Kenwood VR-9070-S home theater receiver

StinkyDog

I noticed the Kenwood VR-9070-S receiver online, brand new in the box, for about $250. I know this is last years model but it is about half of what it cost retail and I don't see much difference other than the newer model has THX capability and this one has 'only' Dolby and DTS. Does anyone have any experience with this receiver or any thoughts about it? Thanks!!

speakergeek

Personally, I would stay away from Kenwood's latest offerings. They seem to be sub standard.

StinkyDog

speakergeek wrote:

Personally, I would stay away from Kenwood's latest offerings. They seem to be sub standard.

Even for half price? I could understand if it was the full $500 retail price because that's a lot more money, but for $250 I'm having a hard time thinking of what could make me pass this up considering all that you get. In what way are they substandard? If you could provide some more details it would help me make a better educated decision. I mean, if it could fry my speakers or something then I would obviously pass it up no matter how cheap it was. Thanks!!

dorokusai

My first RCV was a Kenwood, even then I knew I would never own another.

StinkyDog

dorokusai wrote:

My first RCV was a Kenwood, even then I knew I would never own another.

So what was it that made you decide not to buy another?

aaharvel

junk.

beating a dead horse i know but here:
http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/blowing/kenwood-x9992d/index.html

H/K 240, Marantz 4500, Denon 2106 if that's your budget- in that order.

StinkyDog

aaharvel wrote:

junk.

beating a dead horse i know but here:
http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/blowing/kenwood-x9992d/index.html

H/K 240, Marantz 4500, Denon 2106 if that's your budget- in that order.

Thanks, now that's some good information.

heiney9

Here's the entire article that aaharvel was refering to.

http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/Interface.html

Scroll down in the left column an d click on "Blowing the lid off HT Receivers" Maybe you've already discovered this article. It's from 2000, but it has some useful info which could help you make a better decision.

FWIW

H9

StinkyDog

heiney9 wrote:

Here's the entire article that aaharvel was refering to.

http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/Interface.html

Scroll down in the left column an d click on "Blowing the lid off HT Receivers" Maybe you've already discovered this article. It's from 2000, but it has some useful info which could help you make a better decision.

FWIW

H9

Thanks H9, that is a very good article. It certainly shed some light on the reasons for the low opinion of Kenwood receivers and will definitely give me pause before I would think of buying one. Although I would hope in 5 years that they have corrected some of the construction flaws but likley not. I certainly would not want my receiver to burn out from being stupidly designed (circuit board on top of the heat sink?!?!?!? WTF?!?!?!) regardless of how little I spent on it. Nor would I want to try to drive my speakers with half of the watts that it is reported to have. Again this is an old receiver and things may have changed in that time, but most companies are usually slow to change.

dorokusai

StinkyDog wrote:

So what was it that made you decide not to buy another?

The fact that it clipped when driven to nominal levels, on my beloved Polk's.

kingsqueak

I just dumped an older "100W channel" Kenwood, it would clip driving my RM3000's and generally sounded bad. The New Harman Kardon 435 I just got blows it away...not even close.

The Kenwood at "100W" would have to be run at 70 of a 78 max on volume, the H/K is barely breathing, maybe 1/3 volume level to get the same output level and the quality isn't even comparable, it's a world better.

Don't waste time with a cheap receiver, I'm sorry I took as long as I did to upgrade.