There are likely two kinds of people in the world, at least when it comes to home theater surround sound. There are those who see the speakers and accept, perhaps even embrace the need to run speaker cables around the room; and these people consider the various options of going in the walls, under floors or just neatly on the perimeter. And then there are those that can't deal with any of the above and opt to go wirelessly, or forgo the whole surround sound experience entirely.
While we feel for the latter camp, and do our best to convince them of the merits of surround sound, there is actually hope for them. Apparently the consumer electronics makers also feel for those people as well, and Panasonic has just begun shipping the SC-ZT2, its first fully wireless home theater audio system, and to boot this one is made to be compatible with Full HD 3D TV systems as well. It is now in stores, and ready to be set up. Since it is wireless, it also means it might take longer to get the speakers out of the box than it will it to get them connected.
The Panasonic SC-ZT2 (MSRP: $999.95) is a fully wireless, design-matching solution that is made to play nicely with the company's own Full HD 3D source components and 3D TV displays, such as the Panasonic DMP-BDT350 Blu-ray 3D player and the VT20 and VT25 series of full HD 3D TV plasma displays. The system also provides surround sound meant to sound as full as a 7.1-channel system, with just two speakers.
With HDMI 1.4 compatibility, the SC-ZT2's control unit features Audio Return Channel (ARC) support, so it can receive an audio signal from the TV through the same single HDMI cable used to feed the TV its 3D video, without the need of its own separate optical or analog audio cable. The system also supports Full HD 3D images and video pass-through from a Blu-ray 3D player to a 3D-enabled display. The SC-ZT2 relies on Panasonic's proprietary virtual technology, so users can take advantage of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD 7.1-channel surround sound with just the two powered wireless speakers.
The Panasonic SC-ZT2 wireless audio system includes two ultra slim pole speakers and a wireless receiver. Each sleek tower houses four one-inch tweeters, which are vertically aligned to emit sounds parallel to the floor, enhanced with an integrated long-stroke woofer for the low-end. These use a Down-Firing design that actually uses the floor as an acoustical reflector so that bass comes from all directions.
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