Pioneer HTS 560DV

The Pioneer HTS-560DV is a home-theater system with an ultracompact control unit, four two-way, high-gloss black tower speakers, a compact center speaker and a powered subwoofer. The included DVD player offers an HDMI output with 720p/1080i...

The subwoofer is overly boomy, and the tower speakers underperform. The subwoofer-based input/output jacks may pose location and wiring challenges. The menu system is less than intuitive.

Pioneer's HTS-560DV system looks pretty slick and comes with a full roster of features including automatic speaker calibration and HDMI output, but its sound quality is lackluster, especially for music.