high quality,low price,excellent sound

spring clip speaker connectors,limited remote

needed to get dolby digital receiver without spending a small fortune. picked one up on onsale.com for $200.00 and was completely surprised by how good it looked and sounded.it has everything you need in a receiver for home entertainment. clearly teac is a company whose audio products are often overlooked by and under priced. i would suggest to anyone who is on a tight budget consider their gear. you can do a web search for the products on mysimon.com (this is a great websearch site)

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sony str-gx800es,str-gx900es

Good sound quality, high power output, Dolby Digital built-in, low low price

Cheap remote, clip connector (vs. binding post), balance problem (C below)

Overall, I love this unit because I got it for an absolute steal, $150! It was an in-store return and I later found out it was cheap for a reason--the balance of the two channels is a little off. I have to turn the balance knob to about 2 (out of 5) to the left to get a correct imaging. But for a super low price, I can live with that or I can bring it to a service shop for a fix under waranty. I agree with everybody here about the good parts of this receiver. I don't mind the subwoofer problem that much because I have two full range mains. But the remote is really killing me. It feels awkward in hand and doesn't do much if you don't have a bunch of Teac stuff. I wish they didn't save the few bucks on the remote so I don't have to get a better one on my own. I wish I could give it a 5 overall, but I am picky.

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SONY STR-DE725

By no means do I intend to talk trash about this receiver, it's a great deal for the price, however I've noticed a couple things that are a bit annoying. First, playing a CD from my Sony S550 DVD player through the optical toslink cable results in much poorer sound quality than playing a CD on the same player through the standard RCA outputs. I could easily tell the difference on an A-B test (just using Monster interconnects.) In PCM mode the sound was muddy and lacked high end punch, while in standard stereo mode from the RCA outputs the sound was brighter, cleaner, much more seperation between tones - it just seemed "livelier." Second, there are no S-video inputs/outputs. Not a problem, my TV doesn't have an S-video input (Sony KV-27S22) but surely I'd like some room for future expansion there. Third, the oft-repeated subwoofer problem, it's not run in stereo mode (not a problem for me, my mains put out plenty of bass, but again, future expansion.)
It's a great little receiver for the price. I absolutely love the sound quality I get using the analog side of the receiver. DVDs LOOK wonderful (no surprise, the Motorola chip inside is used in many of the high-end Dolby Digital equipment.) I understand it can be bought for around (or under) 300 bucks. Great deal, if you're just starting out in Home Theater (as I was when I bought this, and still am.) I can't give it any more than a 3, though, except for the price. 5 is perfection, near unattainable (I do think people give out too many 5's,) and if it wasn't for the price, it WOULD be a 3. So, it gets a 4 considering what you get for the price.

Oh, the 130W is -far- enough for most speakers, my volume knob has never been above 4, and at that point the entire building gets to enjoy whatever I'm listening to.

I returned an HK AVR 5 and got this instead. They were the same price, $249, but the Teac has 130 wpc vs HK's 45 wpc! Plus, the Teac has AC3 built in, a loudness button, and every feature can be accessed on the front panel. I think the sound is excellent...the extra WPC has brought out the best in my Optimus PRO LX10s. I just bought this unit a few hours ago. It's been going ever since, mainly in 2 channel stereo, where it sounds great..very clear and powerful, even at low volume. I tried the Hall mode...much better than HK's. It actually uses all 5 speakers, instead of just 4. It sounds pretty good from the short time I tried it. I played a few minutes of Titanic to see how the DPL sounds...the sinking scene sounded as good as any other surround sound I've heard at home.
This receiver is worth a solid 5 stars, especially if you can find it for $249. Even if you can find it for $300, it's still worth it, and then some. Run, don't walk, to get one.

Plenty of I/O including Dolby Digital. Even my wife can easily operate. Hard to beat for $299 at one of the local warehouse stores.

Good Value, good sound quality, lots of features

Annoying clicks when adjusting volume. Subwoofer output only worked in Dolby Digital mode. Circumvented that by connecting the sub to the front channel pre-out.

I was very happy with this receiver while it was working. However, it blew on me after less than 3 years of occasional use. Does anybody know if Teac has a problem with reliability? Repair guy stopped checking what else needed to be repaired after determining the power supply blew, saying it would be too expensive to fix.

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Denon AVR810 pro-logic receiver

I bought this receiver from a local dealer for $549 CDN. At first, I think this is a good bargain, until lately I took the receiver to a friend's home. Boy, this unit just can't compete with the Denon. My friend got a Denon 1400 with Sony DVD and B&W 302. The HT part is okay, but when it come to music it just no competition. I'm not trying to say it is bad, but I was surprise that there is such a big different.
Overall, I'll still give it a 3 stars due to the price and the Motorola DD decoder.

My search for a temporary Dolby Digital solution is over. I bought a Teac AG-D9100 today for $399 from Price Costco to use as a preamp/processor. It should hold me over until the 2nd generation preamp/processors are available and the format wars are largely over. It even has a few advantages over some of the inexpensive competition:
It has six pre-outs for all channels (the next least expensive DD receivers with full pre-outs are the Yamaha 1103/793, Kenwood 1090 and Pioneer 906 at $700 - $800 mail order).

It has 8 total audio inputs (including phono) versus 6 or 7 on most other sub-$1000 receivers. It also has 4 video inputs versus the usual 3.

It accepts AC-3 RF input for you LD player owners.

It's rated at 130w/ch in stereo and 100w X 5 in surround mode.

It has A/B (front) speaker switching.

The Toslink optical input is on Video 1 and the coaxial input (as well as the RF input) is on Video 2 which allows two separate Dolby Digital sources to be used (i.e. a DVD and LD).

