[silentnight702]

Hey,

I'm looking for a great mid-priced receiver and the Kenwood VR-7070 keeps coming up. I want to know if the Kenwood is a good deal or if there is something out there better. Please help.


Silentnight702

 

[s.bradford]

This is a very respectable unit for the money. Be sure you get the 7070A as the A designation gets you 20% more watts and HDTV compatible component switching.


My only complaint is that it does not have a sleep timer.

 

[silentnight702]

Hey,

Thanks a lot. You've helped a great deal.


silentnight702

 

[lespurgeon]

I have the regular 7070 (about 6 months old) it is a great HT deal. I don't use it much for music listening.

 

[mikejz84]

I thought a lot about getting a VR-7070, but then I decided I wanted something that did a good job with music--and went with the AVR 525, I am very happy with my choice.

 

[s.bradford]

Quote:

Originally posted by mikejz84 I thought a lot about getting a VR-7070, but then I decided I wanted something that did a good job with music--and went with the AVR 525, I am very happy with my choice.

Interesting comment, curious what makes you think the 7070 is poor on music. Did you A/B the two? The reason I ask is I use the Kenwood as a pre/pro into 2 200watt/ch adcoms driving Magnepans. I have my analog driving these same amps with a GAS Thaedra (a pretty respectable analog preamp).


My point is I think you would be surprised how little difference there is between the phono/preamp in the Kenwood as opposed to the Thaedra (and if you aren't planning on playing back vinyl, the differences are minimal).


Now I must admit I have never critically listened to the 'amp' section of the Kenwood as I only use it to drive some M&Ks in the bedroom.

 

[CZ Eddie]

I've been looking at the 7070 over the last 24 hours but here is why I'm edging away from it.


First, from what I can tell, it's the same thing as the 6070 which was tested at 9x watts all channels driven, by Sound & Vision Magazine.


Now the 6070 has a seriously bad history of "shutting down" when it's hot or overdriven. What I find odd is that out of 60-90 reviews, a good third mentioned that the receiver shut down on them, but at the same time they gave it an excellent score. This is over at audioreview.com btw.


Also, I heard a rumor that with the 7070, the amps are now "limited" somehow and although just as capable as the 6070, it only provides something like 4x watts per channel (still not bad).


Right now I'm looking at the Pioneer Elite 41TX and Yamaha RX-V730 which are in the same price range and new, but one model year older I think.

 

[s.bradford]

I read the same stuff on AR.com, but I have always had trouble putting much creedance in what was said there. Note that the 7070A (current model) has an upgraded amp section so there may well have been issues that Kenwood felt needed addressing.


Now consider I am only using the receivers amp section to drive a pair of bedroom speakers, but on the whole I am much more impressed with this $300 street price unit than I ever thought I would be. It was really only purchased for HT, and does an excellent job there, but musically it's D2A's sound much better than the ones in my Elite CD player (go figure), and the analog is actually respectable (far far better than the Sony it replaced) although I still use my GAS preamp for vinyl.


I really wouldn't let what you've read be the sole criteria for you ruling this one out. Give it a listen somewhere if you can.

 

[lespurgeon]

Never had my 7070 shutdown - 6 channels driven. Plenty of power. My wife just said turn that down - was playing a music videos DVD - she now has it set at -45.


From what I understand the 41TX is the 912 in a pretty box. My info may be wrong.

 

[kenstr]

I've never had my 7070 shut down - always 6 channels and volume is always -18 to -23 (yes, my wife thinks I'm deaf)


That might make a good poll q ?

 

[lespurgeon]

Yeah Kenstr.


I show movies at about -20 (I tried LOTRE at -10 and my wife made me turn it down twice [first I went to -15, then back to -20]). We play NPR at about -30 to -40 depending on which one of us turned it on.

 

[Marc Alexander]

I too use to think my Kenwood had plenty of power because it could play loud. I still have the VR-2090 and was curious when S&V review stated that the power with all 5 channels driven was quite feeble (25W?) before 10% THD and actually shut down with a continuous 0.5 sec 5 channel burst. It's 100W rating could only deliver to 2 ch.


Sure enough, when I added an exteral amp (H/K PA5800) for the center and rears (the 2090 doesn't have front pre-outs) there was a world of difference. Most notable was the Episode 1 pod-race scene. I had always thought the Kenwood was great...but it turns out certain scenes sap its power and the Kenwood internal amps can't keep up and were distorting (and my Klipsch speakers are quite efficient).


