Panasonic SC-BTT270 5.1 Blu-ray home theatre

AV do-it-all for Lilliputian lounges

Trump card?

Up and running, the SC-BTT270 proves a feisty terrier of a system. Panasonic has rather cleverly tuned everything to the mid-range. The satellites drop off around 100Hz, while the sub trumpets between 50Hz and 200Hz. It makes an unflattering farty noise below 50Hz, which is best not talked about in polite company. Consequently, with 90 per cent of the energy mid-way between, the system is neither dynamic nor deep. But it does go loud and sounds relatively smooth.

Main menu: the Viera portal is among the network options

The system also sports some very inventive DSP, specifically a vertical 3D surround mode which attempts a wrap around wall of virtual height speakers. The enclosures supplied aren’t able to do this HRTF (Head Related Transfer function)-based post processing justice, but you can detect clear changes in directional cues.

Sound and vision one-stop shop

Verdict



Overall, the SC-BTT270 should be considered good value. For little over £300 you get a decent 3D Blu-ray player and a loud surround sound system. But there’s little doubt though that from a quality perspective the enclosures are trailing the electronics. Methinks it’s time for Panasonic to start taking loudspeaker design a little more seriously. ®

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