Article by: Steve Blackwell
Product was submitted by: Samsung Canada
Introduction:
Almost like something from the future, the design of the new Samsung HT-X250 home theatre system is certainly a looker. With far more curves on the speakers than most systems and a receiver design that looks like it's straight off an alien space ship, will this system sound as good as it looks?
In The Box:
(1) Reciver w/ stand
(5) Satellites
(1) Sub
(1) Bag of speaker cables
(1) Remote
(1) FM Antenna
(1) RCA Video cable
(1) HDMI Cable
(1) Wiping cloth
(1) Setup guide and manual
Specs:
Features:
The HT-X250 is Samsung's latest 5.1 surround home theatre system offering. Much like the last home theatre system we reviewed here from them, the receiver has a design that is truly unique to Samsung products.
To start at the receiver, as the pictures show, this isn't your standard component shape! Rather, this alien-looking device can be operated standing vertically, or the stand can be moved and it can operate horizontally to fit onto a more standard sized component shelf. This is a step up over the last unit we reviewed here which left me disappointed when it's receiver was only vertical with no option to fit it onto a standard component shelf under my TV!
The receiver houses a rather mighty 600 Watt power amp which provides power to all 5 tweeters and the subwoofer. Although there are many more powerful systems on the market, 600W should be more than enough for any standard home theatre! All the outputs are colour-coded plugs; although this is nice for ease of setup, it is unfortunately a little harder to use aftermarket cables to get extra length between the speakers.
When standing up, the black front you see actually houses a blue LED display behind it. This is the very same style of display that we just saw on the recently reviewed SCX-4500 MFP; although much larger on this reciver! It's certainly very eye-catching in a world where we're used to the alarm clock style of LED display on most devices. However, because of the location of this display when you run the receiver sitting in the horizontal mode, the display is actually on the top! Making it impossible to see if it's is tucked away on a component shelf.
Outputs include: component out, video out, HDMI out and a headphone output for the sound. For those wishing to add the wireless capabilities for the surround speakers there is also a wireless plug on the back for the expandable wireless device. In terms of audio, you are given two aux. inputs and one optical audio input. Like most home receivers these days, there is also an FM antenna connector on the back.
Just like their TV's, the HT-X250 brings along USB capabilities as well. This lets you view photos, listen to music and even watch movies that are stored on external USB devices such as memory sticks, hard drives or digitals cameras! This really helps to bridge the gap between all types of media in the living room. My only disappointment was the location of the USB port on the right side of the receiver. For anyone with this in an enclosed unit that could be a difficult location to reach.
The speakers, seen above, are designed with many arcs and bends in their shape. All get quite narrow closer to the back where the wire plugs in as opposed to the larger front where the speakers are. Speakers and sub alike all use positive and negative wire hook-up terminals and have a very high-gloss finish (not the best for resisting fingerprints!).
Installation:
Installation of the HT-X250 was very fast and quite simple to do. Thanks to the colour coded speaker wires and colour coded labels on the speakers, wiring was so simple even your kids could do it. Connections to and from the TV were also simple; audio out from the TV and into the receiver and video out from the receiver goes back to the TV. Of course the style of audio and video connections you use are entirely dependant upon the type of TV you have. For the sake of this review, I will be using all the RCA connections because that is all that my current TV supports.
Testing:
What better way to test a home theatre system then to have a movie night! A group of us gathered here, with the HT-X250 being the center of attention, and we all watched a variety of movies.
Sound quality was excellent, like most systems, the HT-X250 has a few different sound and EQ modes you can switch between. I found myself keeping it on the default one though - just my personal preference out of them all. Overall use of the system also came without any complaints.
The only issue I did run into was the slot loading DVD player was a bit picky at times. It wouldn't always pull my DVD's in without me pushing them almost all the way into the slot before the motors could pull it the rest of the way in. This made the convenience of the slot loading player become almost a pain when having to do this DVD after DVD.
Conclusion:
Overall, the Samsung HT-X250 makes a great home theatre system for being in the under $1000 price range. The sound itself is excellent; I was really put in the middle of the action with everything it was tested with. Speaker design and installation simplicity was also great. For those who have never setup a system like this I am pretty sure they could probably do it quite easily without even referring to the manual. My only complaint was the receiver design. I found it to be very impractical for most users and the slot-loading DVD player seemed to take more push than most players to load. If this style of receiver appeals to you, then this is a great buy! If you'd prefer a more traditional receiver design, then I encourage you to check out Samsung's many other home theatre system offerings.
