Great sound...horrible remote
Sep 14 '99
This is a frustratingly great receiver.
I purchased it because I was looking for DTS/DD decoding and a significant upgrade of my existing pro-logic receiver, and I liked the video switching. Connecting it and getting it up and running was a snap; I was able to customize the surround settings for my room and speakers very quickly. One thing that surprised me: this beast is LARGE and very heavy.
The sound is amazing - plenty of power for my needs and once setup, the surround effects are amazing. The various sound fields are MUCH more useful than I thought they'd be - I thought it was a gimmick. I find that I use many of them quite often - switching between the various "virtual theaters" depending on the movie being watched and using the mono/stereo movie settings.
As a receiver, I'd rate it nearly perfect. Except for the remote.
The remote is a rather large touch screen affair that is "back lit". As if that matters - the display is nearly unreadable in all light conditions, and the remote is needed for nearly any operation of the main unit, short of simple stuff like turning it on and adjusting the volume. Since there are so many options and since the remote is communicates with the receiver (downloading settings, CD track information and the like) I've not found a universal remote that can replace it.
To make matters worse, this "universal" remote can't realistically control my other devices. The Toshiba DVD screen, for example, lacks a menu button!
And it sucks down batteries at a truly impressive rate. I've gone through three backup batteries in less than a year because it chews through main batteries so fast that before you know it, it's dead and running off the backup.
There are rumors, unsubstantiated as near as I can tell, of an improved remote.
There are also reports of DA50's going into thermal shutdown quite often. This has not been my experience.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gwhite
|
|
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.