Great A/V Reciever for the price. 500Watts Lots of inputs incl. optical. DTS, indiv. or fixed set-up for each component.

Remote difficult to see in low light. Doesn't convert video formats. However, what do you expect for $300.

Can't beat this receiver for the money! Great all the way around. If your interested in purchasing the receiver, check out ubid, they seem to have it on auction everyday. However, ubid's customer service is extremely lacking.
Nice on screen menu. Can take some time to set-up, since most likely you will want to set-up each component seperately(dvd, vcr, dbs). However it's worth is for the great sound it puts out. I haven't had any problems with the receiver, but I have read about some common problems others have had(read other reviews). I really wish the remote was lit. But you get used to handling the remote and performing functions in the dark in a month(you can find your (pe@ker in the dark can't you).
Video conversion(rca in to s-video out and vice versa) would be a nice touch. However, you can expect to pay a lot more for to have a receiver as good as this one and still get the video conversion. Also, a pre-out our tape2 monitor would be nice( only really needed if you have speakers with there own equalizer, eg. bose 901) or if you feel the need to add an equalizer to get more that just the 3 band equalizer it comes with. I've also played around with the JVC RX9000. Pretty much same receiver except RF remoter (still no lights), pre-amp out is added and sub room feature also is added.
Sorry for the long summary, just trying to be as helpful as possible. To summarize my summary: I'd recomment this receiver to anyone who want a whole lot of bang for the buck. You won't be dissapointed unless you have absolutely no clue or patience to set it up for optimum sound. And if you don't have a clue, you still won't be dissapointed for the price. Anything under $400 and you've found yourself a great bargain. P.S. I only didn't give it 4 stars for overall rating, because I almost never give anything a top rating.

Similar Products Used:

JVC old pro logic. Sony.

Incredibly feature-rich for the price! At least at the time I bought it.

Audiophiles will probably outgrow it eventually. Surround modes are atrocious. Remote control unit is switched; for some functions you have to have the switch up, for some you have to have it down. Pain in the keister. User guide not available online (or at least it didn't USED to be available)

JVC is a GREAT brand for those entering the A/V market, whether you're talking about receivers, CD players, DVD players, car stereo, whatever. The prices are excellent, and the quality is more than reasonable. Reliability is a little suspect--you'll see some horror stories farther down this page--but probably no more so than with any other big-name Best Buy-type brand. The RX-8000V is no exception. I don't know if JVC still makes this unit or not; I've been using mine for a couple of years now. At the time I bought it, it had features normally found only on high-end brands, although nowadays those features are more common.

Indeed, it would be easier to list the features it DOESN'T have. It doesn't do RGB component video, doesn't have preouts, doesn't do Dolby Pro Logic II, 6.1 or 7.1. That's pretty much it; everything else that you'd expect a $600-700 receiver to have, you get with this $400 receiver. If you can score a used one (which you might just be able to do if I get my Marantz EX 18 and have to sell my JVC!), you'll be in fat city!

It's amplification section doesn't cut it for an audiophile, but should be adequate for the casual user: 120 watts into the mains at 4 and 8 ohms when in 2-chanel stereo mode, 100 watts a channel in all 5 channels when in surround mode. You get banana plugs to all channels, which includes a 2nd set of mains for limited multiroom capability. If you have the volume too high or otherwise if your speakers are drawing too much power from the receiver, it will proudly announce "OVERLOAD" on the display and shut down that channel. (That comes in handy when you accidentally cross the two wires on your speakers when connecting them!) The receiver is switchable between 8-16 ohm speakers and 4-6 ohm speakers, a definite rarity for anything less than a high-end unit. An RCA output sends LFE (low-frequency effects) information to a subwoofer if you have one.

You get inputs for a turntable, DVD, CD player, tape monitor, 2 VCRs, satellite TV receiver, and an extra video input in the front of the unit. All video ins, as well as the video out for VCR 1, have both composite and S-video connections; VCR 2 has only composite video. There are three digital audio inputs, two optical and one coax, each assignable to the CD, DVD, or DBS components. The on-board DAC (digital-to-analog converter) will do Dolby 5.1, DTS, or straight 1-bit for music. (All this was VERY cool at the time!!) The DVD analog input even has RCA inputs for all five audio channels in case you're using a DVD player that has no digital output. A composite/S-video monitor-out connection feeds the TV.

