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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$200.00
from EBay Summary:
I finally got my hands on one of these! It runs my system upstairs. Now, for a short description: it has a lot of audio video/inputs, which includes s-video. All of the rear jacks are gold plated. Speaker outputs are bananas (X2). This is for the remote room option it provides. There are also ins and outs for the five channels, which is handy for upgrading to a Dolby/DTS processor. If that's not sufficient for you, it includes a DB input. Finally, there's an optical input for a laserdisc player. On the front panel you have all kinds of goodies. There's also a screen graphic for settings. I've researched this product extensively, and it was designed by Holman's team as it was the first THX A/V receiver ever built for home use. I remember the days of the first THX processors, such as the Technics 200. When this thing came out, it blew me away. Funny, how I finally bought one twelve years later. Seems like it never skipped a beat. The sound: WOW! It's all I expected. This thing has the best Pro-Logic processor I've ever heard, and I've heard and owned quite a few. It almost sounds like the Pro-Logic receivers available today. Separation is incredible. It's like having separates. I had a Yamaha RV-1000 in it's place, which also has a Pro-Logic processor as the Pro-Logic II processors had not come around until later. There's no comparison. The Yamaha processor sounds "dead" with minimal separation. This really surprised me being it's a Yamaha. This is truly vintage high-end without a doubt. To an extent, it was refreshing when I heard it for the first time. Of course, there are the typical DSP modes. However, the THX mode is fantastic. I fired up my Saving Private Ryan DVD in it's Dolby Surround mode. Holy smokes, this thing shook my house. It has more of an impact than my Onkyo 7.1 receiver downstairs, in it's Pro-Logic II mode. Holman's team created a truly impressive THX product. They put it all on the table. This does not disappoint. As a matter of fact, I prefer to watch my DVR episodes upstairs. It's just great fun to hear this thing. I haven't even mentioned the coolest feature. You can individually set the front (left-right-center) bass and treble settings. This is almost unprecedented in most of the receivers in it's time, much less now. If there were any, they were few and far between. This brings up the amplifiers themselves. The front three are rated at 100 and the two rears at 50. It's plenty for me. If you like to collect vintage audio/video products you may want to add one of these to your list. Highly recommended.
My system (upstairs):
Onkyo 919
JBL SC-305's (mains)
JBL The Center (bipolar center)
Cambridge Soundworks The Surround by Henry Kloss (dipole sides)
JBL PS-100 powered subwoofer
Sony progressive scan DVD player (on component)
AT&T U-Verse HD receiver (on HDMI)
Nintendo WII (on component)
Samsung 50' Plasma screen
Monster Cable interconnects (including component/S-Video/HDMI/THX speaker wire)
Monster Cable gold-plated speaker pins and banana's
Panamax Surge protection
downstairs:
Onkyo 797 7.1 THX Select Receiver
JBL 2080's (mains)
JBL The Center (bipolar center)
Paradigm ADP-170's (sides)
JBL 2050's (center rears)
JBL PS-120 powered subwoofer
Pioneer Elite DVD-09 THX player (on coaxial and component)
Pioneer Elite 59 Laserdisc player (on S-Video and coaxial)
Sony 757 5-Disc CD player (on optical)
Sony 656 HX-Pro Cassette player
JVC Super VHS recorder (on S-Video)
AT&T U-Verse HD DVR (on optical and HDMI)
Sony Wega 55' rear projection screen
Monster Cable interconnects (including component/S-Video/HDMI/THX speaker wire)
Monster Cable gold-plated speaker pins/bananas
Monster Cable/Panamax surge protection
Strengths:
THX Audio/S-Video
Gold-plated jacks
Banana speaker plugs (for two systems)
Excellent Pro-Logic/THX processor (for pure, vintage surround sound, which betters most modern-day THX receivers)
Built like a beast (50 lbs.)
DB-25 input
Powerful amplifiers
In/Outs for all channels
Designed by Tomlinson Holman team ($2,000 in its day)
Compared to all of the crap that modern-day receivers have and require, this is as simple as it gets! Great for a second system.
Weaknesses:
No modern-day Pro-Logic II/X processing (may not matter after hearing it)
No Dolby Digital/DTS processors (however, it can be upgraded as mentioned above)
No optical/coaxial digital inputs or outputs (A-plus sound without all that jazz)
No component/HDMI inputs/outputs (no matter as I wouldn't run these connections thru a receiver)
Discontinued
Similar Products Used:
Yamaha RXV-390 (cool)
Yamaha RXV-590
Yamaha RXV-890 (one of my favorites)
Onkyo 777 THX Select 6.1 (Pro-Logic)
Onkyo 797 THX Select 7.1 (Pro-Logic II)
Dynaco 2 Hafler Matrix Processor (very cool)
Smart EX (add-on)
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