Nakamichi AV-10 5.1 receiver
Written: Apr 07 '07
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Pros: Honest power, excellent channel separation, build quality, excellent Nakamichi reputation
Cons: Somewhat outdated in terms of inputs/outputs, remote control
The Bottom Line: Buy one if you can find it. Nearly 10 years since they've been built and they're still highly sought after.
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| fury58426's Full Review: Nakamichi AV-10 5.1 Channels Receiver |
Let me preface this by saying that I am not a so-called "audiophile" - I just don't have that golden ear that some seem to feel they possess.
I purchased this over ebay a few months ago for ~$450 after hearing a slightly lesser model AV-8 that a friend had powering his system. My primary objective was to use this as the backbone of a home theater system. I wanted something better than the htib systems but I didn't want to spend thousands either.
The one thing I had which I knew I wanted to keep was my Cerwin Vega RE-30 floor speakers. Ever since I bought them I've been in love with them. Big, powerful speakers - maybe a little more bass than most would like - for me, they're perfect. My thought was to integrate these into the system, pick a decent front channel, rear channels, and a subwoofer. I ended with BIC DV62Si for the rears, Polk CS1 for front, and HSU STF-2 for the subwoofer.
One word...WOW! You pick this thing up and you know that it has the power, it has to weigh 40+ lbs due to the 2 power amplifiers inside. I had a relatively nice Sony receiver that had reviewed well powering my floor speakers prior to upgrading. This utterly and completely blew it out of the water. With the Sony, it would get loud, then distort, then start clipping and blow the fuses on the speakers. The Nak pushes the speakers so hard that you actually start to worry about the speakers. It's pretty excellent when you can crank it, go all the way upstairs to the other side of your house, and it sounds like the stereo is in the room you are in - it's that clear and pushes that hard at high volume.
Home theater is excellent - this thing has terrific channel separation. So many cheap systems mess this up and things end up sounding wrong. It sounds like you're there with the Nak.
The remote is large and clunky, unfortunately you need it for many of the settings which are not available on the stereo itself. I've heard the complaint that the receiver is a bit outdated and not feature packed. To that, I say, keep it simple - who needs more features and more clutter when you can get an excellent experience with a minimum of extraneous crap.
This is one to take care of - I think it will last me a long time and give many years of enjoyment. Given the cost of receivers today (at least those that put out honest, clean power) I don't think you can do much better.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 425
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Epinions.com ID:
fury58426
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Member: John
Location: Farmington Hills, MI, US
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Design engineer and fabricator. Jack of all trades, master of none.
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