But, for most people, HD (high definition) is something not in their immediate plans, and with the dwindling number of big and bulky conventional TVs to be found, flat panel TVs are now almost their only option. Since that’s the situation, then the reality of those buyers is to have something that looks good with SD (standard definition) as well as being able to see what all the fuss is about, when the time comes for them to engage with HD from whichever means they prefer or can utilise.

This review takes a look at the Loewe Spheros R26 LCD TV. As a brand, you won’t find this in your local high street retailers, nor the local or out of town supermarket. No, Loewe is a brand that mirrors some of the imagery that Bang & Olufsen conjures up – namely that of exclusivity.

Not unlike the infamous Danish company, Loewe’s TVs are designer-look orientated and coming from a German manufacturer, that’s quite an accomplishment. Stereotypical German design is one of pure functionality and no excesses, and still prevails with a number of brands of consumer electronic goods. Loewe, whether by design or as some sort of acknowledgement to what B&O had done (and continues to do) as far as aesthetics are concerned, have created a range of TVs that surpass that of anything the Far East has thus far produced. On top of which, Loewe seem to have got some really top-flight engineers to design the internal workings of the TV, which drives the LCD panel and produces the resultant picture quality.

These same individuals have also managed to design a beautiful menu system to aid in setting up the TV’s picture, audio, and inputs. At any point you are unsure of what a feature/function does, you can call up a help screen, which explains the feature/function’s purpose, and any cautionary of when to avoid enabling it.

The whole thing is wonderfully intuitive, and saves you having to rummage through the owner’s manual. The menu system is also only displayed along the bottom, leaving the vast majority of the display showing the source content of the chosen input. This makes for fine-tuning the display’s colour, contrast, brightness, etc, that much easier, since the menu overlay is not obscuring the picture like some menus do on other brands.

Starting with the appearance, the first aspect of the Loewe that you notice is the glass fronting, with anti-reflective coatings. This makes for an enhancement of contrast and black levels, as well as portrays how expensive it must have been. Definitely one to get one-up on the neighbours with, if you’re that way inclined. Of course, for every positive reaction, there’s a equal but opposite reaction – so said some chap called Newton, many, many years ago – and for this, it’s the fact the glass is a voracious dust and fingerprint magnet. Still, it looks the part and is more welcome than not.

The speakers are located on the bottom section of the TV, and will provide a sumptuous sonic envelope without causing the TV to rattle unless really cranked up – at which point a hearing aid would be worthy of investing in. There is a pseudo surround mode to choose, but in all honesty, it didn’t sound like much to me, and as a result was more than happy to stick with good old NICAM stereo.

The Loewe Spheros R26 (26” widescreen, hence the ‘26’ designation) is available in one colour – high gloss Platinum, which again looks stunning in contrast with the dark glass front. The Spheros is provided with a table base (stand) and has the option to be wall mounted via the Loewe proprietary wall mount, which allows for two tilt angles or none at all.

One other aspect of the Loewe design is the IR receiver – this is ringed with a 4-way push activated functions. Up is M for menu, left and right cycles through the menus functions and inputs if the menu hasn’t been called up. R is down, and switches the TV into radio mode – something I wasn’t able to make use of and will let you explore at your leisure. Some things you just have to find out about for yourself.

Now, getting to the meat of the Loewe R26. As Loewe’s reference range of TVs (the R designation), you’d expect things to be of the highest order, wouldn’t you? Well, I can report that that’s pretty much what you get. The picture quality is sublime – there’s no other word for it – and it doesn’t matter too much whether the source of the signal is via SCART or RF via NTL Digital. The picture was stunning whenever the signal allowed it to be. As is often the case with some broadcasts, the bitrate used is not enough, so quality suffers as a result. But even so, the Spheros handled everything with aplomb and did its level best to make the most of the signal if was being fed.

With DVDs, it was just…(that’s what it sounds like when I’m gobsmacked, which isn’t very often!). Gorgeous just somehow doesn’t seem sufficient to describe the quality of images this TV can conjure up. Still, for all the adulation being heaped on the Loewe Spheros, there were a couple of wee things that just knocked the shine off of it.

One major one was the casing. The rear case of the chassis would emit a cracking noise every so often due to the backlights heating the air and casework. It was an annoyance, since you don’t expect this sort of thing from a £2000 TV. How indicative it is of the full range of TVs Loewe produce, I’ve no idea, but one of the distributor’s technicians explained right away what it was when I queried it, So, it’s not something unheard of, unfortunately. Seems tight tolerances have their downsides as well.

In respect of the menu, as lovely and novel at it is, they have chosen to hide the brightness control in another sub-menu - personally, I’d have done that with the sharpness control, if one control feature had to be hidden.

Another slight issue was when using the TV to set the recording of a connected VCR. This was again a novel idea and approach which I loved, but was ultimately flawed with the LG VCR I have. The VCR would turn on at the allotted time via instruction from the TV over the SCART cable connecting both, but unfortunately the VCR didn’t understand the call for it to stop, so it kept on going until the tape ran out. I’m sure with Loewe’s own DVD recorders and (now discontinued) VCRs, this functionality would work perfectly. Maybe, more than likely, newer VCRs than mine, and DVD recorders from other brands would work flawlessly too – alas, I had no opportunity to test that theory out before the TV was picked up.

It is also worth pointing out that whilst off-axis viewing of the Loewe Spheros resulted in a washed out appearance, this was only from fairly acute angles the closer to the TV you were. Sit 9-10 ft. away, and either end of the sofa will look exactly the same as the centre position. Only beyond 45-50º did things change at that distance, enough to be noticeably different to on-axis viewing.

As all this was done via the remote control, it’s only fitting to mention it can also control the other brands of electronics you may have already, including the Cable/Satellite box. Like the replacement remotes from OneForAll, there is a list of codes to be found in the owner’s manual for each brand’s device. I managed to get a working code for the NTL Digital STB I have, but it was very limited in what it could do. So, if one remote control to function all devices is likely to be of interest to you, I’d suggest you consider something like the OneForAll Kameleon or a Logitech Harmony model (both reviewed here a while back, with another Harmony model – 885 – due soon), which would be more comprehensive.

So, have I found the Holy Grail of LCD TVs – sort of. Yes in the sense of right now at this moment in time and LCD development, this TV has shown me what can be achieved in terms of colour purity, skin tone, all round definition and detail, and that peculiar but most welcome of LCD traits, when everything just gels – 3 dimensionality. For this, the Spheros R26 is truly one among only a select few that satisfies the criteria of superlative SD viewing with HD capability for when the time comes, at likely current HD broadcast standards – 720p and 1080i.

No in the sense that as we head evermore along the HD path we are destined to follow, there are other factors to be considered in choosing the best TV for the intended purpose of their usage. By that I mean, Full HD resolution panels (1920x1080 pixels) will start becoming the norm at larger sizes (37” plus) which will have the necessary decoding hardware on-board to handle 1080p signals that Blue-Ray and HD-DVD players will be able to output, not forgetting the PS3 and Xbox 360 (no doubt in a revision around PS3 launch time). This signal format will result in an even higher definition than 720p and 1080i provides, and as such, is considered to be the Holy Grail of video standards.

I have no doubt, that Loewe will provide their take on this, and produce another stunning display capable of doing that signal, and the others, justice.

Therefore, if you are looking for a new flat screen TV to replace the aging, corner-hogging CRT TV, but just can’t quite stretch to the equivalent B&O’s asking price, then I can thoroughly recommend the Loewe Spheros R series as one that will put a smile on your face for many a year to come. For those who baulk at the price, and think a £1000 TV from one of the various Far East manufacturers is already too much, then look at one of the other ranges of TVs Loewe do, costing less – less being a relative term.

Believe me when I say, you only get what you pay for, and when you pay for a Loewe, you get everything you need to be assured you didn’t pay more than necessary. The picture quality will remind you of that every time you switch it on and settle down to watch a movie or TV show – there was no smearing nor image trails to be seen, which has been a downside for LCD panels until recently. Even so, not all TVs are the same, especially where different manufacturers use the same panel. The design of the electronics driving the panel have just as much a part to play in the overall quality of the display, as does the panel itself. Like for like, any differences noted between TV brands sharing the same panel indicate the different approach each manufacturer has taken, and the better design shows through.

Putting it in car terms, let’s offer the chassis and engine as the equivalent of the LCD panel, then the car designer with the better approach to suspension (the electronics equivalent), will make the better handling car – providing better communication to the driver (picture quality) and ability to handle the various road conditions (input signals – broadcast/pre-recorded media).

Factor in that Loewe offer a three-year warranty as standard with their TVs, the other brands offer just 12 months, and that they (Loewe) can provide firmware updates when they become available. Whilst the same is sometimes done of the other brands, you typically never get told, only to hear about it from someone “in the know”. Loewe’s dealers contact their customers when they are informed there is a firmware update that owners of whichever model, may be interested in having it carried out by an engineer’s visit.

This level of customer care/consideration is nigh on impossible to find with the Far East brands in general, and further vindicates the inherent benefit of paying that bit more for a product of Loewe’s calibre.

One final remark about how the Loewe Spheros R26 “spoke to me” – as mentioned above, I have (soon to be had) a VCR, which is only able to output a half-broadcast resolution signal, equating to approximately 250 vertical lines (DVD/TV being 540/576 respectively for PAL, NTSC slightly less). This was duly fed to the Spheros, and given the resolution is about ¼ of what LCD TVs can handle, I expected the image to look dire and unwatchable. Not so! The Spheros made it entirely watchable some how, in fact, I was shocked at just how watchable it was. My Nokia TV shows a marked difference between this resolution and TV broadcasts/DVD, so for the Loewe to better the output of the Nokia was remarkable and shows further indications of just how well the electronics have been designed by this manufacturer. I wouldn’t dream of doing the same on a lesser brand of LCD TV, since I already have, and couldn’t bear to look at the result, never mind switching off and just enjoying the recording. To me, this is a true hallmark of a top class TV – forgetting the nature of its design, and just enjoying watching your favourite programs/movies.

For those waiting for LCD to come of age, stop waiting, the age is now, and the name is Loewe. As much as I would prefer a 37” TV, if the R26 were all I could have, I’d take it in a heartbeat and have no regrets in doing so. Size aside, I looked forward to sitting in front of it each evening, often skipping dinner in the process of just revelling in its beauty and the fantastic images it cast forth almost magically.

Should you want to explore the world according to Loewe, then check the link below and find a dealer in your area where you can see what LCD TVs done right can do, just leave the wallet at home if you’re only lurking with intent. If you don’t, better make sure the credit card has enough spare funds on it, as you’ll hand it over before leaving the store – I’m not kidding!

Connections are:

HDMI, 2 x SCART (1 RGB, 1 S-Video), Component YUV (YPbPr/YCbCr), Audio in/out (both analogue and digital, but not optical), RF (analogue and digital TV – Freeview), VGA, Composite AV, S-Video, Headphones (3.5mm)

Specifications - http://www.loewe-uk.com/download/pis/spheros_r/r26_uk.pdf

Find your nearest dealer at Loewe.co.uk

Review by - PJ Skelton

Published - 26/02/2006

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