JVC RX-D302 7.1 Channels Receiver
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- Surround Sound: Dolby Digital® DTS® DTS ES® Dolby Pro Logic II DTS Neo:6 Dolby Pro Logic DTS 96/24
- THX Certification: No
- Number of Channels: 7.1 Channels
- Type: Receiver
- Surround Mode Power: 110 Watt @ 6 ohm, 1 kHz, THD: 0.8%
- Stereo Mode Power: 110 Watt @ 6 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.8%
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Woulda' Been Cool..
Pros
Loads of tweakable features. Clean sound.
Cons
Lame wireless. Lame USB. Misleading power claims. No HDMI.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I got a great deal on this, closeout $164. Better stuff exists for $200 . Wireless = useless.
What You Get
The box includes: The main unit, somewhat universal remote control with sliding cover over "advanced" feature buttons, AM loop antenna, FM wire antenna, 2 AA batteries, instruction manual, USB a-a extension, USB wireless dongle doohickey, and wifi antenna.
The Hardware
Up front there's a USB B input, odd fingertip rotary-encoder style volume knob, identical rotary multi-use selector, and a couple buttons on either side of the display. Control layout is adequate and easy to use, considering how many billion functions this device has.
In back there are binding posts for L,C,R channel speakers, spring clips for the side and rear surround channels. A slew of various inputs including 2 optical and one digital, which according to the manual can be assigned to any of the video ins. Video in is by composite, component, or S-video. No HDMI. Video out is same, and some rudimentary conversion is possible.. as in, you can do composite in from your old VCR and S-video out to your monitor, etc.
There's also a wifi antenna and a little switch.
The case is a decent looking, slim form factor receiver and has cooling holes on the left and right side. These need to be kept clear with space on either side as the unit gets hot in operation and utilizes an undersized fan to "kinda" move air in one side and out the other. There are no holes in the top or bottom or rear of the case.
The Good
Well, it has exactly 1.3 Bajillion configurable features. I suppose that's the result of software DSP's and such.. a company can give you all sorts of crossovers, filters, re-assignments (want optical input #2 to pair up with your DVR input instead of your DVD? you got it buddy, just click the thingie).
Additionally, it sounds quite nice pushing my DCM TF400 loudspeakers. I currently am using one pair of DCM TF400 6-ohm transmission line floorstanding loudspeakers and one small Kenwood center channel loudspeaker, no surrounds, no subwoofer - and the sound is very natural. Sound stage when watching movies in Dolby Digital is very believable and extends far to the left and right of the physical speakers. Linearity of output seems very flat both in movies and 2-channel music. I haven't played around with the equalization or sound field DSP features so I can't comment on them other than "at a glance" none of them sounded terrible when I engaged them momentarily. It has an all-around bass boost which is actually one of the nicest bass boosts I've heard.. very natural and gentle, not overblown or thumpy. I'd guess it's a wide Q 3dB boost centered in the vicinity of 50hz, if I had to venture a wild guess.
The amplifier definitely "runs out of poop" long before reaching the top of its 50-increment volume range, on standard popular music CD's. Clipping is gentle, but VERY present above 2/3's volume.
It is possible to wirelessly send audio from your computer in another room to this receiver.
The Bad
It's a model on its way to obsolescence, because it doesn't do HDMI.
The power ratings are misleading. It is rated at 110 watts per channel, RMS into 6 ohms with .08% distortion... which is probably accurate - HOWEVER, the power supply UL stamp says "150 watts consumption" so even though each channel can do 110 watts, you can't get 770 watts from all 7 channels full-boogie at the same time. If you played the same exact audio to all 7 channels at the same time, the most you could hope for is about 20 watts per channel RMS since 150/7=21 and even class D amps are still not 100% efficient.
The wireless audio streaming is stupid. Basically the dongle that plugs into your computer is a "usb sound card" that your audio source has to play into (winamp, etc) and then it sends the audio to the receiver as a one way transaction. You can't control anything about the audio from your remote, except volume and what surround mode it's in... no "next track", no title information, nothing useful. If you want to hear another song or see what's playing.. you have to walk to where the computer is. Kinda half-arsed if you ask me. The device SHOULD have used regular 802.11 wifi to browse network resources for music (and divx videos, why not?) and then play them back with track info and next/shuffle/etc abilities. THEN it would be cool, not totally lame as it currently is.
