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The best feature of the Panasonic SA-BX500 surround receiver is it's bi-amplification and bi-wiring capability. It also doesn't have "on-screen setup" which makes things a little easier as you don't need to look at the actual user's manual.But the sound is stellar, it comes with a good remote, and would sound great at three times the price. At that point, you might as well just use satellites for the front as well and just listen to stereo through headphones, because the 7.1 would sound better than the 2.1 without biamping, using the towers.I have read (and participated in online forums) until my eyes cross about biamping and biwiring, and from what I understand, aside from the the fact that there are many misunderstandings, is that the way I am doing it is really the best way available with a receiver, and it is totally worthwhile with the SA-BX500.
And my Polks seemed designed just for it, as they definitely need the extra power.And I found 20" of Monster bi-wire speaker cable for $40 that I just cut in half, stripped and soldered the tips, then just plugged 'em in. But they have done all the hard work, their bi-amp circuitry works (and sounds) great, and I am definitely reaping the benefits.And it decodes every blu-ray audio format there is, a lot of more expensive receivers won't do that. Unlike most receivers, which make you sacrifice a surround channel for the bi-amp feature, I get full 7.1 surround along with biamping the front tower speakers by giving up the "second room" feature, so I gain much-needed clean digital power into my front Polk towers, with the crossover routines built right in to the receiver.
Unless you are going to amplify each channel of sound separately and have a variable crossover hooked inline to (or built into) your pre-amplifier of course, which is by far the best way available as it allows total customization by the end user.For myself, I will spend thousand$ less, and let Panny's R & D department make the critical decisions; if I want to override their "auto-setup" I can, and I did. They sound great for a an hour or two of easy work and a couple of Jacksons.So it's easy to switch between 7.1 for dvd/blu-ray and 2.1 for hdd/cd/turntable. Single-wired without biamping, the towers sounded meh, flat and underpowered, the difference was extremely obvious.
What keeps the price down on this receiver is the lack of HDMI upsampling from other inputs, as the SA-BX500 passes the HDMI, as well as all the other video signals, passes straight through. One of my very best home entertainment purchases.
The auto speaker setup was pretty good - I made only a few minor adjustments afterward. Denon (bought it slightly used - originally it was $[.].) died last week, so time for a replacement but I really didn't want to spend that much again.I saw the SA-BX500 at Fry's electronics for $[.]. First off, my $[.]. The sound quality is almost as good as my Denon and even when pushed it sounds great. I wasn't sure about it because I only owned Denon, Onkyo, and Sony in the past. But I thought - hey I love their home theater HD projectors so it has to be decent. Also it weights about 1/4 of the Denon and barely gets warm even after 4 hrs of use.As for the lack of video up conversion, this was a non-issue since I only have HDMI inputs.Probably the biggest plus for this system was the fact that it can decode the latest Blu-ray formats. Even some more expensive Sony receivers don't include both TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.
I bought this panny yesterday from Frys and it costs $249.0. I like the performance although this is not better than my Rotel amp but better than my old Yahmaha one. I tried to play blu ray through my htpc and it works fine. Since this is an entry level amp and the price is pretty good, I strongly recommend to buy one and enjoy its DBHD and DTSHD.
What I like:- Very clean detailed sound. It's pretty amazing that such a great sounding AV receiver can be had for so little money. - Movies sound extremely lively and dynamic.- Music and songs sounds great too.- Very good power. This light weight receiver delivers the goods in terms of sound quality and can handle the new HD audio processing (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD). If you're in the market for a budget AVR, you should consider this Panasonic.The price is in the budget range, but the sound quality is worth several times over the price. - Can handle the new HD audio formats.- Runs cool.What I think can be better:- Needs an On Screen Display.- A couple more HDMI inputs would have been great.It's a pity that Panasonic AV receivers get so little attention despite sounding so good. I've owned a few AV receivers which has cost more than 2 times than this Panasonic - and I have to say I love the sound the SA-BX500 produces a lot more than the rest.
This receiver has amazing output, by far the best multi channel for under a grand. I have it pushing a pair of Zu Audio Essence loudspeakers and the sound is beyond description. Short of spending over $2000 for a 2 channel, I don't think I could be getting better sound.
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