Rating: 
Summary: Good price/performance, but it has its problems...
Review: JVC packed a lot of features into this receiver, at a reasonable price. Many of these are seldom used, like the DSP "concert hall" type filters. Others have subtle limitations, but most work as advertised.The sound quality is great, especially from digital sources. The remote is nice, once you get used to the layout. There is a "one touch" mode that remembers the settings for each input; this is a very nice feature, as you generally don't listen to your CD player with the same settings as your television. The unit itself is very sturdy and visually appealing. You can enter call letters for AM/FM stations, so rather than "92.5" you see "KQRS". Now, the problems. After it warms up, say after an hour or two of use, it no longer responds to IR remotes (specifically, my TiVo remote using JVC codes). The RF remote still works, though. The FM receiver is quite weak; stations that were easily picked up by my antique Kenwood without an antenna require a powered antenna with this unit. The S-VHS and composite video inputs are not mixed, as other reviewers have noted. The volume control resets to "30" (a very low level with my setup) if you turn it off at a level higher than that, although some people may consider this a feature... Balancing the flaws with the many features, and factoring in the price, this unit is a good value for the money. None of the flaws are fatal, and the unit generally performs as advertised.
Rating:
Summary: Very Impressive!
Review: My receiver arrived yesterday and had it installed and running in approx 45 mins. Very impressed with the sound quality. Further, it has a 4 speaker stereo mode, which I have not had the luxury of having on any of my previous receivers (Harmon Kardon , Pioneer, Onkyo). This receiver replaces a Pioneer 906s and I must say, it is truly an upgrade. The only thing that I am unhappy with is the remote because it is not backlit.
Rating:
Summary: Very Impressive!
Review: My receiver arrived yesterday and had it installed and running in approx 45 mins. Very impressed with the sound quality. Further, it has a 4 speaker stereo mode, which I have not had the luxury of having on any of my previous receivers (Harmon Kardon , Pioneer, Onkyo). This receiver replaces a Pioneer 906s and I must say, it is truly an upgrade. The only thing that I am unhappy with is the remote because it is not backlit.
Rating: 
Summary: JVC RX 9000VBK
Review: RX-9000VBK features premium performance and multi-room, multi source convenience. Enjoy music anywhere in your home from a single main system. It's multi-room, multi-source capability allows two people to enjoy two different audio sources in two different rooms both at the same time. An RF/IR remote control can be used anywhere in the house to control either the sound in the "main" room, or the sound in the "sub" room. The RX-9000VBK also features upgrades in it's surround sound performance. Dolby Digital and DTS decoding are both provided, along with an advanced digital acoustics processor. 120 watts x 2 min. RMS, both channels driven into 8 ohms from 20Hz to 20kHz with no more than 0.02% THD, 120 Watts x 2 min. RMS, driven into 4ohms, with no more than 0.08% THD. 4 ohm Rated (FTC)...100 watts x 5 min. (2 Front, 1 Center, 2 Rear speakers) RMS, into 8 ohms, 1kHz, 0.8% THD...DVD Multichannel Audio Compatible (5.1 channel analog input and 5 separate amps) for connection to existing and future multichannel sources such as DVD Audio...RF/IR Multi-Brand A/V Remote Control (VCR/TV/CATV/DBS) for operation from anywhere in your home...Dynamic Super-A (All Channels) for smooth sound reproduction virtually free of switching and crossover distortion...K2 Interface (all channels) provides better resolution ,enhanced ambience, and greater depth by eliminating distortion known as "jitter" and "ripple"...1-bit P.E.M. D.D. Converter (all channels) greatly enhances signal to noise ratio and dynamic range...Dolby Digital and DTS decoders built-in for theater quality surround from digital sources..Fully Discrete Outputs to ensure greater fidelity and longer life...Digital Acoustics Processor (DAP) with 6 preset sound fields (Large Theater/Small Theater/Live Club/Dance Club/Concert Hall/Concert Arena) digitally recreates these venues in your own home...3D-PHONIC Virtual Surround Sound (3D Action/3D Digital/3D Theater) creates dramatic home theater sound with just two front speakers...Multi-room/Multi-source capability allows you to play two different sources in two different rooms at the same time (for example, play a CD in the