Panasonic XR55, Is it hype, cult or real delivery?

[misterq4u]

A lot of buzz about this digital piece, I am on the market for a side piece and wondering about all the raves.
Who here, has had this piece deliver satisfaction on a real-life large and open room?
I would prefer to filter out those listeners that have their speakers 2 feet away from them and those that are inside of four walls on a small cube shaped appartment, nothing against you, but I would like to hear from the large sized room owners.
Is it coincidence that the majority of the rave is coming from mostly gamers?

Please help educate me on how this "amazing" piece makes Marantzes, Onkyos, Denons and/or Rotels seem "overpriced". That is what I've been reading and need background on the claims.

[ericl]

Is it coincidence that the majority of the rave is coming from mostly gamers?
None of the raves i've heard have come from gamers. But i don't really talk to gamers. in fact they've all come from audiophiles. There are lots of fans on audioasylum.com.

I have the previous version of the XR55, the XR50. It's got a good amount of power for a normal sized room. I used it in a medium sized room in a surround sound system to good effect. Speakers were some small Aperions with about 87db sensitivity. Obviously it's not going to replace separates or a $3k Denon, but it's a great little receiver. Sounds great, especially using the digital inputs.

I've used it with a few other speakers as well, with good results. You sound like a serious HT guy with a big room so maybe it's not for you. I'm more casually into HT, just the occasional movie and football games. I don't want shake the rafters sound. I think it really depends on your speakers. If you're curious, you should try one out. They're cheap and pretty easy to resell it seems.

[misterq4u]

Thanks for the sharing information Eric. It does seem like a great unit for the price if i hear you correctly then. Does it allow you to select different crossover freq. for your speakers or is it pretty much plug and pray?