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| Model: | SA-XR55 |
| Category: | Receiver |
| Suggested Retail Price: | $300 |
| Description: | 100 watts times 6 channels CLASS-D home theater reciever |
| Manufacturer URL: | Panasonic |
| Model Picture: | View |
| Review by thoriated_tiger (A) on November 04, 2005 at 09:09:46 IP Address: 208.35.159.6 | Add Your Review for the SA-XR55 |
3rd week with this TI PurePath-based unit. (PurePath is a descendant of Tocatta's Equibit digital amplification system).Speakers are Klipsch Synergy (SF2, SB2, SC1). Sub is an 8" AR.
Sound is most decidedly hi-fi, not mass-market. The way this unit does amplification is not like anything you've seen before -- it doesn't use transistors to make gain. Basically it is a DAC which can swing big current. If fed a digital signal, the signal remains 100% in the digital realm until just before the binding posts. Any analog input signal is converted to digital. (I believe the sampling rate for analog inputs is 96khz.)
I don't find it bright at all, in fact, I find it full-bodied, with a fairly flat freq. response. It has a sound reminiscent of a really good tube amp, with iron-fisted speaker control. No bass slop. Essentially, each of the 7 "amps" is single-ended, eliminiating distortions found to some extent in any push-pull design.
For 2-ch music, if you turn all surround modes OFF, the unit will automagically go into "Dual Amp" mode where the non-used "amps" are strapped to the two front main speakers. The unit will also handle bi-wire setups for the two main front speakers.
On 2-ch music, the better the recording the better it does.. just as expected. Will expose mediocre recordings for what they are. Perhaps this is where the 'bright' comments come from -- people hearing, for the first time perhaps, the grunge in the typical commercial pop recording. Feed it good music, and it'll treat you well. I'll say this: RCA's Living Stereo recordings, Telarc DSD, Harmonia-Mundi, Dorian, and other 'niche' record labels sound grrreat through this little cheap unit!
Movies are a treat. Dialog is crisp, intelligible. The experience of hearing the Panasonic through my horn speakers, anchoring a huge front-projector picture is cinematic. Total immersion.
All I can say is... try it. Get it from a vendor who'll take a return, and run it for a week or two or three. It is so cheap that it is a worthy experiment. In closing, I will have to say, the sound this little toy puts out rivals my Dynaco Stereo 70, and even compares favorably to my Audio Research tube toys (SP6A preamp, D-70 Mk II power amp.) I think it actually sounds cleaner than the Dynaco!
| Product Weakness: | 100w may not be enough for hungry speakers. Binding posts are a joke, but better than spring clips. Out of the box it is not set-up for full-range speakers. Setup routine is cryptic, but any computer-saavy user should be able to hanldle it. No phono stage, but enough inputs to be able to use any good phono stage with it. |
| Product Strengths: | Relaxed, genuine High-Fidelity, natural sound. Very transparent, noise floor is low. So low you can stick your ear in the HF horn (with playback stopped or paused) and not hear a thing. Nothing. Unbeatable value. |
| Associated Equipment for this Review: | |
| Amplifier: | Panasonic SA-XR55 digital receiver (100wpc x 7) |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | None |
| Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Sony dvp-ns770 dvd/sacd |
| Speakers: | Klipsch Synergy (SF2, SB2, SC1, 96db 1/w) |
| Cables/Interconnects: | Monster XP speaker cable, Monster Intelink 400 for digital coax |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Classical, Jazz, Movie Scores, Rock |
| Time Period/Length of Audition: | 3 weeks |
| Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | Panasonic AE700 LCD projector on a 96 |
| Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
Follow Ups:
i bought my SA-XR55 with the intention of using it for the 4 ohm fussy magnepan MMGs that i wanted and eventually to be used to biamplify the MMGs using analogue ins fed from a behringer DCX-2496 x-over/room correction unit.the thing is, the panny elevated the sound out of my superzeros so much that i no longer lust after planars. it improved EVERYTHING top to bottom. had i known it was always amplification holding me back, and not my superzeros, i would have sprung $50 more for the SA-XR70 with it's high rez HDMI input for SACD, DVD-A and eventually HD-DVD and blue ray.