The front panel controls are fairly well laid out, and entail surprisingly few buttons given the feature-richness of the unit. Chalk this up to the the Source Select and Multi Jog rotary dials, used to set the source and adjust numeric values, respectively. These dials greatly simplify the unit's operation, and low-resistance cams keep them from feeling clunky. But like all front panels, this one is hard to see in anything less than perfect light, and can be a bit confusing to operate, so I recommend using the beautifully-laid-out on-screen display for setting up and adjusting the unit.

With the RX-8000U, there's no shortage of ways to shape the sound before it hits the speakers. There's a 5-band digital equalizer, with several built-in presets as well as a customizable "Usermode" setting. A loudness control pumps the bass and treble, but there's no way to control it's intensity, and it's not intelligent like Yamaha's where the effect is greater with soft sounds and smaller with loud sounds. One nicety: you can attenuate the input level of analog sound sources, in case the signal level is somehow greater than standard line-level; without this feature the sound from greater-than-line-level sounds sources would cause distortion. You can attenuate the LFE channel as well. You can even set the tone of the center channel, emphasizing the highs or lows to your liking.

The front-panel display is handsome and functional. LEDs show you the digital input mode (1-bit, Dolby Surround or Dolby Digital), even the individual channels for which you're receiving information (front, surround, center, subwoofer). You can set the name of multi-function inputs, so that the correct name appears when you want to listen to that source. (For example, some people use the tape deck input for a MiniDisc (MD) player; with the RX-8000U you can actually set the tape input to read "MD" instead of "TAPE".) And if you have a JVC CD player connected to the reciever via the JVC-propietary Compulink feature, any text contained in a played CD (song title, artist, etc.) will appear on the receiver's display.

The surround DSP modes are what I consider to be the product's biggest weakness hands-down (see below), but it's not for lack of functionality; again I'm blown AWAY by what you get for the price. Along with standard Dolby Surround, you get three theater modes, five music modes, and two "3D" modes which emulate a center channel for systems that don't have one. You can set each speaker to "Small" or "Large", assumably so the system can get its crossovers and frequencies correct for each speaker. You can set rear and center delay for each mode, and you can run a test tone sequence for all 5 speakers to verify how each one sounds. My favorite, though, is the intensity setting (called "Effect") for each of the preset surround modes; for example, if you want to listen to Janet Jackson using the Dance Club surround mode, but you find that Dance Club colors the sound a bit too much for your liking, you just take the Effect setting for that surround mode down a notch or two until you find the sound you like. I don't know if I explained that real well, but in theory it's a really cool idea.

The remote is fairly usable for the most part, and it has preset IR frequencies for many different manufacturer's products. I wasn't able to get it to work with anything except the RCA satellite receiver, and even that wasn't functional because the remote lacks critical buttons like "Guide" (for a listing of what's playing on TV) that are only found on the RCA's remote. And there's that annoying slider switch on the side of the JVC's remote that lets you switch between "Audio/TV/VCR" and "CATV/DBS". I guess it's supposed to divide up the functions of the remote, and in theory that probably reduces the number of buttons, but GEEZ that thing is annoying! You hit a Power button expecting the TV to power up, and instead the RCA satellite receiver powers DOWN! AARRGH!

I think that covers the functionality; now I'll go over my impressions of it, Again, for the price it's a KILLER unit, and as long as you don't have any major audiophile ambitions and as long as you're OK with the surrond modes the unit has to offer, it should take you well into the future. I, however, have pretty much outgrown it, the process of my outgrowing it has been sped along greatly by the DSP/surround issues that have plagued the unit from day one.

Maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but I've had nothing but trouble with the surround modes, both for home theater and music. To make a long story short, all the theater modes and two of the music modes, Hall and Pavillion, feature this really annoying ringing sound, like you were using reverb on some old guitar amp. I can't get rid of it now matter how I adjust the settings I listed above. In all surround modes I get noticeable distortion from the surrounds. You only get 100 watts a channel in surround mode, and I have like 25-foot lengths of speaker wire running to the surrounds, so they may just be underpowered, I'm not sure. As for Dance Club and Live Club, both seem to color the sound too much, even with "Effect" at 1. I didn't really hear much of any difference between any of the Effect settings myself.

There are more general problems that I've seen as well. The loudness compensation circuit is too strong for my taste, and I'm puzzled as to why I can adjust the intensity of the surround effects, but I can't adjust it with the loudness control. The EQ is only a 5-band, and you can't even set the bands individually; if you raise the top band, for example, the next band down will raise at a lesser rate, and then the next, and so one, so all you get is a curve effect, up or down.

