Cut-price Kenwood offers Spec-tactical Surprises
Written: Feb 06 '02 (Updated Jul 14 '02)
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Pros: Strong specification; impressive power; good movie sound; Price!
Cons: Mediocre Radio reception; Awful for music; Tacky feel.
The Bottom Line: Kenwood offers good specification and performance, but cuts corners in the actual unit construction. Which is more important?
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| MichaelHatton's Full Review: Kenwood VR-506 5.1 Channels Receiver |
NOTICE:
This review is based around the UK model KRF-V5050 receiver, not the VR-506. The reason this review is posted under this model, is because this is the closest (see the image) match I could find.
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Product Reviewed: Kenwood KRFV5050 Amplifier/Receiver| Electronics| Audio Equipment
Review:
You can bet this will sell fast; the budget priced Receiver Kenwood just released comes in at only £230 including a swamp of features only available at £300 levels. The Kenwood can be found for as little as £180 that makes it more of a treasure for budget customers. The series is started with this unit and goes up to a few higher models. The model list starts with the KRF-V5050 reviewed here, then the next model up - KRF-V7050 – offering more inputs for £300-350 and will include the DTS ES version and Dolby Pro Logic II and has THX certificate then comes the higher model the KRF-X9050 which has a larger 110w and some more features for £399.
What makes the budget priced receiver on test so appealing is that is has the right stuff to make it so. To begin with at this price Pro Logic would be typical, Dolby Digital is a rare addition but still rare, then I’ve never seen a receiver for under £250 with DTS, but the 5050 has all three. Looking at the spec sheet it is quoted as 100w per five channels. Quite an impressive amount to quote, but I’ll be the judge of that later.
http://www.kenwoodeurope.com/grafika/products/home-audio/velike/krf-v5050d-s-x.jpg
The KRF-v5050 looks un-surprisingly basic and surprisingly good looking, the model I have is the 5050S in silver while there is a 5050R version that is black. I wouldn’t be fooled by the looks though; the budget model turns out to feel tacky and loose. The front fascia has an un-likable texture and feels very thin and lightweight. Not to mention its tiny weight at under 8.5kg, even stereo amplifiers are often this weight and are much smaller too. The unit includes a very disconcerting jog dial and a very badly made volume control, I was beginning to think this was just a one off part-price cut but in fact the whole unit feels loose and tacky, the steel case somehow bends under the smallest weight, and the general feel isn’t convincing.
Apart from that uninspiring introduction, the general operation of the 5050 is surprisingly easy. The various settings are all reached via the small but capable remote, whose buttons are just a little too small. The display is very clear but some of the descriptions are in smaller text and will require a closer view. The main display shows up text in a decent size and will show the volume setting and various other things like the source and the radio station.
The in-built radio makes a receiver, and the 5050’s is pretty good for such a price. The specs include a very detailed RDS system that include the infamous EON system not found in many tuners at all. The RDS function allows you to switch between various things like the station name and a few call signs like “Darlington’s Best Music Alpha 103.2” for my hometowns radio station for example. The RDS settings are called PS, PTY, RT, TP, which I haven’t had the time to look up. The searching for radio stations can be done with the up/down cursor on the remote or the Multi control keys on the front of the unit. The searching can be done by Automatic search or manual, Auto is quicker but still it is very slow to find stations. You need a very good signal as most signals I have are poor quality. For the best signal I have it still is relatively poor from other receivers I’ve heard. The tonal balance is correlated in a number of areas and the treble is fuzzy. It has a 40 preset memory and FM/AM systems, and is annoyingly hard to get to presets with the main unit – impossible in fact – you cannot do it, the remote is the only option for skipping presets with the keypad.
As for other options the sound setup is pretty simple, you can setup the loudness of each speaker when the amp gives out a hiss not a tone, which is a little annoying if you use a tone meter. You can cut off other speaker except the front speakers if you wish and all lost signals will be diverted to the next best channel, for example centre channel signals to fronts if it is switched off. You can even turn off the subwoofer output which helps if your not using one as all lost sound is sent through the front speakers. You can setup each speaker with three sizes from small to medium to large, which is new to me from the small/large norm. You can decrease the line level inputs to about a setting of –10, and the volume settings go from “oo” to 0 strangely, that means you start from the lowest –99dB to the highest 0dB.
You will need a pair of binoculars to see the Mute, RDS, Auto, Clip, SP, Stereo, Dolby Pro Logic, speaker icon or more little text displays in the window, seriously they are about 3mm tall.
