jgray

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I got this system from my brother for no cost, the first thing that bothered me was that the DVD player is powered by the Sub woofer. I liked the sound of the unit, but not, that there are no treble or bass controls, the worst thing about the unit is the loud popping sound, that happens when using it for several hours. This happens off and on, I read that it is due to a heat problem from the circuit board. I am considering taking the Sub woofer/Power unit apart and installing a cooling fan. When I buy a new system, I will stay away from Panasonic as they should recall this product. I have always been a fan of Yamaha, as there products are better made.

mmarkey

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $420.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
Although I assume that the majority of the components of this model are all sitting in landfills polluting mother earth by now, I thought I would write a review anyway. There just might be a few smart consumers out there clever enough to realize that reviews of older models can give very good insight as to the quality and reliability of the newer models. Since even the cheapest systems will generally last for at least a few months before developing problems most reviews on new models are VERY incomplete and focus entirely on features only as the user has not owned the product long enough to realize that it's just a pretty piece of junk.

This product is just a pretty piece of junk that doesn't look so pretty in a garbage can. Although it has a nice slim design and lots of impressive features, It also has a KNOWN design flaw that causes the main circuit board to overheat. This will begin to damage the board more and more until it eventually fails completely and permanently. In the mean time you get to endure random heart attack inducing pops and screeches followed by complete loss of sound.

Strengths:
Cool looking slim design with lots of bells and whistles but they don't all work properly.
When it was not popping and screeching or there was no sound at all it worked pretty well. Now it is polluting the planet in some land fill.

Weaknesses:
Cheaply made with poor quality control. System has a KNOWN design flaw that causes it to completely fail with extended use. Panasonic deliberately designed this as a proprietary unit so that the components cannot be interchanged when it eventually stops working. They also discontinued the parts so you can't even replace the faulty circuit board with another faulty circuit board to at least get a few more months use out of it. The only thing you can do with the components is maybe use it for some kind of weird art project. I tried to give it away on Craigslist but nobody wanted it.

Shame on Panasonic for being so ecologically and ethically irresponsible!

Similar Products Used:
After my bad experience with this model and Panasonic customer service I will NEVER purchase another Panasonic product again.

Price Paid:  $420.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
If you're tempted to buy this (or any other Panasonic Home Theater System) because you are lured by the nice looks and array of features DON'T!!!! This system is pure JUNK! Although it was easy to set up and sounded pretty decent in my small bedroom it only worked for a few months and then the trouble started. LOUD popping noises or heart-stopping screeches followed by no sound which gradually got worse and worse until the system eventually completely failed. I took it in to the local Panasonic repair facility and was told that the main circuit board was overheating do to a design flaw. They said it was unfixable because Panasonic discountinued the needed part and it wouldn't make any difference anyway because it was a design flaw in the board so the problem would not be resolved by replacing it.

Although I have personally found about 50 negative reviews on this system all reporting the same problem Panasonic refuses to acknowledge this and issue a recall. Their customer service department is a bad JOKE! No matter who you speak with they all sound like a broken recording repeating the same mantra from their script sheet over and over. They will tell you there is nothing they can do except offer a "customer loyalty" discount on a replacement system. However the "discount" is based on their overinflated MSRP which would end up costing more than you would pay on sale at a typical electronics store. If you don't accept this offer ( and only a fool would let Panasonic rip them off TWICE by accepting this ridiculous offer) they will provide no other solutions and will instead get very rude and will eventually just hang up on you.

It is an absolute INSULT to comsumers when a company knowingly rips consumers off by selling cheap defective products and refuses to aknowledge this. What's worse is that they deliberately design these systems to be proprietory so that you can't replace individual components so when one part fails the entire system is useless. The result is thousands and thousands of toxic electronic components polluting our world in overflowing land fills!

This kind of dishonest and irresponsible corporate business practices is the reason I will never buy another Panasonic procuct again!

Strengths:
Easy to set up and sounds okay for a small room. Has a decent selection of features. Slim cool-looking design.

Weaknesses:
Very cheaply made with NO quality control. Will probably fail to operate within a few months due to a KNOWN design flaw in the system. Panasonic customer service is a bad joke. They are rude and they DO NOT stand behind their products.

Similar Products Used:
I will never buy another Panasonic product again.

streamer1

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $550.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
Panasonic has dropped the ball on their quality control. This system's subwoofer-amplifier- unit overheated and quit working after less than a year. After being sent to a Panasonic service center, the unit was returned supposedly repaired. What a joke. It worked approximately 5 minutes, made a loud popping noise and died again. I spent hours on the phone trying to get some resolution, but to no avail. Apparently, customer satisfaction is not at the top of Panasonic's priority list. My advice to anyone is to steer clear of Panasonic branded products.

Strengths:
Look's like a million bucks.

Weaknesses:
Poor design. The subwoofer-amp unit supplies power for the DVD player. When the sub-amp unit dies, your left with a great looking progressive scan DVD player that can't be used.

Similar Products Used:
JVC 7030VBK 6 channel tuner and Cerwin Vega surround speakers. This replaced the non-working Panasonic system.

wdanie29

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00 from best buy

Summary:
Panasonic HT900 apparently has a problem with a popping anc cracking sound from the speakers after a few months of use. The problem can not be corrected by a service tech. and Panasonic has been unresponsive when I contacted them.

Strengths:
Decent sound for a low price as long as your room is not too large.

Weaknesses:
Loud cracking and popping sound from the speakers. Was told by service center it has a tendency to overheat. It took three weeks to fix and about two weeks after getting it home, the sound came back. I searched for the system on amazon.com and found customer reviews with the exact same problem. So I must give it the lowest rating even though the price is very fair; what does that matter if you can't use the system. I'm returning it and will probably stick to Onkyo.