I purchased Kenwood VR-2090 two weeks ago and I must say I like it a lot. This recever really cooks. I have Mirage 1090 bipolar tower speakers hooked up to it and thay sound great. This recever has no problem powering these power hungry speakers. At first I purchased Onkyo TXDS-656 but did not like it. With Kenwood VR-2090 I get many more features, plenty of clean power and a unique remote.Some say that the remote is to complicated but I find it to be quite usefull
( after some practice). I can control all my components from this one remote
including all advanced functions, which is nice. One thing I do not like is its color. It shuld be black. Everything I have is black, my TV, DVD player, VCR, DSS and speakers are black, so this receiver stands out like sore eye. However
for its features and its sound I must give it five stars.

This is a follow up to my previous review. IT has been two months since I have owned my Kenwood VR2090. IN two months I experimented with it extensively in Dolby Digital, stereo play back and DTS after finely getting my first available DTS DVD in Canada in the form of "Daylight" with Sylvester Stalone. All I can say is WOW! This receiver performs extremly well. AS I said in my previous review I exchanged Onkyo 656 for this receiver, no regrets whatsoever. IT beats Onkyo every step of the way. DTS sounds simply incredible as well as dose Dolby Digital. After bi-wiring my Mirage 1090i bi-polar speakers it gives mi nice well defined and pleasing sound in stereo play back. And after two months I,m becoming a pro in using the remote. The remote seems to be the major complaint for many but all I can say to potential bayer,s is that you simply need some patience with it. The only time I do not use this remote is when I control my DSS because it dose not control everything. When I first got this receiver I did not liked the silver finish on it but since I had people over and everyone was impressed by it,s looks because it,s so different from everything out there.So ones again I will give Kenwood VR 2090 five stars.

100-Watt x 5-Channels, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro-Logic, and 5-ambiance modes all bundled in a nice package. Other nice features include 4-Composite Video Inputs and multi-room capability. It is a good piece at the $1,000 retail, but even better and more attractive at the $679 mail order price.

I purchased this unit for $489 (refurbished) about a month ago. I decided to go refurb because of all of the early problems reported (I didn't want to get an new, early production unit that I would have to send in for repair), figuring they have been fixed. I have been very impressed.
The remote does have a steep learning curve and does take a lot of patience to use. But when I have visitors, they are astounded by the remote alone (and then completely blown away by DVD/Dolby Digital). It is great to be able to make adjustments without disrupting video playback with an OSD.

The Dolby Digital and Pro Logic Decoding (when using digital inputs) is flawless. But the DSP modes are absolutly useless. The Dual Room Operation (Audio and Video) is one of the best features I've experienced in a receiver. Stereo output is great from digital inputs, you can really tell the difference from analog.

The only glitch I was able to produce was with the DVD Blade. When in Auto digital mode, the unit detects AC-3 Dolby Digital, PCM 2-channel, and DTS on the fly with no problem or stray noises. However, on Blade, many of the special features comentaries are recorded in AC-3 2-channel (for compression purposes). (Yes there is such a thing, AC-3 can be used to compress a mono soundtrack all the way up to full 6 channels, so please do not SPAM me questioning my intelligence). The receiver switched to pro-logic properly when playing these tracks, but when I played the theatrical trailer (6-channel), the center was non-existant (It was kind of cool hearing all of the effects without the voices, yet still somewhat unsettling). Probably something Kenwood never thought about testing. Powering the receiver off and back on fixed the problem.

I love this receiver! I have set out to build the best home theater system my meager budget can afford, with this receiver as the centerpiece. I have even surpassed my own expectations. Easily 4 speakers, 5 for the price (under $650 new).

I had the Kenwood 2090 and returned it for a couple of reasons:First, the remote is not very good, the little joystick is not very quick to change settings (I prefer to just hit a button, not have to navigate with the joystick). Second, the silver finish did not grow on me and I became annoyed with the color, since all of my other components are black. Third, there was a glitch with the s-video for DVD which created video noise on my Proscan TV. I believe it was a combination of the receiver and TV (so it may not be just the receiver). Feeding the S-video through the receiver to the DVD created the noise, bypassing the receiver there was no noise.

On the plus side, the receiver sounded very good with little noise, it also had an optical outpout for minidisc.

If you can get past the problems discussed above, it is a good receiver. However, the receiver is NOT worth $999 (retail).

