Sound & Vision Magazine - JVC SXXSW6000 5.1 Surround System (Only $50)

From Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to The Simpsons, many of the 20th century's great philosophical works have confronted the question of quality. For Homer Simpson, the answer is easy: Anything is good if it's cheap enough. For the rest of us, the question is more complicated. We know an $8 bottle of scotch won't satisfy, and also that a $500 bottle of scotch is overpriced. But what if it's a $20 bottle claiming to be a single-malt from the Scottish Highlands? Tough question, indeed. It's the question I faced when I stumbled upon the JVC SXXSW6000 on WalMart.com. The boys from Bentonville offer this speaker system with five satellites and a powered subwoofer for a mere . . . $49.88. That makes it the least expensive surround-sound speaker system I've ever encountered — and I've been covering surround-sound speakers since there were only two systems on the market. I had to know: What kind of compromises did JVC make to get the price so low? And could a 5.1 speaker system costing $50 actually sound okay? When I picked up the system at my local Wal-Mart (thus saving the shipping fee), I didn't even need a shopping cart — the 22-pound box was small and light enough to ride on my shoulder. Inside the box were five little plastic satellite speakers, roughly cubic in shape and measuring a little over 4 inches on each side. And under them, a real, honest-to-goodness powered subwoofer, with a power cord and a volume knob (although not much else). The package even included five color-coded speaker cables, though they're probably too short to use in anything larger than a dorm room. Each of the satellites houses a single oval-shaped "racetrack" driver, the frame of which measures 2 by 3.5 inches. The speaker cone itself is about two-thirds that size. It looked as primitive as the driver in the Realistic AM pocket radio I got when I was 7. To my surprise, JVC included a simple crossover in each satellite made up of a resistor and a capacitor in series — .just enough to block deep bass notes that would destroy the tiny driver in short order. In ultra-cheap speakers, the crossover is often the first thing to go because you'd have to disassemble the speaker to know it's missing.

The Short Form

$49.88 (at retail) / JVC.COM / 800-252-5722

Snapshot

An almost impossibly inexpensive 5.1 speaker system. While it does have some strengths, overall sound quality is not good. But if you need a super-affordable little subwoofer to fill out the sound of some minispeakers or a flat-panel TV, buy this system and discard the satellites.

Plus

• Fantastic fit, finish, and design for the price
• Surprisingly competent little subwoofer

Minus

• Tough to balance satellites with subwoofer
• Tough to use with low-powered receivers
• Tough to listen to the satellites for long

Key Features

• Satellite speaker
• 2- by 3.5-inch full-range driver; 4 3/8 in high
• Subwoofer
• 6.5-inch woofer; 100-watt amplifier; 12 in high

From Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to The Simpsons, many of the 20th century's great philosophical works have confronted the question of quality. For Homer Simpson, the answer is easy: Anything is good if it's cheap enough. For the rest of us, the question is more complicated. We know an $8 bottle of scotch won't satisfy, and also that a $500 bottle of scotch is overpriced. But what if it's a $20 bottle claiming to be a single-malt from the Scottish Highlands? Tough question, indeed.

It's the question I faced when I stumbled upon the JVC SXXSW6000 on WalMart.com. The boys from Bentonville offer this speaker system with five satellites and a powered subwoofer for a mere . . . $49.88. That makes it the least expensive surround-sound speaker system I've ever encountered — and I've been covering surround-sound speakers since there were only two systems on the market. I had to know: What kind of compromises did JVC make to get the price so low? And could a 5.1 speaker system costing $50 actually sound okay?

When I picked up the system at my local Wal-Mart (thus saving the shipping fee), I didn't even need a shopping cart — the 22-pound box was small and light enough to ride on my shoulder. Inside the box were five little plastic satellite speakers, roughly cubic in shape and measuring a little over 4 inches on each side. And under them, a real, honest-to-goodness powered subwoofer, with a power cord and a volume knob (although not much else). The package even included five color-coded speaker cables, though they're probably too short to use in anything larger than a dorm room.

