wuzzzer Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I'm pretty excited to get it to see if it lives up to all the hype the SA-XR series has received. If for some reason I don't like the sound or there's something about it I don't like I'm going to give a harman/kardon HK3490 a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juniper8 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Good for you Wuzzer! Would like to hear youre report! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 According to FedEx it should be delivered tomorrow! I'm off Thursday so it will give me time to set it up and have a listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluBitRates Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 what exactly have you heard about it (the panasonic)? I have a hk3490 in my setup temporarily right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've heard it described as a Sonic Impact T-amp on steroids. 100 watts per channel of completely digital amplification. There are/were very few other companies that used the same circuitry and configuration as Panasonic, at least in their price range. As long as you're sending a digital signal to the receiver its supposed to sound amazing. Some reviews: "It's true, it's all true: This is a giant killer. Absolutely AMAZING sound for such a cheap piece of gear. Extremely clean highs and no fatigue as you increase the volume. Bass is tight. Beautiful styling, too, in a modern look sort of way. Note that the receiver's strenghts really come into play when you connect a digital source (CD or DVD player, or I suppose a DAT) via a digital cable. For analogue sources, it's good...it's VERY good...but it's not quite as much of a star.I only wish it had more inputs/outputs...As it is, it doesn't quite have enough to comfortably sit in the middle of a complex, modern A/V system. (It'll do fine for the average person, however)." "This truly breaks all price/performance records. I read about the XR45 on the Newform Research 'What's New' August section of their web page. Everything John Meyer said there is true. Did extensive A/B comparison with my Rotel RC 972 Preamp/RB 981 Power amp combo. No doubt about it - more detail, imaging better, much better in the bass control department. Lots of power, clean at very high levels. I also tried analog input from my Cambridge D500SE CD player, vs. digital out using the DAC on the XR25. XR25 wins again. Don't know if it's pure digital through to the amplifier output, but that could explain alot. Would love to try the XR45, but couldn't find one. Finally, I am bi-amping my speakers, using the rear surround outputs, setting surround to "party" which drives front and rear equally. I also set the front to rear delay to 10 MS, but I don't think there is any delay in this mode. I can't notice the difference if there is. Unbelievable value - 200 clear watts per channel for less than $300 US. Also great on power, runs very cool. Would be interested in the Sony Digital Amp/SACD combo for comparison - but the speaker connectors are VERY small and hokey looking." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 what exactly have you heard about it (the panasonic)? I have a hk3490 in my setup temporarily right now I was actually considering getting an hk3490 at first since I used to have an hk3480(?) a few years back and absolutely loved it. I did some research and stumbled across the SA-XR series and thought I'd give them a try. They usually sell for $100-150 used so its a small investment. In the off chance that I don't like its performance (highly unlikely) or its features/ease of use I think I'll look to the 3490. I have a feeling that I will really like the Panasonic, though. I loved how the Sonic Impact T-amp sounded that I had a while back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Now FedEx says Thursday delivery. Well, like I mentioned, I'm off Thursday. Good timing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 FWIW the larger models have bigger power supplies and they do sound better just in case you love this one and get a honkering for MORE. Multiple channels lets you do that multi amp thing if you get the itch too. Have fun. I bought these (the large ones) for my kids and they sound good. Best regards Moray James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixonrsx Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 So you just answered my question with the above post, one just went one sale on craigslist down the road from me. It is the Panasonic SA-XR55, so you are saying this one is beefier and will sound better? Thanks for your help. It will only be used for 2 channel. Oh, and to the OP, I also have an HK 3490, so when I get the Panny hooked up I will try and post some of my impressions. The one I am picking up is mint condition, with remote, and silver for $150. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 So you just answered my question with the above post, one just went one sale on craigslist down the road from me. It is the Panasonic SA-XR55, so you are saying this one is beefier and will sound better? Thanks for your help. It will only be used for 2 channel. Oh, and to the OP, I also have an HK 3490, so when I get the Panny hooked up I will try and post some of my impressions. The one I am picking up is mint condition, with remote, and silver for $150. Very cool. You'll have to let me know what you think. From what I understood (and I certainly could be wrong) is that the SA-XR series all had pretty much the same power output, the difference between models was the amount of inputs/outputs, a couple later models had HDMI in and out, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 There were a number of differences between the different SA-XR series. According to a number of folks, the 25 was the lower end with different power supply and such. There were also changes