crisp, detailed transients; good detail and soundstage

none so far

A quick remark: one of the previous reviewers (who rated this piece with 3 stars) had a bad experience with hum from his speakers. I, too, had this problem initially. I solved it by moving the ground switch on the back of the unit from "ground" to "ground lift". The hum immediately disappeared. I suspect a ground loop in my system which I now have to try and isolate.

When I first heard this receiver at my dealer, I was surprised at the sound: quick transients and timbre was very good, but the soundstage was horrible, there was little bass and the overall sound was thin! I expressed this opinion to the dealer and he remarked that our test speakers were brand new - no mileage as yet. So, we hooked up similar but well broken in speakers and all of my previous criticisms immediately fell aside. I loved the sound! Bass was tight and quick, and the receiver displayed a large dynamic range. I was quickly sold.

A further benefit for me is that the dealer stated that this unit often sells with speakers in the $2-3k price point since it's such a strong performer. This is contrary to my understanding that speaker price need roughly equal receiver price for comparable performance, but was a selling point since a receiver upgrade might not be needed when I move to a better speaker set.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha/Sony ES rcvrs

Musicality, soundstage depth, easy and fun to listen to.

Connectivity somewhat limited as compared to megabuck Japanese a/v receivers.

I am an audiophile first, a surround-sound fan second. I used to have a Yamaha DSP A-1 for my home theater which was great for that, but poor on two-channel (I also had a separate high-end two channel system). I then decided to go with mega-buck high-end a/v separates and tried everything from EAD to Lexicon to Proceed and yes, heard surround sound nirvana, but missed simple, beautiful, two-channel.
I came to realize I was getting caught up in the audiophile disease. I was at a point where I couldn't just relax and listen without being hypercrytical of the system. So I sold everything and decided to go back to my roots of no nonsense, no friils hi-fi. I haven't been this happy in quite a while.

I can't recommend the Arcam highly enough. In surround mode it is the equal of the expensive Japanese units. In stereo, it is in a completely different league. Once again, I am simply relaxing and listening to MUSIC. Let me point out that the Arcam replaced $8500 worth of separates and I would say that on surround it is 90% of the way there. In stereo, I like it better! No, it doesn't have a gigantic soundstage or super-dynamics, but it is simply, beautifully, musical. I do not plan to upgrade for quite some time, with the possible exception of adding a couple of inexpensive SET tube monoblocks for my mains.

Conclusions: If you want bells and whistles or need a million inputs, this is not for you. If you put music before movies and remember the simpler days of stellar budget products like the NAD 3020, then run out and buy one.
Five stars for sonics as an a/v receiver, three stars for connectivity, four stars for overall sonics as compared to all high-end equipment and TEN stars for value. I give a five star overall rating when comparing it to other a/v receivers. Congratulations to Arcam and thanks for curing me of the audiophile disease. With the exception of "Sam's Space", I can now use Stereophile to wipe my....

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha DSP A-1, megadollar separates.

Amazing sound stage and clarity. Well built. Easily set up

Remote control buttons too small, no back light. But acceptable sacrifice for excellent sound.

I decided that my long in the tooth Arcam alpha 3 stereo amp was struggling with the dynamic demands of my newly purchased DVD player. So I decided to upgrade to a proper AV set up. Always worried though, at the compromise of stereo quality when played through AV gear, so I was delighted when I heard that Arcam were introducing the AVR 100. Arcam as you are aware do not compromise when it comes to music. So I went to have a listen/watch at my local dealers. I was blown away at the seamless sound stage and effortless manner in which the Arcam handled Gladiator - the battle scene at the beginning had me dribbling at the mouth! It was much better than anything else that I had listened to. I just had to have one and ordered it right away. Had it about a week now and I'm thoroughly happy with its performance to date. I bought a centre speaker at the same time. Surrounds and sub to follow, but with 3 speakers the sound is astounding and the prospect of extra speakers has me wrapt with antisipation.

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First AV receiver purchased by an avid Arcam fanatic, but demo'd Denon AVR 3801.

sound, LACK of features

input settings

FIRST OF ALL, IF YOU DO NOT OWN THIS PRODUCT, DONT REVIEW IT!!!!!....PERIOD!!!!!, EVERYBODY WILL TELL YOU ITS DIFFERENT WHEN YOU GET IT HOME. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE ARE SO GUNG-HO ABOUT MARANTZ, BECAUSE YOU CAN FIND IT ONLINE WITH SLASHED PRICES, HAS ONE REVIEWER PUT, THE MARANTZ SOUNDED BETTER IN TWO CHANNEL BUT COST A 1000.00 MORE, AND THEN TOLD ME IT WAS A $3100.00 UNIT!!!!!, IF THIS IS SUCH A GREAT UNIT, WHY WOULD ANYONE KNOCK $900.00 OFF??

