Price Paid:  $600.00 from eBay

Summary:
The DSP A1 is a very musical yet powerful A/V receiver I have listened to. It is very muscial and drive the Magnepan 3.3R effortlessly (see below).

Let me point out the negatives first.

(1) The D/A quality is very good but definitely not audiophile grade. If you are serious in listening to your CDs, get an external D/A. I personally use Wadia 25 d/a which happens to be an digital pre-amp too. Great clarity and soundstage and smoothness.

(2) The binding posts are too close to each other (but not as bad as the Pioneer's).

(3) Lack of decoder option. Well, this is a rather outdated unit in terms of all those crazy 6.1, 7.1 Neo, Matrix ... whatever buzzwords that are throwing around. I personally couldn't care less. You are better off getting the A1 which is a top-notch A/V receiver, and then take advantage of its 7 channel support (external decoder in) instead. Think about multichannel SACD for example, A-1 is the perfect choice. So this is not a negative to me, but will be for those of you who enjoy the latest and greatest decoding options.

This receiver drives my Magnepan 3.3R surprisingly well with the Wadia 25. Without it, you could not get earth-shattering volume (who would do that with the Magnepan anyway?).

For those of you who are as crazy as me. I actually compared Wadia 25 + Mark Levinson 23 VS Wadia 25 + DSP-A1. The #23 beats the DSP-A1 in every regard. But not at a large margin as you would expect. I'd say about 80% of #23 when listening to pop and chamber music, and 70% when listening to large orchestral works.

If you compare the price between the #23 (2 channel power amp, $2000 used) and DSP-A1 (7 channel A/V receiver, $600 used) and do the math, you should see an used DSP-A1 is a true bargain.

P.S. The DSP-A1 betters the Rotel (cheap quality from China nowadays), Pioneer (cross-talk, poor imaging and musicality), Technics (that's for your Bose speaker lovers only), Denon (way overpriced, flabby Q/A) and B&K (again, way overpriced, not as flexible as the A1).

Strengths:
Very musical. Cinema DSP sounds really nice. 7 channel support.

Weaknesses:
Decoding selection is limited. D/A quality is not exactly audiophile-grade. Binding posts too close to each other.

Similar Products Used:
Denon AVR3802; Pioneer Elite VSX-27TX and 47TX; B&K 307AVR; Technics (oh my god!) ?????; Rotel RMB1062

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Hong Kong

Summary:
I bought this unit 3 years ago, and I’m very happy with it in playing pure audio or watching movies. At the beginning, I use it to drive a pair of Denmark bookshelf speakers, the effect is not bad, but lack of bass, however, with the compensation of a sub-woofer the problem can be solved. However, the sound from sub-woofer is slow and soft, I prefer to use a larger speaker. I bought a pair of B&W N804 a year ago, I didn’t expect the DSP-A1 can drive it so well, I just can’t believe that the sound is well balanced and so dynamic at the same time very details. No one would think to use such a “cheap” amp to drive a much high-end speaker like the B&W N804. Anyway, the DSP-A1 has the ability to drive it so well. I have taken the sub-woofer away after hooking with the N804, the sound stage has been improved, better bass response etc.

Strengths:
Power, well bananced, build quality and look.

Weaknesses:
Lack of pure direct botton form pure audio

Similar Products Used:
No other amp is better than that in its price range

Price Paid:  $900.00 from super-fi

Summary:
I have in fact DSP AX1 model, which is a newer version of A1 as I gather. It is an excellent amp (something like BMW in car indsustry); number of facilities - you don't even know whether you set it up correctly. It is a truly esoteric amp - some of us probably do not even appreciate how good the thing is.

Strengths:
number of options,the faithfulness of sound, built, the weight (28 kilos - I just love it!)

Weaknesses:
I am not sure about one thing. It's got a digitally controlled volume; what confuses me is the amplifier's graphical indicator, which shows half of the overall volume when the amp is in fact turned up to 50 db (50 db with other amps is only "twenty to nine" position on ordinary volume meters. Can anyone tell me something about this?

Similar Products Used:
Technics SDAX 940

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Van Ingen, Purmerend

Summary:
I own two of them. The first one was bought for $ 1.600 in a sale. 6 Months later, in the next sale, it had dropped to 1.200. Being so pleased with the first one, I decided to get an other one for my 'normal' system in the livingroom.
In my top system it's used in combination with my fantastic Klipsch
RF-7.
Before the Klipsch they drove a pair of hefty Infinity Kappa 100 with ease.
The amp. has got plenty of power, for high quality stereo or Dolby 5.1 or DTS digital surround. It's very friendly in operating, with plenty of facilities and sound possibilities for surround.
What more to say; I 'love' them...

Strengths:
Power, facilities, ease of use, good looking...

Weaknesses:
None I can think of.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from the wiz (demo model)

Summary:
This is the first serious amp/reciever that i purchased into somewhat audiophile quality. I had a budget of about $1000 on a pre amp or reciever/amp and probably was settling on Yamaha's RVX1095 when i walked into THE WIZ oneday and saw this Bad Boy as a demo unit for sale at $1000. I practicly did'nt leave it and shouted for a salesman to come and take it to the counter. I knew this unit goes for about $2000 new.
I originaly hooked this unit up to a pair of Polk audio RT2000 speaker which i blew 5 times with this unit.. Also had the Bose AM 15 as surround system.. The Polks went back and in came the Infinity IL 50's. they left also. Now the Paradigm studio 100's.. PERFECT ..the Bose eventually left also..
I must admit when i first hooked this up trying to get it right took about 6 to 12 months of experimenting. It is not confusing at all , but the configurations you can do with this unit is endless. I have had mine for year and a half and still pull it out every 2 months to try something new.
The sound that this produces is ok for listeners below the 85Db level.. If you have top quality speakers. Mine just could'nt handle from the reciever any thing past the 12 o'clock position on the volume knob. After purchasing an amplifier to do some justice, it was like a happy marraige.
this baby can do anything you want and more. So many inputs for speakers makes you think silly 3 subwoofers, 3 center channels, 2 mains, 2 rear surround, and 2 front channels. I'm not wrong about that either ..
I never get tired of this unit because there is so much to learn and grow into. How can you get that for $1000 anywhere??
Hats off to Yamaha for making an excellent product. Even if you can pick this unit up for $900 or less, its a steal. Just if you play it real loud with great speakers you will need an additional amplifier..

Strengths:
definetly a unit to grow into, change balance level of ALL speakers, reproduction of material, sound field programs,

Weaknesses:
ABSOLUTLEY NONE

Similar Products Used:
Laugh at models