AbrahamDrinkin

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $170.00 from eBay

Summary:
I bought this with the knowledge that it did not power on. Two weeks and $100 later the crack in the board was fixed. Unfortunately, using Radio Shack gold cables is not a great idea with the Nak, as the tension of the connectors have pulled out several of the RCA plugs. Sound quality is good for the retail price and appears to be only limited to the efficiency of the speakers. This Nak has many good features, as should be expected. The learning remote is a plus, but could be improved.

Strengths:
Relatively clean sound, multiple digital inputs.

Weaknesses:
Product support, good luck getting any information from Nakamichi. Naks are notoriously tempermental. No 5.1. No subwoofer test. No apparent compatibility with single channel powered subwoofers.

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood

Price Paid:  $300.00 from ubid.com

Summary:
I bought this amp a few years back. It has performed well, up til this past week. For some reason, the audio output cuts out if the volume is turned past ~5%. This happens with CD's and Movies alike. I have written Nakamichi about bringing it in to a local repair shop, but they have not responded. This incident along with the failure of a Nakamichi car audio amplifier has shaken my opinion of Nakamichi's reliability. Their repair service (even under warranty) takes months...I'm afraid to even ask them about sending it in (at my cost.) I will be very reluctant to purchase another Nakamichi product ever again.

Strengths:
Warm sound Powerful bass

Weaknesses:
Reliability!

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Richer Sounds, Newca

Summary:
I had decided to get a cheap Sony AV amp to replace the old NAD I had sitting under the TV. I saw this on an end of line offer at £200 and I knew i just had to have it. It is built like a tank, looks ugly but honest and has a remote that takes all the worst elements of 80s design and jumbles them up a bit. But, being teenager of the 70s the word Nakamichi had me mesmerised. Nakamichi was the aspirational brand of my youth. The shops never put a price on Nakamichi because if you needed to ask you couldn't afford it. 5 minutes later I was driving home with a smile as wide as the Tyne on my face. And a very heavy weight in the boot. And do you know what? I haven't stopped smiling. In stereo, through my Kef Q15.2s it is simply the dogs bollocks, detailed and articulate without ever being tiring. The radio receiver is worth £200 in its own right live broadcasts really do put you in the concert hall. And Dolby Digital (through 2 more Kef Q15.2s and a Q95C), well I’m no expert but it can certainly scare my kids even with the pictures switched off. This is just a great piece of kit for a family man like me. Cheap enough to keep within our budget and genuinely awesome value when it does what it does. The real shame of course is that Richer Sounds probably had 10 for the whole country, and 10 lucky souls like me wandered off with them months ago. The website says they are awaiting stock but it’s been like that for weeks. I can't see them getting any returns either.

Strengths:
Sounds sublime. Looks like it could entertain and survive a small war. All the right features for me. The right price.

Weaknesses:
The remote is a joke which is a shame, because the right functions are there, you just cant be bothered find them.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer SX 590, circa 1975 and still going strong in my son's room.

Price Paid:  $280.00 from Richer Sounds (Brist

Summary:
I was only looking for a quality 2 channel stereo amp and noticed this av reciever was on offer for a very good price, under £200 or $300 USD. Firstly, you open the box and find the machine is very heavy and well built. The manual is about half an inch thick... Then you notice that it does not have a multi channel analogue input for SACD or Dolby DTS built in. So thats why its cheap. Then I wired it up and just about got through my entire collection of CDs as the sound is warm, detailed and untiring to listen to, even noticing some details I'd missed before. Even my wifes folk music CDs sounded good ! The receivers tuner sounds better than our Sony STB-920S unit (up for sale) which was completely unexpected. The digital input is quieter than the analogue one and not so good at portraying depth or layers but has cleaner treble. You can pick.... I have not tried it for Home Cinema uses yet, I am still shocked by the stereo performance on 2 channel SACD playback, the excellent free built in radio, free D-A converter and unbelievable volume I can have through my Dynaudio Audience 60 floorstander speakers. Oh, the remote can learn the codes from your other remotes as well.... and the amp has an auxiliary switched mains socket which my CD is attached to that goes on/off with standby on the amp.

Strengths:
In stereo with SACD, unbelieveable sound quality. Radio better than a Sony tuner worth as much as the receiver ! Learning remote. Real speaker binding posts (some won't take 4mm plugs). Turn it up - instant home disco ! Amazing volume possible. Red display blends well with any other black hi-fi.... see one and understand... Warms up sounds, makes folk music listenable. Makes big band, jazz, classicla, rock, pop, metal, funk etc sound marvellous. Wife massively pleased with item.

Weaknesses:
I've had to cut a hole in the back of the cabinet to get it on the shelf... The cooling fan can be heard if you're close and it's late at night. Rear power rating says 950W 230VAC, I haven't noticed an increased electricity bill yet. I read some guy had reliability problems and bought a 3 year guarantee. If that fan stops spinning...... In hi-fi terms, treble end is a little soft.

Similar Products Used:
Had a quick play with Denon, Sony, Yamaha, Marantz.... they were more money and sounded far worse in stereo.

Price Paid:  $450.00 from Audio One

Summary:
Having spent a small fortune on my new home theatre and thinking my higher end components would do the audio for now, a friend recommended a special clear out of the AV8 which could do the job for now for Dolby Digital tasks and then suffice as a receiver somewhere else in the house later .

This sounded logical so I went for it and what a surprise!!!. Realistically, my Bryston and Linn set up is still superior for pure audio, but the system flexibility this unit offered with plenty of inputs/outputs and excellent Dolby Digital sound was a very pleasant surprise!. On a price / performance basis, this unit really shines!.

What really surprised me was the robust amplification performance. This may occur since I only run 3 of the 5 channels in DD mode (the Brystons power the 2 front mains); nonetheless, it offered far more performance and quality than I expected. Demanding tracks in Swordfish and Pearl Harbor were handling flawlessly which again for what I paid, I expected far less!. Since the AV8 also offers output jacks and it's entry price point was so attractive versus other high end AV pre-amp setups, I was prepared to purchase the Bryston 5BST 3 channel amplifier and still come out shining but frankly, there was no need!!!.

The power supply in this unit is obviously solid since it wouldn't flinch no matter how much I pushed it. This includes solid, non distorted sound during demanding tracks and the display panel remained consistently lit (no blinking lights when the unit is working hard). Again, you would expect this in higher priced units but not for an entry level AV Receiver!.

The AV8 has truly made a difference to the my home theatre and I'm glad my friend pointed out the benefits of Dolby Digital versus a temporary phantom surround mode. I'm so pleased with this unit that it just may have a longer life within my home theatre confines versus being put to pasture in the family room.

Well done Nakamichi!!!

Strengths:
Clean Sound

Weaknesses:
None worth mentioning

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha