Panasonic SA-XR50 Slim Design Receiver (Black)

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular...the one to get
Review: Hmmm, lets see...for under $250 you can get the best of a very small crop of cutting edge digital amplifier receivers. What does this mean? It means that although you don't get 7.1 channels or some of the bells and whistles of $1000 receivers, you get sound quality that is as good if not better. That is what I call a good deal.
As other reviewers have noted, this receiver has a digital amplifier (not to be confused with digital surround sound that all receivers have). This is brand spanking new technology...less than two years in consumer audio. What it translates to is that you can get true audiophile sound quality for a fraction of the price. I first heard of this receiver on audiophile and home theater message boards. Here I was reading of people replacing thousand dollar high end receivers with this Panasonic unit. And not just a few people, but many. I'm not an audiophile, but I can appreciate good sound. This receiver has it.
I replaced a three year old Pioneer mid-level surround receiver with this one. The difference was night and day. The only comparison I can make is to recall the first time I heard a cd play. For those who are old enough to have listened to tapes and albums, you know what I mean. This receiver is that good. You'll hear things on your cd's and movies (both good and bad) that you never heard before.
If you want a big, heavy, feature rich receiver, try a Pioneer 1014 or something similar. If you want small, light, with spectacular sound like you've never heard before, this is the receiver to get. If you want both, spend another couple hundred or so and get a Panasonic XR-70. But, at it's price point, nothing out there offers sound quality even remotely close to the xr-50.

Rating:
Summary: Great value
Review: I purchased this item and love it. Its rated #2 in consumer reports. I have a denon and Pioneer receiver in other rooms that I paid much more for. This is a much better value. Only drawback is the surround terminals are very small so you have to use small wires.

Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: I'm using it with Athena Point 5 MK II speakers and it sounds fantastic. Sound is very clean and detailed whether you're watching a DVD or watching TV in Dolby PLII mode.

The Harman Kardon AVR125 that I had sounded 'warmer', but not as detailed or clean.

I also thought this sounded slightly better than the SA-XR25.

Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: I'm using it with Athena Point 5 MK II speakers and it sounds fantastic. Sound is very clean and detailed whether you're watching a DVD or watching TV in Dolby PLII mode.

The Harman Kardon AVR125 that I had sounded 'warmer', but not as detailed or clean.

I also thought this sounded slightly better than the SA-XR25.

Rating:
Summary: Light n' Easy
Review: The one important thing to note when buying electronic equipment is that once you pop, you can't stop. Every time you think that you have the perfect system, something else comes along that you absolutely HAVE to have, which leads to something else, and so on ad infinitum.

Having bought new surround sound speakers, we needed a new DVD player, and then, naturally, a new receiver. The weight of this system is a big plus, being less than half the weight of our old one, but the new one's not as aesthetically pleasing with those shiny silver buttons.

Leaning over the shoulder of my resident techie, I can now advise as follows:

1. You cannot connect a turntable to this receiver; there are no phono inputs. Not good for those of us who still have LPs.

2. It's DVD-Audio ready for the audiophiles among us.

3. Setup is relatively easy, controlled by two buttons only: a multi control button and the input selector button. This can be irritating if you need to adjust the tone after you have finished setting up, since there are no separate bass and treble buttons, and you have to go through the setup menu again. You can however adjust the level of the surround speakers and subwoofer from the remote.

4. No onscreen display available

5. No switched AC outlets to allow you to plug in other components.

6. In addition to the receiver, the universal remote can be used to control a TV, tape, DVD player/recorder, VCR, CD player and the radio. This reduces the number of remotes you need around you. It has a weird shape that takes some getting used to, and I still use my separate remotes - guess old habits die hard.

7. Input jacks on the front make connecting camcorders, video games, etc. quite easy.

8. When listening to music or looking at a movie, there are SFC (Sound field control) modes which you can choose to enhance the sound environment. For music there are six modes (live, pop/rock, jazz, etc.), and for movies another six (action, drama, sports, etc.) However, to the untrained ear, like mine, I cannot detect a significant difference if any of these modes are selected.

Overall, the sound from this receiver is quite good, very clean, though it doesn't seem as powerful as my old receiver (a Technics SADX930). This could be due to differences in the calibration of the volume control, but since I rarely play it at very high volumes this is a non-issue. The centre channel seems a bit weak compared to the other channels, but with so many sound options to choose from and customize, it is very possible that I may have missed something and need to tweak it some more.

A very nice receiver for the price and features.

Amanda Richards, December 14, 2004



Rating:
Summary: Light weight -- Big sound
Review: What drew me to this receiver was actually the power requirements - about a third of my present Sony receiver. Set it up in my office and one by one hauled my speakers upstairs to try it out...gave the old guy quite a workout :-)

I was really surprised how good it is. There's an ocean of different sound options and it takes a while to wade through them. Result: really clean sound, but don't even think about using it without a sub-woofer in multi-channel modes. The bass and treble controls only work in 2 channel stereo mode. I found this mode useful for FM radio when I didn't really want the woofer pounding away.

OK.. the bottom line here is lots of clean sound but a little bright -- choose your speakers carefully (Paradigms sound great). The sound has a hint of "digital" -- not as "warm" as a good conventional receiver. You will need to play with it for a few days before you realize the sound you want.... but there seems like dozens of different options -- good thing your settings are remembered. I do miss the equalizers on my big Sony.

