This thing lasts forever. Approaching 20 years with it and have not had to service it. Great workhorse for an entry level setup. Literally have had mine running continuously throughout ownership. Unit has been through over a dozen moves, including being shipped across country

Unit Gets pretty hot.

power (100 true watts) newest dolby technology dolby 2,ES, 6:1 (if you so desire)

limited svid connections and digital audio (need to get a multi switcher if you have a lot of video feeds) remote is very basic with limited ability for other av equipment

For the money It cant be beat. Its not a top of the line receiver. limited (but adequate) control of the listening environment. the remote.. aweful for this day and age... doesnt have codes or even the aboility to control the most common of av equipment. Unit delivers plenty of power and the fm sensitivity is as good as my Pioneer Elite receiver. For the money you save not buying a high-end receiver you can cut loose $40-$75 for a learning remote and get all your av equipment running on one remote.

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pioneer elite, denon,technics (aint had a bad receiver to date) pioneers remotes are by far the best mulipurpose remotes period.

Excellent sound and power. It's a ... Panasonic!!!

One of the best receivers on the market for the money you pay. I bet that most of the experts will say it’s excellent. I have it over a year. Still discovering the beauty of the sound that comes from it. I have BOSE Acoustimass 6 + 2 additional BOSE 201 for the left and right channels. The sound is amazing when you watch a good movie. I couldn’t make a better choice when I bought it. Well – the European version is equipped with more stuff but … next time. <|>More than 1 year

6.1. Easy to control the volume of each speaker. Easy set up. Meets all my requirements and then some.

Very cheap remote that doesnt always work and doesnt "self learn" anything.

No problems here. This reciever delivers everything it promises. I shopped around and couldnt find anything better for the price. It delivers good power, but can be easily beat for more $$$$$. It looks good and I have no desire to buy anything else.

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Pioneer Elite VSX 59, Toshiba DVD, Pioneer CD, Acoustic Research, Infinity

This is really a good hi-fi amplifier with a great sound and a good power reserve. And it is DVD Audio compatible!

What I don’t like: lack of a second Tape or Aux input, no analog/digital input selection via remote and no enhanced surround/NEO:6 switching through the same remote. These are just some small nags that don’t affect the great value of this receiver.

I want to share my one month experience with this receiver. First of all, the European version is slightly different. There are no component video connectors on the back, just svideo and composite. There is no subwoofer button (the sub can be configured via remote though); instead it is used for the help function. And the help button is used for RDS (Radio Data System). Maybe RDS is a European only facility. The good news is that the SA-HE100 is for sure Dolby Digital EX compatible. It is mentioned in many places on the web, in the manual and I also found it on the Panasonic website. This is what I found on the web: ''Please be advised that Panasonic SA-HE100 also has Dolby Digital EX. Up until February 2002 the only way a company could advertise Dolby Digital EX was if the receiver was THX certified. After that time the condition was lifted and now manufactures can promote this feature without THX certification. Unfortunately lifting the THX certification requirement so late in the production development of the SA-HE100 did not allow Panasonic the necessary time to change the programming code for the microprocessor, the silk screening of the unit, the manuals or the box. To turn on DD EX with older 5.1 films simply depress the "Enhanced Surround" button. Newer films with Dolby Digital EX logo include a "flag" that will automatically turn on the DD EX decoder in the SA-HE200 Receiver. With the SA-HE100 this "flag" is not detected. As mentioned above, simply manually select the "Enhanced Surround" button to activate 6.1 decoding. Also please be advised that with all DD EX sound tracks, the surround back channel is in Analog. Dolby simply uses a Dolby Pro Logic chip to create the surround back information from the discrete surround channels from the 5.1 recording''. The manual suggests using Enhanced Surround too for Dolby EX. And this is what I found on the Panasonic main website (resellers corner): ''Built-in Dolby Digital and DTS-ES decoders with Matrix 6.1 and NEO 6.1 Enhanced Surround for a 6.1 ch. surround sound reproduction (Dolby Digital EX playable).'' As I had a Technics amplifier before, I was pleased with the way the receiver sounded. Although the S/N ratio is lower, this is not a problem as there is no audible noise even at high volume. I am using a pair of Technics loudspeakers for the front channels, the SB-M500. These are excellent speakers but I noticed that the bass was not very powerful at low and normal volume. So I purchased a Panasonic SB-TP10 surround system, composed of five 40W satellites and one 100W active subwoofer. For 260$ these speakers are quite decent and the low frequency problem was immediately solved! To my surprise the LFE channel works with stereo too and gives punch to the low volume auditions. Of course the subwoofer can be adjusted or even completely shut down via remote. One neat thing is that the volume of the sub is memorized differently on each surround mode. Now concerning the various processing modes, don’t imagine that stereo recordings will sound better with Prologic II or NEO:6 because they don’t. Thankfully the stereo mode is gorgeous. There were some concerns about the heat generated by the amp and the fact that the players piled upon it could be affected. This is not a problem, I have the tape deck and DVD over the receiver and even at sustained high volume its surface temperature never went over 40C (104F). The receiver is great for movies too, giving a new dimension to the experience. Be advised that you will need an extra speaker for the central rear channel. If you already have large hi-fi speakers for R and L you can use one of the satellites for RC (rear center). I haven’t found any DTS ES or Dolby EX DVD’s, but the RC can be used even with normal 5.1 sound and it works pretty well. The tuner part is quite complete, with auto tuning and station name display. There are also PTY (program type) and RT (radio text) functions. There is a sleep timer and a wake function. As mentioned before the manual is a joke, but I had fun discovering the numerous and sometimes undocumented features. It’s like they had this super versatile product and they were afraid people would be frightened by the possibilities and so they hid them! The remote is ok, working with my other Panasonic products, and though some of the features are not accessible through it (treble, balance, etc.) they are not important.