Pros:
Powerful
Excellent sound quality
Supports wireless add-on
HDMI output
Speakers all have a very nice design
Very easy to setup and have running quickly
Cons:
USB port location
Receiver screen can't always be seen when in horizontal operation
Receiver design is not practical
Glossy finish smudges very easily
Product was submitted by: Samsung Canada
Introduction:
Almost like something from the future, the design of the new Samsung HT-X250 home theatre system is certainly a looker. With far more curves on the speakers than most systems and a receiver design that looks like it's straight off an alien space ship, will this system sound as good as it looks?
In The Box:
(1) Reciver w/ stand
(5) Satellites
(1) Sub
(1) Bag of speaker cables
(1) Remote
(1) FM Antenna
(1) RCA Video cable
(1) HDMI Cable
(1) Wiping cloth
(1) Setup guide and manual
Specs:
Features:
The HT-X250 is Samsung's latest 5.1 surround home theatre system offering. Much like the last home theatre system we reviewed here from them, the receiver has a design that is truly unique to Samsung products.
To start at the receiver, as the pictures show, this isn't your standard component shape! Rather, this alien-looking device can be operated standing vertically, or the stand can be moved and it can operate horizontally to fit onto a more standard sized component shelf. This is a step up over the last unit we reviewed here which left me disappointed when it's receiver was only vertical with no option to fit it onto a standard component shelf under my TV!
The receiver houses a rather mighty 600 Watt power amp which provides power to all 5 tweeters and the subwoofer. Although there are many more powerful systems on the market, 600W should be more than enough for any standard home theatre! All the outputs are colour-coded plugs; although this is nice for ease of setup, it is unfortunately a little harder to use aftermarket cables to get extra length between the speakers.
When standing up, the black front you see actually houses a blue LED display behind it. This is the very same style of display that we just saw on the recently reviewed SCX-4500 MFP; although much larger on this reciver! It's certainly very eye-catching in a world where we're used to the alarm clock style of LED display on most devices. However, because of the location of this display when you run the receiver sitting in the horizontal mode, the display is actually on the top! Making it impossible to see if it's is tucked away on a component shelf.
Outputs include: component out, video out, HDMI out and a headphone output for the sound. For those wishing to add the wireless capabilities for the surround speakers there is also a wireless plug on the back for the expandable wireless device. In terms of audio, you are given two aux. inputs and one optical audio input. Like most home receivers these days, there is also an FM antenna connector on the back.
Just like their TV's, the HT-X250 brings along USB capabilities as well. This lets you view photos, listen to music and even watch movies that are stored on external USB devices such as memory sticks, hard drives or digitals cameras! This really helps to bridge the gap between all types of media in the living room. My only disappointment was the location of the USB port on the right side of the receiver. For anyone with this in an enclosed unit that could be a difficult location to reach.
The speakers, seen above, are designed with many arcs and bends in their shape. All get quite narrow closer to the back where the wire plugs in as opposed to the larger front where the speakers are. Speakers and sub alike all use positive and negative wire hook-up terminals and have a very high-gloss finish (not the best for resisting fingerprints!).
Installation:
Installation of the HT-X250 was very fast and quite simple to do. Thanks to the colour coded speaker wires and colour coded labels on the speakers, wiring was so simple even your kids could do it. Connections to and from the TV were also simple; audio out from the TV and into the receiver and video out from the receiver goes back to the TV. Of course the style of audio and video connections you use are entirely dependant upon the type of TV you have. For the sake of this review, I will be using all the RCA connections because that is all that my current TV supports.
Testing:
What better way to test a home theatre system then to have a movie night! A group of us gathered here, with the HT-X250 being the center of attention, and we all watched a variety of movies.
Sound quality was excellent, like most systems, the HT-X250 has a few different sound and EQ modes you can switch between. I found myself keeping it on the default one though - just my personal preference out of them all. Overall use of the system also came without any complaints.
The only issue I did run into was the slot loading DVD player was a bit picky at times. It wouldn't always pull my DVD's in without me pushing them almost all the way into the slot before the motors could pull it the rest of the way in. This made the convenience of the slot loading player become almost a pain when having to do this DVD after DVD.
Conclusion:
Overall, the Samsung HT-X250 makes a great home theatre system for being in the under $1000 price range. The sound itself is excellent; I was really put in the middle of the action with everything it was tested with. Speaker design and installation simplicity was also great. For those who have never setup a system like this I am pretty sure they could probably do it quite easily without even referring to the manual. My only complaint was the receiver design. I found it to be very impractical for most users and the slot-loading DVD player seemed to take more push than most players to load. If this style of receiver appeals to you, then this is a great buy! If you'd prefer a more traditional receiver design, then I encourage you to check out Samsung's many other home theatre system offerings.
Pros:
Powerful
Excellent sound quality
Supports wireless add-on
HDMI output
Speakers all have a very nice design
Very easy to setup and have running quickly
Cons:
USB port location
Receiver screen can't always be seen when in horizontal operation
Receiver design is not practical
Glossy finish smudges very easily
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