The USB input on the front of the unit works the same way, as a USB sound card. But you can't pair that up with a video input on the back. So if you want to use a HTPC with this receiver, to watch "legally" downloaded movies etc, you can't even use the USB input really because you can't route video through the unit while using USB. Stupid. Basically they neutered the USB functionality both wired and wireless, so it might as well have never been included. Also worth noting, the USB (both wired and wireless) is strictly 2 channel from the source, no AC3 or multichannel passthrough. You can still use the Pro Logic and NEO and other sound field modes, but if you are playing a Dolby Digital or DTS encoded movie on your computer, it will send the 2 channel mix to the receiver over USB.
In case anyone was wondering.. there's no way to play a USB thumb drive on this device, it's not a "Host" like some other devices offer.
The Ugly
I've read a number of online reviews of this unit that say it released its magic smoke VERY early. As in, burned up before the usual 30 day return policy was expired.. The unit I personally own has not failed, but I take this warning from others into consideration and so should you.
The unit does get fairly warm in operation and lacks any cooling holes or fins in its chassis.. which seems kinda stupid to me. I know class D is efficient, but it still does generate heat.
The wireless audio receiving portion of this device interferes with my home 802.11G network, no matter what channels I switch each to. And audio is disrupted by use of my microwave oven. Basically, the wireless audio receiving feature of this unit is useless to me for this reason and because it is poorly executed in the first place.
The Final Word
I'm harshly critical of this unit's features because I wanted to like this receiver. Including both USB and a wireless audio feature are very progressive. Including a billion tweakable settings "just because they can" is loads of fun for a tweak monkey... and it's got an "easy set up" that really is easy. Class D amplification has the ability, if done right, to offer superior sound vs. conventional class A-B amplifiers. But JVC screwed up by badly engineering the USB to be basically useless and pointless. They screwed up the brilliant class D amplifier by giving it far less power supply muscle than it needs. They screwed up the whole product by (apparently) making it unreliable (note this is only based on OTHER REVIEWS, my own RX-D302B has been reliable so far but I find it valid to consider other experiences).
After saying all that - if you don't need HDMI, and you don't need the wireless USB features - this reciever does a lot & sounds excellent for a very reasonable price.
The box includes: The main unit, somewhat universal remote control with sliding cover over "advanced" feature buttons, AM loop antenna, FM wire antenna, 2 AA batteries, instruction manual, USB a-a extension, USB wireless dongle doohickey, and wifi antenna.
The Hardware
Up front there's a USB B input, odd fingertip rotary-encoder style volume knob, identical rotary multi-use selector, and a couple buttons on either side of the display. Control layout is adequate and easy to use, considering how many billion functions this device has.
In back there are binding posts for L,C,R channel speakers, spring clips for the side and rear surround channels. A slew of various inputs including 2 optical and one digital, which according to the manual can be assigned to any of the video ins. Video in is by composite, component, or S-video. No HDMI. Video out is same, and some rudimentary conversion is possible.. as in, you can do composite in from your old VCR and S-video out to your monitor, etc.
There's also a wifi antenna and a little switch.
The case is a decent looking, slim form factor receiver and has cooling holes on the left and right side. These need to be kept clear with space on either side as the unit gets hot in operation and utilizes an undersized fan to "kinda" move air in one side and out the other. There are no holes in the top or bottom or rear of the case.
The Good
Well, it has exactly 1.3 Bajillion configurable features. I suppose that's the result of software DSP's and such.. a company can give you all sorts of crossovers, filters, re-assignments (want optical input #2 to pair up with your DVR input instead of your DVD? you got it buddy, just click the thingie).
