Epson Ensemble HD Next-gen Home Theater

Most of us feel as good about Home Theater in a Box as we do about meals at a drive-thru. Epson’s Ensemble HD system takes all the convenience of HTiB but brings the weight of its brand behind a projector that fits elegantly behind a complete home theater system. Epson has just announced that its Ensemble HD just been rebooted with its new projectors at the heart of its unique systems.

We got a look at the Epson Ensemble HD system at Audioholics State of the CE Union show last October. In short; I took a look but was skeptical – until I sat down and forgot about all my prejudices regarding an A/V system that’s supposed to blend into your interior décor. Now Epson’s award winning system has been upgraded to include its latest 3LCD 1080P projectors.

The two new Ensemble HD systems are based around Epson’s latest projectors: The PowerLite Home Cinema 6100 and the Home Cinema 6500 UB the systems sell for $6,499 and $7,999 respectively. Yeah, you can see by the price this system isn’t pitching for the same league as any old HTiB system. It only shares convenience and a lightweight design footprint in common with its low-cost brethren. In fact the Epson Ensemble’s real genius is providing a complete 5.1 audio system and projector with a 100-inch motorized screen that hides neatly into any room. The screen automatically hides itself when you’re finished viewing. The Audio system includes front speakers hidden inside the slim motorized screen and the rear speakers cleverly integrated into the projector mount. The system includes everything you need to literally hide a home theater system inside your livingroom.

Audio-nuts will be surprised by the sound quality. When sitting in on the demo at SOTU, I didn’t even know where the five Atlantic Technology speakers were in the room. Cleverly hidden, tiny speakers usually means anemic sound. But this was a surprisingly good Home Theater grade experience. Ensemble HD is perfect for anyone wanting that custom HT interior without the serious bank required to achieve it.

“Available now with two of Epson’s best performing home theater projectors, the Ensemble HD Home Cinema Systems provides arguably the greatest true home theater value in the industry,” said Rajeev Mishra, director, Projector Marketing and Development, Epson America. “As a global leader in projector technology, Epson’s commitment to lowering home theater cost of ownership is at the core of everything we do. Our decision to offer this impressive entertainment system online for home cinema enthusiasts who want to install it themselves was a logical step in meeting the needs of this growing market.”

The Ensemble HD system is available in three models: $6,499 for the Ensemble HD Home Cinema 6100 and $7,999 for the Ensemble HD Home Cinema 6500 UB. The third option is a 720P system for $4,999 dubbed the Ensemble HD Home Cinema 720p. If you’re planning to view any 1080P sources with your new HD system settling for the 720P model is a sure recipe for buyer’s remorse. The 720P system is fine if you only plan on watching DVD and broadcast HDTV. But the biggest oversight to the new Ensemble HD systems is its total lack of Blu-ray. The main audio component includes a built-in DVD player but no Blu-ray. Of course you can add any Blu-ray player to one of its two HDMI inputs. But it would have been nice to see Blu-ray plus compatibility to all the new HD codecs.