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Samsung HT-AS730ST Home Theater System
From Samsung

Home Theater Receiver

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8073 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Black
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: HT-AS730XAA
• Dimensions: 6.50" h x 15.16" w x 17.32" l, 14.50 pounds

Don't Even Think About It!!!!!
Sorry, this is going to be a book.... If I could give this review a MINUS five stars I would. I ordered this unit as I have a LOT of other Samsung products (two flatscreens, Blueray player, monitors, washer/dryer, etc.) and have previously been happy with their products. I wish some of the other reviews had been posted when I ordered, I would have run far and fast.

First, I get the unit, what a nightmare to install, instructions are vague, and non-existent in certain areas, as others have stated, the setup procedure is flawed and isn't all in the manual to begin with. After numerous calls to tech support (in India, I assume from the accents and lack of understanding) I finally got sound out of the unit when watching cable (I had successfully figured out the Blue Ray player and my DVD recorder).

Second, the input choices and radio station presets don't stay when you power down.... I hope you enjoy or get darn good at programming that thing every time you turn it off. It takes three or four pushes and choices to get the sound working again from the cable box. The display is also dim, so if you are at all visually challenged, hang it up, put the glasses on and get real close to see what you are doing. I had this silly notion that because it was a Samsung unit, it would have onscreen display with the TV, shoot, my SONY DVD recorder does....

Third, when I ordered the unit, the Samsung website said under "specifications" that is was "wireless ready-yes" and "wireless module included-yes", well, they LIED, no wireless module in the box. I called them on this and they would supposedly send me a wireless module.... that was back in mid-May and now, over halfway through June, I get a call today that "forget it, we are out of stock on wireless modules and tough cookies, no refunds, no compensation, just tough". Oh, by the way, they changed their website now, but I have printed copies and screenshots of the website stating the wireless module was included.

Fourth, I got the unit May 13th, took me a couple days to install it and it quit working on May 19th, even with the unit completely powered off, the subwoofer had a large amount of feedback hum coming through it. Called Technical service and they said send back the amplifier and the subwoofer, keep all the rest of the stuff there and they would repair it. It takes the slow boat to Samsung in NJ, and they finally receive it on May 28th... according to UPS, because Samsung can't find it, doesn't know where it is, and isn't fixing it. After numerous calls and emails, all of which have to be initiated by me, they decide they will send me out a new unit, this is as of June 9th. I am told I will hear from Customer Executive Service within 48 hours as to what the status is. I call again on June 15th to find out what the heck... only to hear they are holding the new unit hostage until I send back their stupid speakers and remote control THEY told me not to put in the box when I sent the amp and sub back. After umpteen calls to their service, which they won't give you a supervisor, they tell me as soon as UPS shows the box in their system coming back, they will ship the new unit. Today (June 18th), after UPS shows the item in transit, they now state they won't ship the new unit until they get the old parts!!!!! Oh how I love being lied to and held hostage!

I am so sorry I spent my money on another Samsung product, I can't express how amazed I am at their utter lack of professionalism and concern for their customer. Their idea of "customer service" is to have some lackey on the phone going "I'm sorry sir, yes, that isn't right, but there is nothing I can do about it, and no, I can't transfer you to my supervisor...." So, before you spend your hard earned cash, save yourself some grief and go buy another brand, any brand, doesn't matter, can't be as bad as these folks.

A little quirky, but decent value and performance
If you're looking to add surround sound to your HDTV, the HT-AS730ST offers some nice features but is also lacking in a few areas. This should probably be expected given its relatively low price. First off, the system does not include a Blu-ray player or DVD. You'll have to supply that on your own. If you add a Blu-ray, then be sure to connect it to the 730 with an HDMI cable and set its digital audio HDMI output to PCM mode (not bitstream). This is required because the AS730 does not decode the new HD audio codecs (DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD). However, if your player *does* decode these to PCM then you can enjoy these new surround formats on the AS730 in all their lossless beauty.

