Page 1 of Safeways Lenoxx HT-500 even better deal - £125 from today (08/01/03)

Hi.

Read on this forum about it being £149.99 normally then went down to £129.99. Well its even better value for money now as its on offer this week for only £125! Went down to my local Safeways branch at 8am this morning (wanted to make sure I didn`t miss out!) and picked mine up.

Its an awesome piece of kit especially for only £125! You get 5 sattelite speakers, a sub woofer and the DVD player which can be region hacked by:

- open drawer
- press `language` once
- press `return` three times
- select 0 for multi region

And it works fine. Tried one of my region 1 DVD`s (xXx if your interested) and it works fine. Plays RCE fine. Dolby Digital 5.1 AND it plays DTS aswell! This is not advertised though, but it seems to work!

Anyway, the Milton Keynes branch of Safeways had a huge stack of them so if your looking for one and can`t find it - try there (if your nearby!)

A very satisfied customer :o)

Without wishing to be seen as a `brand snob`, who the bejesus are Lenoxx ???

USA Electronics company.
http://www.lenoxx.com/

Wouldn`t dream of accusing yourself or anyone as a brand snob, but in my personal opinion, I don`t agree with paying hundreds of pounds for a system! Especially when, in most cases, the components used in the cheaper brands are supplied by the companies who produce the bigger more expensive players Sony, Technics etc.

The saying `you get what you pay for` (when used in the context that more expensive items are better quality) is redundant in this day in age, especially with supermarkets playing a big part on cutting costs. Anyone paying hundreds of pounds for a system, is only paying for the brand - nothing more.

Like I said though, I`ve got no beef with people who do spend huge amounts, thats down to them. As long as I`m happy with what I`ve got, that my happiness and satisfaction far exceeds my expectations considering what I`ve spent then I`m cool. If I wasn`t happy, I`d take it back.

Peace.

Sorry chris, i really couldnt disagree more.

People buy reputable brand names because they have become reputable for a reason, and any company to establish itself word-wide in the electronics industry has done that through good product engineering and customer care.

Myself i have a Pioneer unit, i paid £200 and it was reduced from £500. Now id be quite happy for you too bring your system to my house and have them running side by side so i can demonstrate the difference in sound/features/performance.

Im not saying that the Lenoxx system you bought is a bad buy at all, but what im saying is it serves a purpose and it built to a budget. In my opinion and having looked at them 3 wks ago, id think they would be suitable for a small bedroom, or as a second player with ease. As correct me if im wrong but 5w rms per speaker, and 35w for the sub isnt a substansial amount to make a large enjoyable soundstage in a decent size living room, and thats through experience. You need some `Umpf` to get the sound travelling in a large room. So back to my point, the components id think will be DVD-Rom computer drive parts coupled with possibly something resembling a 5.1 sound card also meant for a pc, companies often modify them as the parts come cheap, failing that they may be clearance stock from other companies which they have bought on the cheap.

After sales service, well i dont know about you, but after sals service is part of what you pay for when you buy from a decent company. You have the reassurance that god willing anything goes wrong, you can be on the dog n bone and arrange for a replacement, then theres the 5 year warranty a lot of top end systems adhere too. Basically mate, if anything goes wrong with your system, then your relying on Safeway (a company i worked for while studying) to get you out of a mess, and believe me when i tell you their customer service isnt always the best which large order goods.

Basically mate, in my opinion it still and always for the forseeable future come down to `get what you pay for` im afraid. Companies are just told, "right we need a low end system for £200 no more", and so they build it too that price.

However like i said at the start, theres no reason you shouldnt be pleased with your purcahse. But neither should you be trying to tell people `its not worth buying a good system` when its clearly not true. Now enjoy your generic remote control and faulty closing door mechanism.

Good day.

Well I couldn`t disagree with YOU more, so I guess that makes us even.

Poppycock! Why they don`t readily admit it, the main attraction for people is price. If it weren`t, why was there such a hoo-ha about supermarkets selling Levi jeans cheap? Why did the supermarket strive to offer Levis cheap? Because they new they would sell at that price.

Besides all that, what gives you the right to tell people it is worth buying a good system. And further to that, if you`d read my reply properly you`d have noticed that I stated `IMO` (in my opinion).

