RCA RT2911 1000-Watt Home Theater System

I purchased this system in July 2012 to augment the sound on my flat-screen television after the shelf unit that I had been using for 10+ years finally gave out. After 7 months of ownership I can say that I am very happy with the purchase. The speaker wires are long enough for me to set the satellite speakers at just behind the viewing area which is my preference. This is about 12 feet once the wires are strung around the edges of the room rather than straight across. Each speaker's volume level is adjustable and the sub-woofer has 4 settings: soft, balanced, strong, and powerful. On the powerful setting watching Godzilla movies is pretty awesome, granted my living room is tiny though, about 12x12 with 8ft ceiling. When watching antenna TV I have to change the input from optical to analogue or else there will be periods of sound gaps. This does not happen when watching a DVD or streaming content. For the price I believe it is a great value.

I have had this receiver for a little over a year now and it has worked absolutely wonderful until about a month ago. Recently the fan inside has made a weird buzzing noise (as if it were vibrating loosely), the video would cut out randomly sometimes (which I would have to move the cables in the back slightly to adjust), and the speakers and sub woofer would make a random loud "pop" noise every so often and stop playing sound for about 10 seconds. I have already contacted RCA on this issue rather than saying that this product is garbage and throwing it out of the window. Let's see where that goes! On the good side, before it started acting up I had absolutely no problems with it for a year. The sub woofer was adjustable through the receiver and gave a very good accent to the low frequencies in movies and music. The speakers gave a nice sound that played very nicely when playing video games through the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. I am still using the product now and it is on almost every day for at least 6-8 hours at a time and I have enjoyed every bit of it. A nice buy for only $150.

First of all, if you are an Audiophile you have no business buying a out-of-the-box system, let alone a sub $200 system. This system is designed with price point in mind. I used Fast HDMI cables for all but one component, my converter box, which I opted for the coax. I have no delayed voice to picture issues and when I pause and resume, the sound comes back instantly. Has not shut off once or lost sound in the middle of video games or movies. This unit sits on top of my stand where air can get to it. The set up with test tones is a must to get the speaker levels right. I have no complaints about this system for the price. I have not had this product long but I have already put a lot of hours on it and so far it is what I expected. This sounds way better than my TV speakers (I have a Philips 42'' that I purchased from Walmart as well.)

Wow, I can't believe what a difference surround sound with a good sub-woofer makes. Everyone who hears it is impressed. Playing Madden on the wii in surround sound is awesome and movies are a totally different experience, i can't go back to regular stereo now. The championship games today were awesome with this system and I can't wait to watch the superbowl in surround on my sanyo plasma. Even commercials are amazing with surround sound, you will have to experience it to see what I mean. If you have HD you need this. The bass (set to pwrf) is awesome, people say they felt it, like in a movie theater. Very cool!

First off, this is a $158.00 complete home theater 5.1 surround sound system. Please, do not expect miracles from this system. However, for a marginal price it offers MUCH better sound quality versus just standard TV speakers. I didn't want a real loud system anyway. My living room is a 15'x15' box and I have kids with close neighbors- This system is about perfect and it can still be heard outside of the house even though I have well-insulated walls. Others have complained about the sound not being sync'd. I can see this as well, but it seems to sync with the picture just fine however whenever I turn my TV speakers up, they're slightly behind and I can hear an echo. I'm sure this variation could be measured in milliseconds but it's enough to be noticed. My guess is that the HDMI processor in the receiver isn't the fastest thing you could expect which causes the slight lag. My solution to this was simple- I don't play sound through my TV, just through the RCA receiver only. I almost returned this to the store because the receiver does not allow 3D pass-through. However, I found a simple way around this. I run an HDMI from my PS3 to my 3D TV, and then have audio cables connected from my TV audio out to the RCA receiver's TV audio in allowing the sound to still go through the surround- This allows me to view 3D movies with surround sound. I can also turn the volume on my TV up this way and there is no echo (I guess because the HDMI is going straight to the TV and isn't being processed by the receiver). Pros: Speakers have plenty of wire. Good price for a complete 5.1 surround sound system with an HDMI receiver -By using this I've actually added 3 additonal HDMI's that my TV has the capablity to plug-in to- an HDMI switch box alone will run you $40-$60, might as well spend a bit more for some sound. Cons: Does not support 3D pass-through Speaker wire to subwoofer is small, considering the sub requires the most power. -I doubt this is a true 1000w system, it might peak at 1000w occasionally under hard bass notes but it's probably closer to a 200-300W system. This for me is fine, but others may find it mis-leading or may not like this.

Let me explain in more detail what another reviewer wrote about avoiding the problem where the sound drops out for a few seconds while you are watching TV. You can avoid this by following these instructions. (i) Run the HDMI output from your cable/satellite TV box directly to your TV (bypass the RCA receiver). (2) Connect the left and right RCA jack audio outputs from your cable/satellite TV box to your RCA receiver's RCA audio input jacks. (iii) Set your RCA receiver's selector to "TV;Analog" (iv) Turn off the internal speakers on your TV set. Enjoy. Basically, you are bypassing the RCA receiver altogether for video signals, and you are using the RCA receiver only to supply audio to your speakers. There are no intermittent TV sound drop outs in this configuration. I'm happy with the unit otherwise.

I'm a little suspicious of the review where the buyer talks about setting the equalizer on all the speakers. That is the one major problem and why surround sound is not worth using on this home theater system. When I first got it all set up I noticed it sounded extremely flat. No problem I thought, it has treble and bass settings on the remote. Well only for stereo mode and the Dolby Music setting. Granted the Dolby Music setting uses all the speakers but in a way that is only good for music. For movies or things on TV which you would want true surround sound for it plays stereo through all the channels resulting in too much sound from the rear and all sounds being played through all speakers all the time. The only 2 true surround sound settings have no equalizer settings, I even checked the manual and it said the equalizer could only be set in stereo modes. When played in stereo and adjusted it sounds great. But if you try to use it for true surround sound you get a result that my son described best, "It sounds like a really old stereo, turn it back."

The speakers have plenty of wire and sound pretty good but don't expect deep bass from the sub. I would say the power output is closer to 300 watts than 1000 watts. Each speaker's sound level is adjustable. This is one of the few cheap units that has a digital coax audio input. Sounds good for the price if you can't afford to spend more on a better system.

I wasn't expecting a $900 box for $130. I wanted a surround sound system for my TV area down stairs. The set-up was easy. After a little manual adjustment, the sound is great. I like to have my back speakers a little louder then average and I prefer to be able to hear the voices a little clearer. Once again, the sound is great. I use the FM radio function more then I thought I would. I do not use the TV volume when watching. I only use the theater system. No echo's or any problems. It's nice that it has a fan, but it is a little noisy. It doesn't distract from watching TV, but the sound is there. I don't need to have a high-end system. Overall, it meets my expectations and is a great value.

Best 158.00 dollars I've ever spent. Had low expectations but product performs really well. Simplicity with use of hdmi connections. It delivered on the theatre ambience. Only quibbles are that the unit has a drive that's a little noisy and stops during pausing of a movie so there is some lag with the sound coming on when you resume the movie. Then there is the issue of hiding the wires. Otherwise though, I'm tempted to buy another unit for my son's room.