Big Picture Big Sound

We Have You (Virtually) Surrounded

Everyone wants to be surrounded. Surrounded by sound that is. Simple stereo just doesn't cut it anymore. But some living rooms, or studio apartments, or dorm rooms just don't lend themselves well to multiple speaker boxes and wires running all over the place. And some folks just don't want the complexity of a sophisticated home theater receiver and multi-channel discrete speaker set-up. They just want to plug in a cable or two, hook up a box or two, press play and crank up all that surround sound goodness, and this is why the Sharp SD-SP10 Digital Home Theater came into being.

I first heard the Sharp unit at a Dolby road show in Manhattan. The Dolby rep switched it in while I was distracted by the tasty high def images on Samsung's Blu-Ray Disc player. The fact that I didn't immediately realize that the $2,000 7.1-channel discrete surround system had been replaced for a $350 one-box virtual surround system was pretty impressive, but would the illusion hold up under more controlled listening conditions, using more familiar material? That is the question.


Form Factor

The SD-SP10 is comprised of two boxes: one main speaker/control unit, with built-in amplication and surround processor, plus a separate subwoofer to reproduce the bass frequencies. The main cabinet is small enough to sit discretely on top of a cable box or in an entertainment center, but do make sure it has space to "breathe," i.e. no obstructions in front of or directly beside the speakers that could obstruct the sound's free dispersion. The main cabinet's dimensions (17" x 4 1/8" x 10 3/4") -- specifically its 10.75-inch depth -- make it impractical to mount directly on the wall below a flat panel TV, but it would sit nicely on a shelf.

The subwoofer is a slim (4.5" wide) upright model that can be placed out of the way in a corner, next to an A/V rack or along a wall without disrupting the listening room's decor. Unlike the Polk Audio SurroundBar, which we reviewed last month, the Sharp unit requires no external receiver or surround processor. You simply connect your DVD player, cable box, TV and/or iPod into the control unit, and then you control the volume, input selection and surround mode with the Sharp's included remote control.

The Set Up

Unboxing and setting up the Sharp unit was pretty straightforward. I plugged the control unit into the subwoofer with the included speaker cable, hooked up a DVD player's fiberoptic digital output into the Sharp's digital input, and plugged the control unit into the wall and I was ready to go. At first, the remote seemed more complicated than it needed to be, but I soon realized that it includes controls for a DVD player and TV as well as the various controls of the unit itself.

Unfortunately the Sharp's options for TV brands did not include Vizio or Syntax (the TVs currently in the Big Picture Big Sound labs for review), but setting the remote up to control a Pioneer DVD player was simple and worked perfectly the first time. And with that I was able to control input selection, switch surround mode and operate the DVD player with this slim little remote. Pretty neat.

Ergonomics and Features

For an inexpensive one-piece surround system, the SD-SP10 is pretty flexible. It includes one coax and two fiberoptic digital inputs plus three analog stereo (RCA) inputs. So you can hook up a DVD player, a digital cable box or OTA tuner, a VCR and an iPod and still have room for two more sources. Each of the digital inputs has its own input selection button on the remote which allows the unit to work well with external programmable remotes such as a Logitech Harmony or Home Theater Master unit. To access the analog inputs you cycle through the 3 options using the "line" button on the remote.


The remote also includes volume control (of course) as well as a subwoofer level adjustment, which is a nice touch if you like your bass levels adjusted differently for music and movies. Plus there are buttons to enable or disable "Intelligent Volume" (dynamic range compression) as well as the "Natural Bass" feature which adds a solid low end heft to the bass response without getting overly boomy. In addition, the remote allows you to adjust the myriad surround settings including Dolby Virtual Surround, "Audistry by Dolby" settings and pre-set virtual surround modes. The remote does not feature backlighting so you'll need some light in your room until you get familiar with the location of the various buttons.

The unit supports PCM digital, multi-channel Dolby Digital and DTS digital input formats, as well as two-channel analog stereo or mono inputs. It can then process these surround modes into one of several pre-set surround sound modes to create virtual surround sound from a single box and subwoofer. The unit's size makes it easy to integrate into just about any system. It fits nicely under a cable box or on top of a DVD player, and it features pop-out feet in the front that allow you to angle the speakers toward your ears in case you've placed the unit below ear level.

The control unit itself features a variety of green LED lights which indicate different modes and states. These are useful to indicate whether a feature (like "Natural Bass") is engaged or disengaged, but are not particularly useful to tell the difference between surround modes since there is no clear indication (from the front) which light corresponds with which surround mode. There is also a two-position LCD display to identify surround pre-set mode, input selected and volume or subwoofer level. In all, the display is fairly basic, but functional, particularly given the price point.

The only ergonomic "challenge" I found was that there are so many settings on the unit, that it's hard to keep straight which mode or feature was engaged and active at any time. And there is some redundancy as well, the "Surround mode" of "LA" (late night) seems to produce an effect similar to "Intelligent Volume" under the "Audistry by Dolby" settings. And some of the Audistry settings are complementary to Dolby Virtual Speaker settings, yet some are mutually exclusive. I think the only improvement that could be made here would be to simplify, and possible remove, some of the different settings and incorporate all of the different surround modes into one system instead of having separate "Audistry" and "Dolby Virtual Speaker" sections on the remote.

Listening Sessions

We've recently completed a review of the Polk Audio SurroundBar, another one-box system that simulates surround sound without the need of rear speakers. The Polk unit includes neither a subwoofer, nor a surround processor or amplifier. Once you add those pieces in, it's about a $1,500 system. I was curious to see whether the substantially less expensive Sharp system could approach the performance of the Polk, and I was pleasantly surprised.

