It's a great medium-grade Home Theatre

I purchased the Samsung HT-TX75 just after Boxing Day at Future Shop in Toronto. It was on sale ($250.00 off the regular price), so I decided to take the plunge and get it. I have a 42" plasma tv and thought I'd add in some much needed sound for the incredible picture.

I didn't know much about Home Theatre in Box (HTIB) setups, needless to say that it probably required a lot of knowledge in setting it up. I'm probably a novice with audio equipment, so I needed help with this. Instructions were pretty clear about setting it up and even I could follow them. It's only when I started having questions about the finer points of this package that I was stumped and, as I'll point out further, the instructions Samsung included weren't exactly crystal clear.

The one reason I bought the HT-TX75 was for the wireless rear speakers, as I have a condo and running wires across the floor wasn't an option (neither was punching holes in my drywall for speaker wires either). Samsung's claim for wiresless speakers is partially true, but not entirely accurate. The rear speakers arent't wireless, you need the Samsung SWA-3000 module for this. And, the module hooks up to the rear speakers via, you guessed it, wires. So, it's not entirely wireless but it solves the problem of running wires across a floor or room.

I won't go into the details of getting this hooked up, needless to say it was a challenge but a fun one at that (I like challenges with electronics). Samsung could've been a little less technical and more visual with their instructions on how to program the speakers (once hooked up) to work. You have to re-read the instructions a few times to understand what settings will allow surround sound and digital 5.1 sound. Once I figured that out, I was able to get the front speakers, center and rear speakers all working great.

The sound from the HT-TX75 is great, no complaints at all. I'm not a total audiophile but I do know what sounds good, even if it's not perfect. One system make sound amazingly good in a home set-up, another one not so good. For my place, the accoustics are pretty good, so the HT-TX75 sounds nice. I still have to fine tune all the settings but I must say, for dvd's, the sound is unreal! Very nice tone, bass and deep too. For TV, it's great as well, no issues at all. I'm not sure if my HD cable box plugged into the back of the HT-TX75 head unit would make a difference for sound but I know it's pretty damn crisp to say the least.

The HT-TX75 is, from my standpoint, an mid/medium level HTIB for consumers. Not entry level, not top of the line, a nice introduction to the whole HTIB world. Sure, you can get better set-ups for a lot more money but for me, it was about getting more sound without blowing out my plasma's speakers. It's not supposed to compete with Bose for quality, which is why it's about $1500 less expensive. For me, the unit cost $550 (that with another 4 years extended warranty) and I saved $250 off the original price... not too bad at all.