I just sent my Yamaha 2095 back, in its place I kept the Nakamichi AV-10. What a sound. Richer all around sound than the yamaha by far and the "natural" DSP can't be beat. The AV-10 performs better than any receiver within $500 of this price range. IMHO. The review says it all, better than most seperates-better to spend the money saved on upgraded speakers. Never had a unit so easy to set up. Buy one, you can't go wrong. I bought mine for $850 in Garden Grove. Happy listening.

After doing some research, I settled on buying the AV-10. I looked at comperable receivers from ADCOM, Denon, Yamaha, and Sony. It is my opinion that the Nakamichi offers the most bang for the buck. It has a simple front panel, and very nice remote, and most of the inputs/and outputs you'd expect. Conservatively rated at 100W channel over 5 channels or 120 in 2 channel mode, there are very few shortcommings. Some of the things that I would like to see improved. 1) It would be nice to dim the display like the Nakamichi DVD player does 2) Component Video switching would be nice 3) It doesnt have as many digital inputs as competing models. All in all I highly recomend it for those of you looking to buy a DTS receiver on a budget.

After listening to a mid-priced Sony receiver for 5 years, I decided to upgrade and get a receiver that had good, clean power; didn't require a bunch of fancy DSPs to sound good; Dolby Digital and DTS; as well as allowing for future expansion (oh yeah, and I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars). I found all of these options in the Nakamichi AV-10. This receiver is incredible, once I hooked it up to my system, I noticed a huge improvement in sound quality and fullness. I couldn't believe that I had suffered through Sony sound for five years. The Nakamichi is a breeze to setup and does not have dozens of DSPs like Sony and Yamaha. The treble and bass settings do not need to be touched, the AV-10 sounds great on movies and music. I also find the remote control to be very flexible. For $1200, the AV-10 cannot be beat. Check it out and enjoy!

NAKAMICHI AV10 WOW IT SOUNDS GREAT ----SO NOW THAT IT IS RATED HIGH UP THERE THE NEXT THING IS FOR PEOPLE TO START RIPPING IT APART BECAUSE THEY DON'T OWN ONE. IT'S SIMPLE AND DOESN'T HAVE ALL THE FEATURES PEOPLE WANT AND IT DIDN'T FOR ME EITHER ( AC3 INPUT ) BUT ONCE I CORRECTED THE SITUATION-----WOW I NEVER HEARD A RECEIVER SOUND THAT GOOD.

Excellent 2-channel stereo output - powerful, yet melodic; solid, clean build; good remote.

None that I've found yet.

i love this unit - period! i spent enough time online
trying to find the right a/v/ receiver and i believe i've
found it. i used the av-10 a lot more for music than for
home theater and it has brought out sounds from my CDs that
i hadn't even heard before. very highly recommended for the music lovers out there.

Similar Products Used:

yamaha, accuphase, harman kardon, onkyo, denon

I've just brought home the AV-10, after a two month survey which covered Denon 2800, Rotel RSX-965, Yamaha RX-V995, Onkyo TX-DS575 & Pioneer VSX-26TX. This receiver is hands-down the best sounding machine, and that won me over. When I played my Emma Shapplin CD, track 1, I was astonished for the first 40 seconds: I heard sounds I've never heard from that CD before!
Cons:
Incredible sound (one has to listen and compare in order to app.)
Ease of use

Pros:
Switching from surround to stereo is accompanied by a difference in sound level
No 5-ch stereo (the natural mode is nice but not the real thing)
No 6-ch in
No 96Hz/24Bit

Summary:
A great receiver for anyone prefering sound over matter.

To those of you complaining about the fan, have you ever thought of well..I don't know, maybe disconnecting it, or lubing it up? Just a suggestion, but then again, what do I know, I'm just a music lover not a nitpicker.

WELL ALL I CAN SAY IS IM HAPPY TO HAVE FOUND THIS RECEIVER. SHOPING FOR A 2 CHANNEL STEREO AMP/RCVR SEEMS TO BE GETTING HARDER ALL THE TIME, WITH EVERYTHING HAVING HOME THEATER BUILT INTO IT THE SOUND SUFFERS. THIS WAS BY FAR THE BEST SOUNDING RECEIVER I TESTED, DENNON 5600 AND B&K 202 WERE MY OTHER CHOICES THEY SOUND GOOD AND COST TWICE AS MUCH. PAIRED WITH PARADIGM MONITOR 9,S BI WIRED EVERY DETAIL IS CLEAR AND POWERFULL. 120 WATTS X2 AND 100 WATTS X5
25 AMPS MAX PER CHNL

Sound, switching, controls

None

Over the past 6 months the AV10 has exceeded all of my expectations for both music and home theater usage. The unit lights up my listening area with robust, precise, dynamic and full-range sound. I could not be happier with it. It sounds fantastic, is easy to use, has worked flawlessly, and does not push its envelope of competence with gimmickery. With regard to the fan noise, I keep the AV10 in an entertainment center and cannot hear the fan unless I deliberately stick my head over and behind the unit. The fan noise is a non-issue to my listening pleasure. I auditioned the Rotel and Marantz units and preferred the AV10's sound (I was also weary of the Rotel's recent quality issues). The AV10 is an unquestionably high value for its price and I would encouraged anyone looking for a high quality A/V Receiver in the $1000 to $2000 range to consider one.
Finally, the "audiophile" of 6/19 might try to articulate his opinion a little better if he expects to be taken seriously. As it is, his rating (which unfairly skews the average of an excellent product) appears to be overly harsh and unjustified.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel, Marantz

Amplifier, simplicity

Fan, Remote, Support

I'm updating my previous review, which was 5 stars to 3 stars. Two problems that at first I thought weren't that big of a deal, have become nerve racking. This fan is much louder than I originally thought. At first it wasn't a big deal because I'm never closer than 10 feet from the unit, but I've begun to listen to a few new classical CD's that don't have simple quiet passages, but silent passages. And yes, I can hear the darn fan!

So I emailed tech support and they say the sound I hear is normal for the unit. I then wrote a letter asking a few questions to both Nak Japan and USA (this was four months ago) and haven't heard a thing back.

It is also very frustrating that the remote does not smoothly operate the volume control. Finding that perfect sound level is often an exercise of getting up and manually adjusting it. When I first got the unit, it wasn't that big of a deal, but after nearly a year I am growing wearisome of the process.

On the positive side, the amp rocks. It is clean and brings to life my speakers. With my newly added Toshiba 2200 DVD player, movies with the DTS soundtracks are inspiring (Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan and Chicken Run all have great DTS soundtracks).

While I'm not going to sell this receiver, the lack of tech support for a company like Nakamichi is disturbing (I wonder if they're having financial problems?). Lucky I got this product cheap.

If I were you, in this price range, take a closer look at Rotel, Denon and Marantz. If you like quiet classical music or movies that have quiet scenes (don't they all?), you may want to avoid this product entirely.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3300