Even in 2-channel mode (no surround), where I get 120 watts a channel, the music seems distant somehow, and certainly less than what my KEF Q65 speakers are capable of. Adding a subwoofer helped a bit, but if I'm going to satisfy my audiophile aspirations, I'm going to need a more gutsy receiver (or separates, although I really hope it doesn't come to that).

So be warned, folks, that the 4 rating I give this unit does not in any way suggest that I'd recommend it for a true audiophile. A friend recommended it to me, and I'll always be grateful to him that he did. It's given me years of fine service, and as I said, for anyone who isn't cursed with audiophile aspirations, this will last you for years to come!

Similar Products Used:

Sony receiver (don't even remember the model, it was decent but ancient)

Great sound, Great tech support for questions. Selection of DSP modes. S-video inputs

User manual and setup frustrating, but once unit is set up, it sounds great!!!!

I did a lot of research for a new receiver. I had a Sony, it worked great but wanted to upgrade to Dolby Digital and DTS capability. DTS is awesome. I originally purchased the 6500 model but it did not have enough S-video inputs. S-video a must if you want great picture quality. Also went with the digital coax cable from dvd player. Depending on what audio source you are using, volume control has to be cranked up high to get volume. I am told that this is common for JVC. Be patient with setup. When you get done you'll be very happy. Be careful of what type of dvd player you buy, if you don'T have one. Make sure it has DTS capability. I have a JVC dvd and works well with this receiver. Finally, you could buy this cheaper else where but I was a little uncomfortable buying electronic equipment over the net.

This is an update from my first review on 9/19/00.

Last week after five months of near continous playing the receiver died. My wife said she was listening to the radio, it suddenly stopped and the word 'Overload' appeared on the front panel display. I disconnected all the inputs and outputs, but the thing is DED dead. Fortunately, it has a 2 year warranty, which is one of the reasons I purchsed JVC.

I asked the women at the front desk at he service center about the number of JVC components her business handles, she said 'not many.' She said JVC is one of the better brands. Take that for what it is worth.

It has been seven days since I dropped it off. Once the receiver is returned, I will post another update.

This is an update from my first review on 9/19/00.

Last week after five months of near continous playing the receiver died. My wife said she was listening to the radio, it suddenly stopped and the word 'Overload' appeared on the front panel display. I disconnected all the inputs and outputs, but the thing is DED dead. Fortunately, it has a 2 year warranty, which is one of the reasons I purchsed JVC.

I asked the women at the front desk at he service center about the number of JVC components her business handles, she said 'not many.' She said JVC is one of the better brands. Take that for what it is worth.

It has been seven days since I dropped it off. Once the receiver is returned, I will post another update.

Excellent connectivity and compatability with other components. That power output. The DD & DTS.

The remote, the OSD, the lack of AC switching.

Overall, best receiver under $400, bar none. If you have an additional $200 to spend on JUST the reciever, I might suggest otherwise. But at that point, you are buying bells and whistles.

The 8000 is a very "basic" meat-n-potatoes kind of reciever, but does have some gravy features that make it stand out. Front inputs for S-Video/RCA as well as full compulink connectivity for other JVC items.

The 3 optical DD inputs and 1 coax are VERY handy.
The onscreen display take a bit of getting used to.Needs work.

I would certainly suggest if you are considering this unit, you think about getting a homogenous equipment setup, so as to avoid "frankenstien's monster" effect. (7 different remotes for 6 peices of equipment)

Component video input/switching would be a WONDERFUL enhancement, as would DTS-ES or other updates.

Similar Products Used:

RX-507, RX-718

This is the final update on situation I described on 01/28/01. What a mess!!! After waiting almost 30 days, the first JVC authorized repair facility replaced two IC's. I foolishly brought it home without checking it out first. The overload condition remained. Needless to I was not a happy camper. After about a week, not wanting to take any chances, I sent it to JVC repair facility in California. Not knowing there were two separate organizations in this facility, I did not put repair on the shipping tag. The manual does not say to put repair on the tag. The person doing the receiving that day refused to take the shipment because it did not say repair. I called the repair facility, no 800 number, talked to the manager who sent a call tag. After another 3 weeks, I received the unit and this time I set it up outside of my system. Within an hour, the unit shutdown and displayed overload. If I was closer to the repair facility I would have thrown the unit through the window.

