I feel that the kenwood krx-1000 is amongst the weakest of the thx certified pieces. Major complaints: Insufficient power to drive tower speakers, over
compensated sub woofer output, very thin sounding. Dont buy this piece
unless you find it at a garage sale for under $200. Otherwise save your
money up and invest in a preamp and a five chanel amplifier, the results
of the that kind of purchase wont leave you with a throw away piece.

Bought this receiver a few months ago for a great price of $450 CDN or roughly$300 US, brand new. I think I got the best receiver I could've for that price.
It's loaded with features, like 5 s-video inputs and 2 s-video outputs for
example, TV monitor information display, THX decoding for Pro logic, etc. It
sounds amazing when I watch a movie on laser discs, and just as good in stereo
mode for music. Extremely happy with this product except I need to add an AC-3
decoder to it when I buy a DVD player. I recommend this receiver to anyone
looking.

Could not more strongly disagree with every point made in the only other review of this product. Good power, especially to the front channels, and I run inefficient speakers. The most quiet receiver I have ever heard. Some of the remote functionality is quircky, but otherwise a solid product. Stereophile highly recommended it, and gave it a bargain rating, at $1200. Now, that was a few years ago, but you can get one of these babies for $500 these days, which is quite a deal if you can forego DD for the time being.

Put simply, the most powerful, accurate, and affordable receiver in the THX line.

This is a total waste of money considering the poor sound quality and unfriendly remote that comes with it. Diffused treble, colored mid range and loose bass characterize this THX receiver. I wonder where all the 38 lbs went; I guess they loaded this unit with too much power and ins and outs that they forgot the very essence of a system---to produce good music! Try comparing this with any Denon or Yamaha and you'll know what I'm talking about. To make things worse this can cost you an arm, sells for $ 1200.00!!! Good thing I got mine for a third of its retail price. Might just capitalize on the power and complete upgrade features.

I bought a KR-X1000 two years ago as part of a complete Kenwood THX system for my home cinema. The other components were two passive subs with a separate power amp as well as the normal five main speakers. I chose it after comparative auditions with other systems including Jamo and Boston speaker systems powered by Yamaha 3090 amps. I was, and continue to be, impressed by the overall clarity of the sound. It is rather powerfull for the size of my room (12x14ft), I have rarely had the volume up half way. I have had to experiment to get a reasonable compromise placement for the subs and they are still a little boomy. When choosing the system my main test was to listen to action films with dialogue e.g. the train/helicopter sequence from Mission Impossible. I found that speech was more clearly discernible with the Kenwood despite the sound effects going on at the same time. I still find the overall system a joy for action films and the sockets at the back meet all the needs I foresee with 4 AV connections and pre-out/power-in phonos to stitch in a digital decoder in the near future. On the downside the tuner section is disappointing, I find the FM aeriel connection insecure, it should be a screw down job instead of a socket, this is particularly annoying with the heavy, stiff cable I use. The sensitivity of the tuner is very poor and will only pull in strong signals with no opportunity to tune manually and no indication of signal strength. Another weaknesses is the DSP modes for which I have yet to find any practical use, they certainly do not enhance stereo material. Finally, the stereo performance on anything other than heavy rock falls short of most decent stereo systems. I don't think the speakers have the finesse required, however I have not tried driving other speakers with the reciever. In summary, I think the KR-X1000 does a pretty good job as a home cinema amp, when mated to its matching speakers, but thats about all.

It's sure interesting to read some of the other comments on this receiver. I myself have a fairly complex home theatre with about 30+K worth of top of the line hardware. eg. 61 inch sony KV61S45, Sony DVP-S7000 reference DVD player etc.
I bought the KRX-1000 after auditioning some other units including Denon and Pioneer and Yamaha. I went for the Kenwood becuase it really impressed the heck out of me. It has the power to jump start any movie and the audio acuracy to deliver top notch sound from any quality CD recording.

I can't say enough about how well this unit performs under load. People who have heard my system are completely blown away by how well it can represent a movie. I have mine hooked up to a Sony EP9ES AC-3 decoder which was very easy to hook up as the Kenwood has looped audio in's and out's for all channels.

