Works well with my other Panasonic products (TV/VCR/CD). Has large speaker cable inputs.

Remote doesn''t appear to be programmable which is annoying as my DVD player is a Hiteker (Apex).

I obtained this product from a mate who worked for Panasonic in NZ and got it for $199 less that RRP so kudos for a start from there. It replaced my two channel Cambridge A100 which I''d bought back from the UK. Sound quality is good although the A100 seemed to have a more authoritive sound output. It works well with my mixture of Eltax fronts and Technics centre / rears.

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Panasonic SA-HE9

good for the price

Value for $, ease of use, meets my needs

Crunch time, the 30 yr old receiver's tuner had been giving us problems, it also had no remote. Two trips to get it repaired over the last 10 years meant good money thrown after a bad receiver.

The Nov.2001 issue of Consumer reports rated receivers and the Technics SA-DX1050 and SA-DX950 rated a "best buy"

A little comparison shopping at YourInsider.com lowered the advertised price by 30%. to approx. US $140.00

It hooked up fairly easily, connected to a digital TV box, TV, VCR, and CD player. The CD player could be replaced by a DVD player one day. I have cable connected to the antena so I can receive the cable stations as well.

The remote is small and with small buttons, I find it hard to read but have memorised the buttons needed in a week.

The sound via my old speakers is very good for my 20' x 15'
living dining area with vaulted ceiling. A surround sound capability will hopefully be utilised down the road with a Bose 6 speaker system as per recomendation in CR. 5 X 100 watts per channel will give enough sound for us.

Low price, solid performance in dolby surround mode.

Poor remote, no Base/Treble control in simulated surround mode, minimal jack panel.

It's pretty hard to beat this CR "top rated" receiver for the price (1/3 the price of the competing Onkyo DS696)but be prepared to give up some features and flexibility. The DVD/SatelliteTV surround performance is excellent.

I am less impressed when listening to classical music CDs. The only base/treble control available is in "pure stereo" mode (no surround)...when one switches to any of the synthetic surround modes the receiver seems to default to a "flat" uncontrollable frequency response which is not (in my view) well-suited to the complex character of orchestral music. One can adjust the various speaker volumes and delays, but how could Technics/Panasonic omit Base/Treble control in the mode most widely-used by most music listeners? Pop,Jazz, Salsa, etc. seem sound a lot better. Rock and HipHop are too synthetic for me to comment on and I don't listen to that stuff anyway.

If you use this receiver mainly for DVDs, VHS and TV I don't think you can beat the performance for the price.
The set of available jacks is minimal. I'm happy, but something tells me I might have been a lot happier with the Onkyo, despite its much higher price.

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Sony; Onkyo

Great buy for money, phono input, decent sound

Remote a bit cluttered, 1050 has better input display, small volume drop when using analog inputs (see summary)

I purchased this receiver a few months ago to replace an aging (1987) two channel Pioneer receiver. I was in the market for a low priced receiver with reasonable power, DTS, Dolby Digital, digital inputs, and inputs for a turntable. I bought this because it was $20 less at place of purchase than anywhere else. Plus, Technics was advertising a $50 rebate.

I find the sound to be reasonable, and capable of adequately driving my pair of used Vandersteen 2c speakers which I just purchased. Bass response is decent (the Pod Racers in Phantom Menace rumble the floor), but I believe a higher quality amp would probably give even a bit more punch in the low end.

The only problem I have is that when using the analog inputs, such as the CD or Tape jacks, there is a fairly small drop in volume that happens after a seemingly random (though usually within a minute or so) period of time. It appears to happen at any volume, with any audio cable, while listening to speakers or headphones (thus, I'm convinced it's a receiver issue). It will only happen once, unless you switch to another source then back again (in which case the volume will increase a tad, then go back down again). This problem does not happen if I use the digital jacks (such as the coax in for DVDs).

I have found one other person who also experienced this problem.

I avoid the issue because I listen to mostly DVDs and CDs, both via the digital inputs.

If you can live with that small "feature", and are in the market for a decently priced "all-in-one" solution, this product should be on the list of possibilities.

Sound,Controls,Design

Remote size, no fm co-oxial jacks for tuner

Overall for the price this product is awesome! For anyone looking to build a modest home theater system this is a very good quality unit for the price. I am pleased with it.
I would not have purchased it if I had not checked the reviews on it first. Thanks Audio Review.

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Yamaha

Sound Quality

not much I would like more power but this product does sound very good for it's price.

