Remote, Remote, Remote, Sound Clarity, Features of the price

Bass output, don''t drop the remote...Kenwood says it cost 200CND

Great produce, crystal clear, the only problen I have with this unit s the lack of bass. Must be used with powered sub.

Similar Products Used:

VR 405, VR 406

IT''S NOT A JVC, REMOTE IS PERFECT, GOOD OVER ALL SOUND, PLENTY OF PLACES TO PLUG ALL MY AUDIO & VIDEO COMPONENTS AND MORE

IT''S NOT A HARMON KARDON

I SHOPPED FOR MY RECEIVER WHEN I THOUGHT IT WAS TIME TO UPGRADE FROM PRO LOGIC TO DIGITAL. I STARTED MY SHOPPING AT FUTURE SHOP AND LOOKED AT THE VR-410 THEN AFTER MANY DIFFRENT STORES AND RECEIVERS, I CAME BACK TO FUTURE SHOP AND BOUGHT THE KENWOOD. I LOVE THE REMOTE CONTROL, ALTHOUGH IT''S A LITTLE HARD ON BATTERIES. SOUND OUT PREFORMS MY JVC RX-717 (GARBAGE). BASS IS GREAT DUE TO MY VELODYNE SUB (C-10) GOOD ALL IN ALL FOR THE BUCK BUT I WOULD HAVE PREFERED A HARMON KARDON BUT IT WAS NOT IN THE BUDGET. ALL THE PLUGS IN THE BACK YOU COULD WANT, ONCE YOU BALANCE CHANNELS TO YOUR OWN TASTE THEN IT SOUNDS GREAT. MY ONLY PROBLEM IS MY SPEAKERS ARE NOT WELL BALANCED FOR SURROUND SOUND, BUT STILL NO COMPLAINTS COMPARED TO THE JVC (GARBAGE)

Similar Products Used:

JVC RX-717

Lots of connections on the back, more than most will ever need.

Manuals, I own lots of Kenwood equipments, these are the worst manuals from them I''ve seen to date. If you can figure out the functionality on your own, you''re not gonna miss them. If on the other hand this is your first foray into home theatre and you''re not comfortable with the interconnects needed, get help.

This thing is great for the price, I don''t know what people are doing to get low bass, but bass on mine is perfect right out of the box. I plugged a DVD player to it to play a CD and the sound was great (Stereo mode). It took a little bit of playing around to get the feel for the remote, which is in itself worth all the money I paid for the system. The dinky FM antenna that comes with it is a problem just waiting to happen, some will definitely get it wrong. Use coax if you can. The RF remote antenna (Which I didn''t get) is simple to make really, a mono mini phone plug and a few feet of wire off each side is all you need.

Similar Products Used:

Technics recvr in the same price range.

Price, 6 channel pre-outs, remote, options

haven't found any yet

This piece is amazing, I have it hooked up to a Parasound 6 channel amp (hca1206) using the 6 channel pre-outs (which most receivers don't come with especially at this price, and I truely cannot hear a noticable degrade in 2 channel sound from my previous Parasound PS1000 pro logic pre amp at triple the price! (I'm putting it down to new technology). Since I do not currently use the VR410 power I cannot give a fair evaluation on that score but because of it's versatality I could use the power in another room since this piece has that ability. The Dolby digital sound is awesome for movies. I have to thank the people at North Shore Audio Video for recommending this piece as I was convinced I was going to have to spend at least triple the amount to get into digital surround and still get good two channel, but they sure came through and saved me a bundle, go see these guys! I use Dynaudios for front & centre channel speakers (custom made), Polk audio ref for rears and two JBl 15" subs, so OBVIOUSLY as Duane (bad review on this section) failed to realize more power was needed to run two 15" subs than the Kenwood could provide and course the people at Kenwood would agree to that, Duane they we're being polite, don't give a bad review on a product that wasn't built to do what you you needed to do in the first place! WAKE UP! I also don't agree with Duane as far as the manual instructions either they are a snap! I agree with the other people in this review, you owe it to yourself to check out this unit. Another little function that I like is being able to really control the sub output in two channel and surround with this unit and my amp I can rattle the windows with ease. The RF remote is excellent with macro's and ability run everything else the only thing on the remote is the "source direct" which is unfortunate as that is the way I like to listen to two channel mode. You have to bear in mind what your getting for the money because you could spend a whole lot more and get nothing in return. This piece is an outstanding value.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound PS1000

excellent sound - when working

shoddy product

I bought this receiver from Let's Go Digital in February. When I first received my new VR-410, I immediately plugged it in after taking it from the box. It wouldn't turn on. Hmmmm. I hooked it up to my PSB's and Sony DVD anyway. Presto, the unit fires up and I'm enjoying great sound for about 15 minutes. I immediatley fell in love with the remote and deep bass tones and clarity. (You do need a powered woofer for this receiver). Then the unit shuts down and won't come back up. Let's Go Digital tells me that they won't accept receiver returns, but that the unit is covered by Kenwood's warranty. I contact Kenwood and they send me to an authorized service shop. After waiting 3 weeks for a new encoder, the shop tells me that Kenwwod won't cover the receiver - turns out that Let's Go Digital is not an authorized dealer, and Kenwood doesn't know where or how they got it. I re-contact Kenwood and LGD, and they basically tell me to go pound sand. No one will take responsibility for this receiver. I cough up for the repairs, bring the unit home, connect it...same thing ! Unit shuts down after a few minutes and won't come back up ! I'm at my wits end with this receiver and essentially plan on junking it.

Sound, Remote, Price

Bass Steering Logic

I purchased this new from a Kenwood outlet store. I wanted it becsuse of the RF remote (I keep my components in a custom Broyhill cabinet).

The sound is much smoother than my old SONY STRDE-635, although the SONY had better bass steering logic. This because the VR-410 does not use the subwoofer (except in DD 5.1 or DTS) when the speaker size is selected as "Large". The SONY would use the subwoofer as long as you told the receiver it was present.

Otherwise a very good receiver

gobs of inputs/outputs

where's the bass?

I recently upgraded a 20 year old system I put together in high school. It consisted of a Technics 25w/channel receiver, a (yr 1986) CD player and two homemade speakers w 1.5" tweeter, 5.25" midrange and 12" woofer. My main interest was getting into home theater capability.

I received the VR410 and my Energy take 5 with an 8" sub and eagerly hooked them up (also to my 'old' homemade speakers to the B channel), eager to see what 20 years of stereo advances had made. I was totally impressed with the home theater capabilities, but, where's the bass in stereo?

I don't buy other posts I've read that claim you have to spend a lot of money to get bass, unless receiver designers have forgotten something since building my Technics 20 years ago! It had bass that would rattle windows, this Kenwood has ZERO bass to speak of. The biggest problem? I told wife, who I (like everyone else on this board!) had to talk into the new components, that this stereo would really sound great on her CD collection, and she LIKES A LOT of bass.

I like this receiver for home theater, but skip it if you like to listen to, uh, music (duh). Now I'll have to listen to MUSIC on my 20 year old receiver. Weird....

-Greg

Features, sound, remote

Surround speaker clips, back panel layout

I thought I'd revisit this review; I should have waited a bit before posting originally I guess. This unit has grown on me a lot since I first posted, and I though it deserved some new expanded comments that might help people out if they're thinking about this receiver.

My system:

Kenwood VR-410 receiver
JVC XV-521 DVD player
Denon 5-disc CD changer
Sharp Hi-Fi VHS VCR
Paradigm Atoms in front, CC-170 and PDR-8.
Bose (ugh!) AM-5's without bass module as surrounds for now.
Zenith 25" TV (to replace with larger soon)

Features: Amazing for the price. DD, DTS, CS are all there. 6-channel input AND output, plus S-video switching and 4 digital inputs are great for this price.

Construction: Not the greatest, but acceptable. It doesn't feel terribly expensive, nor particularily cheap.

Sound: Excellent in all modes. Dolby Digital is outstanding, with excellent clarity and dynamics. Lots of punch, but also strong with the subtleties as well. Seems to have plenty of power for my 12' x 14' room.

In music, I, like many, at fist found bass lacking. Some combination of my speakers breaking in and upping the left and right speaker levels seems to have helped a lot. Even before I got the sub hooked up, I found bass output acceptable, though still not as strong as my old Yamaha stereo receiver. With my subwoofer hooked up, no problem of course... tons of bass as long as the speakers are set to normal rather than large mode. Stereo music sounds great, with clear highs and mids.

Circle surround is a lot of fun, though I still do most listening in stereo mode. For example, some songs, like Dire Straits "So Far Away", and anything on Sarah Brightman's "La Luna" sound absoulutely amazing in CS - it just seems to separate the parts just right. With other music, particularily hard rock (Limp Bizkit, Metallica, etc.), the music just seems to lose "oomph", and in some cases just sounds too unstable to enjoy (intruments moving around the room too much). All in all definitely worth having though. The other ambience modes suck, but I never use those things anyway.

