Philips' Cineos HTS9800W HTIB with wireless rears

Home theaters in a box are not for everyone -- most people we know prefer to assemble their entertainment systems piecemeal -- but if you're in the market for such a product, then Philips is offering a fairly stylish new HDMI-equipped system with convenient wireless rear speakers that may be right up your alley. The Cineos HTS9800W is a 6.1-channel package (three 125-watt fronts, three rears, and a 150-watt subwoofer) with a slimline, upscaling DVD player that supports DVD+/-R discs, DivX-encoded video, and MP3 CDs, along with all those Super Audio CDs that we're sure you've been collecting over the years. Not a bad setup, especially for your bedroom or guest house, and it's available now for around $650.

[Via Shiny Shiny]

[riggs @ Jul 16th 2006 3:06PM]

im am sooooo getting this

/valley girl

[Bryan @ Jul 16th 2006 3:14PM]

$650 doesn't sound too bad of a price. But 125 watts isn't exactly all that bang IMO.

[vman @ Jul 16th 2006 4:38PM]

I have 900 mhz wireless headphones selling about at 60 bucks at the source. Now im pretty happy with these headphones, the signal only dims out when i go to the basement which is two floors below the port. I doubt these wireless speakers will be any trouble really. Defnintely a great buy. but 125 watts isnt really the kaboom you want in a home theater. id stick with my bose.

[bunny @ Jul 16th 2006 5:31PM]

cute!

[Aaron @ Jul 16th 2006 5:50PM]

I think anyone that's complaining about a set of $650 speakers (with a reciever and DVD) player is not the target market. I think this is targeted at people that, 1. Don't know much about audio (MOST htib systems lack even a digital input) 2. Are picking up a new TV and want a home theater to go with it and are impressed because of the design of the unit (which does look very nice) and the wireless rears (which is also very nice of you are in a place where you cannot run cable through walls or cielings).

I could see my parents who don't really know anything about audio/video go to Best Buy and walk out with an ED Plasma Monitor and this HTIB simply because they don't know any better. As is usually the case, ignorance would be bliss because I don't think they would be able to tell the difference between my front projector, 7.1 reciever, HD-DVD player and high end speakers.

I would also bet my parents would walk out of the store with hundreds of dollars in Monster cables and line conditioners as well.

[Blah, blah, blah @ Jul 16th 2006 6:02PM]

Aaron, right on.

"vman", 125 watts/(front) channels is average in a typical stereo system. That Bose is even LESS in wattage! Also, wattage doesn't matter in sound quality, and as far as "kaboom", modify a car amp and several subs into that HTIB/HT system, no packaged Bose system can touch that.

[SuperChuck @ Jul 17th 2006 2:53AM]

Can anyone read?

125Wx3 front speakers, 85Wx2 rears, 105W rear centre, and 150W subwoofer.

Total sound power (RMS) : 800 W

They also use a ribbon tweeter, which may produce incredible sound...

[major @ Jul 17th 2006 11:20AM]

...more importantly, has HDMI.

Went to Philips site; their search engine couldn't find a retailer selling this within 200 miles of my zip. Available online for purchase at only one site, so far.

[boycemix @ Jul 17th 2006 12:26PM]

I probably fall into the category of "lacking knowledge about audio" not having gotten around researching speaker quality much in depth. So if you guys are saying this $650 system is under-powered, which system would you recommend in the same $600-700 price range which would be of better quality?

This Philips system does look pretty sweet though!

[Rich @ Jul 18th 2006 7:16AM]

This looks pretty nice, and maybe something I get for my bedroom. I'd been looking at 2.1 systems previously, due to the requirement (from the missus) to not have any wires trailing about the place.

The wattage sounds pretty reasonably for the size and price. However, wattage is no guarantee of quality! Anyway, I have a nice big Sharp LCD/Yamaha/Mordaunt-Short based setup in the living room for the full-on home theatre experience!