The set-up (assigning HDMI inputs, etc.) is not entirely intuitive. It took me a little while to find out how to do it, and I've been doing this stuff (professionally) for a long time. Also, the AS730 does not transcode analog inputs (component, S-Video, composite) to digital HDMI outputs, so if you hook up things like a Wii or your iPod, you will also need to hook up a composite video and/or component video cable between the AS730 and your TV. I say "and/or" because for the iPod dock, it definitely requires a composite video cable to your TV but for a Wii, if you are using the component video cable adapter for the Wii then you will need a component video cable from receiver to TV as well.

As for its iPod support, this is really more limited than I expected. Yes, it is compatible with iPhones, and most iPods (except the Shuffle with its non-standard pin outs) but there was no on-screen interface while navigating through content. The Samsung remote does operate the iPod but you have to look at the little iPod display to see what's happening. And by the way, you *CAN* output video from the iPod to your TV, but to do so, you need to turn the external TV display ON in your iPod *and* you need to connect the afore-mentioned composite video cable from the AS730 receiver to your TV.

In terms of sound quality, the AS730 system is a little better than OK. It's certainly *much* better than the sound from virtually any TV and it does create a nice discrete surround sound field when watching movies or other surround-encoded content. But the subwoofer is a little boomy and not terribly extended and its integration with the small satellite speakers leaves a bit of a gap in the mid to upper bass. Also, fine details in the mix can be a bit muddy when compared to 5.1 speaker systems from known dedicated speaker brands (e.g., Polk, Boston Acoustics, Energy, Aperion Audio, NHT, etc.).

As others have pointed out, there is nothing especially "wireless" about this system. The speaker outputs are all standard speaker wire outs, and adding wireless speaker capability can be done via Samsung kits (hard to find) or 3rd party wireless speaker modules. The AS730 system comes with 5 speakers and a powered subwoofer (5.1) but the amplifier itself does support 7.1 channel output with the addition of rear channel speakers (not included). You'd be best off using 4 ohm speakers to match the impedance of the included satellite speakers.

The AS730 does have some nice features -- 3 HDMI inputs, auto-speaker calibration, 7.1-channel support, iPod integration -- and offers decent value for money, but it falls a bit short in the area of performance and usability. Prospective buyers might want to check out Panasonic's SC-BT200 instead which sells for about the same price but includes 7 speakers plus subwoofer (7.1 right out of the box) as well as better iPod integration *and* a built-in BD-Live-enabled Blu-ray player.

A full review of the AS730 system is available on Big Picture Big Sound dot com.

not quite there yet
This hone theater looks nice, sounds pretty good, but operation is not quite logical or easy to decipher.

I bought this to go with my new samsung led hd tv. The tv has lots of hdmi inputs but it's surprising weakness is that the digital optical audio output does not pass through the various surround sound signals from the hdmi inputs. It just puts out an enhanced 2 speaker signal. I found this surprising for their top of the line tv. Even the salesmen did not believe me when samsung's customer support finally figured this out for me. So, I found I needed a home theater that could switch audio sources. This system seemed to be the answer.
It does perform this function, however, I found that the system did not save the settings I was using to get the best sound. I found I had to select the sound source and input slot every time I turned it on. Samsung's customer support, level 2, were incredulous that this was the case, but could not tell me how to make it work as one might expect, keep the same freaking settings when you turn it off and on again.
Also, I needed to read the manual multiple times to even figure out the settings and I had to play with it a bit when the manual did not have sufficient directions. Customer support was not really much better than the manual. In fact, some of their instructions did not work as they described, but I managed to figure the settings I needed with experimentation.
This was my second try at a samsung home theater. The first try revealed the weakness the tv audio output and samsung design and customer service. This try reinforced my disappointment in samsung design and customer service. I finally decided that the operation was too complex and I just could not accept the weakness of samsung engineering and customer service.
I returned the system. Amazon made the return easy, but they did take their cut.
If you are willing to buy an expensive remote to perform a chain of instructions with one button push, or are willing to go through a process each time you turn it on, you would probably be happy with this system.