great sound excellent surround

burn out fan, actual 290watts total not 500 watts. need replaced thermal sensor.

At first it sounded fine until I deassembled the product and found that the fan was no longer working. I reconected it to an adaptor plug and plug it into the unit. Now I managed to keep it cool and the sound is great. The reason people complain about the was solved as well as replacing the thermal sensor. I like the product after purchasing and will hang on to it for awhile. hint: buy only a powered amp in order to get a great sound of bass stay away from unpowered straight to the channel amps

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none

This was the first digital ready receiver that I had seen at the price that I paid. ( $C388 at A&B Sound ) It included the SH - AC500D decoder. Although it lacks the bass output that my JVC RX-707VTN had in Surround mode it really kicks when playing DVD's. No hiss problem. My son tells me that I have finally achieved sound equity with the movie theatres. :-)I give it 5 stars because of all the sound enjoyment it has given me.

Good price, mode memory for each source, good power.

Remote is kind of weak.

The people with the hiss problems should try using better interconnect cables. I use Stinger Car Audio cables and have no hiss problems. This receiver flat out rocks! I am disappointed with all A/V receivers any more. All these manufacturers assume people will be using subwoofer(s), so the amps lack punch - all of them. I have Technics SB-A28 main speakers which really rock but lack deep bass punch. I have heard this amp in the stores on Cerwin-Vegas, JBLs, etc. with the same poor low end punch. Glad I have a Cerwin-Vega sub! I could have bought any receiver but I got tired of hearing "yeah but it's Harmon-Kardon power" from air-head salespeople trying to sell you the most expensive receivers that function EXACTLY the same and didn't sound much better for almost triple the price.

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JVC, Genexxa

Cheap price, Stereo mode

Hiss, underpowered amp

Stereo mode works fine. Everything else about this receiver is pathetic. Underpowered amp had one of my surround speakers working only half the time. I had to have the sound blaring to get both surrounds to work. I noticed the hiss right away and thought all cheap receivers probably did this in surround or dolby digital modes. I soon learned I was wrong. If you're looking for a dirt cheap receiver, save a few more bucks and buy something else. As soon as you hear that annoying hiss, you'll be sorry you wasted your money on this piece of junk.

By the way, an earlier reviewer thought the phono input was a waste and didn't know anybody who listened to vinyl at his age (23). I'm 24 and I love vinyl. Believe it or not, I know others who do as well!!!

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Kenwood VR-309, Nikko NR-1050

Remote control is awful, does only properly in a straigth angle and at distances <6ft.
Hissing in surround mode.
Tuner presets only accessible through the remote.
No loudness button.

The sound of this amplifier is excellent as long as you don't use it in surround mode and as long as you don't need the remote control.

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Aiwa

I would have to say that for the money this is a dynamite package. It offers power, gizmos, gadgets and more for very little. But nonetheless it does not provide the best in sound.
Let me start by saying that I very much like its ergonomics-remote aside. The dials for switching input and processing method, simplistic. Virtually anyone can operate it.

For the next issue, I will concede that this piece offers a lot for the price but great sound is not part of the package. With all of the gadgets and gizmos
you get with this (ie. ACSD/DTS decoder, decent tuner, phono input...) you would be hardpressed to find a better entry-level reciever. Just don't expect anything more than a very bright, harsh, musical note and mediocr movie performance. I reccomend it wholeheartedly for those wanting tp break into hometheatre without 3 grand to start.

A word of advice, do not get awesome speakers with this receiver, audiophile or even just better than average speakers will harbor a very harsh not.
I personnaly though the Energy Take 5 package with the sub did not pair well with the SX720/Ac500d (decode).

package cost/performance-4.5 speakers
true performance-2 speakers

I went to Best Buy with the intention of buying the Sony HT-800 complete home theater system. But, after listening to it, I immediately decided to purchase the receiver and speakers seperately. After comparing several home theater setups, I ended up taking home the SA-AX720 receiver and the Bose Acoustimass-6 speakers. When watching movies with state-of-the-art soundtracks like Armageddon, the power of the SA-AX720 and the Bose speakers produce crystal-clear sound that is amazing and realistic. I give the SA-AX720 5 stars for high quality and for allowing me to make the jump into home theater for a very reasonable price. The 100 watts x 5 channels of power provides the motivation to produce that trademark Bose sound that is perfect for home theater.

Cheap

Cheap

It's GONE!! I finally replaced this unit with a Yamaha RX-V1000. It is so gone from my life! Now the irony... I'm going to use it to power my rear center speaker.

I think I said in my past review.... It's just OK in stereo mode. So, I'll pre-out one mono channel into a stereo channel. (It'll do OK.)

Oh... did I also mention in my past review NONE of my speaker binding clips work? (Oh you should see the rigging that goes on!!)

No more 70db hiss in my surrounds. No more non-functional remote. (I swear the thing NEVER worked right!) Now I can see the volume knob in the dark!

In order to help bring down the "Average Stars"

I'm giving this unit 1 star.

Low price, all the features I want (DD, DTS) sounds great.

Slight hiss, cheap speaker connections.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, or maybe I just don't have an ear for audiophile quality. I've owned this receiver for about a year and a half and have never had to set foot in the repair department. I've also never had any problems with the quality of sound, other than the slight hiss from the center speaker which has been mentioned before. Yes, it gets hot but show me an amp that doesn't. It's never cut out from the heat so it's okay in my book. I would prefer some binding posts for speaker outputs but you get what you pay for.

I also want to say that my front mains are Cerwin Vega Re-38s which are power hogs to say the least. I've played many DVDs at ear shattering volume and it drives them well. If this is underpowered I don't think my ears could take a high current amp.

5 star value
4 star for quality

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Digital decoder, 5-disk DVD changer

Cheap - but you get exactly what you pay for - nothing

Everything from poor performance to incompetent customer service.

This receiver is junk. Its been in the repair shop since last August - Best Buys twice, independent service, and now I just returned it to factory service. The receiver cuts of for overload and/or high temp. Receiver is on top of cabinet with plenty of air flow - using Polk Audio speakers.
No one can fix it - nothing but run around from factory customer service. Oh by the way, I hooked up my 23 year old Pioneer 650 with no problems, and I purchased a Yamaha 995 for Christmas - now thats a great receiver.
Anyone want to buy this Technics? Oh, it might be OK for a small child using 6 x 9 car speakers - but forget pushing anything above that. And Best Buy extended warrenty is a joke - there techs don't know the first thing about stereo repair. I'm happy with my Yamaha - sorry I wasted $279 for the Technics.

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Pioneer, Yamaha