Review of the Rocket Tykes 5.1 speaker System (1 Viewer)

[Craig Chase]

BradJudy... That is cool...... Maybe I think this little subwoofer is better than you think it is. Maybe my smaller expectations in a $399 5 channel system has helped their perceived performance. Personally, I cannot think how a $399 system could have 5 speakers as good as these satellites and a killer subwoofer. Would I LIKE more subwoofer ? Yes... and, as I said earlier, I will be trying some more expensive AV123 subs with the system. Stay tuned, hopefully you will find this process worthwhile...

I hope people DO understand the purpose of this review is to shed light on a small, $399 system that could be a nice starter system for a lot of people. A lot of these people are driven away from buying systems like this because audio nuts like us start telling them why they need a $5000 system.. so they go to Best Buy.... and adios, newbie !

Hopefully some people will be able to read this thread and come away with the idea that they DO have a choice for friends looking for a Home Theater without all the confusion.

Right now we are watching "Armeggeddon" on DVD. We have seen this flick a lot of times... and it has some very hard to reproduce DEEP bass. The little sub does not hit THOSE notes, but it does a VERY nice job putting you into the movie. My 13 year old son, who LOVES home theater and deep bass, is enthralled with the system AND with watching this movie...

 

[BradJudy]

Craig,

No worries. I certainly think the Tykes are excellent for $400. I would like to see AV123 have Tyke packages like Hsu does with their Vent (which I haven't heard) so you could pick your own sub. With a beefier sub they rock quite well for movies.

I don't want people to take my relative construction quality comments the wrong way. Perhaps I should say that the build quality of the satelites far exceeds what one could get elsewhere at this price, while the sub construction (I'm not talking about sound quality here) is closer to what I would expect to see in this class, but still quite good.

It's definitely a very good system for those with budget restrictions, size restrictions, or who just don't want to bother with larger, more expensive stuff. My Tykes are going over to my parents to be their first 5.1 system.

 

[Craig Chase]

Your parents are one of the perfect markets fo a set like these... The 5.0 system you described makes a LOT of sense...

 

[CurtisSC]

I am not sure how the Tykes are physically packaged, but if it is not in all one box, I would imagine they would do "package" deals with other subs like Hsu does.

 

[Craig Chase]

They come in one box... I would guess doing a new package would be simple enough...

 

[CurtisSC]

Yeah...but designing/engineering new packaging is not inexpensive, and not as simple as people think.

 

[Craig Chase]

We finished Armaggeddon. The Tykes did a fantastic job. For example, In the beginning, when the wife is yelling at Carl in the Telescope room (To jog memories... she is wearing a bathrobe, and asks him "Am I wearing a sign that saya Carl's slave ?") ... you get the full "inside the dome" echo effect.

You can also clearly hear the differences in voices with and without helmuts on...

The overall experience with the Tykes is a LOT better (Again) that $399 would suggest.

You DON'T get the shaking of the room, but the bass remains tight, and nicely filling out the sound.

It is a pretty safe bet to say wa can summarize the basic TYKE system...

Nothing on the market touches this set up for $399, or even comes CLOSE at $499 with the Kenwood receiver... If you know someone looking at a Bose system... DO THEM a favor... have them check this out...

Next... Does a better sub improve the system into another league ?

 

[GregBe]

I love this comment, and the fact that someone of your experience did a review like this. I am sure that many people that come to any of these forums will feel that if they don't purchase that huge system, they should go with nothing. Comparatively, they are inferior, but many can sound awesome to someone who is coming from nothing.

Keep up the good work Craig

Greg

 

[Craig Chase]

Greg - thank you... VERY nice words and thoughts.

Last night, my wife was actually really "into" these speakers. She really is a good sport about my love for audio. What had her enthused is that SHE actually knows two of her divorced friends she wants to buy Tykes.

Her words "These girls are always talking how much they like your system, for $500 they can get this receiver AND the speakers ?" ... then added "That is a great deal, and they can afford it."