Each of the satellites houses a single oval-shaped "racetrack" driver, the frame of which measures 2 by 3.5 inches. The speaker cone itself is about two-thirds that size. It looked as primitive as the driver in the Realistic AM pocket radio I got when I was 7. To my surprise, JVC included a simple crossover in each satellite made up of a resistor and a capacitor in series — .just enough to block deep bass notes that would destroy the tiny driver in short order. In ultra-cheap speakers, the crossover is often the first thing to go because you'd have to disassemble the speaker to know it's missing.

The subwoofer has an ordinary-looking 6.5-inch woofer and an amp rated at 100 watts, both housed in a 12-inch-high, rear-ported enclosure. Its grille is made from acoustically transparent fabric and stretched over a sturdy, curved frame. I'm touched to see that JVC's product designers took the time to bestow even this marginally profitable product with some style.

SETUP

I connected the SXXSW6000 to my usual audio electronics: an Outlaw Model 990 surround-sound processor and an AudioControl Savoy seven-channel amplifier. (Just a pair of the XLR-tipped interconnect cables I used between the amp and the processor cost more than the whole JVC system.) As soon as I whipped out my RadioShack sound-pressure level meter to balance the channels, I knew I was facing a different kind of speaker system.

First, I had to turn the volume way up on the Outlaw to compensate for the ultra-low sensitivity of the satellite speakers. Later measurements revealed that the sats are about 7 decibels less sensitive than an average speaker, which means they need more than four times as much power to hit a given volume level.
When I tried using the Outlaw's internal test tones to set the subwoofer to the same level as the satellites, the bass sounded way too wimpy. I often have to fine-tune the bass by a decibel or two, but in this case, I had to push it up 10 decibels to get a satisfying sound. (My measurements soon told me why.)

I expected that such a small, inexpensive subwoofer would need to be placed in the corner of the room, to take advantage of the bass reinforcement you get there. But the SXXSW6000's sub actually performed its best in the same place where larger subs usually sound best in my room — along the front wall just to the left of my right front speaker. JVC designed the satellites to be crossed over to the sub at 200 hertz. At that high frequency, you can easily detect the sub's position in the room by ear, which is distracting if the sub is in the corner. It's better to keep the sub pretty close to your TV and your center speaker.

PERFORMANCE

First, let's make this clear: This system is definitely worth $50. I'm amazed that JVC can get this thing built in China, ship it across the Pacific, and still find some profit for both the manufacturer and the dealer. The real question is whether or not a $50 system is worth buying at all — i.e., does it represent a significant improvement over the speakers built into your TV?

Also, I should point out that there's nothing inherently bad about such a simple system. Cambridge SoundWorks has offered systems with a small subwoofer and five single-driver satellites since the mid-1990s, and they sound pretty good — sometimes better than costlier, more complex designs. However, Cambridge's current system in this category, the Newton Theater MC55, costs $349, which is seven times the SXXSW6000's price.

After hearing just a few tracks of music, I quickly realized that the little satellite speakers have both surprising strengths and glaring weaknesses. The most surprising strength is voice reproduction. It doesn't mangle vocals and dialogue as you might expect, probably because unlike two-way satellites, there's no woofer/tweeter crossover smack in the middle of vocal range. Vocals sound fairly natural, although noticeably thin. There's no chestiness or bloating with male voices, and because there's not a lot of treble, there's also little to no sibilance.

Certain instruments, including piano, flute, and guitar, also fare better than I expected. When I play simple recordings with just vocal and guitar — such as some of the quieter moments from James Taylor's Live at the Beacon Theatre DVD and Bebel Gilberto's eponymous CD, it's not immediately apparent that I'm hearing the least expensive speakers you can buy at the world's most notoriously low-rent retailer. The instruments that lose the battle are mostly the higher-pitched ones, like cymbals and cabasa; the SXXSW6000 smears them at best and nearly obliterates them at worst.

