Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73468 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sony
• Model: RHTG800B.CEK
• Released on: 2007-03-10

Manufacturer's Description
Integrated Home Theatre System

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Very good - more inputs would make it better.
Starting with delivery - be prepared - it comes fully assembled in one box. This is very heavy (59 kilos) and very large - the box is about 50% bigger than the unit. Aside from putting the glass top on and setting the height for the adjustable shelf - it is ready to go, right out of the box.

First stop is the manual and it's here you find the biggest disappointment - The specifications for the RHT-G800 given by Sony are:

"Coax Digital In X 1, Composite In Audio/Video X 1, Opt Digital In X 3, HDMI In X 2 and HDMI Out X 1″

So that's 7 Sources and 1 Output - isn't it?
WRONG!. There are only 4 input sources, e.g. the "SAT" source uses 3 inputs, 1 X COAX, 1 X OPT and 1 X HDMI. Also one of these four sources in analogue only. This presented my first headache - I have 4 digital audio sources - XBOX360, Sky Satellite, DVD player and AppleTV.I had to sacrifice digital input from one of those devices - I chose the Apple TV, mainly because I don't have any content with multi-channel sound - YET.

After quite a bit of careful planning, I ended up connected as follows:

* XBOX360 - Component Video connected to the TV, audio connected to the "TV" Optical Digital input of the stand.
* SKY+ Box - RGB SCART video connection to the AV1 SCART of the TV, audio connected to the "SAT" Optical Digital input of the stand
* DVD Player - HDMI to the "DVD/BD" input of the stand.
* Apple TV - HDMI2 input of the TV
* Sony VCR - Composite SCART connected to the AV2 SCART of the TV
* Stand HDMI OUT to HMDI1 of the TV
* Panasonic TV Analogue Audio Out to stand "AUDIO" Analogue Input.

This means that ALL sources can output from the stand including the TV tuner and the VCR, The labels on the stand cannot be changed so I am left with a minor anomaly that the TV tuner and VCR use the input marked "AUX" and the XBOX360 uses the input marked "TV"

With everything connected, it was time to tackle the usual headache of moving it into position without any of the cables coming loose, whilst also trying to keep things looking as tidy as possible. Given the unladen weight of the stand I was anticipating quite a struggle here, but that was not the case. The stand has four, round, steel legs, about 6 cm in diameter; These glide almost effortlessly over my carpet. There is a recess underneath the rear bottom shelf and this provides a natural home for any slack cable and power strips.

There is very little to configure on the stand - you cannot adjust the sound field, other than to apply a couple of effects and to adjust the volume of the sub woofer and centre speaker. There is also night mode or "Audio RDC" for playing movies etc at lower volumes. A/V Sync adjustment is also available for digital input if the sound and picture are out of sync - I have not found it necessary to use this.The remote is very large and most of the buttons are for controlling components other than the stand, e.g. dvd player etc. It can be programmed for various manufacturers equipment and I have successfully set it up to control my Panasonic TV - I have not tried the other components as a don't intend to use the Sony remote after I have programmed my Logitech Harmony remote. There are apparently some benefits if you use all Sony components, and if they support Sony Theatre Sync,

So that just leaves the big question - how does it sound?
Well to my ear, very good - the sound is rich and the subwoofer gives it the punch that is missing from the TV's built in speakers. The 6.1 virtual surround is effective - it's not quite as obvious as with my previous 5.1 setup where I had real (rather than virtual) rear speakers - but that is almost certainly because I used to have the rear levels too high to exaggerate the effect.