AND IF YOU BAND WAGON JUMPERS WANT TO DO A LEGITIMATE COMPARISON, WHY NOT COMPARE A $1200.00 MARANTZ H/T RECEIVER TO THE AVR100? AND NO!!!, I DONT MEAN A $2000.00 UNIT THAT YOU FIND ONLINE FOR $1200.00, I MEAN A REGULARLY PRICED UNIT. BUT OF COURSE NOBODY WILL DO THAT, AND WHY? BECAUSE THE AVR100 WOULD PROBABLY CRUSH ANYTHING MARANTZ MAKES IN THE 12-16K RANGE.

NOW FOR MY REVIEW: I HAVE A "NEWER" ARCAM AVR100, AND THUS FAR ALL MY PROBLEMS ARE MINOR AT BEST, ALL DTS AND DD DISCS ARE DECODED AND PLAYED PROPERLY, INCLUDING DTS CD'S, H/T IS SMOOTH AND LAID BACK AND NOT "IN YOUR FACE" LIKE THE OTHERS, AND IMHO THATS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE. I HAVE A DVD AUDIO/VIDEO PLAYER AND IN 5.1 SURROUND THE MUSIC IS VERY OPEN AND VERY DETAILED, SOMETHING OTHER RECEIVERS ARE NOT.

AS FAR AS TWO CHANNEL GOES, I AM RUNNING A ARCAM CD72 AND IT SOUNDS FANTASTIC!! THE TWO CHANNEL STEREO ON THIS UNIT IS DEFINATLY ON PAR WITH THE LOWER END TWO CHANNEL DIVA AMPS, IT DOES NOT HOWEVER COME CLOSE TO THE A85. ONE THING I TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN I BOUGHT THIS UNIT WHICH I HONESTLY BELIEVE MOST "AUDITIONERS" FAILED TO CONSIDER WAS THIS: NO MATTER WHAT TYPE OF ELECTRONICS YOU BUY, THE FIRST BATCH OF THE FIRST EVER UNIT FROM ANY COMPANY IS GOING TO BE THE WORST, LET US NOT FORGET THE FIRST TOSHIBA DVD PLAYERS, OR THE FIRST PLAYSTATION'S OR THE FIRST PS2'S FOR THAT MATTER, IT ALWAYS TAKES A COMPANY A LITTLE WHILE TO IRON OUT THE "BUGS", NO MATTER WHERE THE PRODUCT IS ASSEMBLED, I THINK MARANTZ MAKES GREAT RECEIVERS, BUT HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN DOING IT? AND IF ANYONE CAN PROVE THAT THE FIRST BATCH OF MARANTZ RECEIVERS WERE PROBLEM FREE, THEN I WILL GIVE YOU A BIG FAT NICKEL!!!!! AND AS FAR AS BELLS AND WHISTLES GO, WHO CARES???, HOW MANY FRIGGIN INPUTS DO YOU NEED???, THE AVR100 IS A GREAT FIRST EFFORT BY ARCAM, REGARDLESS OF WHAT PLATFORM THEY USED AND WHERE IT WAS BUILT. IF ANYBODY THINKS A $1200.00 NON-DISCOUNTED MARANTZ CAN EAT UP THE AVR100 THEN BRING IT ON, ILL BE WAITING.

MY SYSTEM: ARCAM AVR100
ARCAM CD72
ARCAM ALPHA 8P
JVC XV-723 DVD A/V
PARADIGM MONITER 9'S
CC-350
ADP-170'S
MY SYSTEM IS WIRED WITH DH-LABS CABLES
FOR AUDIO AND CON-X (STRAIGHTWIRE) FOR VIDEO

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yamaha, pioneer, jvc....bla, bla, bla

Smooth sound, without any loss of detail. Very nice soundstage. Sweet 2-channel audio, and killer DD, and DTS also!

Haven't found any so far.

My love affair with Arcam started the day I listened to an Alpha 8 with some
B&W SCM1's. That was the best experience I have ever had with any hi-fi
that I can actually afford!

I had been wanting to upgrade my old Denon AV receiver for a while, but I
couldn't find anything with really sweet sound for 2-channel stereo that
would do AV! Well, I wanted really great performance in stereo, and I
didn't want to give up my home theater. Usually one would have to spend
LOTS of cash to accomplish that. (Meridian, Lexicon, Theta, etc.)

So, when I heard that Arcam was thinking about coming at us with a home
theater receiver, I was overjoyed! I KNEW that Arcam had been making very
high quality stereo amps for 25 years. I also knew that Arcam would not
abandon the pursuit of very sweet musical sound, just to get into a growing
market.

I began the quest to go listen. Unfortunately, I could not find a dealer in
3 states that had one! I was so confident that the Arcam sound would come
through in their AVR-100 that I went ahead and ordered it.

I am very pleased to say that I was not the least bit disappointed!

I have to say that this Arcam receiver is the BEST sounding HT receiver I
have ever heard. It really delivers that smooth Arcam sound when listening
to CD's in 2 channel. But it also delivers a very nice, smooth presentation
of DTS, and DD. And for those DSS channels that are still Pro-Logic, they
even improved a great deal with this!

The amazing thing is how it delivers such a smooth sound, without any loss
of detail, and GREAT imaging! This thing will knock your socks off!

I have only had it for a few days now, and am burning it in slowly. I know
that it will be even smoother after burn-in!