The tiny satellites fail, though, when they try to reproduce anything with a sharp attack, such as drums, explosions, or gunshots. The little drivers just aren't capable of delivering any impact. A deep Pearl snare drum suddenly sounds like something purchased at Toys R Us. Car crashes sound like someone whacking the bottom of a disposable aluminum roasting pan. (I'm not exaggerating — that's pretty much what they sound like.) Gunshots sound like that same roasting pan being perforated by a Daisy Red Ryder.

The satellites' racetrack drivers can't disperse the treble anywhere near as broadly as a real tweeter can; at higher frequencies, they're extremely directional and focused. As a result, they don't produce an enveloping sound in stereo — nor are they very enveloping when you turn on the surround sound. The surround speakers blare into your ears, making their presence audibly obvious.

Rising above its brothers, the subwoofer surprised me with its competence. It can't muster much output, so it never gives that kick-ass sound you always hope for. But it does sound pleasingly tuneful. When I played Steely Dan's Aja, the little sub sang the grooving, studio-slick bass line with surprising gusto, even though the sound from the satellites reminded me of the system on which I first heard this tune: my mid-'70s Sears portable 8-track player.

BOTTOM LINE

There's no question that offering six functional speakers for $50 is an impressive feat. When you consider that the speakers look nice, JVC's accomplishment seems nearly miraculous. The critics on Amazon.com agree; most of them seem satisfied with the SXXSW6000 despite their acknowledgement of its faults. And if you ask me to cite something better for $50 — or even $100 — I draw a blank.

Indeed, it seems snobby to criticize this system; it's as easy a target as a Paris Hilton CD or a McDonald's hamburger. But just as I wouldn't hesitate to spend $35 for a decent bottle of single-malt rather than $12 for a mass-market blended scotch, I'd rather spend $300 or so for a more competent surround-sound speaker system than $50 for the SXXSW6000.

Test Bench

Frequency response
satellite 145 Hz to 20 kHz ±7.5 dB
subwoofer 51 Hz to 220 Hz ±3 dB

Sensitivity (SPL at 1 meter with 2.8 volts of pink-noise input)
satellite 82 dB
subwoofer N/A
Impedance (minimum/nominal)
satellite 5.8/6.5
subwoofer N/A

Bass limits (lowest frequency and maximum SPL with limit of 10% distortion at 2 meters in a large room)
subwoofer 56 Hz at 85 dB, 93 dB average SPL from 56 to 125 Hz, 99 dB maximum SPL at 100 Hz, bandwidth uniformity 88%

The frequency-response curve of the satellite speaker is weighted to reflect how sound arrives at a listener's ears with normal speaker placement. Measurements of the satellite were made on a 6-foot stand at 1 meter, while the subwoofer's woofer and port were close-miked and their response summed.

Frequency response of the satellite is uneven, as it usually is for single-driver speakers. From the lowest range of the satellite's bandwidth, the response rises by several decibels up to a peak at 2.8 kHz, followed by a sharp dip centered at 5.7 kHz. The broad peak at 2.8 kHz — and the resulting lack of lower midrange response — are the cause of the satellite's perceived thin sound. The good news is that the satellites are fairly well-matched, varying by at most 1.5 dB and within 1 dB of each other at most frequencies.

Within the subwoofer's operating range, its response is impressively even, measuring effectively flat from 51 to 220 Hz. The range is limited, though — below about 56 Hz, distortion rises dramatically. Maximum output of 99 dB at 100 Hz is good for a sub of this size. Interestingly, and wisely, JVC has limited the gain of the 100-watt amplifier in the subwoofer. At many frequencies, we simply couldn't turn the sub up enough (or raise the level of the incoming test signal enough) to get to 10% distortion. In fact, at the peak output frequency, it was impossible to push the distortion past 1.8%.

The impedance of the satellite speakers runs a bit low for a system intended for use with inexpensive electronics. Furthermore, the very low sensitivity of 82 dB demands a great deal of amplifier power — more than four times what a typical speaker might need. This low sensitivity, coupled with the limited power handling of the satellites, makes it impossible to achieve high levels with this system.