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Technics, Sony

6.1 at a very affordable price, easy to use, GREAT SOUND

the manual is confusing, even for someone who is used to reading manuals. Thats about it really

I got this amp at an amazing price to begin with so I was happy to begin with, then I got it home... WOW what a GREAT amp! I mean it's not a $800 amp but it almost sounds like it!. The channel seperation is amazing, especially in DTS ES! it even makes records sound beyond belief. if you are looking at similar priced amps, go for this one it has a great "bang for your buck" aspect to it. My wife has abused this one far past its limits and it still works like new.

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RCA's , pioneer's, NAD's

Good surround sound performance. 6.1 output. Cost effective.

6.1 is not official DTS or Dolby. No way to totally turn off display (although you can dim). Remote layout is poor and some features you would like to control from remote can only be done on unit.

Nice receiver that won't break the bank. Had it for almost a year now and not a single problem. Easy to hookup and use (my 4-year old is a whiz at it). I'm not an AudioPhile, but I did plenty of research and, at the time I bought it, I didn't see anything that had similar specs and features for this price.

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None

None, see above. Buy the Onkyo noted below.

It does not decode DTS DVD's even though the DTS symbol is plastered all over the faceplate! The manual appears to have been written by a Cryptographer, it is virtually useless. The unit has something called a DTS Fix mode which, when activated, fixes nothing, as a matter of fact, it completely destroys the spatial sound.

I have had this unit for one month, The only sound I could initially get out of it was analog; the digital side was silent. I called the dealer who questioned my setup. Based on the manual which is written in Plutonian, I had the setup right. I marched the unit to the local repair center and, voila!, a chip was not working. I eagerly brought the repaired unit home, hooked it up and voila!, I finally had Dolby Digital Sound and also, voila!, it still would not decode DTS DVD's such as Gladiator and The Bourne Identity. As it is apparently still broken, I am now going to send it back to the factory Panasonic Service Center, not the local service center as this unit appears to be downright defective.

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Onkyo TX-SR500. It worked perfectly right out of the box. 5 x 5 Rating!

6 channels of power. plenty for almost anyone. has dolby digital and dts. very inexpensive for the stuff you get.

the remote is a complete pile of garbage.

i have been looking for a relatively inexpensive receiver for some time now. i have a strict restriction to what i can buy due to my speakers rating at 4 ohms. most receivers will overheat with that low of an ohm rating. so i stumbled along this panasonic receiver. it has all the new technology (dts es, dolby digital and pro logic II). with it putting out 100 watts x 6. so far it has been well worth it, and even a bargain at that.so if you have spkrs with a lower ohm rating, and are looking for a heck of a deal, i would recommend this receiver.

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sony dolby digital receiver

Set-up is a breeze. Rear Panel accomodates almost any configuration, and can also bridge connections, if you're running short on the devices. Sound processing is fabulous, sounds like models $1,000 or more.

Clarity of LED display. Very readable but "choppy"

This unit is the best buy for the money. If you are starting your home theater system, this unit is where your audio should begin.

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connected to Samsung HDTV, JVC DVD, digital cable, and SVHS recorder player. Utilizing Polk Audio RM6000 Surround Speaker system