stafngrimr

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $100.00 from Craigslist

Summary:
Have had my AV-DV75 for over a year now and could not be happier. I have looked through all the reviews and think that some may have gotten defective units and are knocking this system unnecessarily The output is definitely great on this system at 120 watts per channel.

The specs for Dolby Digital are 48khz so knocking the AIWA for using spec is a bit off the mark. Dolby digital ac3 would have to be upconverted to 96khz and if you did that there would be sound degradation. Knocking AIWA for this is ridiculous. Go get a DTS system if you want 96khz

The volume indicator does indeed start to blink after you turn it up to 21. I t doesn't turn off though. At this level it is, by my guestimation, pushing about 80 decibels,(its louder than my morning hair dryer) so it looks like the folks at AIWA may be trying to tell you you are likely damaging your ears. I have never had it shut off at higher levels though.

The remote, I think they put some thought into this, the size makes it hard to lose ;)

I have used two of the inputs, the fiber digital and the phono in. The sound is incredible! No matter what I throw at it, from HD movies in surround, listening to old lou reed on vinyl to just playing BIOSHOCK on my XBOX 360. This receiver is a real performer!

Strengths:
BBE Sound Processing

T-BASS (Sounds great at lower listening volume)

Dolby Digital

Dolby Pro-Logic

DSP

GEQ

3 digital inputs

Weaknesses:
Reputation!
I come from a family of audiophiles, if it wasn't pioneer equipment it was considered junk. Being on a budget I was never really able to afford the really high end stuff that my parents had. This was the first thing I found in my price range that even came close to reproducing what I had been raised on to appreciate.

AIWA has a reputation for being junk. As a result of this they went bankrupt in 2002 and were bought by Sony who already had a financial stake in the company. This receiver was among many of AIWA's last big pushes (with the help of Sony) to bring them back from the brink of bankruptcy, They had gotten behind in the digital boom of the late 90's and the design was to be so full featured and so well designed it would reinforce their reputation as a quality producer of value electronics.

NO DTS

Similar Products Used:
Older tube equipment that my audio snob parents use.

Price Paid:  $100.00 from from a friend

Summary:
a friend at work offered me this unit for a hundred bucks. i guess he got something better (insert clue here). he give it to me to hook up but he forgot to bring in the remote. so i waited to hook it up and when he give me the remote i was in shock. the damn thing is obscene! it's a fricking clipboard! i told him nevermind i'll keep the one i've got. i mean.... how good can it be with a gay remote.

Strengths:
don't know because i never actually hooked it up.

Weaknesses:
the remote is gay!

Price Paid:  $160.00 from Egghead - refurbished

Summary:
I bought this a couple of years ago and was originally using it exclusively for television. As I added components, I would hook up a DVD or VCR to the unit and it would not reproduce the audio tracks. I ultimately had to run the various units through the television and output to the "Aux" input on the receiver.

Later I began to expand my home theater, added rear speakers and moved to a larger room. I noted that tracks recorded in Dolby Digital would not play on the unit until it had warmed up for almost thirty minutes! I have no clue why this was the case, but it was totally annoying. Also, with the T-bass, you have three settings, and that is it. It moves up in a stepped fashion, and there is no compromise. It delivers decent bass, but the tonal quality, in general, is not great.

I have since gone to a Yamaha receiver, and see the difference in quality and design. This Aiwa unit is suitable only for someone with a very fixed budget, not particularly interested in home theater, and who is not discriminating as to sound quality (as opposed to quantity).

I would not recommend it versus similarly priced receivers such as Sony or Kenwood, and obviously, if you can afford a Yamaha, Denon or Onkyo, don't waste your time on this one.

Strengths:
Features

Weaknesses:
many features don't work

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Yamaha

Price Paid:  $400.00 from sears

Summary:
need help with the speakers, during the FM mode i only get the center and front speakers to work, same thing watching TV. However DVD works great with all speakers, sounds nice, going today to find some new speakers for the front.please email with solution for speakers function. Aiwa Staff/customer service folks only can read the manual over the phone, no help at all, buy the way, do not lose the remote, it will cost you 95 bucks to replace. and i have found out that you need it, certain functions can only be done with the remote.

Strengths:
features

Weaknesses:
not user friendly for first time buyer. Certain functions can only be done with remote.

Summary:
I had just got a dvd player and a new tv(and dreamcast) around Christmas last year and wanted to get something to power my 2 cerwin vega 12' speakers. My sony was crap and didn't have surround sound. So I went online and bought the aiwa AV-DV75 for a little under $400 with the 5 speaker set up and sub. I said screw the front 2 speakers and hooked up my cerwins. After a month of reading the manual and getting familier with my reciver it started sounding good. I just moved out on my own 3 months ago and had to completely rehookup my system. I pulled out all the stops with Monster cable and new wiring. Lets just say it has never sounded better for the price. I also hooked up my computer to it through the digital input and mp3's sound awsome. DVD and cd's are great to. And even if you just use it to watch tv. The main thing is though that if you got the reciver with the speakers it will suck..you need at least 2 quality front speakers for when you want your system to be loud

Strengths:
Power, Looks, decent eq!

Weaknesses:
difficult learning curve for beginners, gay remote, poor speakers(if you get package*)