I am replacing the VR-2090 with a Yamaha RX-V1400 (along with the PA 5800 of course). I will probably move the Kenwood into the bedroom (currently an Onkyo 474 in there).

 

[lespurgeon]

One item on the 7070 (and the 6070 before it) these are Kenwood's "better" receivers. They have their 707 and other 3 didget ones that have much less power/quality and they have their sovergn ones that are top of the line. I don't know anything about the older 2090, but from the sound of it the 6070/7070 have been quite an improvement.

 

[Marc Alexander]

I'm pretty sure the 6070/7070 are not part of the sovereign line. 5900 was the last sovereign and is in a completely different pricerange than the 7070. The 2090 also was top of the line in its day but probably is more comparable to the 6070/7070 than the 5080/5090/5900 sovereigns.\\


The moral of my story was not to let owner's pride cause you to disbelieve empirical data.

 

[Woodrow]

Boy, I've owned a Kenwood for several years, the 615. Not much at all for music but always served me well for HT. I found this website since then and have been leaning NAD or Rotel for my upgrade. You guys had me almost ready to go get the 7070. I think Marc pulled me back to reality here. I've loved my Kenwood, and that fact makes it hard to go with a completely different brand. I have to believe though that even if the 7070A puts out as much power as say the RSX-1055 that the RSX would sound much better...........right??

 

[Marc Alexander]

Its pretty easy to do the math to find out what a receiver is really capable of (Ohms law).


These newer Kenwoods are rated at 3A max current draw. At 100% effeciency (which no device truly is) that is only about 360W max output. Real world, you a probably looking at under 300W total simultaneously divided between channels.


The Kenwood Sovereign 5900 is rated at 6.2A (almost 750W consumption)...so its power ratings are likely much more accurate when driving all channels.


The Rotel RSX-1055 is rated at 850W or about 7.1A power consumption.


So yes...the RSX-1055 should blow a non-Sovereign Kenwood out of the water!

 

[Marc Alexander]

Quote:

Originally posted by lespurgeon One item on the 7070 (and the 6070 before it) these are Kenwood's "better" receivers. They have their 707 and other 3 didget ones that have much less power/quality and they have their sovergn ones that are top of the line. I don't know anything about the older 2090, but from the sound of it the 6070/7070 have been quite an improvement.

Quote:

Originally posted by Marc Alexander I'm pretty sure the 6070/7070 are not part of the sovereign line. 5900 was the last sovereign and is in a completely different pricerange than the 7070. The 2090 also was top of the line in its day but probably is more comparable to the 6070/7070 than the 5080/5090/5900 sovereigns.\\ The moral of my story was not to let owner's pride cause you to disbelieve empirical data.

According to Kenwood, the 2090 is rated at 3.5A max power consumption (into 5 ch, weighing 26.5 lbs) vs. 3A for the 7080/7070 (into 6 ch, weighing 20.7). Isn't math fun?

 

[lespurgeon]

Never intended to suggest the 7070 was part of the sovereign line - just that is was a step up form the 3-diget line.


Their gear groups something like 705/707 big-box store consumer gear


7070/7080 better gear


Sovereign top of line.


I have a rotel in the stereo, but really like my 7070 in the HT. I don't use it for serious music listening, but it does a very nice job in the HT. It could very easily only be 300 W total RMS - but that is more than plenty to drive my small-ish (11 x 17) HT with plenty of reserve power. The other option is that it really pulls more than the 3 amps it is rated - that may be an average rather than max number. The test from sound & vision (? not sure it was them) measured 90+ wpc with 5 channels driven. I don't suggest that this unit is a giant killer - it isn't, but it holds its own against any of the sub $500 units I have seen.


If you are in the position to afford Rotel, by al means do so - it is great, and if I only had one receiver that I used for music and HT I would go that way to, but if you just want a HT workhorse, you can do much worse than the 7070.

 

[Woodrow]

Quote:

Originally posted by Marc Alexander The Rotel RSX-1055 is rated at 850W or about 7.1A power consumption. So yes...the RSX-1055 should blow a non-Sovereign Kenwood out of the water!

Thanks Marc. I don't mean to knock Kenwood either. They'll always have a soft spot in my heart as the vr- 615 is what started me on the whole HDTV home theater thing a year and a half ago.

 

[Marc Alexander]

Kenwood is like marijuana...its a gateway drug!!!