It has a "night mode" to compress Dolby Digital material for late night listening at low levels.

You can find the rest of the features (like a sleep timer, 60 FM/AM presets, etc.) on the Teac website (link below).

On the downside...

The subwoofer output is only active in the surround modes. In stereo, it does nothing. You best have full range speakers for your main channels or possibly you could rig up a switching arrangement to use the front pre-outs to drive your subwoofer when in stereo mode (serious kludge...). This is a major flaw in the design.

The remote while decent enough for operating the receiver only runs other Teac equipment. It's neither universal nor learning. It's also not back lit.

The center and surround channels have a fixed 80hz crossover.

There's no on-screen TV display (ditto the Pioneer 606/Sony 915).

There's no S-video switching (ditto the Pioneer 606/Kewood 1080/Sony 915).

There are no real setup options beyond adjusting delay times, channel levels and disabling the center, surround and/or subwoofer channels.

The speaker terminals are the spring clip variety (versus binding posts).

The cosmetics are a bit cheesy (ditto the Pioneer and Sony).

Other details...

I pulled the cover and it uses the Motorola 56009 Dolby Digital DSP chip and the Crystal CS4226. These are the same parts used in $2000 equipment. The entire DD decoder board looks like it's not made by Teac (or whoever made the rest of the boards). I suspect they OEM it from someone else.

It uses discrete amplifiers for all 5 channels. The transistors are mounted on a "tunnel" heatsink with a fan which only runs when it gets hot.

On my test bench I measured the following power outputs (at 1khz): 8 ohms one channel driven = 175 watts RMS, 4 ohms one channel driven = 256w, 8 ohms stereo (2 channels) = 140w/ch, 4 ohms stereo (2 channels) = 200w/ch.

The back panels reads "8 ohms" under the speaker terminals but it seems to have decent current capability based on its beefy output into 4 ohms. I'm not sure I'd want to drive FIVE 4 ohm speakers with it however. The high one channel driven power outputs indicate a fair amount of potential short-term headroom (and also a fairly "soft" power supply).

I checked output at 20hz and 20khz and it did just fine. The square wave response also looks pretty good. I verified the subwoofer and surround crossover is at 80hz. The -3db points at the pre-outs were 7hz and 60khz indicating above average wideband performance.

The internal construction is typical Korean. There's a large board covering most of the bottom of the chassis with the power supply and power amps on it. All the preamp analog circuitry and RCA I/O jacks are on a large board that sits just under the top cover with the digital decoder on another board alongside it. Video switching circuitry is on its own small board. All the control circuitry and the CPU are on a vertical board attached to the front panel. Overall, it's fairly tidy but hardly high-end. The power transformer is shielded but there's no other internal shielding.

In Operation...

Overall, it works pretty well. You can hear the steps in the volume circuit at low levels as you turn the knob but it's subtle. At very high settings of the volume control you can hear very faint "CPU chirps" in the output when changing modes or otherwise excercising the control CPU with no signal present, but I've noticed that with most moderately priced receivers. With normal use, you'd never hear anything.

It remembers the surround mode you last used with each input which is a nice feature (i.e. Stereo with CD, Pro Logic with your VCR, etc.).

I briefly listened to the internal amps in Stereo mode and it sounded pretty much like any other sub-$1000 receiver I've heard. Nothing obvious stood out as a problem (i.e. no harsh highs, lack of bass, etc.). For the rest of my listening, I used my power amps driven from the pre-outs.

The Prologic mode sounds pretty much like every other under $1000 receiver I've heard--good but not especially stunning. The Dolby 3 mode sounds similar. The other surround modes (hall, theater, disco, etc.) sound typically cheesy. There's some low level hiss in the surround channels at high settings of the volume control but again, it's not something you'd likely hear in normal operation.

Dolby Digital sounds great! I think any Motorola based design will sound pretty much the same with respect to the decoding and the Teac doesn't disappoint.

Overall, it's a serious bargain for $399. Three stars considering the price. If you've been considering the Pioneer 606, Kenwood 1080, Yamaha 1103/793 or Sony 915 (or any other under $800 street price DD receiver) the Teac is worth a look if you have a Price Costco near you and don't mind the subwoofer limitation. It has more inputs, in some cases more power, and pre-outs for hundreds less. If you want to spend $800 or more, look at the Denon AV-3200. If the subwoofer limitation is a problem or you can't find the Teac, the Kenwood 1080 is a good choice if it has enough inputs for your needs.

Here's the link to more info at Teac's site:

http://www.teac.com/ca/recnamp/ca_ag910.html

I bought the Teac AG-D9100 at Costco several weeks ago to use with my new Toshiba SD-3107 DVD player. The Dolby digital sound is great, far better than I could imagine.

I agree with everything Mike said above with one additional comment. It has to do with the sub-woofer problem. I wired up my sub-woofer in an unusual way to get around this.
My rational comes from an assumption that most stereo program material has the low frequency energy mixed equally in both left and right to achieve better power for reproducing these frequencies. With this in mind, I wired up one sub-woofer input to the AG-D9100 Sub-woofer pre-amp output, and the other sub-woofer input from the right front pre-amp output. This kludge was easy to wire up with a standard stereo audio cable.

The result sounds acceptable to me, especially considering that I can trim the sub-woofer level differently for stereo and surround modes. Sometimes if a Dolby Digital soundtrack has a lot of bass mixed in the front speakers, then I have to trim down the sub-woofer, but this adjustment is only once per movie. For the hundreds of dollars difference in price, it's pretty easy to live with.

By the way, I have to mention that Dolby Digital with this unit sounds excellent.