Above Average Receiver for a Sound Conscious Person
Written: Sep 17 '02
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Pros: Beautifully designed with clean controls layout. DD & DPL 2 are its best features.
Cons: Remote is poor & limited. DSP modes useless. Not enough power for movies.
The Bottom Line: Buy this from a place where you have an option to return it. Maybe it's just me but i think a Yamaha or a Denon would be a better buy.
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| jazzfreak's Full Review: Panasonic SA-HE200 6.1 Channels Receiver |
I purchased one of these receiver when Sears Canada had a no GST(7% tax) sale plus someone in the store underpriced the unit by 40 Cd. dollars so all in all I saved about 90 dollars compare to the regular price. Since this is my very first DD receiver since owning a DPL Denon(second to the top of the line) for almost 6 years, i was extremely impressed at first. DPL 2 set to panorama was a great experience. Music just surrounded you with clarity in every corner. The subwoofer level control revealed something from my Energy 12" sub which i have never heard since buying it almost 7 years ago. You can control the bass level from your sub even at low volume levels. Kinda like "loudness" control but better low frequency quality. DD sound quality is also excellent. Unfortunately i never got to try the other modes such as DD EX, DTS ES but i read from one of the "Popular Science" issue that these features aren't that good anyway since the added channel is matrixed from the other channels as oppose to being indepedently encoded from the studio. The front panel of the receiver was also well designed with the half-mirror finished in my opinion was nice looking. Listening to music using DPL 2 in panorama mode was a brand new experience for me. I could listen to music all day and not get tired of the sound.
The things i hated with this receiver were the following;
I thought the remote was very poor. The sliding control cover was useless. I mean what's in those controls that needs to be covered? It's a pain having to open and close the cover to get access to controls such as "channel levels, effects" etc. Some controls are self illuminated but a lot are not so you'll have to use a flashlight when listening in the dark. The remote is not a learning remote so if your component is not listed in the manual, good luck! The DSP modes i also thought were useless. Each and every mode sounded dull and very unrealistic. I did not feel being in a hall when i switched the DSP mode to "hall". Since the bass and treble controls cannot be used in any mode other than in "stereo" mode, there is no other way to compensate for the clarity than use their "re-master" feature which i'm not sure about. The "Re-Master" feature supposedly compensate for high frequency loss because of compressions and stuff. I compared the overall sound of this receiver to my Denon and my Denon even though a lot older still sounded better. So if you're considering buying this, for movies you would not have problem since it has all the features you can ask for. For music is another issue. Your only options would be DPL 2 and the good old "stereo" mode. All the other DSP modes will be useless. The receiver also has a built in fan but i had never heard it or seen it come on even when the case is really hot. For its price I think this receiver is not a bad buy. It has enough inputs, both digitals and analogs, that you'll ever need. As for me, after three weeks of trying it, i finally decided to return it. I will be buying a Denon instead. In my opinion you will be buying this receiver for Dolby Digital & Dolby Pro Logic 2 only. All the other DSP modes will not be very helpful but for most i guess that would be enough to make them happy. Not me. I would love to have many different option when listening to music because I listen to music more than i watch movies.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 770Cd. 8%Tx
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Epinions.com ID:
jazzfreak
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Reviews written: 1
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