I also bought the matching KRM-1000 THX certified stereo amp to run two 12 inch THX certified subs. Get one of these to match the receiver if you can.. you won't be disapointed.

The bottom line is if you looking for great THX sound and the capability to add an external AC-3 or DTS decoder in the future this unit won't disapoint you. Make sure you get subs though because movies do have lots of bass and the best way to produce it is with subs...

As a final note:

When buying a receiver, remember that THX is the best way to listen to all the Dolby Surround Encoded movies out there recorded in the past 25 years and unless you have satelite with AC-3 the best way to listen to stereo and dolby T.V. shows as well.

As always, Good listening...

Paul D.

-Numerous input/output options
-Good, consistent power
-Build quailty
-External amp/processor options
-Solid HT adjustment options

-Interface
-Remote
-Lacking current home theater codecs
-Somewhat biased towards sub

I think that many of the other reviews seem to be consistent with my perception of Kenwood's overall quality control. Nine out of ten units seem to perform very well and then you have a lemon. With all the factors that can go into a home theater setup, there are some especially notable ones when it comes to this receiver. It preforms infinitely better with good cables and efficient speakers in a room with adequate space and layout. I have personally found that you are better off with a conservative sized towers and a sub for bass versus towers with built in sub and/or oversized woofers. The THX certification makes this receiver. Power is more than adequate for an all in one unit, especially in the rear speakers. 5-channel stereo was not quite mainstream when this unit came out, nonetheless the option for pure two channel stereo is nice. Of the five different modes (THX Dolby, Dolby, 3 channel, stereo, mono) I never user anything but THX and stereo (movie sor CD's). My speakers are capable of quality bass down to 40hz but the surround sound mode on this receiver seems to prefer a sub, of which there is a mono RCA output on the back for one. I have heard several other brands in the same range as this and I am not regreting my purchase, especially since you will probably only find one these at a highly discounted and discontinued price. As far as THX goes, this is not a top of the line model, but paying anything more for THX means you whacked priorities anyway. I can say that I am amused by those who dig on this receiver and then write about how they hook up Sony components to it. If you push the levels that can easily be pulled off on this receiver with that of a Sony you will trigger a Sony's protective shutdown circuits. Yet another reason why the dual-speed fan on the back of the Kenwood is nice (I have only gotten it to come on at unreasonable levels). The tuner is lacking without a quality antenna, but hey, it's radio anyway... Overall, if you can deal with the interface and a remote that is somewhat successful at being universal, this is definitely a worthy purchase that is more than capable of being upgraded (a highly under-rated feature)

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Sony

Inputs/Outputs/Dolby Pro Logic Decoding

Remotes

Have used this powerful receiver for two years with minimal problems. SVHS switching and the four (4) video inputs on the back (all with SVHS inputs, two with inputs and outputs) was the winning argument for purchasing this receiver -- I currently use all four (vcr, dvd, satelite, and laserdisc). At the time and even today finding enough SVHS inputs on a replacent receiver is troublsome. I have added a Denon Dolby Digital Decoder utilizing the 6 main outs and 5 main ins. This added a great deal of flexibility (1 AC3 RF (laserdisc), 2 co-ax, and 2 optical digital inputs). I picked this up for $500 from One-Call.

Similar Products Used:

JVC/Pioneer

Many,many S-video inputs, universal remote, price/weight ratio, decent spouse approval rating

Tuner near useless, connecting dolby digital processor requires 11 cables ($$)

Picked this up at Tweeter for $350. This unit served me well for 2 1/2 years, until the surround sound processor went on the fritz. At Kenwood now getting fixed; have used this as an excuse to upgrade to seperate components. Wife sorry to see it go, she loved the remote control,which controlled the TV, cable, receiver, VCR, LD player, and was backlit to boot. Unit gets very warm when cranking up the home theatre, but only heard the fan come on once in 2+ years. Subwoofer crossover set at 80hz worked for me, but may not be ideal for all. Would have gone 5 stars if I didn't get a used Lexicon DC-1 and know what THX was truly capable of. If you find one used (I'm keeping mine for the kids playroom/Disney homage room), will keep you happy.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Denon, HK