So enjoy your expensive player while I enjoy mine and also go buy some DVDs, maybe some clothes, might treat myself to dinner out, go to the cinema etc. with the remaining money I`ve saved by purchasing a budget system.

Had a look at the website
It`s looks are, em, `different`, but then America isn`t exactly known for styling expertise. Just look at their cars.
I see it doesn`t have a scart connection, which is a pain, but then plenty of other much more expensive one-box solutions miss that out as well. Personally I`d rather buy a seperate DVD and surround system so I DID have a scart connection.
But as you say, horses for courses. Perhaps I am a brand snob after all, although I prefer the term ` quality snob `.
I blame my mother for trying to make me wear ` mangler ` jeans to school all those years ago.

Hi all,

Why not read the rather extensive thread on this player further down the list before throwing accusations? :)

The R1 player you see on the American website doesn`t have a scart socket. You`re right. The R2 player you buy from Safeway DOES have a scart socket. ;) Oh, and the 5 sat. speakers are 15w RMS each, and the sub is 25w - however the player will provide up to 5x20w and 35w on the relevant channels.

The player does multi-region and RCE and DTS and MP3 and VCD and SVCD and CD-R and DVD-R and Jpeg and comes with everything you need to get up and running for home cinema (other than DVDs and a TV :) all for £125. Yes, it is a "cheap" brand name. Yes, it isn`t a "loud" system. But not everyone is stone deaf and sits at the back of the lounge 10ft from the TV!!

This player makes an excellent starter kit for someone who wants to make the first step on the road to home cinema. And for people like me that already have the whole kit & caboodle, it makes an excellent - and cheap - second kit for the bedroom/spare room/kitchen!

If you`d rather spend another £750 kitting out the bedroom just so you can watch your import DVDs in bed, then that`s your choice! :)

Kev

The Lenoxx HT-500 `does` have a SCART connection. Reason could be that SCART is European in nature so the American models probably don`t have a SCART connection. The one I bought today does and I`m assuming the model was altered in production to include a SCART connection for us UK users.

It doesn`t win anything for size - its quite a wide DVD player. The hieght is about average - again, not very slim though. Speakers look nice though.

I`ve never been a follower of fashion as a kid, was never fussed about buying/wanting `Reebok` trainers, `Levi` jeans, `Sony` electronics or whatever. I guess it all boils down to how you were brought up and how `well off` you were/are. I`m more conscious now, but `budgeting` still plays a big part in my choice purchases. I`d still rather buy budget or unbranded goods - but only after researching a little. I certainly don`t jump straight in and buy something becuase its cheap. I mean, this DVD player/home theater package, I researched all day yesterday on the internet, read reviews, read forum posts, user responses. In this case the majority were satisfied or more so.

Call yourself what you want, I certainly don`t think your any kind of `snob`. Its not my position nor in my nature to judge. My main point was if your happy with the product you`ve bought, and your happy with the ammount you`ve spent - everythings cool.

Just picked one up (Safeways in Yate, had about 7 or so left) after seeing the other thread about it.

I am under no illusion about the quality I will be able to get from this machine, I do not expect it to out-perform higher-priched machines. I picked it up as it is a very cheap "all in one box" solution to use until I upgrade. When I come to get a "proper" system I can always sell it on, or use it in another room, or even give it away to a member of the family.


It definitely DOES have a scart socket on the back (the lenoxx website appears to only show the US model). I asked someone else who had one, and even double checked at the checkout to make sure :)

Couldn`t have put it better myself Kevin. Anyone whos got one of these kits, I`m sure will agree with the statement that its `excellent value for money`. If they aren`t happy, certainly take it back - I know I would.

I often wonder how people judge a systems sound level? I mean, I know speakers have their different ratings but also peoples hearing isn`t always the same. Some people have sensitive hearing others don`t. I mean, I find the Lenoxx system loud and certainly loud enough for me to hear.

I`m satisfied and happy with it, thats all that matters to me, and I`ll certainly defend my purchase against people who`ll judge me as `cheap` or look down on me for buying a `non-big brand product`.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 8th January 2003, 14:43