After sticking with my Technics SCH900 Dolby ProLogic system for 10 years - (IMO - it was the last of the great Technics systems…), we finally pensioned it off for something a bit more modern. Looking for a DD/DTS mini system I was considering the Denon AVF100 or TEAC Reference 550 until I caught a glimpse of TEAC’s latest line!

After scouting the web through the usual online AV suppliers, I gave Ben at Discount Electrical a call. His was (as past experience had been) the cheapest deal around. So, the credit card was debited and I awaited a shiny new TEAC Legacy 800 system…

The Main Parts

• DV-L800 DVD Player
• AG-L800 AV Surround Receiver
• RC-L800 Remote Control
• Mission FS1-AV NXT Speakers (including optional stands)

Installation

Pretty easy but there a lot of cables!

DVD -> AV Receiver :
Optical cable (supplied) for digital audio stream.
Remote Control management cable (allows the AV Receiver to control the DVD - power, etc.)

DVD -> TV not included :sarcasm:
Fully wired 21 pin SCART connector (not supplied). I used my existing IXOS AV126 part. Note: SCART is a European standard that the ‘rest of the world (America) know pretty much nothing about!

AV Receiver -> Satellite, TV and VCR (all not included)
Profigold audio leads (phono connectors) for decoding of Dolby Pro Logic (II) source material.

AV Receiver -> Mission Speaker System
Mission supply an umbilical cord style cable that routes all speaker output to the Mission sub-woofer.
From the sub, the cables are distributed to each of the 5 speakers using moulded (and therefore fixed length) cables.
The receiver has binding posts for easy connection and also supports the LFE output connector.

Features

TEAC’s web site should give you enough detail so I’ll be brief here!

Sound: The receiver can decode (Dolby Pro Logic/II, Dolby Digital (DD 5.1/AC-3) and Digital Theater System (DTS). There is no provision for extended speaker systems (-EX).

Picture: Progressive scan which is available ONLY when using the component video connection. SCART (RGB) and several S-Video connections also available.

Remote: Single fully programmable touch screen remote control.

Setup

I’m not an audiophile :music: but as everyone does, I know what I like!

It took quite a while to set the speakers up to offer uniform sound across the different types of source material. Adjustments can be made on size (small/large) of a speaker pair (front, rear, centre) and the presence of a sub. Individual speakers may be adjusted to suit different shape rooms/listening abilities.

Before reading the manual carefully, I had the DVD stacked on top the AV Receiver. All fair enough you’d think considering the number of ‘promotional’ shots showing the units in this configuration. Ah no, there must be around 5cm’s ‘breathing’ space above the AV Receiver making the ‘preferred’ configuration impossible. I had noticed that the AV Receiver’s fan had started up a few times so I’ve now moved it so it’s side-by-side… the fan is reasonably quiet but can be heard during quiet scenes.

The DVD has the standard set of options as far as output goes. You can choose the TV type (Widescreen, LB, 4:3, etc.), the type of signal (PAL) and whether you want to send RGB. As for audio output, the unit outputs audio at 96Khz but can downmix to 48Khz should your (existing receiver not be able to decode the higher). You can choose between digital (bitsream) or analogue (PCM) output types and whether options like Dolby ProLogic are enabled. The menu system here has a ‘basic’/'export’ mode but neither are that exciting.

My player was delivered region locked to 2 (UK) so I obtained the procedure to unlock it (which is all done with the remote supplied as standard). The unlock does what one would expect.

The speakers are easily placed in the room as they are only 3.5cm deep. My rears are screwed to the wall about 3 feet about my ears when seated. The fronts are 18″ either side of TV on the optional stands. The sub is very thoughtfully designed to fill the void in the corner of the room (in my case obscured by a chair) and so the mass of cables are not usually noticed.

Product In Use

Sitting down to a movie with good sound & picture was a real treat! Most of my collection is Dolby Digital and the step up from Dolby Pro Logic was simply amazing. The Mission NXT based speakers do an astounding job on movie sound effects. The sub is powerful and adds volumes to the experience cool.

DTS audio sources (Gladiator, Speed - Special Edition) have persuaded me that DTS can be a tad better than ’standard’ Dolby Digital. It’s obviously very subjective as DTS’s output is very slightly higher than that of DD so the mind is slightly tricked into thinking louder is probably better. Whatever, both types of audio source will put a grin on your face when you’re watching.

Dolby ProLogic material (for me) is limited to compatible TV movies and Sky Digital (not +). I’ve not watched many Sky movies of late but the sound separation is good. Whether DPL-2 makes any difference (over std DPL) I’ve not really had enough of a serious listen to conclude anything.

