Good Solid Value
Written: Apr 15 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price, Quality, Value
Cons: Not top of the line, clumsy remote
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| eTom's Full Review: JVC RX-778V 5.1 Channels Receiver |
Last year, I decided to add more living space to the house and turned my attached 1 and 1/2 garage into a family room. This gave me a great excuse to buy a big screen TV (only 32 inch, though). After a while, I decided we needed the surround sound receiver that I planned for all along. I looked around a bit and decided that Dolby Digital was a must have in the receiver I bought. My philosophy on consumer goods is to strike a balance between needs and value and add in a dash of product lifespan. On many items, this philosophy mandates that I buy the top of the line model. I did see the 32" Proscan TV as the best value for me, however a more moderately priced receiver was all I really need. I couldn't really see sinking a fortune into a receiver knowing that there are somewhat limited video and audio CD's and DVD's available that will use the features I am paying for. In a few years (maybe months!), new audio technology will most likely make any systems sold today obsolete. In all honesty, if I get 5 years out of this receiver before Dolby Digital is no longer available I will be happy. I just cant see spending thousands of dollars on a top of the line system today.
The price, features and quality of the JVC was within the scope of my needs, so I purchased this system that also came with 5 JVC speakers and a powered sub-woofer. The remote and push button controls are somewhat clumsy, but not too difficult to set up and use. In fact, after my initial setup, the volume, component select and power are about the only buttons I use. As with most AM/FM radios, you can set up the pre-set stations of your choice. When I first bought the receiver, all I had to plug into it was the Proscan TV, a Proscan VCR and my DirecTV DSS (non digital) system. I plugged everything into the receiver and pump the TV sound in as well. I was very pleased with the quality of sound even though I had yet to hear anything in Dolby Digital. I have since added a JVC CD player and a JVC DVD player. I want to add a digital capable DSS in the near future, but there are not a lot of digital broadcast sound tracks yet on DirecTV. If you are the type that is satisfied with good sound and fairly simple controls, this receiver is a great value. If you are happy with only top notch high end best o' the best, you will want to look at a higher end system.
Another thing I try to add into my decisions when I buy an audio product is the fact that if I can tell only marginal differences between this system and one costing 10 times more, it's not worth the extra money for that small improvement for me. Not enough bang for the buck. Factor in the less than perfect acoustics of most home audio/video spaces and the finer points of a top end system are barely distinguishable from a decent system such as this costing much less.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
eTom
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Member: Tom White
Location: Mechanicsville, VA
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 3 members
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