Of course, I will have to set it up for them... a 1/2 hour job, tops.

Does it get any better than that ?

 

[ChadLB]

Craig
Again great stuff.....
Funny comments on the wife.

I am trying to push my wife friends to buy these. Either the reciever combo deal or the other deal they have going now.

 

[Brandon-S]

let us know how the UFW-10 sound with these

 

[Craig Chase]

Thanks, chad - Glad the humor works...

Brandon, We are having company this weekend, but by Sunday I will have a UFW-10 fired up... and will report back on the "upgradibility" of the system...

 

[Craig Chase]

Since I have some down time from company, I put the UFW-10 into the system, and am watching "Ice Age" ... The UFW-10 makes this into a VERY nice system. Deep, tight bass, and the 10 inch sealed driver in the UFW-10 has no problem with the 120 Hz signals required to work with the Tyke satellites...

 

[Craig Chase]

After watching Ice Age, I did some serious music listening with the TYKE/UFW-10 system. AS a system, they could be purchased for under $1000, and are REALLY impressive for the $$$.

A five channel system with great imaging, soundstage, tonal quality and bass to 28 Hz... For under $1000 ?

A person could DEFINITELY buy these for the $399, and later on see a marked improvement in the system's performance later just by upgrading the subwoofer...

The Tyke's subwoofer is about what one would and should expect for a $399 system, maybe even a bit MORE that one would expect. It is decent to just below 40 Hz, and also would do a far better job in a realistically sized room. Our room is over 7000 Cubic feet, and asking a subwoofer from the inexpensive a system to fill this room is not fair. Put the Tykes into a 2000 cubic foot room (think 14x18x8 feet), and you will likely get low 30 HZ bass... which is outsatanding for the $$$$

The Satellites, on the other hand, are FAR superior to what one normally would see for this type of money. With the UFW-10 handling bass from 120 Hz and down (and it is one subwoofer articulate enough to do so), This system becomes a true high end system, even in our room.

More on this later, after listening to some more Jazz, but the David Sanborn I listened to was a muscially satisfying experience... GREAT stuff...

 

[Matt Odegard]

Could someone do a SAWM-40 type mod and throw in some poly-fil to deepen the extension of the included sub?

Is the sub boomy or pretty musical?

This looks like a great system for my mom.

 

[Craig Chase]

Matt, The sub that comes with the Tyke system is VERY musical. I am used to a B4+ in one room of 5700^3 feet and FOUR UFW-10's in a 4400^3 foot room.

The Tyke subwoofer was used in a 7000^3 foot room... and it really does a nice job on music. There is NO boom to it at all, just nice, tight bass. An eight inch powered sub in a huge room really is not fair to the sub...

How big is your mom's room ?

 

[Matt Odegard]

Guesstimating here, but I'd say 30' x 20' with a open stairway going upstairs(splitlevel walk in).

I'm sure she would think its fantastic the way it is, but I am curious if it would make an improvement anyway.

 

[Craig Chase]

That is a BIG room, for sure... I would think you would not want to try to mod it for deeper bass, as you will lose some output, and the Tyke's sub IS a pretty decent sub... I think it will do fine in the room as is.

My wife was quite happy with the Tyke's subwoofer in our room... hope this helps

 

[Matt Odegard]

Yeah, I'm sure anything will make her happy. It will be her first home stereo, besides the Bose wave radio that she ALWAYS wants hooked up to her TV's. So she doesn't have much to compare it to.

But, I refused to allow her to hook it up to her new Panny 47wx53. Gah, she always wants that dang thing hooked up. I can't wait till she can finally hear how a real stereo should sound.

 

[Craig Chase]

Matt - One cool thing I forgot to mention about the Tykes is that they come complete with mounting gear... They will look pretty cool around a Plasma... I am the world's worst interior decorator, but I think they will look like a very expensive system with a plasma...