Panasonic XR55 7.1 Digital Receiver - Page 10

I can't think of any problems. If you ever go to a 7.1 configuration you'll have everything you need. The increase in quality alone is worth it as far as I'm concerned. My cheap HTIB Kenwood speakers never sounded better. Much better realism in movies and very high volume with no distortion. I still can't believe you can get this sound for around $250.

ArtT
I've only had my XR50 for about 10 months but I placed and order for an XR55 yesterday. My interest/motivation is audio rather than Video. For me the one fault with the XR50 is the speaker terminals - getting proper 4mm binding post was enough to have me reaching for the credit card.. I'll post again when I've had a listen.

Rest/All
A quick hello from new member across the pond. I was so impressed by this thread I thought I would join. As alluded to above my interested is the audio side so those similarly inclined hopefully I'll have some news within the week.

I've been using the XR55 with a 5.1 setup for almost a week now and haven't had any problems.

Hi all. I'm new to this forum and love my new XR55. Do you guys think it's worthwhile to run a digital connection from my computer soundcard to the XR55? I've got a two-speaker setup playing mostly music from my computer using Rhapsody (love it!) and internet radio like digitally imported and live365. My soundcard is a Chaintech AV7.1 which supposedly has good analog sound, but it also has an optical digital out. Do you think there will be an improvement in sound over the analog output? (i'm using the tape input on the XR55). The reason i don't just try it and see is the computer is about 50 ft from the receiver - too long for an optical run. I may buy an optical to coax converter but haven't yet.

Wow, so much good feedback for the XR55... I'm seriously considering an H/K 635, should I save $400 and get the XR55? - could the Panny be even better than traditional receivers in the middle to upper end of other manufacturers offerings i.e. Yammy 1500/2500, Denon 3805, H/K 635 (all receivers I've considered)? I love the low price of the XR55 but what performance level does it compare to from these other receivers?

The only way to know is to try one out and see what you think. These digital receivers challenge pre-conceived notions about how much one needs to spend these days for excellent sound. But the only way to know for sure is to order one and try it in your system.

first off, props for di.com- my favorite web music site

second, i'm running 75 feet fiber between my HTPC and my panny- 50 feet is nothing.

That's why I ordered mine from amazon. If I don't like it then return it. The sound is probably going to be different from what I have been accustomed to with analog receivers. But this is the direction the amp section of the receiver is probably going anyway.

I would like to try the bi-amping functionality of the XR55 with my bi-wire capable speakers. I was thinking about buying a quad 14-gauge cable with four conductors together. However, the manual states that b-amping works only with analog signals (excluding DVD 6CH). Why is that? Why bi-amping doesn't work with digital signals or with 6CH analog?

I agree. I just ordered one in black from J&R's website, the site said "in stock" and I upgraded delivery to Second Day so the XR55 should get here about the same time my Sammy 6168 does next week . I'll report back what I think of the receiver.

re: biamping: here is a workaround that should work.

use the "B" speaker bindings for the low side of your mains. these should be "large" configured. the "B"s play in surround mode. it should work, presuming the "B"s are always "large" anmd do not acquire simply the FL, FR feeds.

I also have one due today from J&R. I will be connecting the XR55 to a set of Athena Micra 6's. I will report back soon with the results of how it sounds.


-elbo

This reciever sounds very interesting.


I was all set to buy a Pioneer 1014, but maybe I should reconsider.


The big problem that I would have, is that I would need this puppy to drive some power hungry speakers in a very large room.


Would I be making a huge mistake?

I'm sure that the Pioneer has enough power to power my speakers, but I'm not so sure about these new Digital Recievers, I've heard they are great in medium and small rooms, but I'm not so sure about a really large room.

My room is like 20 x 25 or so.

The 7 Speakers I would be driving would be:


B & W DM602 S3 (mains)
B & W LCR600 S3 (center)
B & W DM600 S3 (for the 4 surrounds)


I don't actually own those speakers right now, but those are the ones I'm planning to get unless I change my mind.

How "power hungry" are they - what are the specs? (ohm and efficiency ratings)

I just put my order in for the silver one. $223.99 plus free shipping can't be beat at Amazon (search for the XR55s or XR55k depending on the color want).

I'm using Polk RTi6 (which I will bi-amp with the XR55) fronts, CSi30 center, and R15 rears. I'll be going from an Onkyo TX-SR501. I'll report my findings.

Do these need the long "burn-in" hours that I read the XRx0 series did?

anthony-

i've owned one of these about as long as anyone, and i'm the first to be critical when it is called for, as it is with certain aspects of this AVR (remote, no digital output). the receiver's top virtues besides price are, IMO, clean 7.1 power and 2.1 power.

can anyoen verify that it does or doesn't have video upconversion? I really thought that it did....has anyone tried?

i tried- it does not "upconvert" from composite to component

How is everyone getting free shipping from Amazon when my shopping cart is charging me?????

It say eligable for free shipping. You have to add it to your cart then go to checkout. When it lists shipping types, it puts the more expensive one first, so you simply have to select "Free super saver shipping."

Been a long time (about a year) since I've posted, but this unit has me salivating as a replacement for my decidedly aged Denon AVR-3300.

I have a question for owners: do the speaker binding posts have those annoying collars that prevent the connection of spades? I have huge speaker cables for my front three Paradigms, and I've had to use bananas on my old Denon, since it has collars. I'm afraid the weight/stiffness of my current cables will be a lot of strain on the binding posts. How sturdy are they?

Many thanks!

This brings up a question for a Newbie who just received the XR70 Panny today.