For source material, I used standard stereo CDs (classical, rock, jazz and techno), DTS multi-channel CDs and an assortment of movies and movie test clips on DVD, which featured both Dolby Digital and DTS multi-channel surround soundtracks.

In its Dolby Virtual Speaker "C1" (cinema 1) surround mode, the SD-SP10 presents a reasonable approximation of surround sound without speakers being placed behind you while maintaining a fairly neutral sonic balance. The center channel level was slightly recessed in the mix, but dialog was still clearly audible at most times. The SD-SP10 is not quite as successful as the Polk SurroundBar in creating a wide front soundstage from a single cabinet, but it's also much smaller, more fully featured and much less expensive. On certain content (like the "Adrenaline Rush" segment on the DTS "Alive!" sampler DVD), it really did create the illusion of speakers behind the listening position. Other movie segments from "The Incredibles" and "Fifth Element" produced similar effects, but mostly the sound from the SD-SP10 is "spacious" without truly being "surrounding."


When I asked my wife to sit in for a demo of a segment from "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King", she pointed out some flaws in the picture (of an LCD flat panel we have in for review), but she didn't even notice that our discrete multi-channel surround system was off, with all the sound being delivered by the 2 little Sharp boxes. High praise indeed from a woman with serious attention to detail.

In the Sharp's "LA" mode (for "LAte night), sound levels are normalized or compressed - loud sounds are made quieter and quiet sounds are made louder. This gives the dialog level a welcome boost, and allows you to listen to movies or music at a moderate level without worrying about missing the dialog or diving for the remote when the gunshots ring out, but it does remove some of the dynamic and impact. The best recommendation I can make is to play around with the different modes and settings and decide which mode sounds the best to your ears.

For music listening (standard 2-channel CDs), I preferred the "Audistry By Dolby" Sound Space mode which creates a wide and deep front soundstage, without a simulated rear channel. Of all the different modes, this seemed to be the most natural with music, and created the most three dimensional soundstage from standard two-channel material. Another element of the Audistry settings is something called "Natural Bass" which boosts the mid to low bass slightly (similar to a "loudness" control), but without adding too much boom. I found that I missed the bass when "Natural Bass" was off so I left it on for most of my listening sesssions.

I dabbled with the subwoofer level settings (adjustable from -8 to +8), finding that anything above the "1" or "2" setting produced too much bass output relative to the midrange (for my tastes) and a little too much chestiness in male vocals or spoken dialog. The subwoofer produces solid bass, but its output is a bit limited in level and extension by virtue of its small cabinet and low power rating. Fortunately the Sharp does include a line-level subwoofer output, so the bass-hungry among us (guilty!) can use the SD-SP10 with an external powered subwoofer. I tested this and it worked extremely well, with the subwoofer volume controls still working properly to control the levels of the attached powered subwoofer. I had to set the crossover of the external sub pretty high (close to 120 Hz) in order to get a proper blend, but this is to be expected from such small main speakers. The fact that Sharp allows you to upgrade the sub is a very nice feature.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the SD-SP10 creates a punchy, dynamic sonic presentation with an expansive virtual soundstage. It was easy to forget that I was listening to two little boxes, instead of a discrete multi-channel surround system. To get the most convincing illusion of surround, however, you do need to be sitting in the sweet spot, directly in front of the main unit. Straying off-center, the sound still had a pleasant non-fatiguing character, but the illusion of depth was greatly diminished. The tonal character of the speakers cannot compete with more expensive systems in terms of neutrality and dynamic range, but it holds its own against other speaker-only systems in its price class.

But the SD-SP10 is so much more than just a speaker system. With its plethora of inputs, built-in power and surround processing and robust remote control, the SD-SP10 offers excellent value in the one-box surround sound category. The SD-SP10 Digital Home Theater represents an excellent, dare I say "mandatory" upgrade to the speakers built into the flat panel TVs that are flying off the shelves this holiday season. Recommended.

Where to Buy:

• Sharp SD-SP10 on SharpUSA.com

Specifications from the Manufacturer

• Surround Sound Formats: Dolby® Digital, Dolby® Pro Logic® II, DTS®
• Output Power: 140 Watts (total)
• Amplification System: 1-Bit Digital Amplification
• Full Function Remote Control
• Power Output: 35 Watts per channel (main speakers), 70 WPC (subwoofer)
• Surround Sound Type: Dolby® Virtual Speaker
• Inputs: Optical Digital x 2, Coaxial Digital x 1, Analog Stereo (RCA type) x 3
• Outputs: Subwoofer pre-out and speaker-level out
• Separate Subwoofer Volume Control: Via Remote (Subwoofer level)
• Subwoofer Power: 70 Watts
• Video Shielded Speakers: Yes, Front Speaker
• Remote EQ Settings: Standard, Cinema, Announcer Sound, Sports, Late
• Easy Connect Speaker System: Yes
• Display, LED and LCD front panel displays
• Function Selector: Yes
• ENERGY STAR®: Yes
• Limited Warranty: One year parts and labor from date of purchase
• Dimensions: Main Unit: 17" x 4 1/8" x 10 3/4", Subwoofer: 4 1/2" x 16 1/2" x 17 1/8"
• Weight 23.6 lbs. (Speaker and Subwoofer)

What's in the Box?

• Control Unit/Main Speaker
• Subwoofer
• Subwoofer stand
• Remote Control
• AAA batteries X 2
• Analog Stereo Patch Cable (RCA type)
• Quick Start Guide
• User Manual

Manufacturer's Contact Information:

Sharp Electronics Corporation
Sharp Plaza
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430

Telephone Numbers:
• Customer Assistance Center: 1-800-BE-SHARP (1-800-237-4277)
• Corporate Headquarters: (201) 529-8200

Web site: www.SharpUSA.com