Great Sound! Almost enough volume to make your ears bleed -- gets a little compressed at very high volume, but no distortion (I didn't drive it high enough to see if it would start clipping). I won't miss the massive heat produced by my old receiver... and my electric bill will surely be a lot less. No doubt you'll see a lot more digital receivers in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Light weight -- Big sound
Review: What drew me to this receiver was actually the power requirements - about a third of my present Sony receiver. Set it up in my office and one by one hauled my speakers upstairs to try it out...gave the old guy quite a workout :-)

I was really surprised how good it is. There's an ocean of different sound options and it takes a while to wade through them. Result: really clean sound, but don't even think about using it without a sub-woofer in multi-channel modes. The bass and treble controls only work in 2 channel stereo mode. I found this mode useful for FM radio when I didn't really want the woofer pounding away.

OK.. the bottom line here is lots of clean sound but a little bright -- choose your speakers carefully (Paradigms sound great). The sound has a hint of "digital" -- not as "warm" as a good conventional receiver. You will need to play with it for a few days before you realize the sound you want.... but there seems like dozens of different options -- good thing your settings are remembered. I do miss the equalizers on my big Sony.

Great Sound! Almost enough volume to make your ears bleed -- gets a little compressed at very high volume, but no distortion (I didn't drive it high enough to see if it would start clipping). I won't miss the massive heat produced by my old receiver... and my electric bill will surely be a lot less. No doubt you'll see a lot more digital receivers in the future.

Rating:
Summary: The Digital Amplifier Technolgy Sets This Reciever Apart
Review: What sets this receiver appart is the new technology Panasonic introduced recently. It's the Digital Amplifier, technolgy based on the class "D" Switching Amplifier and a chip developed by TI.

There is no DAC (digital-analog converter) in the conventional sense. All digital input signals activate the amp by switching the amplifier stages on or off based on the data (0's and 1's). The amp responds in pulses of 100-200hz. The pulse artifacts are then filtered out. It's a true digital amplifier. All analog signals (tape deck etc.) are converted into 192/24 DIGITAL signals first and only then fed into the digital amp.

There's no preamplifier in this receiver either!! Tone, volume, and other controls are handled digitally. When you use a digital connection to this reciever you are getting as pure a signal as is possible.

Distortion caused by analog signals is non-existent as long as the signal is digital. Example: Use a digital optical or coax connection from your CD or DVD player and the signal STAYS digital until it gets to your speakers. Even analog signals are extremely clean because they are converted to 192/24 digital signals and only then fed into the digital amp.

The tuner is also extremely good. Plus this is a 6.1 Home Theater reciever with all the bells and whistles, an awesome buy at this price.

The only caveat I have with this receiver is that it requires a 20 hour break-in period. Right out of the box, the sound is a bit too bright and has a hard digital edge when used for critical listening. It takes about 20 hours of use before it mellows into the smooth but crisp sound reproduction it is capable of.

This digital amplifier can actually out perform $2000 designer amps due to its advanced digital technology. Eventually all manufacturers will be using this technology but for now the XR50 is your best bet!

Rating:
Summary: great receiver!!! Highly recomended
Review: When I was planning to buy a surround receiver I was not even considering Panasonic, mostly because I was not aware that they made any separate hi-fi components and receivers.
One of my main concerns was that all the surround receivers appeared to be too bulky and too heavy and I was little worried about placing a receiver on a glass shelf under the TV.

After doing one last research on the Internet and audio/video articles I stumbled around only good reviews and praise about Panasonic line of digital receivers and their amazing sound quality. What really got me was the weight of this unit - less than 10 pounds! and its slim line design - easy to fit in my entertainment center.
I was definitely looking for audio quality more than the receiver's footprint, but there it was the perfect product - Panasonic digital receiver w/ all the bells and whistles for only $220 online!
I couldn't be happier with my purchase!
This receiver has no problem powering a set of 200-watt front speakers and 4x100-watt surrounds incl. the center channel!

The sound is just amazing! Lots of configurable options (might be little overwhelming at first and may require you to spend some time listening to your system to tweak it to your liking) and plenty of analog/digital inputs/outputs - the back panel of this unit is just filled w/ them incl. analog 6-channel input for DVD-audio or SACD (super audio CD) player.

The player lets you choose the size of your speakers, cut off frequencies, which are to be redirected to the subwoofer, or it will automatically redirect all the bass to the fronts in case you don't haveone or define a one. I actually got rid of mine since my front speakers go down all the way to 35Hz and now my system sounds even better, it's like having two subwoofers, one for each channel! It also let's you control the volume of each speaker and the subwoofer separately from the fronts so it becomes fairly easy to build your own home theater using different brands and/or sensitivity of speakers.

For the price it might be very well the best surround receiver out there! Panasonic just released a 70 model, which includes large speaker terminals for both A/B fronts and the capability of bi-wiring your fronts (if your front speakers support this) and also features HDMI input/output, on screen menu as well as Dolby Pro-logic IIx support. However the 70 series one is almost twice as expensive but might be worth considering if you're looking for even more.

There are only couple of features that I miss:
The receiver has large speaker temrinals only for the front speakers - all the surrounds are regular push-pin type. (Probably slim line design of the receiver didn't allow for much room to fit these in).
It would be nice to be able to adjust tone - bass and treble for the fronts while in surround mode (this can be done only for stereo sources).
Some of the options cannot be accessed using the remote - for example A+B speaker switching in case you plan to use it in stereo mode only or in a multi-room configuration.
I guess that's it.
Overall I highly recommend this receiver and rate it 5 out of 5!
Job well done Panasonic!