Remote: This think kicks total ass, and is truly universal. It runs about anything out of the box, and is easily programmable to learn functions from any other remote. Very handy... I no longer have any use for the 5 other remotes in my collection except for rare setup changes. The RF functionality is great, though I found like one magazine reviewer that it works better if you unplug and replug the receiver after initial setup. Who knows why, but try it if you have any trouble. With IR repeaters I'll be able to control all components without direct line of sight too, which will be even better. This remote is far, far better than anything by most other brands in this price range, and saved me from having to buy an expensive universal. Thank you Kenwood!

Back panel: This is a definite weakness. I usually have no trouble at all hooking things together, but the panel layout and labelling makes it more difficult than it should be - it just seems a lot of jacks aren't where they should be. With a bit of patience and the manual, I managed to get everything hooked up OK. The rear speakers should not have clips in this price range IMHO, but I can live with that.

Manual: Difficult to understand sometimes, but I've seen worse.

All in all, I love this receiver. It's an outstanding value for the money, and all that most people with need for a great budget/mid-range setup. I have minor qualms with the manual and back panel, but that's it. Everything else is stellar. Bass could be stronger, but it's acceptable, and with a sub it's no issue at all. I'd give this unit 4 1/2 stars for overall quality and 5 for value. (I'll rate it 5 here so that my two votes average 4.

Similar Products Used:

None. Compared to Yamaha 496, Teac 9320, Sony 545 prior to purchase.

No component inputs but what do you expect at this price

I checked out the reviews for the Kenwood here and on other sights and liked what I heard. I was a bit skeptical about the remote though. I wanted an all purpose learning remote, and was going to buy one for about $200US. Anyway, got the receiver, set it up with a new Toshiba SD-2700 DVD player, put in Saving Private Ryan, and was blown away.
My brother, who is a true audiophile and owns a Denon 5800 was very impressed. Considering the price, this is one amazing unit, with inputs in the rear galore. Sounds great, excellent power and sound quality. Using a Sony SAWM40 subwoofer, this unit was going to shake the house apart.
Haven't tested out all the bells and whistles, but I am extremely happy with my purchase. Best of all, the remote is a full learning remote. I have 5 units programmed into the remote, including tons of learned features. It is an amazing remote, and to think it's included with the receiver at this price is ludicrous. I wholely reccomend this receiver to anyone who is not going to spend $2000 or more.

Similar Products Used:

sub $500 dolby digital/dts receiver

You can only use the digital inputs for what they are labled for. You have to switch between each mode to get to your destination. The remote could be hard to figure out.

At first, I had no intention of purchasing a Kenwood receiver. My first choice was a Sony, then Pioneer, and finally I decided on the Kenwood.

I had very little trouble setting everything up, the manual was very helpful, and I didn't have to do a lot of searching to find the information I needed.

Although the setup was painless, I do have a few gripes. Binding posts could have been provided for the rear speakers. You can only use the digital inputs for what they are marked for; for example: there are four digital inputs, 2 coax, 2 optic. The two optic are labeled "CD/DVD" & "Video 3", the coax are labeled "DVD" and "Video 2". If you use an optic cable to connect your DVD player to the "CD/DVD", you must use the CD/DVD setting on the receiver, not the DVD. Solution, use a digital coax to connect your DVD player, and an optical cable for your CD changer. Lastly, there is a "monitor in/out" for the video, but not the audio. Plug your TV into the "video one", otherwise you won't get sound.

All the settings on the receiver are more than enough for a nice HT setup. You can go from DTS, DD, Pro Logic, Stereo, 3 stereo (this sucks), and the WONDERFUL Circle Surround 5.1. The Circle Surround is phenomenal. It emulates 5.1 DD very, very well, esp. for watching TV. Music is OK, depends on the style. You do however, have to cycle between each mode before finding the one you want.

Now for the remote. It has a LCD with backlight (contrary to what someone said below), RF, and every manufacturer you could ever think already programmed in for any function. If for some reason it doesn't work, it will learn it instead. Very intuitive, and you MUST read the supplied manual (yes, the remote has it's own manual).

All in all, this is a great receiver, and I highly recommend it.

Similar Products Used:

I had a Magnavox stereo I used as a audio receiver.