Home > Consumer Reviews > Koss C220 DVD/Receiver Home Theater System

I bought it, from amazon, in Sept of 2002 for $220. It died today. What the others say about the remote and the on screen menu is true. It is also true that the sound is great for the price. I used it daily and got my money's worth.

This is my first home theater system. I read the reviews and purchased the Koss C220 with a good idea of what to expect. The audio output is excellent...the best my ears have ever listened to. The subwoofer has the capability to vibrate my hardwood floors and windows, but I rarely keep it that loud.

The cons... The on-screen display (OSD) is not very user-friendly. You just see a row of icons on the screen, and it is not obvious what they control. Scroll all the way to the right, and more mysterious icons appear. The same goes for the remote. This unit definitely has a learning curve. I think Koss (or whoever designed the system) used icons so the same unit could be shipped to any country and not have to change the OSD depending on the language spoken there. The elapsed time is displayed on the front of the unit, and cannot be displayed on the screen which is unfortunate. As others have mentioned, the unit is a bit temperamental depending on what you want to do. You must be in the DVD mode to insert or eject a DVD. To configure the audio, you have to be in DVD mode with no DVD in the drive. To set the clock on the display, you have to be tuned into one of the two A/V tuners. I have to dig out the manual every time to figure out which mode to be in and icon to press everytime I need to configure something.

The DVD player seems overly sensitive to any scratches on DVDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs. The DVD players on my computers have no problem reading the same CDs and DVDs. The speaker wires are plenty long for my small living room. The DVD unit is relatively heavy and barely slides into the shelf in my entertainment center. After using the C220 for 6 months, the CD tray needs a little help going in and out. Oh well, I mostly watch TV anyway. I purchased a display unit, so I don't have much money invested in it.

Overall, it is a excellent starter home theater system, and now I have a good idea what to look for when I upgrade.

This system is great for the non audiophiles. It sounds good and has pleanty of features. My only problem with it is the lack of digital audio inputs to hook other audio systems up to the surround sound.

I bought this machine last year for X-Mas and it has worked great ever since. I got the full year warranty and purchased an extended warranty since it was a major purchase. I was even allowed Preventative Maintenance. Anyhow, I live in apartment and this unit is more than powerful enough. Haven't had any problem playing CD's, CD-R/RW's and DVD's. I can also watch VCD's. Never regretted the investment

Unfortunately our unit was DOA on arrival. Seems like some type of short circuit in the audio amplifier. Would play for a few seconds, then could hear a relay clicking and the audio output would shut off. Nothing we tried would correct the problem. Too bad, since could have been a 4 star given the features/price ratio.