a better speaker set than most systems in this price range. It ribbon-driver-based satellite speakers provide excellent sound quality across the board with both movie and music sources.