Customer Reviews

JVC RXD301S 110-Watts per channel Audio / Video Control Receiver with Wireless PC Connectivity

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a great receiver...but watch out, it needs to be well ventilated. Mine blew up after 31 days in an admittedly poorly ventilated entertainment center. The main problem is that the exhaust vents on the receiver are on the sides and it is a pretty wide peice of equipment so there is not a lot of room to breath in your average enclosed entertainment center. I'm also still waiting for the thing to be repaired because apparently JVC has no parts and everything is on back-order (its been 31 days since I dropped it off for repair).

I have since installed 4 exhaust fans in my entertainment center to prevent any overheating from occuring in the future. I followed the instructions on a website that amazon seems to refuse to print here so search google for "receiver cooling fans" and it is the site titled "cooling fans"

Two things to note.

1) You probably want more than 2 fans if you have a tight squeeze in your entertainment center.

2) You need to purchase a power supply tester ($10) to power the power supply without plugging it into a motherboard.

You won't be disappointed with the power and ease of use from this receiver if you keep it in good repair. It has all of the settings I ever wanted. It converts S-video and composite video signals to component if you have a component cable running out to your TV. The USB wireless tool is really cool as well. I have my computer set up with itunes on the other side of the room and I can play all of my music on my surround system without any wires running between the two.

Overall, I was very pleased with this thing while it was working...the ventilation is probably a good idea with any high powered receiver.

Great features, awesome sound, even with their "virtual surround back" feature when not having the back surround(s) installed.

Now my issues i had with it: If you know how to hook up a surround system, I suggest skipping the beginners crap found pages 1-18 or so. At 17 or 18 they have the set up procedures for the menus... read this. It took me an hour how to figure out how to get my dvd video input set to component, instead of composite or s-video, which is what it initially sets it as. The upconversion function is automatic, no need to pay mind to that. Next: heed any warnings for the wireless function. Mine was working for 5 minutes, then something I did screwed up the connection between the transmitter and the receiver. Just allow it to install its ops onto your PC, (not even a minute), and its great. Whenever its plugged in, the PC automatically switches audio out to the USB. MAC: just plug and play (of course... I love OSX!!), switch outputs though in the preferences the first time, and youre golden.

Overall I was pleased with it while the wireless worked. I ended up exchanging it as it was essentially defective, but rest assured, Ive found myself my home theater hub.

The other review mentioned heat issues. Yeah it got friggin hot, but a friend of mine just installed a couple of comp cooling fans in his ent. center, they work like a freakin charm. If youre afraid of overheating issues, $50-60 CompUSA for 2 fans and a power thing (not to mention hardware [screws], hole-saw, drill, and confidence not to screw up the back of the ent. center.

Great buy.

I bought this receiver to replace a large MGA receiver that was given to me many years ago. Everything was slowly going out on it and the final straw was when the left channel went. I did a lot of research to find an affordable, powerful and stylish replacement. I stumbled upon the JVC Receiver here on Amazon and realized after a lot of research that it was the receiver for me. One thing is that I new I would not have any problems with the venting that it requires to keep the heat problem under control. I use it with my Panasonic DVD/CD player, Panasonic TV and VCR, Denon record player and I have a port for my Ipod Nano. The Wireless feature is the best thing that has ever happened to me and my relationship with music. Now the majority of my music comes from my Itunes library wirelessly from my Mac PowerBook G4 (laptop). It's been great and I love this thing. I would recommend this product and I have.

Let's face it. At this price range a receiver is a receiver is a receiver. It just depends on which brand you are familiar with. They all have the same inputs and outputs and watts per channel.

What they don't have is wireless transmitting of your mp3's on your laptop to the receiver. This is really, really cool. It works very nicely from up to 20 feet away. That's 80ish gigs of music available to your receiver without a DVD or CD player! You keep your music on an mp3 player? Connect it to your laptop/desktop and transmit it to the JVC receiver! You listen to streaming audio on Rhapsody/or other? Transmit it to your great sounding stereo! With today's mp3 rage, how can you not want this capability?

Setup requires really, really reading the owners manual to get your components and speakers playing nicely. (USB setup is a snap). But when complete, it's as good as any in this price range.

Hey JVC, If I could do all the setup on my laptop and download it to the receiver, I would be in heaven...to many damn buttons!...hint, hint!

Don, Harrisburg PA

I bought this receiver last year to work with a new LCD TV, and placed it in a walk-in closet in my bedroom behind the wall the TV was installed on. The closet has good ventilation, and has the cable DVR and separate DVD player on a small rack, without any problems, both running without much heat at all. After installing this item on the rack, the temp in the closet went up significantly, and I could smell an electrical/hot plastic aroma. My wife and daughter immediately noticed it too. The surface of the receiver was incredibly hot, with any use of the device pushing it up even further. Not good. Based on that, the item was packed up and returned. I've never had an electronic device generate that much heat. Scary.
Heartland was the vendor that fulfilled the order via Amazon. They were great, handled the return without any issues. Good vendor. Bad product.

My father in law bought this on amazon for his wife for christmas. I set it up over the holidays to replace their aging receiver (which still worked but was long in the tooth and the display no longer worked...).