CD Audio - now this is where (in my case) things aren’t what they should be. Now, i’ve done a fair bit of twiddling but I still CANNOT get good CD audio. Whatever I adjust I simply get flat midrange sound from the front NXTs. Pseudo DPL from CD audio is fairly nasty so I’ve put it to standard Stereo. I’ve spoken to Mission about this and they’ve not come back as yet (I don’t hold out much hope as it was ‘in a hour or so’ a week ago). I’ll update this should the situation be improved. Basically, I’ve got serious bass and bright sound but not much middle. The setting for the sub (on/off) doesn’t seem to do anything (when outputting Stereo) so it has quite a low output setting as to not swamp the fronts.

The remote is OK but it offers such a great promise but fails to deliver all that was expected. Once programmed it’s a reasonable device with the hard buttons welcome and LCD key presses easily recognised. The problems you will have is when you hook it up to your PC and attempt to design a custom layout.

Problems:

• Codes are not implicitly recognised (i.e. cannot obtain a code set from elsewhere and simply download it to the remote)
• Layout is very fixed (not possible to redo button icons/text)
• Software is very very (VERY) poor, crashes, has awful English translation (probably the worst I’ve seen)
• Zero useful support available.
• I’ve managed to blank pages on the remote control after downloading new layouts.

The remote control issues are not entirely TEAC’s fault as they are simply rebranding an existing remote control for their system. So, the poor utility software is down to SunWave and going by posts in the Remote Central user forums - don’t expect any improvement.

Although I wanted this review to be fully positive, it cannot be. The unit shows it has several rough edges although all these seem to be with the DVD player:

• Cannot select menu of DVD unless disc is playing.
• Player ignores play (or other button) whilst Loading is displayed - which can takes ages sometimes
• Player selects obscure audio tracks for movie. i.e. directors commentary
• Along the same lines, subtitles have appeared by default
• Unit has ‘failed’ requiring a power cycle to bring it back from the dead. This has happened 4 times since I’ve had the unit and this is around 1 in 50 times. Last time it happened it wouldn’t power on - both LEDs merely flashed 3 times and nothing happened! TEAC may well know what the flashes mean but here’s the crunch - they are IMPOSSIBLE to get hold off. This is a specialised piece of kit and there’s no-one else to turn to - it is important that TEAC address this problem ASAP!

Conclusion

Pros

• Looks the part.
• Has serious power providing good audio clarity with plenty of headroom
• Audio and Visual outputs to suit everyone’s need.
• Supports decoding of all mainstream audio streams.
• Quality of unit and product as a whole.

Cons

• Stability of DVD player
• Remote Control is not as good as expected (usage is good, programmability is poor)
• Fan noise can be a little intrusive - and not being able to stack the units.
• Abysmal customer service - perhaps the worst company I’ve ever dealt with. You will be EXTREMELY lucky if first of all get anyone to speak to you and secondly be of any help. My advice, avoid if possible

A very capable unit that is sometimes let down by stability issues in the DVD firmware. I’ve yet to make contact with anyone from TEAC to report these issues and to ask whether an updated image is possible. The other concern is a lack of mid range for audio CDs. From tests, all other sound sources seem OK so it would seem to be CD related. I don’t know what this means and again no-one has helped out! I haven’t regretted buying the system although for the ticket price I was very disappointed to have the issues.

An Update

The DVD player has since chewed up one of my DVDs a few weeks back. No problem I thought, send it back to the shop as it was still under guarantee. Oh dear, that’s where it all starts to fall apart.

Discount Electrical send the unit (and my damaged DVD) to TEAC for repair who return it saying no fault found on the unit. They even have the cheek to suggest I have spilt something on the disc and cleaning it off caused the damage myself (that is of course, absolute rubbish).

I complained bitterly to Discount Electrical who go back to TEAC who then have the audacity to say that a fingerprint on the DVD caused the unit to load the DVD incorrectly and so therefore it’s not their fault.

Now, this made me furious. What a bunch of pathetic drivel from a company I once admired. At no time have I been given any courtesy from TEAC and I’ve quite frankly had enough of it all.

It *might* have had a fingerprint on, that I cannot say either way but to cause massive scratching on the DVD surface (think ice skating rink) is laughable. A skip or pause maybe but not physical damage. The fact that the unit wouldn’t eject the DVD until powered off (something it had been known to do previously) clearly shows it had a major software failure.

They therefore score a big fat round 0 for customer service and I recommend everyone who reads this to fully appreciate the level of service this company gives its customers - none! :mad:

Overall 4/10 (reduced from 7.5 due to extremely bad firmware on the DVD unit) .

Links

Product page on TEAC website - Product
Supplier where mine was bought from - Discount Electrical

Review done by Adam Hearn © 2003
Images from various web sites.