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I own a similar Kenwood receiver and am extrememly pleased with it. Dollar per performance I don't think anyone matches the Kenwood revievers. I traded "down" to my current unit from a Kenwood "THX" certified reciever that was outstanding because it didn't have Dolby Digital.
I am almost embarrased to say that as a looongtime audiophile my favorite feature is the "circle-surround 5.1" feature. It does an absolutely outstanding job of extracting a convincing and realisitic 3D soundfield out of any stereo recording. To compare it to any "ambience mode" included with other recievers is almost ridiculous, they ALL sound artificial and piled on top of the existing ambiance present in the recording.
Turning back to stereo after listening to the Circle Surround is unbelievably deflating. It's definitely not for purists, though!
A recent review I read of a receiver (a Marantz) that had both the Circle Surround and the new Dolby II found that the Circle Surround was much more involving and lifelike.
On the Debit side the video switching part of my Kenwood adds a small amout of video noise to the signal that my older THX Kenwood did not have.
Hope this helps...
I am almost embarrased to say that as a looongtime audiophile my favorite feature is the "circle-surround 5.1" feature. It does an absolutely outstanding job of extracting a convincing and realisitic 3D soundfield out of any stereo recording. To compare it to any "ambience mode" included with other recievers is almost ridiculous, they ALL sound artificial and piled on top of the existing ambiance present in the recording.
Turning back to stereo after listening to the Circle Surround is unbelievably deflating. It's definitely not for purists, though!
A recent review I read of a receiver (a Marantz) that had both the Circle Surround and the new Dolby II found that the Circle Surround was much more involving and lifelike.
On the Debit side the video switching part of my Kenwood adds a small amout of video noise to the signal that my older THX Kenwood did not have.
Hope this helps...