Equipment used for this review:

Pioneer ElitE PD-65
Pioneer ElitE DV-05
Aliante Pininfarina Stile speakers
M&K MX-70B subwoofer
KEF Q series rears, and center
Chris VH CAT5 DIY speaker cables
Chris VH Fine Silver DIY interconnects

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Denon AVR 2500

sound quality, simplicity

remote, lack of phono stage

Sounds outstanding right out of the box. The best 2-channel music sound quality I've heard from a receiver (though the NAD comes close). Works well as a preamp--doesn't alter the frequency balance or destroy the soundstage, unlike most other receivers. Sound on movies is very natural--best vocal reproduction I've heard. Highly recommended, especially if you prioritize accurate music reproduction.

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denon 2800, sony ES v333, NAD 751, pioneer elite

Sounds great. Easy to use

Crappy remote

This is a great sounding unit. I use it for both music and movies. I had an Audio Alchemy / Belles preamp-amp before and the Arcam is not far off.

I use them with paradigm reference speakers. Great soundstange, great sound. It handles surround sound very well also. I am very glad with this purchase.

Remote is not very good - i replaced it with the one for all AV producer. Had to 'custom' program that remote to make it work. The remote knew ow to do volume, etcc. But I had to teach the remote to switch between the different inputs.

amazing sound, simplicity of set up, design,

unable to drive sub in stereo mode

i purchased this last weekend with a DV88, what a combination, i recommend Arcam over any Japanese products. the sound will just blow you away both in stereo and 5 channel. the design is very simply but effective. Arcam have spent the money where it counts, where this reciever is lacking in functions, it more than makes up in sound quality.

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denon 3801

Wonderful Stereo (as good as the Diva 75), great surround, easy setup, good looks, great sound, solid components

Limited speaker configurations

I spent some time auditioning kit for a combined hi-fi and home cinema rig, with my priorities in that order. I almost gave up on the combined aspect and nearly went for the Arcam Diva 75 stereo amp with the Yamaha DSP E800 processor and 3 channel amp. However, I'm glad I waited to try the AVR 100 !

I can't really have floor-standing speakers as the kids/dog would almost certainly put fingers/paws through the cones. I was attracted by the idea of the Mission FS-AV2 flat panel speakers so my first try was with a DVD-Player (Arcam DV-88) into a Yamaha DSP-A5 into the Missions. Flubby, uncontrolled bass. Unlistenable in stereo, barely tolerable in HT. To make sure it wasn't the electronics I tried some cheap Mission bookshelfs which sounded OK. They sounded much better using the Arcam CD72 instead of the DVD player, but still no real bottom-end.

The shop suggested I try the Bose Acoustimass system, and I have to say I'm amazed at the sound those little cubes deliver ! My setup is now ...

Arcam CD-72
Arcam AVR-100
Denon DVD 1000
Bose Acoustimass (sub-woofer plus 5 double-cubes)

My biggest criteria was that it should sound great in stereo, and believe me it does ! Clear and precise bass combiend with plenty of middle and top, all very natural sounding. I play a wide variety of music from classical through Tracy Chapman, through Led Zeppelin through Pearl Jam through Stones. All sound superb.

Put it into Surround mode and play a VCR tape through it and it really thrills. The Phantom menace sounds just wonderful, with very accurate placement of effects and wonderful diagonal movement of the space-ships across the room. Play a 5.1 encoded DVD (like Mission Impossible 2) and it's another gear up. The bass rumbles add to the sound, rather than dominate it as I've heard in some systems.

So what DON'T I like about it ? Well, the speaker configuration on the AVR-100 is limited. There are 3 presets to choose from but rather than treat these as defaults there is no facility to control the settings for individual speakers. It may not sound like much, but the way the speakers work on the BOSE means that I get 5 channels out (L R C RL & RR) and the sub-woofer handles the low frequencies and sends everything above 200Hz to the cubes. This means that I have to choose preset 2 as that is the only one with the sub off. The AVR100 thinks my L & R speakers are LARGE (correct) but the C, RL & RR are SMALL (wrong). I'm probably missing out on some bass. However, it can't be that great because it sounds so good. Annoying though. I would definitely buy all this gear again, with the possible exception of the DVD (I could have got multi-region cheaper).

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none

Great sound, depth and clarity

none...well remote is hard to deal with

Have had this for about 2 months. I love it. The sound is clear, soundstage is defined and it has the power to move the room; and my room is quite large (19' x 25'). I would highly recomend this unit for movies. I never listen to music on it, thus cannot comment. Buy it you will not be disappointed with the DTS and DD sound quality!

System:
Paradigm reference Studio 20s
Paradigm reference Studio CC
A/D/S 4su (12"/250w) & Klipsch KSW-15 (15"/800w) (subs)
Sony DVD
Arcam AVR 100
Cardas and monster cables
62" TV
Klipsch in-wall rears

Never had a friend not say "wow". I would make the purchase again. You get the impact of seperates for a grand, what a deal. Buy it!

Similar Products Used:

JVC and Yamaha