Overall - what's the score?
I had a very specific reason for choosing an all-in-one solution. I previously had a Sony A/V receiver connected to 5 speakers + a sub woofer - however, I live in a fairly small flat and I could never really take full advantage of what it offered. The room has a lot of furniture, which affects the quality of the sound and also, out of consideration to the neighbours, I rarely turned the sub woofer on. Despite this I had still sacrificed a lot of space to the speakers and stand for the amplifier. Over the years, technology has moved on and I needed an upgrade to support HD inputs amongst other things. This time I decided on a compromise that reflects the reality of how it would be used. There aren't many all-in-one solutions on the market, so it didn't take long to narrow this list down to the Sony RHT-G800. After my little "Technology Refresh" I have halved the footprint of my A/V equipment without, to my ear, sacrificing any of the sound quality - I am very happy with the choice.

How could it be improved?
Well, firstly the Sony website should make it very clear that you can only have four sources, and second, well four is not enough!The ability to change the labels on the inputs would also be nice.

Sounds great; looks great.
I think Kevin's review does a great job of explaining the technical issues regarding this product, so I won't bother duplicating that here; suffice to say he's absolutely correct in what he says. Instead, having had the unit for about 4 months at this point, I'll add some more detail regarding what it's like to live with.

Firstly, it really does sound great and totally transforms your viewing experience. However I don't like the fact that there's no equalisation option built in. The sound is a little bright for my tastes and I'd really like the option of controlling that a little - but that's not possible, which I was a little surprised about. I mean, how many hi-fi systems do you buy that don't at least have "Bass and Treble" adjustment? C'mon Sony - I have a radio in the shower that has that much!

Secondly, the "rear" speakers have a tendency to distort at higher volumes (anything above half). At first I thought this was just a fault with my unit, but Sony replaced what I originally believed were defective speakers (great service from Sony BTW) but this made no difference - it just seems to be a limitation of the device. I should point out that "half" volume on this thing is still pretty darn loud, and it's only specific frequencies that cause the issue (particularly sustained female choirs and string sounds - think Lord of the Rings music just after Gandalf "dies" in Moria) so it doesn't cause me any problems during day-to-day listening, but if you're a hi-fi purist wanting to experience great movie sound at high volumes I'd urge caution.

Thirdly, the difference this unit made to the general clutter of gadgets around my TV was enormous. It has some really simple but effective cable controls built in that make an amazing difference to the amount of wires running behind your TV system. My partner's a stickler for neatness and even she was impressed! So if you're constantly having to explain the tangle of wires to a loved one this is definitely the solution for you. I have a Sky box, a Nintendo Wii, an Xbox 360 and a PS3 all plugged in and it's still very neat and tidy.

Fourthly, it looks great. Everyone who comes in to the room comments on how cool the TV stand looks, and when they realise the sound system's built in to it they're amazed.

Fifthly, (is that even a word?) a niggle. The display screen is on the top of the unit, under the glass top. On the plus side this looks fantastic and definitely adds to the sexy design. On the negative side it's impossible to tell which sound source is selected from across the room or even, indeed, whether the unit is switched on or not. It gets tedious pretty quickly having to stand up and walk across the room just to find out if the unit is on. Sony, if you're reading this, can you *please* put a tiny light on the front when you next upgrade it? That way at least I'd know it was definitely on when I'm trying to figure out why I can see my TV picture, but can't hear anything.

So, overall I'd highly recommend this unit to anyone, but particularly those who are a bit short of space and/or don't have the option of running speaker cable round to the rear speakers. The negative points don't spoil the experience enough to get in your way, but I'll knock a star off the score just to give Sony something to aim for next time!

Oh, and one last thing - make sure you have someone to help when you get it delivered. This thing weighs a ton.

If you think this would be a good home cinema solution for your room then go ahead and buy it; you won't be disappointed. Hope that helps!

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"Excellent product very pleased"
The sounds impressive especially if you use HDMI via your HD or Blu-ray player. I would avoid analogue cables on this thing if you can help it.

Forget putting the cabinet in the corner of the room its a waste of time you wont get any surround effect from it, the cabinet has to be central at one end of the room to get any benefit from the enveloping speakers.

I would recommend this cabinet to anyone that loves their movies especially on High-def which is where your get the most benefit.