Digital receivers - Panasonic VS Sony.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

After years of him bugging me, I have finally agreed to sell my practically unused Denon 5800 receiver to a friend of mine (he will appreciate it more than me).

I will be setting up a HT system using Belles as the mains and want to use the system for two channel too. Panasonic makes an SA xr70 that is 6.1 w/ 100 wpc at 6 ohms for $300 and an SA xr55 that is a 7.1 w/ 100 wpc at 6 ohms for $219. These are both very cheap and highly regarded. Is the SA XR55 an upgrade over the XR70 (with 7.1 vs 6.1)? Why does it cost less?

I am also looking at Sony digitally amplified receivers. The STA DR2000es is the entry level receive rwith their "Direct Drive Digital Amp"

The 3000 and 3001 look interesting. I have been very pleased with Sony products (camera, tv, vcr). Are their digital receivers superior to Panasonic digital receivers? There is a big buzz on the web about the Panasonic models and they are cheap. On teh other hand, Sony makes a good product and their receivers have a phono input (which will sound great with my Belles).

What are yoru thoughts?

Chris

[Speedball]

I think it's a great idea to get by on the cheap so to speak. I have read in the past the Panasonic digital receivers, as cheap as they are have good sound quality to them.

Can't remember which one it was, about 6 months ago some guy who had something to do with the making of them commented about the earlier models having better sound quality to them. Darned if I can't remember which one it was exactly.

[texas42]

I believe the SA-55 is generally considered superior to the SA-70. A couple of good sites with discussions of both can be viewed at audiocircles.com and the AVS Forum. A search of each will probably give you more info that you want to know. Hope that helps...

Regards,

Dave

[Parrot]

I owned the Sony AVD S500ES, which is a 100W

multichannel digital receiver. It sounded fine in its own right, just

playing it without comparing it to anything else. But it never involved

me the way various tube amps have. I could never put my finger on

exactly what it was lacking, but it lacked something. Or maybe it added

something, a thin layer of sweet ickiness that coated the music.

I have heard digital amplification described before as neither tube or

solid state, and I agree with that. But also I have never heard a

digital amp that I really was drawn to. At best they are just okay.

The Panasonics have a devoted cult following for reasons I cannot

fathom. I wouldn't want either the Sony or the Panasonic. I'd go solid

state, assuming you don't want to bother with the considerable

investment of all-tube surround sound.

[WMcD]

I think you can't tell what works well for you just by brands, and particularly with Klipsch speakers.

Years ago I bought an HT receiver at Fry's in Dallas. The problem what the the DSP circuit produced noise which was annoying on my home made KHorns. Fry's took it back, no questions asked. It might have been okay on lesser speakers.

On the forum here, we get reports of some HT receivers shutting down. My thought is that they don't like the low impedance of some Klipsch speakers. The HT receivers which are rated for 4 ohms, or have a switch, might do better.

There is also a cadre of folks here who state that receivers from this or that manufacturer sound harsh, or not harsh. I don't have any experience with that. there are strong opinions out there.

I think the best course of action is to make sure you can return or exchange your first pick.

Gil

[tigerwoodKhorns]

That's good advice.

I did some research and that Panasonic '55 model is an upgrade over the '70 model. I was reading that a lot of people on other forums use them with maggies. Don't maggies have a low impedance?

Chris