Sony's latest cosmetic quirk could land it a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The DAV-IS10 features the smallest satellite speakers ever seen on a home cinema system, each one being the size of a golf ball, so they can be discretely integrated into your room's décor. Despite their tiny size Sony insists they'll deliver the same sound quality you'd get from far bigger ones. This is a claim we'll put to the test.

The speakers are visually unremarkable, but incredibly well made, feeling weighty and robust. More exciting is the main DVD/amplifier unit, which is styled in a luxurious black gloss finish with classy, touch-sensitive controls along the top and a front-loading disc slot.

The system's powerful subwoofer is understandably a lot bigger than the satellites, given its bass-generating duties, but thankfully it's just as good-looking.

Features 

The main unit's rear panel sports HDMI, component and composite video outputs, plus optical and electrical digital audio inputs to feed in sources such as a Sky+ box.

Also on the rear is a Digital Media Port, which lets you connect a variety of optional Sony-made adaptors for peripheral gadgets, which can then be played through the system. These include an iPod cradle plus network Walkman and Bluetooth audio adaptors to stream music to the system wirelessly.

The unit features video upscaling to 720p or 1080i from the HDMI output, but not 1080p. It also plays a pleasingly wide range of disc types.

The main unit uses Sony's 32-bit S-Master digital amp and sound processing and will happily play back Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. You'll also find Pro Logic II processing and a whole host of Sound Field modes that apply different effects to the sound, including a specific setting for portable music devices.

Ease of use 

Setting up the system is a breeze. The colour-coded speaker cables plug into the corresponding terminals on the back of the subwoofer, while the main unit and sub are joined together by a single umbilical cord.

Once you've hooked it all up, you can optimise the speakers for your room using the system's superb automatic calibration mode, which sets the speaker distances and channel levels in about 30 seconds.