Digital Trends

Gateway KAS-303 Home Theater July 16th, 2004 | by Jeff Fila

Testing and Usage

We put the KAS-303 through plenty of use, giving the speakers time to burn-in and giving us time to ensure the proper placement of the satellites. Since we went into depth about the Ventriloquist speakers in our HSU-Research review, we'll refer you to that review for more information on the speakers. As we found with our VT-12 review, the center channel speaker was very clean and did a good job of making the dialogue stand out amidst an array of background noises.

Movies encoded in Dolby EX, such as Finding Nemo sounded excellent on the KAS-303 as the rear center channel did its job with EX. Dolby Digital 5.1 channel titles, such as the Band of Brothers box set, immersed us in the scenes and we were able to pick out the sounds of voices, equipment and weapons from all directions. The 10-inch subwoofer had no problem handling the bass in any of the titles we tried and the Ventriloquist center speaker handled that important 80-250 Hz gap, allowing the micro speakers to concentrate on the highs.

Music also sounded clean, even at very high levels, including digital music streamed from our network to the Gateway Connected DVD Player.

There were a few items that we took issue with, however. One in particular is the radio tuner presets. The LN-520 allows for 30 preset radio stations, which is more than anyone should need. More than you need is always nice, except for in this case where it means that you have to fill up each of the 30 slots with a channel. There is no deleting of channels so unless you have 30 favorite radio stations you'll want to program the presets over and over again. For instance, if you only have six favorites, you'll have to scan through the remaining 24 channels to get back to preset one when you are navigating your presets. This can be fixed by inputting repeat entries for each channel, but unless the number of your favorites is divisible by 30, you'll skip a channel or two at the end. You also can't just type in the preset number you want so you'll have to advance through your channels in order.

Besides that and the choice of color, the only other issue of note was the heat generated by the receiver. With the center channel speaker stacked on top of the receiver it covered the top vents and really made the unit hot — so hot that you could only touch it for a few seconds. Since our test setup didn't have an audio rack, stacking was our only option so we had to move the center channel speaker between the DVD player and the receiver. This helped a bit but the unit still generated a lot of heat. While we experienced no heat-related issues, buyers may want to consider this fact when deciding on placement.

Conclusion

Gateway's combination of a proven speaker set that we've already rated as an editor's choice, a quality digital receiver and a choice of DVD player makes the KAS-303 an excellent option for a home-theater setup. The small speakers are easy to place (providing you have a location for center rear) and the small receiver should fit just about anywhere, making this ideal for apartments, dorm rooms, and home-theaters.

By pairing HSU-Research's Ventriloquist technology with Sherwood's TruDigital, Gateway has come up with a solid performer at a very reasonable price. Music lovers and movie buffs alike will appreciate the ease of use, versatility and quality sound.

With connections for any analog or digital source, the KAS-303 makes an excellent addition to a home-theater or a great centerpiece for a new setup.