A serious value. Great remote. Many features. Circle Surround.

Spring/lock clips for rear surrounds!!arg! Lack of bass response.

I upgraded to this from a pioneer pro-logic reciver(vsx-d307 for those interested.) Well it certainly is a GREAT receiver for the price I paid for it. NEVER pay MSRP for this as you can find it for much much lower. Anyways, to the review.

DD/DTS decoding: Works like a charm. Never had a signal go undetected. Does the decoding beautifully as well. Only problem is when it selects between pro-logic/dd in the main menu screens of some movies, the click sound is a bit annoying.

REMOTE: What a kick-ass remote for a receiver this price! Definitely a true learning, universal remote. Has codes programmed in the remote so you dont have to manually enter codes for different brands. Macro functions. RF, not IR! I can control volume from another room through the walls. Can learn from other remotes as well.

INPUT/OUTPUT: Full s-video for everything, 6 channel DVD/audio. Pre-outs for external amp. Many optical/coax dig in/out. Front AV w/s-video.

POWER: Supposedly 100 x 5. I doubt it, sketchy THD ratings. It can drive my speakers more than loud enough, though, and it sounds pretty clean. (remember the pricerange, dont compare apples to oranges).

The only problems I have with this is the spring clips in the back. Those are really annoying, as anything larger than 14guage wire will pretty much not go in, and that is what i am using. So I got some Pin-terminals. Well the spring clips are so close together that the pins touched and shorted! Thanks god for the protection circuit. Cover them in some tape or something to avoid this. Also, people below have complained about lack of bass....well this is an issue, but not a huge one. There is definitely less bass in here than in some other receivers, but it is only through music that I noticed this. Mind you that my subwoofer is no wimp(DIY 15"Dayton DVC, 12cu ft, tuned to 19hz..400w+), and it is more than satisfactory, and a non-issue in movies. Just make sure you have a subwoofer or very capable mains.
Circle surround is a sweet feature on this mid-priced receiver. I used it a lot, and I almost NEVER use DSPs and such. It really does add a lot to many tracks, although some just sound plain bad and ridiculous with it. Experiment a little. The rest of the DSPs in this receiver i have not bothered with and will not.

System:
Kenwood VR-410 receiver
Energy Take5 system
DIY sub(see above)

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood 3080, pioneer pro-logic.

Sound, Remote, Price

I bought this online for only $359.99! The sound is amazing! I have AR 15's for front's and rear. AR 2c for my center and an advent 15" sub. This thing rocks. The remote is real easy and can operate all of my other components. Click Here to
get yours!

DTS, 5.1, Circle Surround, digital inputs(coax and optical), video inputs.

rear speaker connections, listening modes.

I really like this as the "brains" for my home theatre. DTS and 5.1 capability make this amp a good workhorse. One feature I really like is the Circle Surround which is used for regualar listening that is not 5.1 or DTS. It is actually pretty good and creates a nice sound. Other main strengths are the amount of video inputs, optical and coax digital inputs, and the remote. I don't need the video inputs as I have plenty on the TV, but some may find them useful. The remote is excellent and can be taught to operate all of my components (Satellite, DVD, VCR, TV, CD Player, Tape deck, etc). A nice LCD display shows you what is going on. Programming is a breeze, and you can even add macros in to record favourite functions, and save your fingers a few clicks!

I don't like the way you cannot directly select the listening mode. You have to cycle through them all. Also, the rear speakers are just clips, and don't use banana plugs.

Similar Products Used:

Dolby ProLogic amps

haven't figured them out yet

Manual --

I have just purchased this unit. I need help. I can't figure out how to get the Circle Surround to work, when listening in digital, which I read here is quite impressive. I would appreciate a step by step help if someone would be so kind. I find the manual, not very good for someone who is not inclined to reading this stuff. I prefer detailed examples... the stereo people are sick of me and then many of them have no idea how to use it themselves. I would gladly contribute a real evaluation after I have used the machine longer.

I would also prefer more control with bass response. It would be nice if you could set the volume for 4 speakers when listening to a cd. I believe you must have surround speakers for this to be done.???

Thanks. Hope to hear from someone soon.

Similar Products Used:

none

POOR BASS

I hooked the amp up to 2 Infinity SM152 (15" woofers) and
2 JBL tower speakers. Turned it on and poof. My system was
instantly reduced to one of those cheap sounding complete package stereo systems.
"WHERE IS THE BEEF?". I emailed Kenwood and they informed
me this machine will not deliver the bass response or the
power needed to drive the speakers as they should be. Too bad the stereo man didn't tell me this before I took it home. I didn't use
the surround sound and I really don't care much about this
stuff. I really don't need to watch all those bad movies with better sound.
So, if you have large woofers and want good music sound this
machine should be avoided. Kenwood confirms this.

Features, price, sound (for the most part), remote

Bass in stereo mode

This unit has a LOT of strenghts and only one major weakness. It has so many features for the price, it's almost silly.

Sound in Pro Logic and Dolby Digital is fantastic. Perfectly balanced and clear. The remote kicks ass, and can run almost anything. It is much, much better than the others in this price class by Sony and Yamaha.

In stero mode, with no sub, bass response is pathetic. I mean, I couldn't believe how little bass there was, even after reading the warnings here. I'm getting my sub soon. In the meantime, I've found a good trick that helps immensely - setting CD audio to use 3 channel stereo, or Dolby pro Logic greatly enhances the bass response. It's odd that the receiver is happy sending more bass to the center channel than the mains, but it works nicely.

Overall, this is a great product, *IF* you have a subwoofer (which any home theater user buying a mid-priced receiver like this should, anyway). I can't give it 5 stars though, because the stereo bass response shouldn't necessitate a sub for music IMHO.

Similar Products Used:

None. Cpmpared to Sony, Yamaha Teac before buying