Great 2 Channel, low transistor noise, laid back.

This unit really sounds nice in 2 channel mode. I have some
challenging bass CDs. This unit provides superb low bass
extension and tightness for a HT setup.

Have had so many compliments on this unit, the sound is terrific.

Have watched a lot of movies, sounds good in movie mode,
but 2 channel is the bomb!!!

If I had a complaint it would be that the unit is a little pricing, and appears to barely drive 90 watts per side, when the distortion starts to creep in.

This guy has a very dynamic and extended 2 channel response.
I would be anyone a Starbucks that this unit smokes Onykos
yammies, and Denons in the ~1000$ range.

Heard the price dropped - not a 5 but a solid 4-4.5.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Yamaha

Great 2 Channel, low transistor noise, laid back.

This unit really sounds nice in 2 channel mode. I have some
challenging bass CDs. This unit provides superb low bass
extension and tightness for a HT setup.

Have had so many compliments on this unit, the sound is terrific.

Have watched a lot of movies, sounds good in movie mode,
but 2 channel is the bomb!!!

If I had a complaint it would be that the unit is a little pricing, and appears to barely drive 90 watts per side, when the distortion starts to creep in.

This guy has a very dynamic and extended 2 channel response.
I would be anyone a Starbucks that this unit smokes Onykos
yammies, and Denons in the ~1000$ range.

Heard the price dropped - not a 5 but a solid 4-4.5.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Yamaha

Good dynamics, decent clarity, Neutral UK sound

Sounds good at lower volumes but starts to distort and is noticable, or is the Speakers.

This is a follow up review. I have noticed that I hear variations in CDs that were previously masked. Have a Rel Subwoofer, and it is great, but I wonder if coherency cannot be better achieved via a large set of floor standers.

Reciever sounds good, but now I question how much I spent on this unit when I could have gotten separate for $1000 more. But its a step up from my old Onkyo.

I am soliciting inputs for the following question. I have a pair of Heybrook Helios which are rated at 100 watts peak. However in Stereo there is audible distortion at well below 60 on the ARCAMs stereo mode. I have heard several loudspeakers that may do the trick. I think the Tannoys are about equivalent to the Helios, actually think the B&W 600 series sound slightly below the Helios. I would love to hear some of the EPOS or AVIs, but I cant find a dealer.

I heard the Dynaudios, and these just sounded awesome. In particular the A50s and the Countour 1.1-1.3 were really punchy, smooth and laid back. Getting 4 of the same would be adequate for 20 x 24' room. And also gets around the 4xsmall or 4xlarge settings on the AVR100.

Question is,
1) Are the Dynaudio's (the Contours) too good for the AVR100?
2) Are the load impedances going to cause havoc with the supply in the AVR100 integrated reciever causing distortion and bass wimpiness?
3) Since the ARCAM and Dynaudios have a neutral laid back sound, should I go for a "brighter" set of speaker cables, (IE Kimber 8s or ????)
4) Heybrookes sound fine at moderate volumes, should I just be satisfied?

Suggestion appreciated.

Sbcaul@yahoo.com

Similar Products Used:

Demo'ed Yamaha, owned Onkyo

Good sound quality, Simple design

Build quality, lack of inputs, horrible bass management, bad remote.

I was some what disapointed with this unit after reading all the reviews here. Yes the 2 channel sounds good, not great. The sound quality is on par with the other units I have owned and demo and most units exceed it in HT applications.

This unit is built in the PRC and is built with the same chasis and most parts of the nad units among other brands. If you look into the arcam's display, you can see a graphic for the ears ambiance mode that is present for the nad. Arcam uses better parts in the signal path. The unit itself is very light, about 28 pounds. I was dissapointed it was not built in the UK as most arcam products.

I like the look of simplicity for the unit. The unit has only 3 digital hook ups, one assigned to a vcr. Who uses a digital hook up for vcr??? Do they mean for a HD recorder like tivo? That is not acceptable. If you need a digital hook up for a satalite dish, dvd, digital out for your cd among other hookups you run out fast.

My biggest gripe is the bass management, which is the most poorly designed of any $1K receiver Ive seen and heard. There are 3 options: ALL speakers large with no sub (not many people have a large center or rears), ALL small with sub (bose system or small speakers), and all small w/ no sub. You can not assign which speakers can be large or small, it is all one or the other. Since I have full range speakers for my fronts and small for center and rears, this was the deal breaker. This is a tremendous flaw, especially for what is billed as a home theater receiver. This is the worst bass management I have ever heard. Also the bass crossover is 100hz (same as the marantz 7000) which is not accecptable.

