Great sound,low price,DD/DTS

Software bugs

Here's the scoop. This processor sounds very good. It can be had for around $700-800 nowadays and it's a well-featured product with DD/DTS. The digital-bypass for analog inputs is a GREAT feature.

Now for the bad news. Remote is baaad. The inability to select front/large + subwoofer is inconvenient but it doesn't bother me much. The DSP effects are "inconsequential". Lacks digital out and 4 or 5 channel stereo. DD volume is rather low, even at maximum levels. Since it's a digital input you can't set input gain. You could set up a speaker gain but that's universal for all modes so it would distort. Analog sources, digital stereo and DTS are fine, it's just the DD. The newest software which is 2.10a still suffers from unacceptable bugs. I list a few I found:

- Front/Rear balance setting is reversed.
- Radio search doesn't stop on stations, keeps going till manually stopped/RDS simply doesn't work
- Volume Up using the knob is buggy (actually will turn volume down) if remote volume up/down is used several times prior to using the knob. Appears intermittent.
- If an input's center channel effect is set to "boost", center channel does not work at all for DD sources until it's switched on the remote to Normal, Wide or None and then back to Boost.
- Effects on a given input are supposed to restore back to the selected presets. Yet if you turn the unit off and then back on, sometimes the last selected value persists as opposed to the preset.

In all fairness, the above bugs are mere inconveniences, not show stoppers and even Krell and Lexicon are having problems with their processor software. Overall, for the price this is a steal.

Excellent sound,

No treble and bass controls, sloppy remote

Excellent sound, but it is a bit slow while processing CD audio through the digital input.

Very cheap remote.

A great buy and an excellent Preamp if you can live with the
cheap remote.

Considering the costs and quality of the competition, it still gets 5 stars.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom, NAD

Nice locking,Software updates trough rs-232 port

Every thing exept looks

If you listen to music it´s flat it doesn´t reach over the speakers.I would refer it as 2dimentional instead of 3D.
I have an old,old NAD 1155 pre-amp i bought for 90$.
And it smaches the H/K to peaces.
I have tested quite many different pre-amp and surrondpre-amp and this is the worst i tryed.I thought it should be some thing else.If you lock at the partner in development And thats no else than (Madrigal) Citation.
So very big disepointment.I realy hooped for this one.The finish is exelent.But you can´t listen to finish.But if you try it one some things different than my, it maybe sound great.
My equipment..
Rotel 971 and 991 for power
Copland CDA 288 for cd
and B/W Nautilus 804

Finish *****
Funktions *****
Value
Overall* Fore god Finish and funktions

Similar Products Used:

Thule Rotel Denon Nad

EASY TO NAVIGATE THROUGH MODES AND FUNCTIONS

HAVE HAD NUMERIOUS PROBLEMS SMALL ONES BUT ANOYING,RREMOTE SUCKS

AS I STATED IN A PREVIOUS REVIEW HAD TO GO THROUGH THREE UNITS BEFORE I GOT ONE THAT WORKED HALF WAY RIGHT.TO MY SUPRISE I WENT TO SET UP THE SPEAKERS WITH A S.P.L. METER,THE VOLUME CONTROL DROPED A FEW SEGMENTS,63 IS AS HIGH THE VOLUME BAR WILL GO,FUNNY IT SEEMS DEPENDENT ON HOW AND WHERE YOU SET THE SPEAKER LEVELS.WELL ANOTHER CALL TO H/K. MAYBE THEY WILL GET IT RIGHT ONE OF THESE TIMES.BUMED TRYING AND HOPING.GIVING TWO STARS FOR OVERALL BECAUSE IT IS VERY DISAPPOINTIG ALL THE TROUBLE I'VE BEEN THROUGH.

Very Solid Build, Flexible Setup for any source configurations, Great On Screen Disply, Fine decoding for theater applications (Dolby Digital, dts) Outstanding technical support via phone with H/K.

No component video options

I just purchased and set up The Signature 2.0 and 2.1 units and I am very pleased. They are a good price and are in fine condition for factory refurbhised units.
The set up is very flexible allowing many source options, including my own source configuration just for dts DVD audio. The technical support from H/K was great, this was a first time component set up for me and they walked me thru one configuration and then i was able to finish on my own.
I am pleased with the performance of the matching 2.1 5 Channel Amplifier as well.
The system sounds great with both music and theater applications, and for a first time component buyer I think these products offer a great value and excellent performance for the money

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Onkyo

Flexibility, beautiful dts decoding and tracking, clean audio and video, simple programming, pleasing appearance, first rate FM tuner

too few recording outputs, somewhat limited gain, weak powered remote

I want to second the last two reviews -- absolutely the best $400.00 piece of processing gear I have ever used. Given its initial retail price, it should be. But, the important thing is: it is a fine piece of gear, and it is available for $400! The rotel pieces I was using don't even come close (although I still like them very much and when the Sig 2s are gone I would recommend them for mid-priced home theater).

Also, contrary to other reviewers' experiences, the people at HK have been great to deal with, notably in providing software updates to the HK TC1000 remote, which I also would recommend (although I think the comments about the Sig 2's remote are overly negative). It's a pretty much direct point situation (straight on or nothing), but the layout is decent and the programming is straightforward for the most used tasks.

