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Review 2 of 26
Price Paid:
$289.00
from etronics Summary:
Review JVC RX-8000VBK
I've owned my JVC RX-8000VBK for about 20 months now and I have to say it was one of my better investments in audio/video gear. In that time, I have yet to experience any of the "drawbacks" mentioned in other reviews. The FL display is just the right brightness for me. I guess I can see where a hardcore movie buff might like the room pitch black for watching movies, but it's fine for me. A number of folks complained about the volume control, saying something like, "Unit A shakes the walls with the volume knob at 11 o'clock but you can hardly hear the JVC with the volume at 11 o'clock," and gave the RX-8000 a low rating. Jeez, that's like comparing apples to coconuts. For example, you could go to Home Depot and buy two light dimmers, one cheap, one not so cheap. The cheap one gives you a lot less control over the degree of brightness, much like a volume control that "shakes the walls" at a relatively low setting. I personally love the degree of control with the JVC at lower settings since my wife works a different shift and I can find that "just right" volume point that makes me happy and lets her sleep without resorting to headphones.
There are tons of inputs and outputs (analog and digital) for all manner of audio/video gear, and speakers. The JVC has built-in Dolby 5.1 and DTS decoders, as well as the cheesier Pro Logic decoding. Presently wired to the receiver are a Toshiba DVD player (using digital coax for audio and S-Video to the Zenith 27" TV), Two VCRs (one Sharp, one Toshiba), Echostar DBS receiver (DishNetworks), 25-year old Sansui direct-drive turntable, Pioneer open reel tape deck, and a Numark mixer/amp that I use for running a light show off the audio sources (just call me an old hippie, haha!). Next spring I hope to add a Toshiba 32AF42 32" flatscreen TV with component video inputs.
I started out 20 months ago with the receiver wired to a pair of huge, 25-year-old Speakerlab S7 studio monitor speakers, which sounded great. For surround (rear) speakers, I dug out a pair of 6x9 car speakers, put them in enclosures and placed them in the rear of the room. Not the best sound on earth, but it was a great poor-man's solution and I had a "home theater," albeit homemade. Since then I have replaced all the speakers with a set of JBL NS1 matched surround drivers and a Sony 8" powered subwoofer (contributed by my stepson one Father's Day).
One of the really nice features of this unit is you can assign a different video source to a typical source selection. For instance, I have a wireless surveillence camera hooked up to the video input on the front of the JVC. Using the remote and on-screen programming, I can have the audio from FM or a CD channel on the Dish receiver and the video from the camera. Pretty slick. The 5-band equalizer is OK, but it could be better. When adjusting it through the on-screen programming, you can only "slide" three of the controls, which nudge the other twoin the process. A great feature of the RX-8000 is that the equalizer settings are retained for each source individually, so once you have it set for each source, you can pretty much forget about it! My only complaint is that of some others here -- no "tape loop" or preamp outputs. Guess you can't have everything with such a great value in a receiver.
Overall, I think the RX-8000VBK is an EXCELLENT value for anyone in the market for a home theater receiver and I give it a 5 all the way around. This puppy REALLY rocks the house, whether listening to music or watching movies on DVD.
System at the moment:
JVC RX-8000VBK home theater receiver
Toshiba SD-2710 DVD player
Sharp VC-H992 4-head Hi-Fi VCR
Toshiba W-627 4-head Hi-Fi VCR
Echostar Model 4000 satellite receiver
Numark MA-4000 Studio Monitor mixer/amplifier
Sansui SR-525 direct-drive turntable
Pioneer RT-707 open reel deck
Zenith A27B33 27" television
JBL N24 speakers (front)
JBL N24 speakers (rear)
JBL N-Center speaker (center)
Sony SA-WM20 powered subwoofer Strengths:
Dolby 5.1 and DTS decoders, flexible audio/video assignments, looks, power, number of inputs/outputs, informative FL display Weaknesses:
No tape loop or preamp out, some on-screen programming is a pain, remote not the best at duplicating VCR/TV functions Similar Products Used:
None
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