Price Paid:  $119.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
This is a very nice stereo receiver for the price. It was purchased to replace a 22 year old receiver which had finally given up. I was not looking for HT, and this seemed the best of the 2 channel units carried by best buy. I did not shop extensively for it, as the need was immediate. I later learned that it garnered a CR Best Buy, and I concur. It served for over a year as my main system. It has since been moved to the basement, connected to the computer for moving my LPs to CD. A good receiver at a good price. There are better, but I would rather put the money into speakers.

Strengths:
Clean power, no hiss with a clean input til volume past 3/4 full. Logical controls.

Weaknesses:
Spring clip connections for speakers.

Similar Products Used:
Technics SA-300 (circa 1978).

Price Paid:  $130.00 from Radioshack

Summary:
Great ampifier. I had blown my sx 780 and was looking for a new amp to replace it. Finally I got one as a gift for my birthday as a total surprise. Well I took it home, hooked it all up. The sound of it was amazing. I'm currently using some crap realistic speakers but am going to buy jbl nd310's to go with the amp. I've seen people complain about the tuner and I also had a problem with it. What I did was I took at 50ft section of speaker wire that I had lying around and since this was in my basement I strung it around and connected that to the amp. Well now lets just say I can pick up nearly any signal it's so strong. The power of this thing is outstanding, I could easily blow the speakers i have right now so I'm trying to be careful with it. I'm using it through a mixer which has my computer as the input as well as a tape deck and cd player. As for the only single speaker set at a time. I don't really see this as a problem. It keeps the load at 8ohms instead of forcing the amp to work at 4ohms as it is with most stereo powered amps. I think that was the reason I blew my original amp was because I was doing a party with 4 speakers rather then the normal 2. Couldn't have been more pleased with it!

Strengths:
Powerful clean sound. No hissing or fuzz. Remote control with powered volume.

Weaknesses:
Only single speakers at once. Not powered bass, treble and balance controls. Tuner (before I fixed it)

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer sx 780 and sx 650 amps I owned before, Yamaha amps. I've also used qsc power amps.

Summary:
Es un excelente sintoamplificador para uso hogareño y para pequeñas fiestas

Strengths:
Potencia muy buena

Weaknesses:
No se pueden escuchar los parlantes A y B juntos

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Aiwa, Kenwood

Price Paid:  $99.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I got this amp at best buy for 30 bucks off (open box my favorite). It was missing the remote, but i found out later that that's one of the collest parts. It's got a motorized volume control! Oh well, so I missed out on the volume control.

Anyways, I combined this amp with some Yamaha NS-A638's. This amp really kicks. Overall I spent about $200 on this system after wires ect, and it is no question the best home stereo I have ever heard costing less than $1000 trust me!

Strengths:
Excellent sound for the money, solidly built, plenty of power for big speakers, just the right amount of audio adjustment controls for what you paid, overall nice amp

Weaknesses:
There's no digital input, but I have heard some really nice digital systems and this amp blows them away hands down. (so it's not really a weakness) Also it's not surround but it wasn't meant to be so it doesn't matter...

Similar Products Used:
Aiwa, Sony, Pioneer

Price Paid:  $130.00 from Crutchfield.com

Summary:
To put this review in its proper context, this is a entry level, stereo only reciever. It does not have the features or the capabilities of a mid-fi A/V reciever. That said, this is and excellent product for what it is supposed to do. If you are on a budget or a college student like me, I would highly recommend this reciever. The sound is a good your going to get from a component in this class with no glaring flaws. It has ample power, 10 o'clock on the volume dail is quite loud. It also has plenty of headroom for loud music. Previous reviews have been critical of the tuner but I have had no problems and I can now pick up many stations that I could not before. Up to 30 stations can be preset (either am or fm) and you can tune in a station directly from the keypad which is a feature I like. Imputs include VCR, Tape, CD player and Phono. One drawback to note is that this reciever must have nothing on top of it. It tends to get rather hot if the ventilation is blocked. However, if properly ventillated there are no problems. It cannot play both sets of speakers at once, not a problem for me because I only have one set of speakers.
My cd player is a technics SL-PD8 and my speakers are PSB alphas.
In conclusion, this reciever gives excellent performance and value for the money. Gets five value stars for being so cheap and five overall stars for being the best in the stereo receiver class (consumer reports agrees)

Strengths:
Ample power (100 watts per channel), well constructed, ease of use, excellent sound for the money.

Weaknesses:
display a tad bright, especially in a darker room. Other than that, nothing so far.

Similar Products Used:
this is the first component I have purchased.