What Hi Fi Sound and Vision 19 JUN 2008

Philips HTS-6510

£ 200 4

* * * *

The HTS-6510 sells at a very good price, but still makes a fine case for itself

For
Detailed picture; spacious spread of sound, intuitive remote and menus
Against
Subwoofer doesn’t integrate well; 1080i upscaling

Some 2.1-speaker systems struggle when it comes to recreating the surround effects of a DVD, but Philips’ Ambisound technology spreads the sound while still delivering a fair amount of detail during Spiderman’s encounter with Venom in Spider-man 3.

The subwoofer is too boomy
Picture performance is also impressive, even though it ‘only’ upscales to 1080i. The image is solid and cohesive image, with minimal grain. So what’s not great? The subwoofer – it’s too boomy. Low frequency effects are overpowering , and there’s no way to control the bass level either via the remote control or on the sub itself which is disappointing.

True, you might not see the Philips as your main system for the living room, but then again it retails at a very good price. With that in its favour, for the money it’s not a bad proposition.