Let me start from the beginning:I bought the receiver over Christmas from Uncle Sam's Stereo for about $700.I didn't have a problem with the price, but make sure they really have it in stock I got lied to on several ocassions. I bought the receiver primarily because it looked great (I like different), it had 4 digital inputs (and s-video) and had more than enough power. The remote was great, but as the other reviews will attest, it has a very steep learning curve. People who have never been to my apartment often wonder why they have never seen a gameboy in quite that configuration. Two complaints, first I to had a problem with audio input switching which required me to shut off the receiver to resolve. I don't know what causes it, but it is annoying. I had no problem with either DD or DTS playback, the problem happened when you changed menu's in DVD's and the type of sound changed, say Dolby Pro-Logic to DD. My second problem occured last week. I was listening to a DTS sampler CD at about -40 when the volume ceased, the amp blew. I sent it back to Uncle Sam's and expect it back in a week. I like the receiver but it has some quirks. Absolutely no complaints about sound quality. Thanks

I ordered this from mail order, and returned it after reading the posts on Kenwoods website of people that have problems with the kenwood receivers. Clicking sounds, amps burning out, remote problems after awhile, etc. I did like the receiver, and features and the auto detection of stereo, pro logic, DD and DTS modes worked great. Now Directv transmits some pay per view in DD 5.1 and Starz has one station in 5.1 (even though my receiver displayed sound only in the front speakers, a problem at the Starz network I guess). You almost need a receiver that can auto detect these audio formats. But the posts concerning the reliability of these receivers was it for me. I want my receiver to last for years, not months or a year maybe. Why cant Kenwood make a reliable product? Visit kenwoods site and read for yourself.

Nice unit, but the remote is tedious to use. You have to use the joystick for everything. A touch screen would have really been nice!

The VR-2090 is a techno geek's dream! The Receiver itself is extremely minimalist looking, 5 buttons and a volume knob on the front, however, the remote controls everything. Some people dislike the remote saying that it is "Too hard to use." I mastered the remote in 45 minutes. It does everything. Sometimes it may be a little slow, but it is effective, imo.
The amp has all the necessary decoders, Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, AC-3, and DTS. It puts out 500 watts total (haven't tried it at full power yet, too scared). It is a very nice sounding amplifier, however, the DSP modes make audio sound like crap (I listen to music in Pro Logic, sounds better).

I bought mine refurbished, and paid $430.00US for this receiver. I don't think that I could have purchased a nicer sounding top of the line amplifier for that kind of money. If you can afford the new VR-3100 then buy that, because it is the same receiver with a new remote, and preouts for a seperate amplifier to power the left and rear channels (only differences I could see).

Still have to find out how to get the CD titles to show up on the VR-2090's LCD remote though. (4.5 to 5.0 stars)

An excellent piece of Home Theater Equipment, I personally really like the remote as a "base of operations" (to access infrequently used commands and complex component programming), just not as my main remote. As a main remote I need dedicated buttons to change the channel up and down and increase or decrease the volume, jump between channels, play FF, Rew on the VCR/DVD/CD/Tape/MD etc. If you have a learning remote, (one that you point the original remote to and it learns the commands from it) this thing will let you program in all those commands if you lost the original remote. And if it doesn't have it you can call the 800 number and the remote downloads the new info and BAM it is in there forever! Damn that is cool. As far as looks the amp and remote really stand out, every one that see it compliments on how cool it looks (definitely feels nice to have every one say "wow that looks cool"). Now to the thing the no one ever talks about the receiver! It definitely has tons of power although it isn't apparent with my setup, Boston Acoustics Lynnfield VR series speakers (they suck down power like it is going out of style). It gets moderately hot when up loud, then the fan kicks in and cools her down and the great thing if you mute it you cant even here the fan it is very quiet. There are tons of great features like the S-Video on all inputs, and all are switchable. (You can assign them to what you want, video 2 can be your DVD, cable, VCR any thing). The Dolby Digital, DTS and Pro Logic/3 Stereo are all beautifully smooth and rich, with incredible depth and presence (the pro logic is especially outstanding when hooked up to home theater equipment with a surround dsp to out put in true pro logic not just stereo like most normal TVs and VCRs). The stereo mode is, well stereo. The DSP modes are Average, but can be adjusted to be useful for special applications like FM radio stations that you just cant seem to get in stereo or AM stations and Home Videos or any thing else that is in mono. Or the big sports game you can throw it in to the Stadium DSP for a real behind the bench feel. (I just don't like to make good sound, sound like sh** on purpose :). The Setup is a breeze and every thing is customizable. If you have any question that you can hook all your stuff up to this receiver I'll answer it right now, Yes you can. Just look at a pick of the back of this thing it has every port you can think of. Every thing from 4 digital in's (2 coax and 2 optical) and one out (optical), to IR controls, and a TV power sensor, to a second room pre-out, and all speakers terminals are 4 way binding posts. It does lack Main speaker Pre-outs but that is about it. Radio Reception is killer, /w radio station data system. The Full Volume Total Harmonic Distortion is higher than I would like, but you can only here it at 70% volume and higher and you will never get there the furthest I have gone to is -35 and that is REAL LOUD, and that is where it just starts to become louder than the -98. (from -100 to -10, -10 being the loudest). To those of you unfamiliar with pro audio sound measurements, the weird volume control is ment to imitate that. (you get use to it in 5 min.) Also there is a ever so slight harmonic tick when you turn the volume up but to here it you have to have no signal and put your ear to the speaker and listen really hard, you will NEVER hear it under any listening condition. But to sum it all up all these features and value with only a few easily excusable flaws, and at the price it is at... easily 5 stars.