bedroom while someone listens to a cassette tape in the kitchen)...Text COMPU LINK will transmit text data carried by media like CD-Text and MD to display on your receiver and a television...AV COMPU LINK provides simple one touch operation between your JVC audio and video components. For example, pop a pre-recorded VHS tape into the VCR and it will automatically power up your receiver and your television and then turn them each to the proper inputs...Enhanced COMPU LINK Control System...Multi-Color On Screen Display simplifies control by allowing you to choose options from your television screen to operate your receiver...Dot Matrix Fluorescent Display with Sound Pattern...Line level Sub Out...3-band electronic S.E.A. equalization with 5 presets and 1 manual setting for each source to give you flexible tone control and minimize sound degradation...Bass Boost, One-Touch Operation...Front A/V Input with S-Video (Gold Plated) for the convenience of hooking up any A/V source quickly and easily such as a camcorder or video game...Sub Room Pre-Amp Outputs allows you to enjoy 5.1 surround in the main room and 2 channel stereo in the sub room with the addition of an outboard amp...1 Assignable Coaxial Digtial Input that you can designate to any digital source ...3 Assignable Optical Digital Inputs that you can designate to any digital source, 1 Optical Digital Output for use with digital recording devices...4 S-Video inputs...2 S-Video outputs...1 Composite Video output...2 Main Speaker Terminals...15 AM and 30 FM station memory...2 Year parts and labor warranty ...Weight: 26.3 lbs...Width: 17 3/16"...Height: 5 3/4"...Depth: 16 1/4"...Banana Plugs for easy speaker connections (Main1/Main2[sub room]/Center/Surround)...High-Rigidity Z-Chassis...Dolby Pro Logic in Full Digital Processing...Center Tone Control, Rear Tone Control...
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: The JVC RX-9000VBK is apparently JVCs flagship reciever, and while it is a nice reciever, it does not present itself as boldly as some of JVCs other flagship equipment. This receiver is big and complicated, so I will try to divide it up into the different aspects that I feel are important for a reciever to have. Frist and foremost, this is a reciever, so lets look at audio quality. I have hooked this unit up to a seven piece two-thousand dollar THX Technics speaker system, and it has very nice sound. Because this particular system has two active subwoofers (a left and a right one), I found the Subwoofer level adjustment a godsend. All of the speakers had individual level adjustment (less the mains which had balance control), which is very nice. The noise level is as it should be in any reciever in this class, non-existant. The unit has many audio inputs: One COAX PCM [or SPDI/F], three optical TOS-LINK, and 3 sets of standard analouge connectors. This does not include any of the sets that are coupled with video. The optical and coax digital inputs are software routable, which is good. The unit does have sub-room output with a second set of stereo speakers as an option, but I will not be using this setup. I also found the DSP effects to be genuinely lowsey. The Pro-Logic mode is VERY quiet and VERY noisy, and the other modes don't do much for me. The built in 3-band EQ on the other hand, I find quite useful, but 5 band would have made me like it a little more. Next video and the like. The unit has inputs for DVD, TV, an I/O for VCR, also a front video input jack and in addition a VCR2 that is virtually useless. All of the inputs except VCR2 support both S-Video and Composite. Here is one spot where the unit looses points. The S-Video and Composite video are on seperate busses in the unit, i.e. if you have a video camera the uses composite video, all your output devices need to be wired for composite video. Its utterly redicilous. In addition, what is the point of a second VCR connector that has only composite video in? There is none. Very disapointing. With DVD input you have four ways to connect your audio, you can use Coaxial Digial, Optical Digital, 2-Channel Stereo, and a 6-channel descrete mode with inputs for each of Center, Sub, Left and Right, and Rear Left and Right. I myself could not get my JVC DVD Player to send 5.1 Channel audio over optical and have my JVC Reciever recieve it, so I'm stuck with the 6-channel mode. I am still discussing this issue with JVC, but this is also disapointing that there seems to be prodcut compatibility issues between the same brand. The unit does have an optical digial out, a feature I'm not using now, but mabye I will some time in the