[snipes]

I keep hearing about the Denon 1600 ( nee Panny rp56 ) and Kenwood 5700. No one is talking about the Yamaha 920. What am I missing? It uses the same Faroudja de-interlacer as both of them, its a 5-disk changer for the changer fans and has digital coax, unlike the Denon. What gives?

 

[MM629]

As I mentioned on a similar post by frankmrt, the 920 is probably an RP56 with an upgraded audio section and DVD-A. It probably will have pretty good PQ like the RP56, and is a carousel to boot. The Denon will probably provide similar performance in a single disc player, and the Kenwood is a step up.

 

[El Pollo]

Actually, it's looking like a Panasonic RP-72 at about $200 more. We'll see eventually what the differences are, I guess. The Yamaha c920 doesn't look to have the "Shrink/Zoom" feature that's on the RP-82, whatever that actually is. I'm still hoping that if that's what I think it is, that it's in the RP-72 as well.

 

[snipes]

MM629: That is my point. I'm sure it is a re-worked rp56, just like the Denon 1600. My comments were meant to get some feedback as to why there isn't much buzz around it like the others. As for the Kenwood being a step up, I've been following the Kenwood posts and there seems to be the usual amount of first gen growing pains. Without going back and reading the posts, people were complaining about DTS issues and a complete lack of customer support. It does seem to be the only player in this price point with the optional Farodja enhancement chip. Other people who claimed to be in the know said the improvement was negligable. Not sure if I buy that though. My conclusion was on paper it is just as good as the Denon, + $100 gets you a 5-disk changer(for those interested) and digital coax out. And it is $300 less than the "buggy" Kenwood. I think everyone would like to see the new Panasonic offerings, but when / if that ever happens seems to change daily.

 

[MM629]

The Yamaha came out without anyone really knowing about it. The first I noticed it was available was on the onecall site. There are not representatives from Yamaha on the this forum that can comment on and help a discussion of their products. We have a Denon rep that regularly visits these forums and discusses their products, and thus Denon gets quite a bit more attention here. Furthermore, Denon really raised the forum member' s hopes several months ago by stating that their new players would be chroma bug free, and that the new 9000 would also have SACD. The 1600 got caught up in this excitement of an excellent line of players, the ones to have, unfortunately, things have not quite worked out as originally claimed.

As for the Kenwood, here are the downsides:

1. Poor remote

2. Long layer changes on some discs (1-3 sec)

3. Slow disc loading (like most carousels)

4. Sensitive to dirty rental discs

Otherwise I have not had any signficant problems, and I not sure what the DTS issues have been, as the internal DTS decoder and bitstream have worked fine. There were certain concerns with the functionality of the 300 disc changer, the 5900, but I would not say the 5700 is "buggy." The upside is fantastic picture quality, and for better I would have to spend quite a lot more and go into the $3000-$4000 range.

 

[snipes]

Thanks for the information on the Kenwood. I'm still trying to decide between it and the Yamaha.

 

[tcokkinias]

The Yamaha has 54 MHz/12-bit video DAC. I thought the RP56 was 10 bit. Is it an RP56 with 12 bit VIDEO and upgraded Burr-Brown Audio DACS??


I have been researching this one and actually thought about buying it, but I couldn't find any mention of Bass management. I also think the street price will end up in the low $400's range like the Denon 1600.


Anyone actually used this unit??

 

[DBNyack]

I think the Yamahas don't get mentioned much because in the past, from what I've seen and heard from others, their players are usually just relabled Panasonics with a higher price tag. I'm sure the 920 is probably a great player, but if you can, you may want to keep an eye out on the new Panasonics for more comparison. You may likely be able to get the same player for alot less.

 

[KenLand]

The Yamaha has bass management. (at least as I understand the term)

You set the speakers to Large or Small and set the channel delays etc.

Crossover seems to be a rather high 100 Hz.


The owners manual is up on the site.


Ken