What is the BEST way to connect the speaker wire to the Receiver??

It has collars, but the posts seem pretty solid.

Yes. The binding posts in the AVR-3300 and SA-XR55S are exactly the same. I own both and just took a look to confirm.

I never directly compared the performance of the two. The Denon is next to my CRT TV that the wife and kids use, and the XR55 is in my front projection home theater. The Denon is a great performer. The XR55 has the newer bells and whistles (e.g. 7.1 modes) in the smaller form factor.

I don't own a 55 but with some high priced cables I'd be concerned about the weight pulling the receiver up in the front no matter how secure the banana's were in the back. I've seen cables that outweigh this receiver. That isn't going to work.

David

Thanks for your comments!!

Since the XR55 is in your home theater, I should assume that it is at least on par with the 3300 in terms of sound quality? I've been following the progress of digital receivers with great interest, and am looking to upgrade to 7.1 in the next few months. I've enjoyed the 3300, but I've been wanting PLII and rear surrounds for some time now. I can't spend too much, since the wife is still getting over the more than $10k I spent on a Sharp 9000 DLP, Firehawk Screen, and Paradigm Reference surrounds I bought in 2002 when I moved to front projection. I managed to sneak in a set of Reference 20s for rear surround, but if I spend more than a few hundred, I won't be able to listen to 7.1 channels, because I'll be livin' in the doghouse!!

As for the weight of the cables, I can rig it up with my current rack where it won't put weight or too much strain on the binding posts, as long as they are not super flimsy.

Any comments greatly appreciated!

I finally received and set up the XR55. From reading the posts it sounds like I'm in a different boat than many of you, since I just use two channel mode with a subwoofer. I bought the NAD T763 last year when I was planning to set up a nice home theater, but decided to stick with two channel operation.

I am using the XR55 for video switching as well as audio. Connected to the XR55 I have an HTPC (MythTV box), CD/DVD player, VCR, TV, and tape deck.

Initial non-audiophile impressions after listening to a range of music:

• Voices (singing) sound a bit hollow and tinny compared to the NAD (too much midrange, IMO). Otherwise, the sound is quite good. Very good range - lows and highs both sound good even with bass and treble set at zero. I bumped bass to +2 and treble to +1 and was satisfied. The NAD has excellent sound, but is a bit too "warm" for me, at least with the speakers I currently have.
• The XR55 seems to have no problem driving my 6 ohm Rocket 750s. At -18db it was about as loud as I would want it. I'd maybe take it a bit louder when blasting metal The NAD has no problems in this category, either.
• As others have noted, the unit does NOT do any video upconversion. Not composite > S-video, not S-video > component, not composite > component. The NAD does upconvert from composite > S-video, but IIRC it doesn't upconvert any signals to component.
• Good selection of inputs and outputs on the back of the unit. Not perfect, but it seems to be packed with about all they could fit on a unit of that size. However, I would like to see more output possibilities - the only outputs are composite for DVD recorder and composite for cassette tape. Plus the S-video and component monitor outputs. Personally I would like S-video and composite outputs to go to my VCR, but I realize I'm living with one foot in the stone age The NAD has endless inputs/outputs, but I don't use many of them.
• The unit heats up after heavy use, but not any more than the NAD. Probably less.
• The dual-amp feature is automatic and seems to work fine.
• The unit is much faster than the NAD when powering up and accepting input from the remote control (especially volume - that drove me crazy on the NAD).
• I can confirm what others have written about the remote: it sucks. It is billed as a "universal remote" but the only thing "universal" about it is that you can program in a selected set of codes to operate other equipment. This is the same technology my VCR remote had ten years ago. It is not a learning remote. The NAD remote is really nice.
• The NAD setup tools are more intuitive, partly because of NAD's OSD. The XR55's setup menus aren't particularly bad, just a bit less intuitive.
• The XR55 weighs about 1/7 what the NAD weighs. Doesn't really matter much to me, just a cool fact.

Conclusion: Even though I'm not happy about the midrange and the remote, I still think this is a fantastic deal for the price, even if I have to buy a good universal remote. It compares well enough to the NAD in the categories I'm interested in that it's worth keeping. I think I'll hold on to the NAD for now in case I want to do some more comparing. Simply considering sound I would rate the NAD as 9/10, and the XR55 as 8/10. But that's just me

Thanks vulture99. I'm in the same boat.
I'm using a NAD integrated C372, but am eyeing this unit. I like the NAD, but it does have a little hiss that I'd like to eliminate. Can I assume the Panny has no hiss?
Also, I'm using the NAD to run 2 sets of speakers - it's taken this much amp, in my opinion, to drive them all adequately - I tried a Cambridge Audio 640A and it kept going into protection mode at relatively high levels.
How does the Panny compare in this area to the NAD? I assume I'd dual amp one set of the speakers. Do you anticipate there being enough power to drive them hard, now that you've compared to your NAD unit?

I have no major complaints with the XR55. Factoring in different speakers in different rooms, comparisons to the Denon are pointless. Those two variables far exceed the amplifier contribution to the overall sound.

At a minimum, the XR55 is entirely adequate for 7.1 and holds it's own against the Denon. Didn't get around to two channel listening yet, just been too busy. Some here complain about the remote, but I don't use the remote for anything other than volume up/down so it's fine in my system. My system only has the S/PDIF input connected to the XR55, speakers and the line level subwoofer output.

At the price, you can't go wrong.

I would say that this is fantastic achievement for the XR55 considering that it costs about 1/5 of what you have to pay for the NAD T763.