future. Its nice to have there. Of corse there are AM and FM radio modes, but I don't have an antenna, so I don't get a single channel. Its probably a good tuner. I really don't know. The manual is an abomination of technical writing. I recomend having a tech-savy friend help you install it rather than resorting to the manual. It only explains how to change settings without the remote, which leaves out the entire on-screen system. Thankfully, the design of the unit itself is good and relivelty easy to use, with a surprisingly small number of options. The remote is well designed, but has no support for DVD players of any kind. This is unfortunate, because if not for that, I could have actually used one remote for the whole setup. JVC has invoatve technology called compu-link, and once you get by its primitive stages, its very impressive. All of the components in the system I was setting this up in (less the speakers which I've already mentioned) were JVC, a JVC D-Series 32" TV, an older (but still AWESOME) JVC-S9500U VCR, and a JVC BX2000 DVD Player. When you turn the reciever off, everything else shuts right down. When you power on the reciever and pick VCR, the VCR powers up. Good design here. JVC does include a remote sender to add a smiliar feature to non-jvc equipment, but it must be placed so that it can "see" all the other compoents, which can be very awakard. The switching can be annoying occasionally. Changing mixing modes on the DVD player often made the reciever switch to stereo analouge mode for DVDs insted of the 6 channel mode. Its obvious that JVC still has alot of work to do in the reciever market. They should really invest more time into manual design. Also, at the retial price, its fairly expensive for what it does. If this unit were about $500, it would be a bargin. The reason I bought this reciever is I thought it would impress me, and to be frank, it doesn't, but I'm not an easy person to please. I probably should have saved my money and bought a ONKYO TX-DS989 :)
Rating:
Summary: Underwhelming
Review: The JVC RX9000 has impressive specifications, but is so poorly designed as to largely render them moot. The RX9000 may be adequate, but I expect much more from a performance receiver in this price range. Both composite and S-video input connections are available for most video sources. However, connections must be homogenous. The RX9000 does not support mixed input connection types. This subtly documented feature necessitates employing a least-quality connection scheme catering to the least capable of your video peripherals. The RX9000 documentation is among the poorest, and most incomplete, that I have ever read. I question the 100 / 120 W power rating specification on this unit. My returned unit may have been defective, but I found it to deliver considerably less power to my speakers than the obsolete 50 W stereo amplifier it was to replace. The well-designed RF remote, clean sound, and integrated sub-room stereo speaker control were positives in the RX9000, and contributed heavily to my rating. ...I could only recommend this unit at a deep discount, if you do not mind poor video routing design, useless documentation and potentially anemic power.
Rating:
Summary: Underwhelming
Review: The JVC RX9000 has impressive specifications, but is so poorly designed as to largely render them moot. The RX9000 may be adequate, but I expect much more from a performance receiver in this price range. Both composite and S-video input connections are available for most video sources. However, connections must be homogenous. The RX9000 does not support mixed input connection types. This subtly documented feature necessitates employing a least-quality connection scheme catering to the least capable of your video peripherals. The RX9000 documentation is among the poorest, and most incomplete, that I have ever read. I question the 100 / 120 W power rating specification on this unit. My returned unit may have been defective, but I found it to deliver considerably less power to my speakers than the obsolete 50 W stereo amplifier it was to replace. The well-designed RF remote, clean sound, and integrated sub-room stereo speaker control were positives in the RX9000, and contributed heavily to my rating. ...I could only recommend this unit at a deep discount, if you do not mind poor video routing design, useless documentation and potentially anemic power.
Rating:
Summary: JVC RX-9000VBK Dolby Digital/DTS Surround Receiver
Review: this receiver really has some power and really clear sound the quality is supreme i highly recomend this receiver from JVC
| 
