the 100w per channel is plenty dts decoding is accurate

the receiver could do with more didital outputs

i have to say that this receiver has good sound compared to my old receiver which was a technics pro logic receiver. the dts and pro logic decoding is good and the power output is good for the average sized room also the number of inputs is good my system consists of the following philips dvd 950 philips cdr875 b&w 300 series speakers energy xl-s8 subwoofer

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technics receiver

Very good looking, many features, nice inputs, great sound for the price

Remote could've been better but not complainin

I have the FRS 975 which is quite similar. It sounds great and I am very happy to own it. If you are new to home theater or just want a good reciever for the price this is for u. I love the preset settings from philips. The small speakers supplied are very nice. The only think I have found that I didnt like was the remote. It is very light and cheap, but hey, it works, and for a price like this the cheap remote doesnt matter. I am very happy with this product. If you buy it you will believe me!

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Sony, Yamaha

Desighn, ease to setup and use , inputs ,builed qulety

RC little tricky, luck sround mods,

Hi,

I recently prochesed the FR 975 (similar to the 980) and i must say that im impressed - good equipment with really low price (450$ in Israel is LOW).
When i started looking for an HT receiver, i didn't know that its even exist.
I heard the Marantz sr-4000 and ive really like its stereo performance. Next to him i sow the Philips FR 975. I played with its setup and wow!!! exactly the same as the Marantz, only different panel. From the checks i made its the same equipment manufactured in the same place , only the Philips is extra packed with DTS ,4 dig in and 5 s.video and a universal RC- and the power rating is "different"- Philips claim 5x100 watt . The marantz is 3x80+2x40 . Form listening tests i made the Marantz Specification are the real. Philips in not known ,today, for audio equip. man. there for the 975 is cheaper then the Marantz.
Great dill

Doron

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Yamaha

The FR980 is user friendly. The sound is fantastic! The design is very cool!

The remote sucks! The speakers are to small and distorate at high deciables!

I am very proud to own this product. The overall experince is very enjoyable. The setup couldnt be easier and the quailty of sound is terrific! The main speakers should be able to handle more than what they do but the surrond speakers are very good. the surrond capababilites are truly great. Icant say enough about that. The main complaint i have is the main speakers. They need to be toughen up!

This receiver (build by Marantz) is one one the fine products Philips sells today. I bought it late 1998 and I don't have any regrets of this buy. Although I am still not able to discover if it's realy a good receiver, it seems like sounding good to me. I just need some other front, centre and rear speakers. They are now bose 301, and 101. I am right now saving money for the B&W 602 for front, the B&W 601 for rear and the B&W CC6 for centre speaker. Also using other ICS and Speakercable (thinking of Van den Hull for both ICS and Speakercable) might improve the sound. Now the sound is real boomie. This is probably caused by the bose 301 hanging flat to the wall. Now I just have to turn the bass level to -6 to-10 to hear any mids and get rid of the boom bass. These bose thing only produce bass and hi and they all use paper speakers (paper speakers in a country with an average humidity over 80%) that just don't produce the right sound.The receiver misses a little power. Just 5x 60Watt RMS at 8 Ohm., but a pre-out for all channel inclusive a sub-out are available, so some power amps can be used for the real stuff. I recently added a REL Strata III to the receiver and bass is now lots better. This is probably one of the cheaper Dolby Digital receivers on the market today. Any questions or comments on this review are welcom.

Good value, user friendly, tuner sensitivity, Dolby decoder performance

Universal remote is poor; no super powerhouse

This review is for model FR960PBK, the North America version of the listed receiver. Same specs. I've owned Philips 900 series receivers in the past before a four year stint with Sony products and was always pleased with their ease of use, great FM tuners and quiet pre-amps. The Sony products (even the ES) did not match up and in addition had quality control problems.

My first choice was to purchase Marantz when I saw this Philips that looked suspiciously like the Marantz SR-4000; it is the same company after all. It's specs are the same except the power is rated differently and lacks front A/V inputs. When I found the Philips FR960 for $260 on line, I decided it was worth the risk.

This receiver has been more than satisfactory after about three months of nearly constant use for FM, DSS, and CD reproduction. It's setup is quite easy; one sets the Dolby delays by distance from each speaker to the listener and it has default settings for different speaker sizes. It is good looking and well constructed; convection cooled, it runs very cool.

I'm using it with Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble speakers, center and surround (which are quite inefficient) and it has more than adequate power in my small listening area. Also has an old fashioned "loudness contour" which I like for background listening. The Dolby decoder in ProLogic is noticeably quieter and more accurate than the Sony ES was. Even the phono preamp has good signal to noise! The FM sensitivity is excellent, even AM listenable.

If you have a large room or like very high decible sound levels, it may be lacking in ultimate power output. I think many listeners would find it as satisfactory as myself.

With the money I saved, I bought a Marantz RC2000 remote; it's a great team, as many of the codes for the Philips are already built in!

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