this receiver delivers a great sound even at low volume the 5.1 system works flawlessly giving great separation and excellent sound

the weaknesses is that it only has dolby pro logc

i use nak av-1s receiver, good receiver by power & bass quality, i lost remote control

Receiver build quality, power supply

VERY, VERY BAD customer service. Beware. Cheap remote.

The av-1s has been a good budget receiver. I consider these models as the "economy line" of Nak receivers. I feel Nakamichi kinda "sold out" when they decided to manufacture these things in Malaysia. Before, all their units where made in Japan. It does have a hefty power supply, total weight is 33lbs. I am a DIY speaker designer and have auditioned many speakers with this receiver. Most of which I have built as well as some manufactured ones and have been mostly impressed with its overall performance. I mostly audition in stereo mode and it has plenty of clean power. Seems to have very low distortion. Not sure if this is the result of their trademark harmonic time alignment or the oversized power supply. Maybe both. The tuner section pulls in stations really well but only with a desecent antenna, not the one that comes with it. Like the signal strength meter too. Like the nice orange display and simple layout of the front controls. I don''t like alot of useless features including useless theatre modes. Remote is very simple with a great layout. Fairly easy to use in the dark. I own a vintage 1978 Pioneer SX-1050 (stereo receiver only) which is my receiver of choice for critical listening. The Nak pales in comparison in every aspect for two channel listening. The Nak does not seem to have much bass impact unless the loudness contour is activated which I thought was strange. But, compared to todays receivers it can sure hold its own. IMO I think in todays market you would have to spend >$700 to find an equal. I had my av-1s about one year and the two buttons on my remote control stopped working. The + and - subwoofer and rear surround gain control buttons. Decided to contact Nak for repair and never got a response or a callback. It takes them at least a month to respond to any question you have, even if you call them. Shipped it to them anyway. After seven months finally received status stating beyond repair and a new one will cost $100. If I did not accept, there would be a estimate fee and return shipping of $40. Unacceptable. I will never buy another Nak product. Worst customer service I have ever encountered in any market. Beware!! My ratings are greatly influenced by this.

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Many

I got mine about 5 months back. Unfortunately it was not a good match for my speakers (Cerwin vega re-38 which requires 4 ohms) and the sound quality was not that great..but with regular speakers hooked up it sounds good. Since then I have gotten a dedicated amp for the speakers which solved that problem..

Good finish/quality.

ample power, easy to use, very good sound, good remote

one only-spring clip connectors for both the centre channel and rear surrounds

one of the best sounding receivers on the market. near audiophile quality sound for both home theatre and music listening. no useless and complicated bells and whistles to distract you from enjoying the sound. very sturdy construction. works well with my older energy pro speakers. only problem is you need an outboard processor for dolby digital or dts. i should have waited for the av-10s. but very happy with purchase. only downside, spring clip connectors for centre and surround speakers. best $1,000 cdn i ever spent

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yamaha,

This unit retails for $850 but I got it way below that price from online auction. Although this unit is only DD-ready, it is well worth the price. The Dolby Pro Logic processing is outstanding along with 3 other DSP modes which sound very good, not exaggerating. Hooked this receiver up to a DVD with built-in AC3 decoder I got an outstanding Dolby Digital performance. The sound is very clean and detailed.

CLEAN 5 Channels of Power + NO Unnecessary Bells & Whistles

Small clips for speakers, poor isolation in pre-Amp section

I've used the AV-1S for over 2 years. 5 channels of abundant clean power with great bass response. Lack of Dolby Digital Processor a plus - it won't be obsolete tomorrow, but it does complicate the back panel and the hook-up. Driving 4 Ohm speakers (C2s and Ls), NHT Center Channel and an Energy sub-woofer. Uncomplicated design, very easy to use. Perfect home theater amp. Some signal leakage in the pre-amp stage, integral cooling fan a plus when you're driving it hard. Simpler than most other "high end" receiver - home theater combinations

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Sony 9000ES Series

I AM TRYING TO BUY NAKAMICHI AV-1S(OR,PERHAPS NAKAMICHI AV-500) BUT BOTH OF THESE MODELS ARE GONE RECENTLY. CAN ANYBODY HELP TO FIND,PLEASE?MY E-MAIL ADDRESS: OL_SO@HOTMAIL.COM THANKS!!!

This is a great sounding receiver that works equally fine in an audio only setup or a home theatre for which it was designed. Very musical and detailed. Five separate discrete amps provide plenty of clean power to drive almost any speaker on the market. The tuner is certainly not the best but is adequate in FM mode. The learning remote is easy to use and can be programmed to operate your other components. Overall, I'm very pleased with this wonderful sounding receiver from Nakamichi. Great value!!

Strong pro-logic surround effects. Great AC-3 (dolby digital) reproduction through DVD. Minimal useless gadgets, bells and whistles with good remote

Speaker connectors somewhat small to receive high end monster cable. Poor service support.

Absolutely nothing negative to say about the sound production of the receiver. Love it!

However, pray that something does not go wrong and you need a repair. Three months after purchase, the volume control knob broke. I have tried to get a replacement in 4 high end stereo stores over the past 18 months without success. Apparently, a volume control know of all things is a special order from Japan!

Nakamichi makes great components. Just hope that you never need a part to repair it.

2 stars overall rating because of the frustration in getting my hands on a trivial, little part.