iLive IHT3817DT iPod Room Speaker

I saw this product in Target a couple days ago. I plugged my iPod in out of curiosity, and played a few songs including recordings of: Nessun Dorma sung by Pavarotti, Do you know you are my Sunshine? by the Statler Brothers, A Moment so Close by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and Forsaken by Dream Theater. The product performed a huge cut above all other iPod speakers that were available anywhere near its price of $249 in Target. The midrange was intelligible and fairly natural sounding even at moderately loud listening levels. (Speaking in terms normally reserved for actual stereo speaker systems.) This does not sound like just another iPod system. Its output capability is well beyond most iPod systems. The bass is not prodigious, however it does offer a subwoofer out to add a powered sub. I've been reading other reviews of this system across the net, and it seems most people are just looking for lots of boom in the bottom end.



I cannot stand excessive bass, especially when you cannot hear the words to the song because the mids/tweeters are lacking so severely in quality and intelligibility. I could actually hear what was happening in the music with this system. It won't shake your floor, because it's designed to have something most people don't understand: Balanced sound. It's not going to replace a good pair of B&W or other high end speakers, but it's a massive step up from the average iPod speaker system. Think of it as a larger and higher-output version of a Bose sound-dock.



Inputs and outputs are massively impressive for an iPod system. 2 full RCA video ins, and a video out for your TV. Subwoofer out, AM/FM antenna connections. Wall-mountable, and fits nicely beneath a 32" LCD TV.



One thing to note... the iPod dock does seem a bit flimsy compared to the rest of the system. In fact, in the one I tested, it was working, but the display on the front of the dock itself was not functioning at all. I was able to use my iPod, but had to use the non-synced mode. I am assuming that's simply because it was in Target and kids always destroy everything they can get their hands on in those stores. 90 day warranty is pretty standard, and not impressive.



Overall, I rate the product very high in the sound quality and available features areas. Build quality is excellent **with the exception of the dock itself-somewhat sub-standard. If you want a speaker system that can accept source inputs from your DVD/Gaming/other systems as well as play Radio and iPod music, and mounts conveniently under your TV or on its own stand, this one seems in a class of its own for now.