For home theater purposes, anyone who doesn't need component video should grab one while they can. I've also done audio listening tests with my Antique Sound Fox22 integrated, and apart from the obvious and expected tube-related differences, I was surprised with the match: very little suffered when switching from direct input into the AS to the Sig 2. Imaging, soundstage were excellent, a little more high end energy (not unpleasant), an ease to the sound, quiet switching -- can't really speak to low end since I use Vandersteen subs.

The FM tuner is truly excellent, both in terms of capture and in terms of quality of signal. I am comparing it to my Magnum gear, and with the signals I have locally, the Sig stands up nicely. The preset logic on the remote is fairly strange, but manageable.

All in all, buy and enjoy. I'm giving very high ratings, and would give the same ratings (value-based) even if the price of the unit was double -- check out the options at the price point(s)!

Similar Products Used:

rotel, dbx

Style, flexibility, ease of use, and great sound for a HT preamp.

Still can't match the musicality of a high end stereo preamp (like a Cary SLP-98), remote, power supply mechanics, volume control clicking, only 1 set of non-digitized inputs (the 6-ch. directs), could use a little more output gain.

First of all, at $400 the value is too high for anyone to bother reading any reviews. I mean, what's the point? If this sold in the $1500 to $2000 range (street price), then some nitpicking can take place.

The remote can be programmed with enough codes to competently run a HT system. The worst thing about it is that while the unit can configure and re-label every input, the remote is stuck with what's screenprinted (i.e. "Video 2"). The poor fix is a few stickers. The total fix is one of those LCD-based universal remotes, like a Pronto. But who can complain? There's enough money saved to buy a Pronto and not dent the finances.

The clicking in the volume control isn't that bad since people typically set a level and listen without cranking the levels around.

There is a slight mechanical buzzing sound from the power supply. I plan to sometime pop the top and attack it with dampening. I suspect an isolation platform for the whole unit would really help as well.

I have read a post from someone who spoke with the electrical designer of this unit, and he confirmed that all the 2-channel inputs are digitized for easy configuring/ processing/ bass management (it's basically an audio computer), but the 6-channel direct input set (to my surprise) goes directly into a FET box with analog volume control. I haven't yet experimented with plugging my vinyl into this input, or otherwise evaluating with how well the HK digitizes. I also don't yet know the pedigree of the ADCs, but when I have the top off I'll try to find out. I have compared the optical digital input with a 2-channel input and can't tell much difference, but I think the analog-into-2-channel sounds a little less "digital".

The tuner is excellent: sensitive and blends seemlessly into a mono signal when weak.

This isn't the holy grail, but I don't think that it yet exists in the $2.5k or under price range. There is still a musicality gap between HT preamps and stereo, but the future of multichannel seems bright to me. So while some may grumble about their system configuration needs, the 2.0 is a solid product. I expect I can get enough years enjoyment out of this until technology standards settle down and the musicality gap closes.

price, sound, build,

remote

short and sweet, for the price this is a great pre/pro. sound is detailed,accurate, and a pleasure to listen to, even in stereo. Remote is quirky for a piece this expensive, but considering the low price and 2 year factory warantry this deal can't be beat !!

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sony es, parasound 1800

Plenty of Digital and Analog Inputs. Flexible input setup. Fantastic balancing of inputs and speaker configuration. Good clear clean sound in DD, DTS, and DPL. The Tuner is great and proves to be a major bonus.

The bass management is limited. The video switching is at best suitable. Remote is does not have at least backlight considering its poor design.

This pre-amp/processor is a great value at the current selling price. Compared to the mass market recievers that can be compared to it at the $898 dollars I had paid for the 2.0/2.1 combo. So right off the bat it is a 5 star in value.

Though it does great for home theater the rest is not quite as great. First all of the 2-channel inputs are returned to the digital domain by the Crystal CS4226 which contains a 2-channel ADC. This chip also contains the six DAC's for all the audio channels and handles the DSP functions. I use an Arcam CD72 as my CD source and using any of the 2 channel analog inputs is somewhat disapointing. Detail is maintained farily well but the sounstage loses focus. The good news is that you may use the 6-channel input as they do remain in the ananlog domain and does sound better. Your mileage will vary in this trick based how on well your speakers resolve stero imaging. It also gives music a greater sense of ease, but this is more respective of my CDP.

Here is another tip you may use to achive better stereo performance. Add an Adcom GFP-750 preamp. It has an AV bypass which will allow you to us it when playing CD's and very easily bypass it for HT play with very little loss to you HT performace. The potential gain in 2 channel performace is tremendous when using this route. Although I would only go this way if music was greatest need and you a own a good CDP.

performance get 4 stars. When you compare it within comptition within the $1000 mark.

Very flexible in terms of inputs and hefty quality build.

Remote, volume clicking noise, and (maybe just only happened on my unit) higher than normal noise floor.

According to the Signature 2.0 Manual on page 62 under the section stereo, it states that "When an analogue input is selected and the stereo button is pressed, the 2.0 turns off all digital signal processing for the cleanest possible sound." This contradicts what Chris and Michael are stating below. Who's right? Let's stick with Stereo mode only - I couldn't care or less of the simulated stuff.

As for my experience with the unit, I found its' sound to be pretty relax (smooth in a way) as Bob described below. As for weakness, the remote control, very limited bass management, and the clicking of the volume control don't bother me much. However, my 2.0 seems to have a bit higher noise floor than normal so it has a tendency to distort on certain peak of less than quality recording (Maybe I got a lemon). This does not happend with my previous Processor (Sony SDP-EP9ES) so it's not the recording. So five stars for value and four for Overall Rating.

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Sony SPD-EP9ES