in the way the system managed volume control on the amplifier which was said to sound better in the higher models. There were also things like the capability to have built in bi-amplification in ones such as the SA-XR70, where running in stereo you could have 4 channels of power to bi-amp your front speakers. Also connectors on some of them were better (though not real good). The 25 should sound pretty good so it should not be discounted. It seems as you go up in models, they get a little more refined. I have both the 50 and 70 and the 70 seems to sound somewhat better than the 50. Likely much better if I used features such as bi-amp. The 55 was supposed to be very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixonrsx Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I just got it home, its in really nice shape, have a manual too...You can bi-amp the XR55 also...So I think I am gonna try that out and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Well, lo and behold I get the unit today and it ends up being an SA-XR45 and not a 25! I looked up the difference and its mainly that the 45 has gold plated inputs/outputs and one more digital input. I don't know if I'll really be able to benefit from the extra digital input but it is nice to know that I got a better model than the seller thought he had! The amp section is supposed to be better than the 25 also. {edit} Turns out the seller did say that it was the SA-XR45. For some reason I thought he said it was the 25. In one email from him he had compared the 25 to the 45 and said that the 45 was a more sought after receiver. Unfortunately the unit was freezing cold when FedEx delievered it so I have it sitting out of the box warming up to room temperature before I hook everthing up. The waiting is killing me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixonrsx Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Ha, nice to see you got a little upgrade for free. I hooked mine up for a few minutes, had to fix ALL the settings to get it back to normal. I decided against bi amping for now because I forgot my Athena AS-F2's only have one set of terminals on the back. This light little Panasonic sounded pretty darn awesome I must say. It was able to easily push my Athenas to some pretty high levels with good overall sound. It was handleing them just as easy as my HK 3490 was. I only listened to the Mumford and Sons cd but it sounded really good, nice bass, mids, and highs. It definitly had some more juice left but it was all I was willing to push it right now. Pretty impressive. I may hook it up to my RF-7s or the KG4's, but that will be for another day. Good luck with yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 One word: Unbvelievable. Sonically without a doubt the most detailed amplifier/receiver I've ever owned or listened to. I've listened to several tracks on CDs I'm very familiar with and also a concert DVD and am totally blown away. It powers my Fortes effortlessly. My wife already yelled at me a few times to turn it down. I did a factory reset on the unit right away so I could input all my own settings instead of trying to adjust any that were already stored in it. I've read something about being able to double the power to the front two speakers if you're only using two of them. Does anyone know if the receiver automatically does that if you turn off all the other speakers in the setup menu? I didn't see any mention of being able to do that in the manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixonrsx Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 My XR55 does it automatically, its under the Basic Operation section of my manual. It say "Enjoy a higher quality sound during stereo (2-channel) playback by playing the sound through the amplifiers used for multi-channel sound sources. DUAL AMP does not work when; all of the speakers are turned off, during multi-channel playback, when you are using Dolby Pro Logics II, DTS NEO. My light automatically comes on. I guess I will have to try it on my 4ohm speakers and see what this amp has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 So you scored much better than the 25. The 45 doesn't have bi-amp for the front channels though. You need this pdf also. http://service.us.panasonic.com/opermanpdf/saxr45.pdf Looks like the 45 does handle 192khz signals so that is a plus along with some other features that are not noticable from the outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Thanks, but I do have the manual that came with it. I have my PS3 set to upconvert CDs to 176.1kHz and it displays that frequency on the front of the SA-XR45 when I play one through the PS3. Nice to know it can handle 192kHz signals also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixonrsx Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Thanks, but I do have the manual that came with it. I have my PS3 set to upconvert CDs to 176.1kHz and it displays that frequency on the front of the SA-XR45 when I play one through the PS3. Nice to know it can handle 192kHz signals also. Which optical in port do you have the cable hooked into on the XR-45? I didnt mess around with it long but couldnt get it to work on "CD" input. edit...I got it to work with the optical cable on the cd input, but I could not get the PCM numbers to pop up on the Panny, even when switching to the PCM FIX format...It just says PCM on the front screen. Which one should sound better? The optical cable with the optical setting or the optical cable with the PCM setting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Its in Optical 3. Optical port 2 (CD) is unfortunately broken on my unit. The cover is broken off and the optical connector is broken inside. Are you talking about a setting on the PS3 or on the Panasonic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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