Review of the JVC THP7 Home Cinema System

JVC has attempted to enter the mid to lower end of the home cinema market with this TH-P7 tallboy system, but it's bit on the basic side. 

Design

If keeping up with the Joneses is all you want to do, you’re right on track with these expensive-looking speakers.  The main unit sits modestly svelte and looks great surrounded by the slim speaker foursome.  However, before the neighbours pop round make sure you hide the orthopaedic-looking subwoofer and centre speaker.  If you were wanting to wall mount the speakers the top half is removable making this possible.   

The JVC TH-P7 home cinema system's spec list makes it immediately obvious that it is an entry level home cinema system.  Features are few and far between compared to some of the more sophisticated systems.  The main unit houses the amplification system and speaker connections.  A USB input can be found on the front panel allowing you to watch photo slide shows or listen to you MP3 files, however the TH-P7 is only compatible with some digital devices, and the iPod isn’t one of them.  Compatibility is a bit of a sore point for the JVC TH-P7 in all fairness.  It only caters for DVD-video, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DiVX, MP3, WMA, and JPEG playback, which is on the basic side even for an entry level system.  You can also forget DVD-RAM and audio DVD playback too.  On the plus side though, it has got an FM/AM tuner along with connectivity for an antenna to receive signals.  Other connectivity includes component video-out, Scart, S-video, and a headphone jack.  JVC has failed to give the TH-P7 the flexibility of routing external sources through it. 

Easy assembly is always a good starting point when reviewing devices, so we were glad to find the process was easily completed in under 15 minutes.  The component video signals were fantastic, providing some smashing colours which were full and vibrant.  The screen was really brought to life after we had fine-tuned the picture settings.  Coming close to the great picture performance is the audio offerings from the TH-P7.  Apart from lacking that extra bit off oomph provided by the missing bass levels of the sub woofer, the audio was clear and intense.   Noticeable knee-knocking occurred when we put the TH-P7 to the volume cranking test, giving away that the speakers struggled with high volume levels. 

The JVC THP7 is a decent entry-level home cinema system that provides smashing colours and clear and intense sound; although we would have liked to see higher bass levels on the sub woofer. 

We felt the JVC TH-P7 home cinema system lacked a bit of power, and the poor USB compatibility was a real turn-off.