I rotate the unit around 180 degrees which is easy because it is lighter than all my DVD players – these things are really light though! The back panel appears to show where the money cost cuts are taken if not primarily noticeable from the front feel. The back unit has Spring clip speaker terminals so no bananas or other such audiophile connection available today. There are five speaker outputs as one would expect, and a single subwoofer output. The list of inputs is pretty ok. You can opt for a six-channel input or a single optical digital input and two (!) coaxial inputs. You can select from a multitude of several stereo and some video inputs, the stereo inputs go from CD/DVD to Tape/MD and even a turntable input – phono stage, the tuner input (inbuilt radio) and three video inputs with stereo ins too. Unfortunately video input is not it’s strongest. It will only accept about five composite connections with only one monitor out, and no S-Video connections so DVD straight to TV is best advised, however if using a number of cameras the added inputs can prove a bonus if you only have the one on your TV. The audio inputs fair better, the coaxial two input connections are placed in an open space and the main layout is easy to navigate with the stereo inputs video inputs and digital inputs all isolated from one another. And the speaker inputs are poor as I mentioned earlier. And yes, it does have a 5.1 channel input for sources with on-board decoders like, DVD-Audio/Video players SACD players.
You will get options of Dolby Digital, Pro Logic, and Digital Theatre Sound (DTS) 5.1 plus normal Nicam stereo. The DSP effects are pretty dull, the Theatre sound is a little phased at either end, the Jazz club setting was most impressive for music, the DSP effects can change stereo inputs to full surround sound by doubling the front speaker sound to the rears and making the rears slightly echoed and the centre a little lower in volume. There are six DSP effects including Arena and Disco, which have a different effect. However the effects are pretty standard at any level, and these are nothing special.
The onboard processing can be best described as “use a DVD players instead”. Really, if your DVD player has Digital decoding then use this rather than the Kenwood’s – although it even-Stevens a budget DVD player of say around £250;- any player above with decoding is better choice. I still haven’t figured out how to get DTS on, unless I’m using the wrong discs. The Dolby decoding however is ok, it produces stereo pans fairly and the surround effect and centre channel ambience is fairly decent. I’ve loaded up about seven DVD’s on it and been adequately surprised. I’ve used budget speakers and some old Pioneer’s with it and been happy with the results for this budget price. I picked an LG DVD4950 player as the partner. Connected with a Cambridge Audio coax cable and same brand Scart lead to the Sony TV I own. At first there seemed that bass was lacking and so switching off the subwoofer out solves this. I didn’t use a sub and never had for reviewing, but still the Mission 701 speakers are driven controllably with a good low bass level of around 40Hz – not bad for bookshelves. However I’m not convinced by the 100w figure – even at 0dB this never really sounds loud enough, it struggles a little. The first DVD was The Mummy Returns. The picture was great and the sound was good. The front stage was open and fairly detailed. The top end of the actor’s voice was a little embezzled. The specs show that the Kenwood only goes to about 12.5kHz that may not bother many at this level; I really doubt that movies goes higher than 10kHz anyway.
With the movie rolling the blast of the shotgun come through with a good solid neutral tone, throughout I found no real problems with the sound. The bass was lacking in the final ounce of attack, but for the most the 100w amps inside do a good job. However get near the 20dB area and the sound lacks its vigour, and somewhat becomes distorted. The midband and tonal balance was fair, and comparing the digital processor to the radio reception you would think the unit was on a washing machine for the latter.
The Cinema EQ attempts to recreate the processing mix found with THQ certified equipment. For what it does, it does it with aplomb – the bass and mid band are more solid and controlled. I’d really not recommend you use this on high volumes, and what I mean by High volumes is about –20dB, the amp just doesn’t have the guts for it, even so, at this level most consumers would not want to sit through a movie this loud anyhow.
Conclusion
The Kenwood offers specification not found until you reach the £300 limit, it has features such as DTS and Dolby Digital uncommon at this low price.
You pay for performance and not build quality: if you’re the type who want to use the remote most of the time, then if the silver look or black look of the player appeal, then you won’t mind the poor construction. And reliability issues are not common – even this unit hasn’t any switches except magnetic ones.
The Kenwood plays well for normal listening; it is no music master but with movies there is little to criticize, the bass is adequate, the mid band in fair cut and clean, the higher frequencies don’t grate at high volumes, and the presentation is fairly controlled.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 252
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MichaelHatton
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Location: Darlington, England
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