The average Joe’s THX receiver.
Written: Jun 07 '04
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Pros: Affordable and everything I was looking for in a THX receiver.
Cons: I haven't come across one yet. But I will keep looking.
The Bottom Line: It's not a $1500 THX receiver, but lets face it, very few people actually buy one of those receivers anyway.
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| neocoffee41's Full Review: Kenwood VR-6070 6.1 Channels Receiver |
Looking to turn your living room into a THX home theater? Not looking to mortgage your family and home to do it? You have come to right place.
I had a nice DTS home theater audio system set up and running in my home. Decided that it was time to look into a TV that was more home theater, and less “look what I got on sale four years ago.” Most of the high end units use composite in, which is a must for progressive scan DVD; and since my DVD multi-disc player and my DVD recorder deck were both progressive scan with composite out, I wanted to use a TV that was compatible. BUT, I am used to running all of my audio and video signals through my receiver and out to my TV/Monitor; and my current receiver didn’t support composite video, heck, it didn’t support S-Video.
Yes, I know what you are thinking, well just connect the composite out from your DVD players directly to your TV and run the digital audio to your receiver, switch your TV input to composite when you wanted to watch a DVD, and back when you want to watch regular TV. (Okay, maybe you are not thinking that, or else you are thinking “what language was what he just wrote written in?”) Sure, that would work, but NO!. Why would I want to do that? Simple is better. Especially since I am used to something simple and straight forward. You click one button on the receiver and audio and video are correctly sent to the receiver and the TV, instead of changing it in two or three locations every time you want to switch to a different source.
So I started looking for better a DTS receiver that supported composite, s-video, and analog video, and also had enough digital and analog audio inputs and outputs to cover all of my audio needs; have a decent output, support DTS / Dolby Digital 6.1 or higher; and not cost more than $400. Yeah, if you are going to wish for something, you might as well shoot for the moon right? During my search I found several different receivers that fit the bill. Most were running around $300 - $500. (Ignoring less known brands) I was almost set to buy a new Sony AV receiver when a listing on Ben’s Bargains caught my eye. “THX for under $200” Okay, I am not sure how many of you have priced a THX receiver. The barebones units run $500 easy. So of course I had to check it out. Sure enough E-cost.com and MacMall.com were listing the same unit for about the same price $189 + shipping. Of course it was too good to be true. Small type says “Manufacturer Refurbished.”
So I started to do searches on Google for “Kenwood VR 6070 problems.” And there were a few, and they all said the same thing. Unit overheats with heavy use. So, contacted Kenwood regarding their refurbished VR 6070’s… guess what replaced was replaced/upgraded in the units. A better power supply without the heat issues. The list for the unit is $599, the refurbished by Kenwood model is $189 with 90 day warranty. I figured why not give it a shot.
I am glad I did. Okay, so this is not the high end THX receiver that true audiophiles would buy. You know what? I am not looking to run the same equipment that they run at the local THX certified theater. I am looking for theater sound in my house. I don’t care if my neighbors can hear what I am watching, or if I am only putting out 600 watts of power instead of 1500 watts. I want to watch Fight Club and have the sounds surround me 360 degrees. I want to hear a movie the way that it was recorded to be heard. I tell you what; this unit does everything that I need, and more.
I know some people reading this review are looking for the specs to be listed. The basics are 3 AV inputs (2 composite/s-video/analog, 1 s-video/analog – 2 digital/analog 1 analog audio only) 1 CD/MD input, 1 phono input (I don’t need it, but some people still do), 1 composite out, one monitor out using either analog or s-video), there are 6.1 pre-amp outputs if you really need to run the system through an amplifier with discrete 6.1 / 7.1 inputs. All of the other specs can be found in the details section located on the Epinions listing for the product.
It will take a little time to set the unit up the way that you like it. This is actually quite common for any home theater receiver. Adjusting the speaker size, distance, location in room, which speakers are connected, speaker volume levels, and the decoder modes for each separate input source will take some time; but once you have it the way that you want it, look out. Clean sounds, nice surround mixing and overlapping between speakers; and yes, THX and DTS as it was supposed to be heard.
The unit doesn’t heat up any more than my previous receiver did, but it is a little bit larger in physical size. All of the controls and the remote are pretty easy and straight forward to use. Something to note is the remote it is shipped with is actually a basic universal remote, but I opted to use my higher end universal remote instead because I like the ability to use the macro keys.
After 4 weeks of heavy use I have to say that I am extremely happy with my unit.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 189
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Epinions.com ID:
neocoffee41
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Location: Champaign, IL USA
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Of course I'm not rich... I only have 4 computers.
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