Additionally, it sounds quite nice pushing my DCM TF400 loudspeakers. I currently am using one pair of DCM TF400 6-ohm transmission line floorstanding loudspeakers and one small Kenwood center channel loudspeaker, no surrounds, no subwoofer - and the sound is very natural. Sound stage when watching movies in Dolby Digital is very believable and extends far to the left and right of the physical speakers. Linearity of output seems very flat both in movies and 2-channel music. I haven't played around with the equalization or sound field DSP features so I can't comment on them other than "at a glance" none of them sounded terrible when I engaged them momentarily. It has an all-around bass boost which is actually one of the nicest bass boosts I've heard.. very natural and gentle, not overblown or thumpy. I'd guess it's a wide Q 3dB boost centered in the vicinity of 50hz, if I had to venture a wild guess.
The amplifier definitely "runs out of poop" long before reaching the top of its 50-increment volume range, on standard popular music CD's. Clipping is gentle, but VERY present above 2/3's volume.
It is possible to wirelessly send audio from your computer in another room to this receiver.
The Bad
It's a model on its way to obsolescence, because it doesn't do HDMI.
The power ratings are misleading. It is rated at 110 watts per channel, RMS into 6 ohms with .08% distortion... which is probably accurate - HOWEVER, the power supply UL stamp says "150 watts consumption" so even though each channel can do 110 watts, you can't get 770 watts from all 7 channels full-boogie at the same time. If you played the same exact audio to all 7 channels at the same time, the most you could hope for is about 20 watts per channel RMS since 150/7=21 and even class D amps are still not 100% efficient.
The wireless audio streaming is stupid. Basically the dongle that plugs into your computer is a "usb sound card" that your audio source has to play into (winamp, etc) and then it sends the audio to the receiver as a one way transaction. You can't control anything about the audio from your remote, except volume and what surround mode it's in... no "next track", no title information, nothing useful. If you want to hear another song or see what's playing.. you have to walk to where the computer is. Kinda half-arsed if you ask me. The device SHOULD have used regular 802.11 wifi to browse network resources for music (and divx videos, why not?) and then play them back with track info and next/shuffle/etc abilities. THEN it would be cool, not totally lame as it currently is.
The USB input on the front of the unit works the same way, as a USB sound card. But you can't pair that up with a video input on the back. So if you want to use a HTPC with this receiver, to watch "legally" downloaded movies etc, you can't even use the USB input really because you can't route video through the unit while using USB. Stupid. Basically they neutered the USB functionality both wired and wireless, so it might as well have never been included. Also worth noting, the USB (both wired and wireless) is strictly 2 channel from the source, no AC3 or multichannel passthrough. You can still use the Pro Logic and NEO and other sound field modes, but if you are playing a Dolby Digital or DTS encoded movie on your computer, it will send the 2 channel mix to the receiver over USB.
In case anyone was wondering.. there's no way to play a USB thumb drive on this device, it's not a "Host" like some other devices offer.
The Ugly
I've read a number of online reviews of this unit that say it released its magic smoke VERY early. As in, burned up before the usual 30 day return policy was expired.. The unit I personally own has not failed, but I take this warning from others into consideration and so should you.
The unit does get fairly warm in operation and lacks any cooling holes or fins in its chassis.. which seems kinda stupid to me. I know class D is efficient, but it still does generate heat.
The wireless audio receiving portion of this device interferes with my home 802.11G network, no matter what channels I switch each to. And audio is disrupted by use of my microwave oven. Basically, the wireless audio receiving feature of this unit is useless to me for this reason and because it is poorly executed in the first place.
The Final Word
I'm harshly critical of this unit's features because I wanted to like this receiver. Including both USB and a wireless audio feature are very progressive. Including a billion tweakable settings "just because they can" is loads of fun for a tweak monkey... and it's got an "easy set up" that really is easy. Class D amplification has the ability, if done right, to offer superior sound vs. conventional class A-B amplifiers. But JVC screwed up by badly engineering the USB to be basically useless and pointless. They screwed up the brilliant class D amplifier by giving it far less power supply muscle than it needs. They screwed up the whole product by (apparently) making it unreliable (note this is only based on OTHER REVIEWS, my own RX-D302B has been reliable so far but I find it valid to consider other experiences).
After saying all that - if you don't need HDMI, and you don't need the wireless USB features - this reciever does a lot & sounds excellent for a very reasonable price.