(2 months without receiver if you are keeping tally)

(During this time I was also emailing a customer service engineer at JVC. I requested that they send me a new unit to replace this one. Failing to fix it once, I can stomach. But failing to fix it the second time, at their repair facility is unconsciousable. The engineer wrote that JVC does not deal directly with customers and could not send a replacement.)

I called the repair facility the next day. The customer service person said I would have to pay to send the unit back to them and they would put one of their senior techs on it this time. I was livid. I searched the internet, great thing the internet is, and found the name of the president of JVC. As most of you might know, most company email address are jblow@ JVC .com. I was able to send a rather irrate email to the president of JVC. Several weeks later I received a call from JVC in California asking that I send the unit back to them.

(3 months without my receiver)

I decided against doing that. I found another authorized repair facility in Phoenix. After another 30 days, I called the shop and asked about my unit. The woman who ran the place said she would check into why the parts she had ordered 30 days ago had not arrived. She called me the next day to say the IC's I needed were on national backorder. Meaning that no one in this country had these parts. She told me she would call her contact at JVC to find out what was happening with these parts. She called a couple of days later and told me that there was a known problem with these IC's and that JVC had updated the design. Good for JVC but what about my unit? She said that she was going to send my unit along with others back to JVC and that JVC would replace my unit with a new one. I was hard pressed to beleive that. Much to my amazement, after another three weeks, JVC sent me a new unit. It was not the RX-8000 but a newer model, the RX-8010. Without the woman at the repair shop I would possibly still be sending my unit back and forth to JVC with no resolution.

So after almost five months, I finally have a receiver. This situation could have been avoided if the people at JVC would have been forthright and told me about the design problem in the first place.

The moral of this story, find a good repair shop that has been around a long time that has inside contacts that know what is happening.

The major change to this design is interesting. Unlike the 8000 which could take a 4ohm load on all speaker outputs, the 8010 will not. The 8010 is rate for 4 ohms only at the mains. This is a problem because I have a 4 ohm center speaker. So I had to buy a non-inductive load resistor and put it inline to avoid overloading the center output amp. Of course this reduces the current at the speaker, so now I have to turn up the volume. Small price to pay for surround sound.

After having a receiver, the next time I upgrade it will be to separates.

I still liked the original receiver, so I will give it a four, but when you consider the value of the repair facility, I give it a two.

Many home theater options, binding posts, good video options, ability to drive two "main" speaker sets (when not in surrond mode), on-screen menus

Remote could be laid out better, front panel dials are annoying, surrond mode DSPs are not very useful, no pre-outs.

I've been using this JVC model for just about half a year now, and have no major complaints. This receiver is definitely geared towards home theater, rather then pure music listening. Combined with a good VCR or the such, there are enough inputs to hook up all the normal jazz (DVD, VCR, TV, CD) as well as several video game systems (I have a PS2, SNES and N64) all at the same time. An extra hookup in the front with an S-video is also nice, when someone brings over either a video camera or another game system.
Some features found on this receivers which very common in this price range are binding posts for ALL speakers (2 sets of fronts, center and rear), 4 S-video inputs (switched), and as I mentioned a complete hookup on the fron (L/R RCA, composite video and S-video). Also, 4 digital ins (3 optical and one coax) along with one digital out is quite impressive.
I was pretty impressed when looking at the back of this receiver. It is nowhere as nice as the Harmon Kardon AVR 7000, which has a very sleek look (on the front too), however, that receiver will also cost you about three to four times as much. The rows of inputs are laid out rather logically, and are quite accessible even when trying to reach around back to change a wire after your receiver is in place. Having the binding posts is definitely a good feature, however hooking up the speaker wire when it doesn't want to cooperate when reaching around back of your entertainment center can be quite a challenge with the close packed rows of terminals.
The on screen menus are a nice feature, although the system can use some refinements. JVC should take a look at some of Yamaha's for some ideas. A lot of people complain about the brightness of the display, which can be annoying. If the menus were better, the need for a bright front panel can almost be eliminated.
Im the kind of guy who likes options, and JVC does a pretty good job in supplying things for me to tinker with. The sound output is pretty customizable, however, the EQ should either be expanded, or reduced to the regular bass/treble control. Its kinda stuck in the middle, and even the smallest adjustment has a pretty big impact on the sound.
On to the feature this model doesn't have.
No pre-outs. Only one for the subwoofer. I like to have the option of easily hooking up other stuff to my channels, something like a couple of cheap subs to my rear channels for some rumbling under my seat. But with no pre-outs, its kinda hard to do this. The saving grace is the digital preout, but the money I would spend converting that signal to something I could use would be better spent elsewhere.
No dimmer. This has been pretty well covered.
No impedance selector for the rear channels. From what I've read (not experienced though) one of the major complaints of this receiver is that it runs too hot. This can usually be attributed to low impedance speakers on the wrong setting, or low efficiency speakers (<90db). I'm almost afraid to hook up a pair of low impedance, low efficiency speakers to the rear channels, then play a effects-heavy DVD. A little more security in this range would be helpful.
On the nit picking end, the remote range is somewhat limited (angle, not distance). Layout on the remote is a little awkward, buttons on front panel click a little to easily, and the dials just don’t seem necessary.
All in all, for a mid-entry receiver, the JVC-RX8000V has many features found on higher end models. The sound output has not been disappointing for me at all, even in a moderately large sized room. The ~100 watts in all channels stands up pretty well. Rear channels have plenty of power, and the manual seems to be pretty good if you don’t know what your doing.
This receiver should definitely be considered for any budget under $400 or so. Many audio connections (both digital and RCA) as well as 4 S-video ins make a good base for a home entertainment setup.

