Good value for the Price

It's pretty hard to beat this CR "best value" receiver for the price (1/3 the price of the competing Onkyo DS696) but be prepared to give up some important features. The DVD/SatelliteTV surround performance is excellent in both digital modes.

I am less impressed when listening to classical music CDs. The only base/treble control available is in "pure stereo" mode (no surround)...when one switches to any of the simulated surround modes, the receiver seems to default to a "flat" non-controllable frequency response which is not (in my view) well-suited to the complex character of orchestral music. One can adjust the various speaker volumes and delays, but how could Technics/Panasonic omit Base/Treble control in the mode most widely-used by most music listeners? Pop,Jazz, Salsa, etc. based on brass, percussion and voice seem to sound a lot better than strings. Rock and HipHop are too synthetic for me to comment on and I don't listen to that stuff anyway.

If you use this receiver mainly for DVDs, VHS and TV I don't think you can beat the performance for the price. The DX950 outperformed the Sony STR-G3 I replaced with it. The set of available jacks is minimal. I'm happy, but something tells me I might have been a lot happier with the Onkyo DS696, despite its much higher price.