Price Paid:  $800.00 from Delaudio

Summary:
I've bought this receiver two years ago, and i'm using it with a $250 chinese DVD player, Sony XA20ES CD player, Lin Basik TT, with akito arm, and K9 cell, Kef Reference 104.3 main speakers, monitor audio silver 12i central speaker, monitor audio ruby 3 surrounds, and REL Stadium II subwoofer. The main speakers use TNT triple T home made computer Cat 5 cables(http://www.tnt-audio.com/ clinica/ triple_t.html
This is a very musical receiver, and I use it mainly for enjoying stereo Music, and it never let me down. It´s not an high end product, and it's not very powerful, but in moderate volumes you cannot notice the difference from much more expensive receivers. Connected with a good quality source it sounds fabulous.
It has good connectivity, (2 coaxial digital imputs, 5.1 pre-outs, 6 ch direct imputs-for sacd)
The case looks cheap, in the line of some older nad products, but the sound is so good that makes you forget those small defects.
Its not very heavy(about 9 Kgs), so it means that the power source its not very large,

Strengths:
very good for stereo music
imputs and connections

Weaknesses:
Looks
moderate power

Similar Products Used:
denon avr3300
marantz sr5000
H-K AV7000

Price Paid:  $670.00

Summary:
this amc is the best purches for this prise. i used to have before it a sony, a sharwood and a yamaha but this amc r9 sounds are a lot deeper and have more sounds the the others. i recommand this amc r9 for any one who realy like to listen to music and dont like to pay a lot of mony.

Strengths:
pure sound, easy to work, easy to connect, and again the sound

Weaknesses:
the remote control belongs to the early 80's

Similar Products Used:
yamaha, sony, sharwood

Price Paid:  $350.00 from foxhifi.vstoreelectronics.com

Summary:
At $700, this would be a good receiver at a good price. But at 350? This could be one of the deals of the century! If you are looking for separates performance with the convenience of a reciever or are looking for hifi on a low-fi budget, this is definitely the way to go! With 5.1 inputs and outputs it is also future proof! Forget the mass-market junk! Buy from a REAL audio company.

Although the theater modes sound good enough, this peice really shines for music. Two channel sounds as good or better than my Carver separates. But when I got my Technics DVD-A player and popped in my first DVD-A (Fleetwood Mac-Rumours), Holy Crap! 5.1 audio rules on the R-9! (admittedly I don't have alot to compare to as far as other receivers doing dvd-a)

Anyway, get it, and get it now. For $350, how can you go wrong?

Strengths:
Power, Build Quality, 5.1 inputs and outputs, price.

Weaknesses:
At this price? are you kidding?

Similar Products Used:
Carver, Newcastle, Onkyo, HK

Price Paid:  $695.00

Summary:
i like my R-9 for the reasons described above and - and this is a BIG and - especially in conjunction with my MA silver 5 i's and 700 PMC surrounds+ silver 10 i center channel.
the Marantz which i used is much superior receiver in every way, but to my mind the Marantz is a very smooth or soft amp and as the MA line lacks a little deep bass i switched to the R9. It drives the whole set very nicely. The marantz couldn't get the bass notes out of the MA's.Not a defect just a characteristic.I listened also to the Marantz with a pair of B&W and it drove them absolutely fine.
i truly enjoyed the easy setup of the amp and as i owned the 700PMC which i truly enjoy, i wanted to continue in the MA range.
This is in my opinion a "fair" amp. You get what u pay for. It is definetly not a high end product neither does it aim at the high end market.
I'm still looking for a matching sub, though.
I recommend this amp for anyone looking for a good product without spending big bucks.
The tuner section is the only mishap, and believe me it's a big mishap.
The sound seem to be coming out of an old jukebox.

Strengths:
functionality, easy set-up, detailed sound with a good bass punch, plastic casing pleasant to touch, seems to be well built, remote is also very funcional, although not state of the art

Weaknesses:
tuner sucks definetly,no RDS, poor sound quality in Tuner mode
not enough didital inputs(although enough for me)

Similar Products Used:
Marantz SR 7000