Video Asylum

Posted by Shawn Harvey on December 06, 1999 at 00:10:45:

In Reply to: Re: FYI... posted by GM on November 28, 1999 at 07:48:55:

Jumping off this silly bandwagon and onto another...

I've not seen the 7700 but I did own a 500 (which broke, believe it or not) and upgraded to a 7000. It performed much, much better on video than the 500 which was going for $400 at that time. I suspect it's close to the 530 model that's being sold now.

I would say that the 7000 is probably worth $550 if for no other reason than the really incredible picture and the fact that it's nicely built and will probably last a while. It does a decent job as a CD player too, better than my old HK 8540 in any event (which also cost $400) although it is no match for Meridian to be sure.

Right now I'm using the 7000 as a transport feeding into a Lexicon DC-1 which is my compromise to having two completely different systems for HT and audio. I'd say it does a pretty good job as a transport but I will also admit that I don't have any other transports around for comparison; nor do I know if the DAC on the Lexicon is good enough to point out the differences if there are any.

In any event, I'm very happy with the 7000 as a DVD player alone and would recommend it to anyone for $550.

Shawn Harvey