Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
for the money it really delivers, but if at all possible get a extended warranty. It blows up real good.

Strengths:
Cheap, cheap, cheap, it does the trick and far out performs most home theaters in a box out there

Weaknesses:
in 7 months it has blown up twice, Weak natural bass response though it handles synth bass OK

Similar Products Used:
all sorts, I replaced it with a Panasonic SAHE-100, the panasonic is FAR SUPERIOR

Price Paid:  $360.00 from Radio Shack

Summary:
First of all, let me state that I have the larger 500-watt model. I am EXTREMELY pleased with the performance. It supports both Dolby Digital and DTS, and does both very well. The bass isn't as good through DTS, but I am planning on another subwoofer, thanks to the extra sub-out on the back. Great use of surround, and the RCA speakers are pretty adequate. Subwoofer (200 watt) works extremely well. I bought two omni-directional speakers for my rear surround channels, and it more than made up for the ones that came with the system. Pro-Logic works wonderfully, and the DSPs are also great. I have never had any interference problems; however, a few of my input jacks on the back have shorts in them, but it was after considerable wear-and-tear. One other problem was that the speakers appeared to stop working (all except the center) until I (and I'm not kidding) struck the bottom of the receiver. Gotta be a short in there somewhere. All in all, 100 watts per channel, 200 watt sub, and five speakers for just 360? Can't beat it, not by a longshot.

Strengths:
Tremendous power for the price; huge selection of inputs, front a/v and s-video jacks. No interference with other jacks. Coaxial jack for my laptop (S-PDIF) is a definite plus. And the subwoofer is simply wonderful.

Weaknesses:
Some of the input jacks have shorts in them and I had to karate chop my system to get the other speakers working - but the latter only happened once.

Similar Products Used:
None.

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Radio Shack

Summary:
i have had this system for about 4 months now and i am mostly happy with it. sound quality could be better but its not that bad, and I like the different surround modes but i cant get it to play dolby digital! I recently hooked up a dolby digital dvd player with a dolby digital movie in it and hooked it into the reciever via an optical cable, and set the reciever to (optical) on the display. however it would not play dolby digital, let me select it,or select it it self. Only the other modes like pro-logic etc. worked which was still coming from the optical cable, not the a/v inputs, is there some way to turn off the input IQ? someone please help me with this

Strengths:
value, connecion options, features, midrange sound quality, DSP modes.

Weaknesses:
sub distorts way to easily, bland looking display and reciever, remote, can be frustrating to operate at times.

Similar Products Used:
older kenwood reciever

Price Paid:  $299.00 from Radio Shack

Summary:
This system was pretty good from day 1. since that was my first dolby digital system, I was very facinated. it got to me that 50 watts wasnt much power espically to bigger speakers. Now I had Yamaha ns-6390s to it and also a optimus 100 watt sub (my dog chewed the origional woofer, so I bought a 10" PRO series for it) when you turn the sub off from the reciever and out bass on +10, the speakers distirt at about volume 25 of 60. They play louder with more bass on 120 watt /channel mini stereo. On my reciever, my volume broke. you have to push it to the side, turn it whule oushing etc. You''''ll probably think this is funny and wierd but since the vol is broken and really only eorks good the the r/c, sometimes ill lisen 2 music and it goes up REAL fast to volume 60 like someone inside the reciever is turning ghe volume control up really fast. (maybe I have bugs in there playing tricks on me) well I am gonna change to yamaha center channel, (Not RCA PRO-LS2) yamaha rears and keep my sub and at the end of the year, gonn abuy a yamaha reciver and put this 1 in my room with other spkrs. if you have any questions about this, I have opened it several times and fixed it for my friends that have one, so Email me at JNCOkid258@aol.com. Thanks!

Strengths:
DSP modez. cheap, options, preset EQ''''s.

Weaknesses:
Needs more power (Excluding 100watt/channel model), cheap volume, terible spealkers come w/it, can''''t have good bass with reg. sub that came with it (opened it up and had 2 pretty beefy 5 1/4" woofers. (To open the sub, pry off the front plastic part and the subs are one facing down on the top and one faciong up on bottom .each sub ahs it''''s own"Little box"

Similar Products Used:
JVC mini stereo (120wx2) Marantz reviever (165wx2) if anybody is intrested in buying my perfectly good marantz reciever and tape player for CHEAP, email me.

Price Paid:  $299.00 from Radio Shack

Summary:
This A/V Receiver is weak in a lot of ways. First of all, from day 1, I have been unable to connect a CD player to the CD input or a DVD player to the DVD input. That''s right. I have to plug the DVD player into the SAT input and the CD player into the VCR 2 input. And when I tried to hook up my PC soundcard output to the receiver, all I got was such a loud noise that it was unbearable.

Strengths:
Inexpensive. Sounds good for watching movies and TV.

Weaknesses:
The electronics are too sensitive. Too much interferance and the "Universal Remote" does not work with any of my other components.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer. (Worked great - now the exwife enjoys it)