Yamaha Pianocraft vs. JVC EX

[victor.paereli]

Hell all!

I am shopping for a Hi-Fi stereo - not a very popular subject in a world dominated by surround sound - and would much appreciate advice about two model lines I have short-listed by now. As my criteria are both sound and a compact form-factor, the choice is not great, at least not in the price league for which I am aiming. The two lines on my list are Yamaha Pianocraft and JVC EX. Has anyone listened to music (not movies, I don't watch many of them) on these systems side-by-side and can comment on their comparative sound quality? I am especially interested in the following model pairs:

RDX-E700 vs. EX-D1 (or EX-A1) - both 30Wx2 DVD/amplifier combos
MCR-E410 (or RDX-E810) vs. EX-A10 - both 50/60Wx2 separates

There is a lot of talk about the quality of Pianocraft amps and EX speakers and I am a bit wary about EX-A1/D1 single-driver speakers. They may be have wooden cones soked in liquor, but do they deliver the quality sound as good two-driver speakers made of less isoteric materials? Sound volume is important, but not as much as quality. I like my music to sound good, but not necessarily very loud; 60W watts should be adequate, and 100 or 120W even better if affordable. Yamaha speakers are said to need to be "worn-in" by a day or two of continuous radio-play.

The reason I am asking for sound quality advice is that I can't listen to either model lines where I am - they don't sell them here and local brands are too weird to consider - and will most likely have to order them online. That's less than an ideal approach to Hi-Fi shopping, but hey... we don't live in a perfect world.

If you know of any other good systems, word about them would be appreciated, too.

Thanks in advance. Victor

[bubbagump]

Assuming the features and sound quality you want are present in both systems, I'd have to say go with Yamaha. I have several Yamaha receivers including one of the Piano Craft models, the mcr-e300. Simply put, Yamaha product is well designed and built for the long term. Your grandchildren will probably inherit and use the Piano Craft system. I still have a Yamaha R-100 stereo receiver from the the 80's that I use almost daily. It looks like hell after following me over the years but works flawlessly providing seemingly limitless clean power with a number of useful features. The only 'repair' was to tighten a loose volume knob. I also have a dsp-a3090 that I use in a home theater that hasn't been significantly improved on since (with the exception of video switching). The Piano Craft is robust enough to allow for speaker swapping. I used to use a pair of Paradigm Atoms and pdr-10 with it and was able to drive them to very realistic levels without a hitch. So, if you've narrowed you choices to JVC or Yamaha, go Yamaha.