Receiver/DVD combo?

[Brian Bunge]

Well, I got Sonnie's email and decided that I should post here instead of just lurking!

Some of you guys know me from other forums and know that I build custom speakers (mostly for myself and family at the moment) so I'm covered on that front. And I know receivers and dvd players fairly well. What I don't know is what type of receiver/dvd combos are out there. This will really be for a small music system in the formal living room which my girlfriend will be using as her reading/relaxing room. I'll build her some small bookshelf speakers that will literally sit atop a low bookshelf but I need a receiver and CD player to go in there as well. I've used a Sherwood Newcastle unit that has nice binding posts for the speaker outs but it runs $600. I was hoping that I could find something along the lines of $200-$300 that might work well.

Any help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated!

[Sonnie]

Hey Brian and welcome to the Shack! Glad you decided to chime in.

This may be too cheap at $159 MSRP... the fairly new JVC RX-DV31SL:



Features:

* 100 watts x 2 min. RMS, both channels driven into 8 ohms from 40Hz to 20kHz with no more than 0.8% THD
* 100 watts x 5 min. RMS, into 8 ohms, 1kHz, 0.8% THD
* Integrated, on screen display, with smart disc system
* Multi-brand A/V glow remote control for operation of other brands cable set top boxes, VCR’s, TV’s, and satellite dishes.
* Progressive-scan video out with 3:2 pulldown for seamless, frame-accurate images on high-definition and HD-ready TVs and monitors
* DVD Features: Variable search, slow, Resume play, Digest, Strobe, Angle and Zoom, JPEG Playback, DVD Audio
* 192kHz/24-Bit audio D/A Converter, 10-bit/54Mhz video D/A converter
* Dolby Digital and DTS decoders built-in for theater quality surround from digital sources
* Dolby Pro Logic II,Dolby Pro Logic in Full Digital Processing
* Digital Acoustics Processor (DAP) with 4 preset sound fields digitally recreates these venues in your own home.
* Ultra high performance 1-chip AV decoder featuring Adaptive Geometrical Chroma Mapping
* Quick speaker setup: The user can easily setup their system simply by inputing the number of speakers and the room size, then the receiver will do the rest.
* Audio Position: allows the user to set the subwoofer level for both 5.1 and 2 channel playback, for better fidelity
* A/V Compulink
* Fluorescent Display
* Line level Sub Out
* 4 Audio In, 2 Out
* 2 Composite Video In/Out
* Component Video out
* 2 S-video in/out
* 2 Assignable Digtial Inputs (1 Optical, 1 Coaxial) that you can designate to any digital source
* 1 Optical digital output
* A-B speakers terminals
* 15 AM and 30 FM station memory



Then there's the Motorola DCP501 Home Theater Receiver/DVD/CD Player that retails for $549 but Overstock has it for $169 right now:



Features include:

* DVD/CD/MP3 player
* Audio/Video receiver
* 100 watts x 5 channels
* Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS
* Plays CD/CD-R/CD-RW encoded discs
* Multiple I/Os for CD/DVD/VCR
* Tripath Class T solid state amplification
* Front A/V input includes Toslink digital input
* DCP501 single-disc tray
* Remote Control Included

[Brian Bunge]

Too cheap? The **** you say! No such thing, IMHO. Can you tell me where you saw it for $159? I'm seeing prices more along the lines of $200 or so.

I'm not real keen on the power ratings only being done at 40Hz and up, but realistically speaking, I'd probably add a sub for that anyway. I'll have to check the JVC website and see if there's a picture of the back plane of the unit. I'm hoping it has binding posts instead of those little cheap spring terminals, but for the money who's to argue...

BTW, I do like the silver case. I think it's sexy!

[Sonnie]

Okay... I thought the $159 was retail... maybe not. Looking back at where I saw it was on a news release site and it was linked to woot.com. Not sure if woot still has it available or not but you can check it out here.


That Motorola seems like a bargain, but I'm not familiar with it really.

[Tom Vodhanel]

Hey Brian,

With $250-300 to work with...I'd also think about a separate DVD player. There are nice $149-$199 receivers out there from Yamaha, Sony, Pioneer, ect. (not sure about the binding posts though). Match one of those to a good $49-69 DVD player (sony, toshiba,ect)and I'd bet you'd have better overall performance and longevity.

Tom V.
SVS

[JCD]

I'd be another one that would suggest separate components. Tom makes a good point about overall quality. Another issue I'd throw in to the mix is if the dvd or receiver section fails, you may have to toss the whole unit.

Maybe a receiver like this and a dvd player like this for a total of ~$275. Both units are thin, so they should fit in the space you've designated, and I've heard some positive reviews about the receiver.

On the other hand, the convenience factor and the lack of a rat's nest of wires are both very attractive.

JCD

[lcaillo]

From the view of a tech who fixes them, I vote for components rather than the all-in-one solutions. Most of them are built poorly and sometimes a failure in one part may disable the entire unit. Most of these shold be considered disposable and are not cost effective to service.