More consumer reports musings...

[Debbi]

Posted yesterday on speakers---a lot more subjective than cold electronic receivers without a soul....2003 issue lists Panasoic SA-HE100= as the best value at 300.00.It rates better than onkyo tsxr600==$500 and HKavr320=$650. Panasonic unit discounted many places at about $215.It looks like Panasonic units(HE 70 and HE200 also well rated) meet or beat specs better than the important names bandied about here.Its a 23lb unit and not one of the 12lb sony or pioneer pieces of junk a few years ago. It is also one of the few designed to operate 4 ohm speakers. Assuming the tests are conducted correctly on accurate test equipment...it appears there may be some bargains out there that no one here discuss very often....I have a Denon and 2 Yamahas, so I have a knee jerk brand bias, but if the Panasonic tests well, has good specs and good features and the price is right...why not try something different? Maybe its time to reward makers who really produce value at low cost rather than chase yesterday's big names.

[Woochifer]

Sound & Vision also raved about that Panny model (no surprise since they write glowingly about everything that they review), but that model also did surprisingly well on their test bench, especially in the demanding all channels driven test. I hear you on rewarding manufacturers that deliver quality performance for the money, but the thing to watch out for with entry level models that pack as much under the hood as the Panny does is that their reliability can be very inconsistent. Until that Panny model came out, Kenwood was often cited as the great price/value leader, but friends of mine in AV sales chided them because of the high failure rates that they saw.

My brand bias towards Yamaha stems more from their build quality and reliability than anything. I buy electronics with the intent on keeping them for a while, and will pay a little extra to get more rugged construction and something that's likelier to last.

[gimmieshelter31]

Makes me wonder if more units have reported problems simply because more of them are sold !!
I'm sure in the world of automobiles for instance more Dodge Neons have reported problems than Vipers due to the higher number of Neons sold.FWIW I"ll stick with my Yamaha also because whether it benchtests its output claims or not, it is built like a tank.