When I set up the RX-D301S using the existing cables, the multi CD player worked fine. HOWEVER, the receiver did not pick up AM or FM signal at all - using the existing antenna hookups from the previous receiver, nor the new ones in the box. No static - nothing.

Strange part was that, while they live in the Sierra Foothills (dial up country), every radio in the house gets fine radio reception - and the receiver we replaced does too. It's not like the new receiver was getting static - it was not getting any sound at all from the radio option when selected (But the CD changer worked great when plugged into the receiver).

I called JVC and walked them through the symptoms. They dismissed it as a faulty radio and recommended we bring it to a service store (closest one is about 60 miles away!). MY father in law ended up calling Amazon, who recommended sending it to the merchant who sold it to him for a warranty replacement ($20 shipping cost for him). He did that. The new one arrived. I installed the new one and.....got the same experience with the radio not working at all! I called JCV and explained the history - that I foudn it hard to believe that 2 consecutive NEW units could have the same issue and that there must be some troubleshooting tip I am overlooling....but no...they gave me the same story as before, recommending I get it serviced.

This is unacceptable to me. I am no home theater expert, but am handy with cars and PCs. For them to dismiss it so quickly and not offer to help more (especially on the second go round) is terrible, IMHO.

On this note, have any of the satisfied customers here experienced this issue and resolved it quickly and easily (it's not in the manual, believe me)? If so, please, please reach out to me with a tip ([...]). Thanks in advance. Phil

The USB thing was very cool. But, in spite of being in a well-ventilated space, with nothing stacked upon it, it kept getting too hot. It would also cut out if volume was turned up even moderately. Eventually, it wouldn't even turn on at all - just shut itself back down again. Could also never get more than the primary two speakers going, except during the speaker test.

I will say that Sixth Avenue Electronics was very professional in how the return was handled - no problems with that process at all.

Haven't really tried the receiver but the product was delivered promptly, packed well, and in good shape. I got this particular product, the JVC RX-D301S, mainly because it was the only 7.1 AV Receiver that was low-height enough to fit in the space I have. Other reviews have complained about overheating. The low height plus the fact that the top has no ventilation holes might contribute to that. Perhaps that's why other AV receivers are higher, although some AV receivers with built in DVD players are also low, but I didn't want a DVD player because I already have a DVD+VCR player and plan to get a Blu-Ray next.

After reading all the reviews I could find, I finally took the plunge and ordered this wireless wonder. Amazon came through (as always) receiving my package just under the 10 day promised delivery time.
Sure this baby lacks HDMI and is probably by now discontinued, however I purchased the (under $200) RX-D301S to use strictly as an audio receiver for my pc. The wirless usb attached to windows vista instantly and has worked flawlessly. Like most people I'd prefer to use the wired usb port if it was only located on the rear panel instead of the front (minor complaint). This unit is taking the place of a 15 yo JVC RX-809V (Pro-Logic) receiver which has been reliable and still runs strong but is pretty much obselete in this digital world. I'm quite satisfied with my purchase and am considering the RX-D702B for my home theater set-up. Although several reviewers cited negative customer service regarding this and other JVC receivers, I have to admit I had good luck with JVC products in the past, which I considered a positive factor for this purchase. Many others also mentioned this unit puts out a vast amount of heat, however it is mentioned in the manual that it requires much ventilation. Maybe it's me but I don't think it gets much warmer then the 809 which I kept in an enclosed cabinet, but to be on the safe side I keep the 301 out in the open. The 5 band equalizer appears to be the same as what's loaded onto the 809, which I find easy to use. The 301 is quite the bargain and I'm hoping the wireless has a range of at least half the 100' mentioned in the specs so that I can enjoy music files and internet radio in my family room when I get the 702B. I strongly recommend this receiver. I give the 301 a 5 rating because it's doing exactly what I purchased it for. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase this unit again.

With its numerous features and low sale price, I had high hopes for this receiver. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was short-lived.

First, beware! The four mounting feet on the cabinet base have tiny pads that just barely protrude from the metal feet. Tilt the cabinet just a wee bit (as when lifting it up off a cabinet), and the surrounding metal fake mounting feet can deeply gouge your fine wood cabinet shelf.

After connecting the receiver to several peripheral components (speakers, DVD player, television, etc), the receiver appeared to work quite well. I as able to feed MP3 audio from my computer to the receiver over the 27 MHz wireless link with acceptable audio quality.

But after about three hours of initial operation, a tell-tale sweet, electrical odor filled the room. After quickly shutting down the receiver, it was discovered that the internal cooling fan had never functioned. The unit appeared fried.

JVC Tech Support recommended either carrying it into a repair facility (unacceptable, since it smelled like a terminal meltdown, and its service life likely shortened), or packing it up and returning it.

Quality Assurance is becoming an endangered species in today's factories. It is all too often left to the consumer to discover a manufacturer's faults, then to waste hours resolving the issue, and to waste weeks waiting for a replacement unit. Then the consumer must write a negative review because he spent his money and time on virtual junk. Come on, guys, at least plug-in your products before you ship them out the door!

The JVC receiver is now on its way back to the retailer for replacement.