mg196

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $80.00 from Ebay

Summary:
After doing a bit of research I purchased this for a pittance, $80 on Ebay. Yeah, it came w/out the remote, but I was able to pick that up for $90 from on online dealer. So all told, this baby cost me less than $200. This has been the perfect addition to my home theater. I have a VCR, turntable, PS2, TV, DVD, and cassette player running into this and have never had a problem in terms of handling-power. I find myself using only a fraction of its total features, but that's a plus in my book - leaves room to expand the possibilities at a later date. It sounds wonderful, whether its pumping out my mom's old CSN&Y LP's or the crushing DVD brilliance of the Matrix. No, it does NOT have DTS, but the Pro Logic is fine for me right now. Remember, this IS an older machine. For the cost, this receiver is at the top of its class. It outplays many of the more expensive rival brands and holds its own against the others. It is a tremendous bargain and well worth the search!

Strengths:
Jillions of features Warm sound easily stands up to more expensive competitors

Weaknesses:
No DTS max speaker-wire gauge is 12

Price Paid:  $160.00 from Best Buy ( name says

Summary:
Great reciever sounds great LOVE IT! With the broad base of differing music styles that I choose to listen to, at first I was rather concerned as to the quality, dependibility and clarity of an older reciever. I was shockingly surprised as to the quality, construction and clarity. overall I rate this product better then even many onkyo systems on the market as of today.It comes supplied with more wattage then could ever be sainly put to use. Over all this product is more then capable of reproducing any and all frequencies that are within the human range. This reciever makes any music sound simply delightful, from Bach to Vilvaldi to modern music such as Out of Eden, One Nation Crew just a few to name a very few. I am rather pleased with this reciever. Especialy considering how much I saved, I was told that this particular piece costs upwards of six hundered dollars.

Strengths:
Clarity of sound, Clarity of picture, more then ample wattage, ease of use, price, digital inputs.

Weaknesses:
tends to overload at times,2 wire cilps in the rear have become disloged and broken, the rear clips will not allow more then 12 gauge wire,

Similar Products Used:
technics, sony, sharp

Price Paid:  $600.00 from vision

Summary:
not bad but far from good

Strengths:
lots of features

Weaknesses:
lots of features that are never used because they are lame and digital picture from dvd and psx2 are wavy and not weak sighnals going to speaker

Price Paid:  $225.00

Summary:
This truly is a spectacular receiver. I have a cheaper samsung dvd player and with the flawless dolby digital decoding it makes it sound like a movie theater. I have not had one single problem with it. This is a perfect lower cost home theater system for someone who doesnt want to sacrifice good sound and still not spend too much.

Strengths:
Extremely user friendly, nice remote, low cost

Weaknesses:
no DTS decoding

Similar Products Used:
Sony DE-545

Price Paid:  $420.00

Summary:
Overall a great receiver. I have my minidisk, DVD/CD player, VCR, turntable and Playstation plugged through it. I have the video out plugged into a Sony 29" flat screen digital and the speakers are 2x JBL Northridge 310's (250watts ea) and the surround speakers are all Sony component speakers (80 watts ea) also a 20 watt super woofer (Sony). The sound is brilliant, the picture is brilliant and the controls are easy enough that even the most gross simpleton could use them.
Now, obviously the receiver was never designed to push a set of 250 watt speakers and after one crank session the transformer has shown why. MELTDOWN!!! My one and only real complaint about this receiver is the lack of internal fan.
Conclusion - a fantastic package at a fantastic cost!!!

Strengths:
Wide Range of inputs, clarity of both sound and image, price, depth of sound.

Weaknesses:
Power handleing, lack of optical input/outputs

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Denon