Price Paid:  $160.00 from China

Summary:
Power is overkill for my small room. Shakes the whole house everytime my 4 year old daughter plays her M2M CD. I'm a little concern on thermal issue because it heats up the room after just 5 minutes of playing. Not sure if this is a specially designed function for cold weather countries so that you won't be needing to turn on your heater while watching movies. Tried to put a tiny DC fan on top and seems to be fine (better do something before it's too late). The unit now looks cool even for a very little airflow. Another unusual for this model is the surround speaker impedance. It is rated @ 8 Ohms minimum while most surround speakers that you can buy in the market today is 6 Ohms. Luckily, I was able to read the whole specs before buying a speaker set. I might end up celebrating new years day in mid of October.

Strengths:
>>30 DSP settings - So nice to listen to Gloomy Sunday song by Sarah Brightman when the DSP is set to "Church" sound.
>>5 Customized EQ settings - Aside from built in EQ settings. Was able to reproduce good sounds from my mother-in-law's 20 year old audio tapes.
>>Karaoke Function - My wife and her folks feel like their family is musically inclined when they come around singing and praising theselves. Good thing I have a huge headphone which I use to my tiny digital radio during these times.
>>BBE feature (high freq. enhancement)- Good reproduction of cymbal sounds especially when a huge metal horn tweeters are used on front speakers. So nice to watch rock concerts.

Weaknesses:
>>Not all functions are accessible on front panel. Others are in remote control, vice versa.
>>Very heavy and weight is concentrated at rear left side.
>>You need to press two bottons at the same time (Shift+up/down) when tuning to radio stations. I Don't feel comfortable using two hands on a remote control.

Price Paid:  $239.00 from DigitalWarehouse.com

Summary:
Enjoyed the AV-D77 for almost two years before it gave up the ghost. Just made a "pop" noise one day and refused to come back to life. Authorized AIWA service center said it would cost $175 to repair, so I opted to go with another unit. I now have a Yamaha 5560 and am very happy.

The happy ending to the sad story of my AIWA death is that I purchased it with a platinum VISA a little under two years ago. The VISA has an enhancement service that doubles your manufacturer's warranty (up to one additional year). They will repair an item for up to 70% of the original purchase price, but I came in a little over 70% so VISA is refunding me the entire price of my purchase! Never thought I would love a credit card company. Thanks VISA! I love my new Yamaha!

Strengths:
Great sound for the money. Enjoyed it a lot for the two years that it was working.

Weaknesses:
Blows up and goes BOOOOOMMM!

Price Paid:  $339.00 from sams wholesale

Summary:
i love the live 2 and 3 settings. loose the remote and you are stuck not all features can be accessed via the frt panel. anybody got a remote for sale cheap? bill

Strengths:
with my pure digital mp3 coax hook-up from my amd1700+ it rocks my whole house

Weaknesses:
speakers that inc. were cheezy at best. i drive mine at about 150watt each on the front (Mgelectronics brand out of new york) the stock units DONOT do the recv justice

Price Paid:  $340.00 from Sam's Club

Summary:
Another burnout. This one flashed and popped, sending up a little plume, as soon as it was turned on for the first time. I got a second one but was not particularly impressed with the speakers so I took it back. Considering the price, it's probably a good deal but I decided to upgrade to a Denon.

Weaknesses:
Tiny sides, heavy.

Similar Products Used:
Denon 1801

Price Paid:  $340.00 from Sam's Club

Summary:
I purchased this as a part of the HTD-777 home theater package, most likely because I am getting frustrated with all of the researching. OOPS! I do not know about the amps blowing out like on the other guys, but the sound reproduction for both music and movies is terrible in all modes. I played around with independent speaker volumes and every other trick I could think of. The sub, although it does contain an independent volume control, is muddy and distracts from the overall (poor) sound quality. Also, the remote is monstrous big and cannot perform many functions on any other component. I tried to like this system, I really did, but even my wife wanted me to spend more money on something better. For those of you who are pulling your hair out searching for a good sound system, trust me, do not "settle" for anything less than what you want, even if it means waiting and saving.

Weaknesses:
Terrible sound quality for both music and movies. Remote is limited and about the size of a skateboard. Pretty much everything but looks, which are still just okay

Similar Products Used:
a little bit of everything from many different price ranges