People who want to save money you can't go wrong with this affordable 950. I really like hearing the 5.1 DD and DTS when watching movies, it really does a find job with quality speakers. Also when listening to music the DSP processor can create some awesome sounds with your music, I'll have this a long time..a very good system really.

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940

powerful stereo mode, clean crisp sound quality,DD/DTS very good , control very good , good price and looks nice andelegant

?...none

i bought this receiver because i had a technics stereo receiver before and it sounded great. this is the first DD/DTS reciver i have bought and i have to say this is a great receiver for its value. when i first heard Sta Wars Phantim Menace i was amayzed how good and clean the sound was. when listenign to music in stereo mode it rocked, very powerful stereo mode. i think anybody looking for a good, affordable home theater receiver should get this one because it's great.

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technics sa-dx 1050

1 coax/2 optical digital audio inputs. MOS-FET output stage. Switched AC outlet. No cooling fan (silent!).

Lack of composite/S-Video support. Wacky remote. No cooling fan (gets warm!).

Note: the DX950 has a $50 mail-in rebate good through February and part of March. I believe other Technics receivers have similar rebate offers as well.

I *really* wanted the DX1050, but apparently the only ones available in the Western Hemisphere happen to be the display models that have been mucked with by everyone and their cousin. So, I "settled" for the DX950 instead. It lacks the cute blue MOS-FET light (eh), S-Video support (useful), and front A/V inputs (also useful), as well as other assorted goodies like separate LEDs indicating which source is in use (as if looking two inches to the left at the display is too much effort?), but the core mechanism seems largely the same. Oh, and the DX950 also omits a cooling fan, which is both a blessing and a curse (no fan noise, but the unit can get hot).

The DX950 comes highly rated by both audioreview.com and other sources. I bought one after a complete inability to find a DX1050 in a box in my area of Los Angeles. It has not disappointed (perhaps because I don't know what I am missing?). It seems to produce excellent sound (though a subwoofer is an absolute must!) from a variety of sources, from digital cable to DVDs to FM radio. There are three audio modes (standard stereo, sound field control, and surround), and several different sound field types such as Hall, Club, and Simulated Surround. Simulated Surround is the only really worthwhile one I have found, but it does not allow adjustments to bass and treble settings. You can force any source to use the Surround audio mode; however, I have found that forcing a non-surround source into Surround mode causes really strange audio effects, such as the bass disappearing whenever treble sounds (speaking, background music) occur. The Simulated Surround in SFC mode seems to work almost as well as true Surround mode but without the annoying audio effects.

The remote is a bit wacky. Some features that probably should be grouped together are not, and others behave in a less-than-straightforward manner. Case in point: there are two power buttons. One is to turn off "all audio equipment," assuming (I think) that you have multiple audio devices connected to the receiver (DVD, CD, etc.). The other (bigger) power button is to turn on and off individual components, such as the TV, VCR, DVD, and the receiver itself. The wackiness arises because you can only turn the receiver back on if you first press the receiver button, and then the power button. It seems that one should be able to push the "all audio equipment" button again to turn everything back on, but that button only turns equipment *off*. Ah, well.

Anyway, the lack of any kind of light (powered or glow) on the remote didn't seem so bad until I turned out the lights. 8^) That, and the buttons are all fairly small and similarly sized/spaced, making it difficult to "feel" around the remote. I tried programming the hurking cable universal remote to control the receiver, but the only thing it seems to be able to control is the unit's power.

Back to the receiver itself: the DX950 has connectors for A/B front speakers as well as a center channel, surrounds, and a sub-woofer pre-out. The A speakers can accept banana clips, but the others are all spring clips. The sub-out uses typical RCA. It provides jacks for six-channel sound input from a DVD, though I'm not sure if these would provide better or worse sound than the optical digital jack next to them. Apparently, however, the Dolby Digital and DTS circuits only work with the digital audio inputs.

In the store, I honestly couldn't tell the difference in sound quality between the DX1050 and the DX950, though I'm sure there is a difference somewhere. For 50 bucks less (and with a $50 rebate), the DX950 is an excellent choice, especially for someone that isn't certain as to what they want or need.

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Incredibly ancient analog receiver manufactured in the 1970s, brand unknown.

I already gave a review, this is a little more information on the receiver. Consumer Reports tests show that this receiver will reach 126 watts @ 8 ohms, 144 watts @ 6 ohms and 42 watts @ 4 ohms before clipping occurs. While the DX950 may not be able to run continiously at these levels, they give some indication of why this receiver sounds so good over such a wide range of power levels.
After using this amplifier for a little longer, I am upping my rating to 5 stars.