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This is an upgrade from an entry level Kenwood Pro Logic model

s-vedio inputs, DTS, lots of option for DSP, sea mode, ajustable level of sound effect, exellent FM/AM signal, compulink, good connectivity, excellent remote sensitivity, good price, good design, optical digital output

remote is too big, surround pro-logic,

I think this is good receiver for the price, I have compared this reciever with its same class, and the price range. Nothing can beat this price with all this goodies. I am also pretty impressed about the FM/AM turner, its has auto mute when a signal is not being cleared or identified, and it has quieting sensitivity. its also provide 100 watt per channel 5.1. Sound is really shape and clear.
The one thing i don't really like about this reciever is the surround sound Pro-logic system. When i have this funciton on, the background music is kind of over power the dialog. This happen also to the DSP Theather selection. I have to switch it back to DVD-multi to have better sound effect.
Overall this is an ecellent reciever. Nothing can beat this price with its quality and goodies.

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my first receiver

Features, Digital modes, inputs, power, and a bunch of customizable options.

I have no problems with this reciever.

This receiver is very powerful when tuned up correctly. I use this thing every day, and have not had any problems. The JVC RX-8000V is perfect for what I need. I needed this upgrade for both S-Video inputs, and Digital sound. My Sony Trinitron KV-27S42 has only one video input, so I needed the switching capabilities from this unit.

I have read several reviews from listeners who complained about this receiver being "weak". If you use the mini-equalizer on this unit, you will get a lot more sound. For those of you who may already have this unit, play around with the SEA Usermode while you have music on. If the music sounds decent, then movies and everything else should be also. I customized the SEA Usermode and I keep it on all the time. I don't switch at all between SEA modes. There really is no need.

As for the digital sound, it is amazing. The 8000V comes with DD and DTS out of the box. I have a pair of RE-25 Cerwin Vegas as my main fronts. The speakers hit VERY hard in both DD and DTS mode, and they also pound hard when playing music. I just bought Terminator 2: The Ultimate DVD yesterday and I was blown away literally with the sound from that movie. The DSP modes are great for live performances. Make sure the settings are correct. It was a snap hooking everything up to this monster too. Also, the quality of the Digital cable is very important. Monster Cable is a good choice. There is a lot of stuff to learn right out of the box, but once everything is set, this unit is unbelievable. Well worth 300 bucks too. Spending maybe even a little over 400 bucks is justifiable. I have spent almost 4 years putting this whole system together, and now it is finally complete with this receiver.

MY SYSTEM:

Components:
-JVC RX-8000V Dolby Digital A/V Receiver
-Sony Trinitron KV-27S42 27" Inch TV
-Sony PlayStation 2
-Sony CDP-C36OZ CD Player
-Sony TC-WE305 Stereo Cassette Deck
-Sony SLV-676HF HI-FI Stereo VCR
-Super Nintendo

SPEAKERS:

-Main Fronts:
A pair of Cerwin-Vega RE-25's
(Rated at 150 watts each.)

-Center:
JBL TLX Center 1
(Rated at 100 watts.)

-Rears:
A pair of Polk Audio Model S4's
(Rated at 100 watts each.)

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Kenwood VR-7080