[Staggie @ Aug 7th 2006 2:28AM]

The back speakers themselves are not wireless. Instead, there is a back wireless receiver (which requires an outlet) to which the 3 rear speakers are wired. None of the speakers are battery powered.

The wireless connection removes the need to wire all the way from the head unit to the back of the room, but all the the speakers are still connected to a line powered source.

[Pip @ Aug 18th 2006 1:40PM]

I know it may be a reaaly stupid question but does this actually come with the TV ntohing anywhere i can find makes that clear and if so what are the specs

[MikeyMiami @ Aug 31st 2006 9:27PM]

I am a audio enthusiast. That being said, this is not a bad system. It's not the greatest either. I live in Miami and have the privledge of having a brands mart here. Awesome store. This is in the store for $748.88 I listened to it and it was fairly good quality. I would rate it about 6 of 10. What I loved was the art deco look and the touch screen DVD player. It is awesome. Not the best in every category. Sales Rep said the touch screen messed up a lot. I told him I'd probably never touch it, just use remote. If you want to impress some yuppies, this is the system to get. Hands down. If sound quality is your thing, its not the best, but it's not bad. The three rear speakers are hooked up in kind of a weird way. The middle rear feeds the LR and RR speakers kind of looks like this ()---[==]---() . If that makes any sense. So the rear center is the hub for the rear and it has this really nifty wireless hub that you can hide that feeds the center speaker. The hub has a really nifty little blue light to impress whoever looks at it. Hope this helps someone.

[Phil @ Sep 6th 2006 6:51PM]

I think the comment that anybody who buys this knows nothing about audio is a bit harsh, especially when you have never even listened to it. I current have all seperates, massive amp, huge speakers etc. But im fed up with it all dominating the room and also big speakers need to be driven so for day to day use when you are listen at low volume big speakers in a lot of cases are worst. For this reason im thinking about changing for one of these setups.

[isaaccs @ Feb 6th 2007 2:09PM]

i just bought this system yesterday at j&r in manhattan. it seems like this product is hard to find in the us; most of the online reviews i found were coming from the uk and australia. strange.

i'm fairly knowledgeable of audio/visual equipment, but that doesn't mean i have the ability or desire to purchase a top of the line system piece-by-piece. i'm not a collector, i'm a user. i was looking for a HTIB on the basis of solid sound quality, reasonable price by bundling, and asthetic. i think this unit out-does all current other offferings in the range by a good distance.

let's be honest - and this isn't an insult to audophiles, after all, everyone has their thing, but the simple fact of the matter is, most people can't discern the intracicies of quality audio once you pass a certain threshold. it's the same as computers - i'd challenge anyone to sit down in front of a computer and state whether it's a 2.0Ghz or 1.8Ghz processor - it's just not that apparent, even to people who are well aware of what the techinical difference is and what it means. in terms of "kaboom", well, i live in an apartment, so frankly, i'd prefer the system didn't rattle my bones or that of my neighbor - but i do want to be able to sit back and be totally immersed, even wowed by the sound - and this unit does it.

i also don't think you can ever truly evaluate a unit in store unless you've got the whole place to yourself and can wire the thing yourself - otherwise, you're at the liberty of whatever $10 per hour "tech" set the system up, and with the sounds of 30 different systems humming away in the background, it's really difficult to discern much of anything. also, because this is a 6.1 system, you'd really have to have the speakers properly placed to be able to hear the quality. I heard it one-dimensionally at the store, which was nothing compared to how it actually sounds with the speakers arrayed in my apartment.

i do wish it had hdmi or even USB input (how the hell am i going to wire my apple tv into it?), but, for the price, i can buy another in a few years, when those things are totally standard.

i assume its the ribbon tweeter that makes this thing sound like a much, much more expensive system. and it looks amazing.

from what i read, this system delievers better sound quality than offerings from bose and sony in the $1k range. just 2 cents.

[Robert @ Jun 21st 2007 6:26AM]

It took me ages to find this product anywhere, only found it in stock at one place www.broadbandstuff.co.uk and it was next day delivery.