Teufel Impaq 3000

The basics

The Teufel Impaq 3000 is the company’s first Blu-ray home cinema system. It features five satellite speakers and a subwoofer, plus a combination Blu-ray player/receiver.

The good

Build quality is reassuringly sturdy and thankfully it’s back up by equally dependable audiovisual performance.

While we have some caveats about the sound quality (see below), the system serves up clear dialogue and the surround speakers are capable of more power than most similarly-sized boxes.

Picture quality is excellent: razor-sharp detail and beautifully clean colours give Blu-ray films a real cinematic quality. We also like the two HDMI inputs, which allow you to hook up a couple of external HD sources – say a Sky HD box and PS3 – and enjoy their sound through the Impaq 3000’s speakers.

The bad

Unlike many new Blu-ray systems, the Impaq 3000 isn’t 3D capable, and doesn’t come with Deep Colour or any networking features. More importantly, the audio is also a tad disappointing by Teufel’s standards, with the subwoofer too loud and the speakers occasionally too harsh on the eardrums.

The bottom line

While overall performance is solid, the Teufel Impaq 3000’s middling sound quality and lack of features mean it lags behind most of its all-in-one rivals. We’d expect better for the money.