Philips HTS7202

Full of ambition in the audio department, Philips has been coming out with all kinds of different kit recently. Among it is today’s test model, the HTS7202, with vertical speakers and connected features.

Hardware and design: vertical speakers? Nice and practical!

The HTS7202’s satellites have been designed to be set-up vertically. This may seem surprising at first but it's actually quite an efficient use of space, especially if space is what you're lacking! It has the advantage of allowing you to cut down the size of your TV stand without the speakers getting in the way of the image. What’s more, the glass base and the other materials used are of good quality and look nice too! The same can’t be said for the subwoofer however. Glossy black, with a hefty protection grill on the side, it looks very basic. Let’s see how it sounds.

The base is a mixture of brushed aluminium and black and looks nice but is rather massive. What’s more, Philips has succumbed to the touch-sensitive mania. It’s nice to look at but not very practical.

The connectivity is fine in terms of what you get, but we do have several reservations. For example, there’s an HDMI out but no in. In fact, for any external source, you have to route via the S/P DIF or analogue. There’s an external dock and a wi-fi dongle, but unfortunately this blocks the USB port at the back. Thankfully, there’s a second USB port at the front, accompanied by a mini-jack auxiliary in. Finally, for those who prefer cabled networking, the HTS7202 also has an Ethernet connector.

The cabling is relatively simple with colour coding for easy recognition. It won’t be easy however to adapt the size of the cables.

We like the remote, which picks up on the design of Philips TV remotes. It's clean, effective and is a nice change from the usual unattractive rectangular sticks provided for other kits.

Multimedia: 3D on hand

In addition to an excellent 3D Blu-ray player, Philips has also built in numerous connected features in the central unit. DLNA is included and is quite practical even if it seems to be impossible to play HD MKVs.

NetTV, the connected Philips platform is also there. On the programme: numerous on-line channels, YouTube and many other services. It’s clean, easy to use and effective.

Our only reproach is that the FM tuner is rather laborious to use. This is a shame for a product that aims to cover all the bases.

Audio: just one fault, the subwoofer

Overall, the audio on the HTS7202 is pretty convincing. The satellites offer plenty enough power for a medium-sized room.

Both speakers have a relatively clean output across the spectrum. The distortion is permanently below one percent and unfortunately this can’t be said for all kits tested. Our only regret is that the highest high notes are weak and this means you lose out on any feeling of listening live.

The subwoofer is however less convincing. It’s rather sluggish and muddy and this can become really annoying at times when you turn the volume up. On music especially, we recommend you play around between the various settings to tame any unwanted effects.

Our readings

Frequency response of satellites, without subwoofer

This is the sort of curve we would like to see more often. Variations are contained up to 8 kHz within an interval of just 3 dB. It’s a shame that there’s such a radical fall afterwards. It would have been good to see more tweeter support at the extremity of the spectrum.



We don’t have much to reproach the kit when it comes to distortion either. Don’t worry about the enormous peak on the graph on the right: the satellites aren‘t active at this frequency. Apart from the two momentary blips around 500 and 700 Hz, it’s perfectly flat.