[HiGHFLYiN9]

I spent a few minutes trying to decide on the most appropriate location for this post, since it's regarding a receiver to power speakers, I put it in this section. Mods feel free to move it.

I'm currently trying to locate a low to moderately priced home theater receiver that is class D for a friend of mine. I know Panasonic made the SA-XR57 which was under $300, which would have been perfect, but it seems they aren't being produced any longer. I checked the usual sources ebay and audiogon, however they don't currently have any listed. Are there any new model receivers that employ class D technology that would be a worthwhile substitute? The main requirements are that it decodes digital and it is somewhere in the $300 vicinity. If you can make an argument for a current class AB receiver that matches the other criteria, feel free to do so.

TIA.

 

[xtreme4099]

Oh what you mean this for 300 Amazon.com: Panasonic SA-BX500 7.1 130 Watts Per channel 0.7 THD Blu-ray Compatible Receiver (Black): Electronics

Panasonics BX-500 Class D 130 Watt 7.1 Receiver .. for 300 smackaroos

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtreme4099 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh what you mean this for 300 Amazon.com: Panasonic SA-BX500 7.1 130 Watts Per channel 0.7 THD Blu-ray Compatible Receiver (Black): Electronics Panasonics BX-500 Class D 130 Watt 7.1 Receiver .. for 300 smackaroos

Nice, that should be perfect. Thanks for the heads up xtreme.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I have the BX-500. The controls are useless, the remote is possibly the worst ever, with more buttons dedicated to the TV than to the receiver. The manual is horrible at explaining stuff and the display doesnt give much useful info.

But these are things you can get past. The unit sounds fantastic. Everything is crisp and clear, it supports a ton of formats, has multichannel inputs for SACD (a rare sight for under 300 bucks), binding posts, and has enough connectivity options. The Dynamic compression and Wide Surround modes are excellent for night time viewing and dont ruin the overall sound, and it sounds very good in stereo mode as well. Also its uber light, almost unreal, first time you lift it you will go HUH? is it empty?

For the price its going for now (I got it for 250$) its a steal and will definitely beat anything in that price range for sound quality. But for the original list price that it launched for, I cant imagine what Panasonic were thinking. But its a steal now, get it while they last.

 

[xtreme4099]

Yeah i use a Panasonic SA-XR57 to power my 7.1 JBL HLS/Velodyne sub system for my personal computer, and it sounds marvelous and musical, i had two panny 57s at some point before upgrading my main system to the HK354.

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif But these are things you can get past. The unit sounds fantastic. Everything is crisp and clear, it supports a ton of formats, has multichannel inputs for SACD (a rare sight for under 300 bucks), binding posts, and has enough connectivity options. The Dynamic compression and Wide Surround modes are excellent for night time viewing and dont ruin the overall sound, and it sounds very good in stereo mode as well. Also its uber light, almost unreal, first time you lift it you will go HUH? is it empty?

Have you compared the BX500 to your Onkyo TX-8222?