Performance in stereo is very good, the units only strong point. The wattage of 70x5 and 90x2 is more than enough for a medium size room. Sound is clear and neutral to slightly warm. I would give it the slight nod in 2 channel over the very similar nad and denon units. My marantz sr18ex is far superior in 2 channel, cost me $1000 more, but is worth it. The marantz is as close to seperates as you can come in one box. I thought home theater was lacking on the arcam. It lacked a little ooomph in heavy sound passages in 5 channel and sounded a little taxed at times at higher volumes. Again the poor bass management options did not give me a chance to configuere the unit that best fit MY system needs. The sound was crystal clear though at lower volumes, This is where this unit shines. For some reason, the unit did not decode dts music discs. This is strange because it had no problem playing my dts movie demo disk. I might have had a bad chip. I brought it back to the dealer at he could not get it to play the dts music disc also, but could get it to decode the dts movie soundtrack, strange. Also this unit has a loud hiss from all channles that was audible from my seat. This is a big pet peeve of mine. There is nothing more irritating than a loud hiss that you can hear from your listening area when there is a quiet passage in a movie. Im not even going to get into the cheap remote that needs a microscope to read the buttons.

As you can tell, I did not like this unit, to many problems and poor design. Arcam should of designed a unit from scratch instead of using another unit and changing the wire/parts in the signal path to keep it cheap and get it out fast. For the $1K price, I thought the 3801 was a better overall performer with more features and a very small decrease in 2 channel performance. The denon can also be had for around $850. I ended up keeping the sr18ex. It was worth the extra money to me for 2 channel, HT and build quality. I got what I paid for with that unit.

This is my experience in my house. Your experience may be different.

My simple system:
Marantz SR18EX
nOrh marble 9.0 fronts
nOrh 4.0 center
Eosone 350 rear
Hsu Research VTF-2 sub
Toshiba 3109
Analysis Plus speaker cable
Elco DC-32 all silver digital cable

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3801 & 3300, marantz 7000 & sr18ex, outlaw 1050, nad 761

Audiofilo, sonido natural, amplia separación y definición.

Opciones para configuración de altavoces.

Durante años he buscado un sonido claro, limpio y definido. He tenido la oportunidad de probar aparatos tales como el Denon 1800R, Onkyo 575, Nakamichi AV10 y algunos modelos de Yamaha. Todos ellos gozaban de una buena potencia, en algunos casos definición pero no me daban el sonido natural y calido que buscaba y menos aun en estereo.

La sorpresa llego cuando Arcam anunción su modelo AVR100, el cual no dude en adquirir dado los buenos resultados que he obtenido con modelos de tipo estereofónico. Y efectivamente ahora puedo afirmar que gracias a este modelo de Arcam tengo un sonido impresionante, lleno de microinformaciones, natural, calido, potente a su vez. El sonido AV no precisa de nada, pues en peliculas y música ( Eagles, The Corrs ) es excelente. Lo realmente positivo es que además cuenta con un estereo nada común en aparatos de este tipo, es facilmente comparable e incluso superior a los mejores equipos que existen en el mercado en clase A/B.

Mi consejo es que si eres amante del buen sonido y tienes alguna duda sobre este equipo, la desestimes y apuestes por el.

Similar Products Used:

Harman Kardon AVR7000.

El mando a distancia.

La estética algo fría.

Doy gracias a Dios todos los dias por haberme dado a conocer este cacharro. Todos los días lo besuqueo antes de irme al trabajo.

El sonido es bello y dulce, tierno y romantico, calido y suave. No he visto un cacharro igual, me parece un sonido tan bonito y lindo que no puedo dejar de alabarlo. La verdad es que merece la pena pagarlo porque te quedas muy agusto.

! Mi recomendacion para este cacharro !.

Similar Products Used:

Nak, Rotel.

Simple. Good sound

Remote. Lack of power

I evaluated both the preamp & power amp section of this receiver for mainly music and some HT.

The preamp section sounds much better than the Yamaha (more detailed, less harsh on the top end) but brighter than the Denon & Marantz, preferred the B&K (B&K is smoother). The MF is much more detailed but less musical (really suprised here - the problem is: so what if you hear every thing unless you can feel the music too). Very close to the Parasound avc-1800. I used an Outlaw 750 amplifier (excellent value, great sounding product) and Dynaudio (excellent, punchy, very revealing speakers) for evaluation.

