Price Paid:  $1800.00 from ebay

Summary:
This is a super solid A/V receiver. The designers have not seemed to cut any corners in terms of sound quality, input/output jacks, configuration flexibility, or support for current/future formats. What really sold me on this unit was the sheer number of digital audio inputs it has, the number of video components it can handle (more than 4), and the presence of an actual digital ouput (marked for minidisc). The remote is huge and will control every function of the receiver (and much more). It''s a touch-screen and custom configurable in just about every way. If you have the patience for it, you can easily get it to control every component in your system and create macros to handle doing a bunch of things in succession (i.e. "switch to CD input, turn CD player on, push Play on CD player"). There is one major deficiency in the remote, though. It can do so much, but if they had only taken it one small step further, it would be so much more useful -- to include some notion of a clock and the time, so I can program it start a "macro" at a certain time which will, say, turn on the receiver, turn the radio to a certain station, turn on my tape deck, and then press record. Then at another time, stop and turn everything off. So close, but yet so far.... In terms of the sound, this receiver is clean, quiet, transparent and puts out lots of very clean power. I haven''t gotten anywhere near pushing it to its limits, and the sound never seems to suffer, whether at low or medium-loud volumes. The 5.1 surround is spectacularly implemented, and the setup using the remote''s touch screen is simple and to the point. You''ll never want to watch a movie without Dolby Digital THX surround again! For music, the built in A>D converters (they call it "32 bit DRIVE" but offer no specs at all on exactly what this is) are spectacular. They really bring your CDs to life in shimmering beauty, from the crisp, clear high-end down to the rich full bass, and the HDCD decoding is just as spectacular for CDs that have HDCD on them (you''d be surprised at how many recent CDs have it). It has "smart" input selection so that it will choose the best quality input it can use if you have a component''s analog and digital inputs hooked up simultaneously; so that if no signal is currently coming over the digital feed, it will fall back to the analog inputs from that source.

Strengths:
sound, pure power, configuration options, lots of inputs/outputs (including RCA pre-outs for all channels), great display (you can program radio station names), excellent remote; also has 6 ch. inputs for DVD-Audio/SACD expansion; has a neat dolby-surround to 2 channel pulldown built in for recording 5.1 audio to 2 channels.

Weaknesses:
remote doesn''t have a timer and no way to interface with one -- pretty minor. I also wish it had a nice D>A converter built in so I can output to the minidisc output digitally for analog sources

Price Paid:  $2500.00 from Memphis Sight & Sound

Summary:
This is a follow up review for the review I made back on 12/17/01. I Finally received my big screen. I got a Mits. Platinum Plus 55 inch TV. Great picture. Anyway, after a month and a half, I am extremely pleased with this unit. It is rare to fill complete satisfaction with a purchase and in this case I could not be more pleased. This unit along with the MX-5000 amp and the DV-5700 DVD/Audio player are a great combination. I also recomend the sovereign DVD players because of the Faroudja processor that drives the deinterlacer. Produces a fantastic filmlike image. To test DTS-ES, I watched gladiator and I was impressed. The sound field produced by the VR-5900 will make one forget that he or she is a watching a movie. The beginning of the movie where the Romans are finishing off the Huns really showed the power of the 5900. The sounds of the horses, the catapults, and arrrows flying through the air will make the hairs stand on the back of your neck. My wife also didn't ask "What did he say" through out the whole movie. Center cahnnel sound was perfect. What is also nice about this system, is that you can adjust the sound levels for all channels, adjust bass levels and so on. All sound processing abilities so far work great including THX-EX. The pod race in the Phantom Menace reproduced in 6.1 THX-EX surround is something that everyone should experience. I am thankful that consumers have the ability to recreate a movie experience in their home. If you want a receiver that reproduces clean two channel sound and enveloping surrond sound, then I strongly suggest purchasing this unit. The only minor complaint I had was with the speaker terminals-The terminals are close together. I prefer the use of bare wire and wire connection was tedious. Also, Don't spend more than $2500.00 because you will need an external amp for the back surround channels which will cost at least $500.00 for a quality amp. I was lucky enough to get the 5900 and the MX-5000 amp for $3000.00 which is comparable to other hi grade receivers that have the extra two channels already built in.

Strengths:
See 1st Review

Weaknesses:
Minor Issue: Speaker terminals are placed tightly together.

Similar Products Used:
Sony A/V Receiver

Price Paid:  $1800.00

Summary:
I will compare the VR 5900 to my previous pre-amp the Sony TA-E9000es. The difference is huge the sound definition is amazing with the new Kenwood, the dts es in particular is mind blowing. The demo disk with the thx demos is also very cool and its free on the Kenwood web site, it brings THX to life like no movie seems to. It also can play all of the current sound formats. My half-hearted complaints are that there is only one sub output and I like my music a little louder than the designer apparently did. Luckily I still have my amp that I used with my old Sony. The remote is very difficult to figure out but for the proficient user it will control everything in your house that uses a remote like your car windows, lights, and security. Oh, and the dvd audio what can I say dvd audio sounds great from everything that plays it. One note this is a very large unit I used a Bell'o stand and it was to big to fit inside. However it seems to fit into a rack good enought. I also bought the 403 disk changer with the Farouja chip and the Entre. Out of the three the reciever is the one that you need to own.

Strengths:
Sound definition, demo disk

Weaknesses:
Its huge

Similar Products Used:
Sony Ta-E9000es

Price Paid:  $2500.00 from Memphis Sight & Sound

Summary:
I just purchased this unit along with the MX-5000 stereo amp. and DV-5700 DVD player. The first thing one will notice when they take this product out of the box is the weight. It is heavy. This receiver is striking and will catch one's eye when the blue LEDs are lit representing different functions. I am still waiting on the TV I bought so at this moment I can only rate the stereo and multichannel audio performance. When on, the unit is quiet and no noticeable humming is present. I placed CDs by Erasure, Big Audio Dynamite, 311, Depeche Mode, and Berlin into the DVD Audio player also by Kenwood and was amazed. I started off listening to stereo, then multichannel, and then to Dolby Pro Logic II. All sounded excellent. I guess the best word to describe the sound reproduction would be clarity. There was absolutely no noticable hiss or fuzz and voices, beats, and overall music presentation seemed to be true-as the artist would intend it to sound. It was like I was listening to these CDs, which I've heard numerous times, for the first time again. Also, radio transmission from the tuner was also excellent. Very detailed sound reproduction. So far I have not found anything wrong with this unit. The remote is very user friendly. I will follow up after I receive my 53 inch Pioneer TV for comments concerning THX and DTS processing for home theater.

My System components Included along with the VR-5900:

Kenwood DV-5700 DVD player
Kenwood MX-5000 Amp.
B&W CDM 9NT (Fronts)
B&W CDM CNT
B&W CDM SNT (SL & SR)
B&W WP1 (SBL & SBR)
B&W ASW 1000 Sub.

Strengths:
Cosmetics, Build quality, and ease of use (the touchscreen remote)

Weaknesses:
Weight

Similar Products Used:
Sony