Panasonic SA-XR57S 7.1 Channels Receiver
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- Surround Sound: Dolby Digital® DTS® DTS ES® Dolby Pro Logic II DTS Neo:6 Dolby Digital® EX
- Number of Channels: 7.1 Channels
- Type: Receiver
- Surround Mode Power: 100 Watt @ 6 ohm, 1 kHz
- Stereo Mode Power: 100 Watt @ 6 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz
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Excellent receiver for the price
Pros
Tons of power, no heat emission, lots of inputs and outputs including HDMI switching.
Cons
Binding posts for speaker channels are a bit cheap.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you're looking for a new home theatre system that has DPLIIX for a 7 speaker system, don't even bother looking around.
I purchased this receiver a few weeks back (December 2006) and it is phenomenol. I'm not an audiophile but I did join a forum (AVS Forum) and a lot of people share my opinion. I bought the receiver for $299.99 CAD (MSRP $599.99) at Georgian Audio Video in Collingwood, Ontario. Apparently the dealer had to buy a few receivers to participate in the promotion that Panasonic was running. I'm actually familiar with that situation as I worked in retail for a while and it is indeed true.
The biggest difference with this receiver over most of the others on the market is that it has a full digital amplifier. To keep it simple, that means that it doesn't get hot like a regular home theatre receiver, which in turn means you don't have to provide "proper" ventilation. The receiver has tons of inputs and outputs. I have my XBOX, high definition cable box, DVD recorder and VCR all hooked up in the back. I decided to hook up strictly the audio to the receiver and the video directly into the TV (I have a 42" Panasonic plasma which also has a ton of inputs). This allows me to watch a different signal that where the audio is coming from (ie: play XBOX while listening to a CD).
It also has 7 channels (plus a subwoofer out) so you can hook up plenty of speakers. It does have an A/B switch as well, so if you wanted to hook up speakers in another room to your A port, you could turn them off or on. This is really helpful if you like to listen to music around the house while you work.
The biggest difference between this receiver and most others in the same price point is that it does offer HDMI switching. Unfortunately there is only one HDMI input (which is still great), so you'll have to use component + digital audio for other devices that output high definition signals (ie: blu ray or HD DVD). I'm personally not using the receiver as a video switch at all.
The remote is pretty much the same as my TV and DVD Recorder (as they're all Panasonic) with a few exceptions. It's not confusing not really ergonomic. The receiver also doesn't offer on screen display (which makes sense at the price point).
The only real downfall to this receiver is that the binding posts for the speaker channels don't have holes to feed the speaker wire through for hook-up. Of course it doesn't really matter if you use banana jacks, which you probably should anyway. The plastic knobs for the binding posts also feel pretty cheap.
One really cool thing that I did discover is that the receiver has an auto-configuration. What this means is that if you only have 2 speakers hooked up (in channels A & B), it will automatically detect that you should use a stereo signal. Of course you have to read the manual on how to do this but it's very simple.
Last but not least, another favourite of mine is the aluminum volume dial. I know it sounds frivilous, and I'm sure I paid extra for it but it just makes it feel that much better. Everything else I have is silver in colour so the unit itself fits in but the volume dial in particular feels awesome.
The biggest difference with this receiver over most of the others on the market is that it has a full digital amplifier. To keep it simple, that means that it doesn't get hot like a regular home theatre receiver, which in turn means you don't have to provide "proper" ventilation. The receiver has tons of inputs and outputs. I have my XBOX, high definition cable box, DVD recorder and VCR all hooked up in the back. I decided to hook up strictly the audio to the receiver and the video directly into the TV (I have a 42" Panasonic plasma which also has a ton of inputs). This allows me to watch a different signal that where the audio is coming from (ie: play XBOX while listening to a CD).
It also has 7 channels (plus a subwoofer out) so you can hook up plenty of speakers. It does have an A/B switch as well, so if you wanted to hook up speakers in another room to your A port, you could turn them off or on. This is really helpful if you like to listen to music around the house while you work.
The biggest difference between this receiver and most others in the same price point is that it does offer HDMI switching. Unfortunately there is only one HDMI input (which is still great), so you'll have to use component + digital audio for other devices that output high definition signals (ie: blu ray or HD DVD). I'm personally not using the receiver as a video switch at all.
The remote is pretty much the same as my TV and DVD Recorder (as they're all Panasonic) with a few exceptions. It's not confusing not really ergonomic. The receiver also doesn't offer on screen display (which makes sense at the price point).
The only real downfall to this receiver is that the binding posts for the speaker channels don't have holes to feed the speaker wire through for hook-up. Of course it doesn't really matter if you use banana jacks, which you probably should anyway. The plastic knobs for the binding posts also feel pretty cheap.
One really cool thing that I did discover is that the receiver has an auto-configuration. What this means is that if you only have 2 speakers hooked up (in channels A & B), it will automatically detect that you should use a stereo signal. Of course you have to read the manual on how to do this but it's very simple.
Last but not least, another favourite of mine is the aluminum volume dial. I know it sounds frivilous, and I'm sure I paid extra for it but it just makes it feel that much better. Everything else I have is silver in colour so the unit itself fits in but the volume dial in particular feels awesome.