On the amplification, I thought it sounded better than the Yamaha overall (less harsh, better soundstaging). Similar to the Marantz. The Denon sounds more powerful bottom end. Overall to get really good sound one has to go the separates or very good receiver (B&K or top line Denon).

The remote control sucks big time: not programmable, tiny, look-alike buttons.

Overall use is simple: not a lot of buttons, easy to set up. I actually prefer the user interface here to the B&K.

Don't like the British speaker terminals: I'm not used to it, and it's hard to get the terminals. (I prefer spades)

I didn't care for various sound modes. I run all large speakers, so I didn't care for bass management limitations (I preferred all large speakers any way).

Is this worse than other at $1200 retail? You can get better HT with the Denon. But it's very good for music. The B&K is much better overall, but much more expensive. O well.

Overall 4 stars. Value 3 stars for the remote.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 4800, Yamaha rxv-1000, Marantz sr-8000, B&K AVR 305, Parasound avc-1800, Musical Fidelity HTP

Superior stereo for a Receiver. Decent HT sound. Clean Looks

People think that it should sound as good as a dedicated 2 channel selling for the same price...

Lets get this straight: a receiver will NEVER sound better than a similarly priced 2 channel integrated amplifier!

A)If you are in the market for a stereo amp, don't get a Home Theatre receiver! If you have 1000 bucks and just want to listen to music, buy the Arcam A85 integrated amp: from what i have heard and read, it is an oustanding product.

B) If you have the space and cash to have TWO systems (one for music, one for HT), don't buy this receiver. As many have pointed out, there are many other receivers out there that do HT better and have more bells and whistles...

C) If you do NOT want NOR have the space/$$$ for two dedicated systems AND will listen to music first, HT second, give this product an honest try.

Also go and check out the Rotel RSX 972 and the Denon 3800.
They were respectively #1 and #2 in What HIFI's latest receiver supertest with an overall score of 5 stars ( Arcam's AVR 100 got 4 stars, like the Yamaha,Pioneer and Onkyo).

Here is brekadown of the scores:
Movie sound:
Arcam 4 stars, Denon 5 stars, Rotel 5 stars
Music:
Arcam 5 stars, Denon 3 stars, Rotel 5 stars
Build
Arcam 4 stars, Denon 4 stars, Rotel 5 stars
Facilities (setup, options,controls,effects)
Arcam 3 stars, Denon 5 stars, Rotel 3 Stars

Winner: ROTEL ( 1300$US, 75 Watt/5 channels)
This was taken from rotel's web site:
http://www.rotel.com/pdfs/reviews/rsx972-supatest-may2k1.pdf

When i bought the AVR100, my first pick was actually the RSX972, but i wanted a matching DVD/receiver combo, and at that time, Rotel had not released there 2nd generation DVD players, and the Rotel RDV-985 was not an impressive player. Plus Arcam's DV88 is truly a gem for both DVD's and CD's. Apparently, Rotel's new DVD players are not re-badged JVCs anymore and are of much higher quality...

BTW: i am not a salesman, just an honest consumer who sticks to the facts, doesn't slander anyone and who doesn't hide behind a pathetic alias.

Similar Products Used:

Demoed NAD, Rotel RSX 965, previously owned Arcam Alpha 7.

You get you say you have an Arcam product.

Poor power supply, i.e. weak filter caps....

I pick this latest offering from Arcam over a NAD, or Rotel, but it leaves much to be desired. I could not believe that this is an Arcam product. I was very dissapointed and I am taking it back and getting a Denon or something on those lines. If you have had good luck with Arcam Amps your whole idea of this company will change if you buy this A/V receiver. I had a set of Monitor 7's bi-amped with 2 carver amps and that is what I am sticking with until I can get a better set up. Thumbs down, shame on Arcam for such a weak product.

Do yourself a favor, wait until Arcam comes out with the next generation of receivers. At the very least, they will be giving these imposters away when a real Arcam is introduced. Great intentions, just poor execution by the company. I was thinking of getting this and using it as a preamp, but it is just too expensive for that option. I am returning my AVR 100 (my dealer is really cool about returns) and playing the waiting game.

Your results may be different and I expect to receive some negative reaction to my review. I just expected more from Arcam and I anticipate their second effort to be a dramatic improvement over this one.