Customer Reviews

Panasonic SA-HE200S - AV receiver - 5.1 channel - silver

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

 

 

This receiver received high marks and is working
very well for me so far.

The one I got from c.c. had a rear 6th speaker and
rush hour 2 dvd included 'for free', which complemented
nicely my onky ht500 speaker package.

Watching/Listening to Attack of the Clone or Terminator2
was really thrilling.

Listening to CDs in DPLII (Dolby Pro Logic II) music
mode is nice (NEO 6 is also nice for modern music,
a bit artificial sounding for classical though)

Sometimes it is a bit confusing with all the modes
(many of which don't work depending on the input)
and hard to hear a difference.

Down sides:
- the remote (sliding cover, ugly) is not good
- I was expecting a modern receiver like this one
to have a graphic equalizer built in, it does not.
worse, except in normal analog stereo mode, you can
not even adjust bass/trebble. (nor it has the old
"loudness" button)
- the dynamic range compression adjustments (useful
at night) is only accessible through setup on the
unit / not easy to turn on/off

-> 4 stars (nice quality/price ratio)

I bought this unit with high expections as it was rated very well in multiple sources including Consumer Reports. However, it has a design flaw where the fuses blow and you get a "F70" error message which shuts the unit down. I followed up on the internet and found that this is a serious design flaw with the fuses that many, many folks have had so I would avoid this unit if at all possible.

All the other specs are great, multiple digital ins, sound quality (when working) etc but right now it is an expensive paperweight.

The receiver has excellent sound quality and seems to have a lot of options, even though the design of the box is very stylish and not cluttered. The remote is ugly and feels cheap and not sturdy at all, big dissapointment in that!
I liked the built in tuned unit, although the antenna is a bit [poor]. Look out for a better antenna if you're into serious radio listinging.
I miss the overview of input channel. There are quite a lot (TV, DVD, CD, PHONO, VCR1, ...) and I find myself sometimes scrolling along to find the correct one, as there is no overview on the display.
I miss the ability to control bass and treble.
The unit gets extremely hot, even when it's just turned on and no music is playing. This makes it difficult to position in a smaller flat, as you would not want to put your other stuff on there, it will just melt. On the other hand, if you live in a small flat, then you should not be buying such a powerful beast in the first place I guess..
Make sure you have the speakers to accompany this, otherwise you loose out on a lot of potential.