i bought mine for $240 delivered from a store that was in my state and paid the extra $10 or so in tax to get it from a 4 1/2 star vendor instead of cheaper at a 3 1/2 star store and not deal with any hassles.
the panasonic sounds awesome. i recommend it to anyone looking to buy a reciever, even a $1000 unit. it spanks the daylights out of my onkyo and i could hear the difference clearly and imediately as soon as i powered it up.
bass was tighter and deeper (the one thing my NAD 2 channel did right)
treble is much faster and more detailed, but not at all harsh. it's so grain free that i can put my ear right next to my tweeter and still not hear any HF sizzle. i bought the onkyo because my NAD treble sucked. it was downright sonylike... overly polite to the point of being muffled. the panasonic isn't as foreward as the onkyo, but it's alot more matter of fact detailed.
it can be a little ruthless on a poorly recorded disc though. i have an 80s compilation disc where vocal siblants sound a little spitty, but haven't heard it on any other discs. in fact, on well recorded discs, siblants sound better. the panny really reveals alot of the texture in HF white noise that you never knew was there before. one track i'm familiar with surprised me when i finally heard that the *tsss tsss tsss* sound was actually a gourd with beads on the outside. it could have been electronic for all i knew before.
i don't find it to be bright at all. in fact, i find it a little bit on the warm side, but much more focused in the treble. even overly bright recordings like "the buzzcocks" can sound much more relaxed and warm on the panny which surprised me as did how much better it tamed my mission M71s which were painfully bright on my onkyo. i'm listening at lower volumes though. the balance might shift if i cranked it.
it images like crazy. i've never gotten an image that can extend a foot outside of my speakers with either the NAD or the onkyo. not only does the image extend wider outside the speakers, it sorts the center image out very nice too where the onkyo tended to bunch in the center or highlight at the speakers. the panny is much more precise, and for the first time ever, i've heard the air between instruments in the image. on the right material, the panny is super palpable.
it's no slouch in dynamics either. drums *thwak* with speed and power. i've never heard my zeros portray scale as well as they do now. they sound alot better with the sub off now.
the thing that REALLY amazed me though was the midrange purity. vocals really come to life on panasonic class-d recievers. vocals sound nearly as good as maggies now. if the onkyo was "50% there", then the onkyo is easily "75% there now". the difference isn't subtle. i'd say it might even be up to 85% of maggie sound. my zeros aren't as fast, but they're nearly as pure in the midrange now without doing an A/B comparison. still, i'm comparing $200 speakers on a $240 reciever to $1200 planars on a $1500 amp. what they lack in speed, they make up for in image specificity.
my SA-XR55 has cleared a ton of top to bottom congestion in my system that i never even really knew was there. it's super detailed, yet at the same time relaxed and easy on the ears. i've never heard CDs sound so good before. maybe some of that is the pure digital path, but the panny does analogue quite nicely too. my VCR and FM radio has never sounded so natural in my room.
until everyone starts making class-d recievers, panasonic SA-XRs are a steal. JVC is doing it cheaper, but i don't trust their reliability and sony and harman kardon each have a class-d model that's more expensive.
panasonic class-d offers honest bang for your buck or my name isn't buudget minded.
So analog SACD must be converted to PCM, then PWM, then back to analog... and you still like the sound?? Perhaps the PCM conversion has a positive effect by diminishing the ultrasonic hash of SACD??Did you need to turn the treble down initially?
i have an onkyo DVD player (starting to break again... i just bought a sony changer for 108MHz X 12 bit video and SACD) which allows me to switch it's output between PCM and bitstream. i could hear no difference on the panasonic. that would probably confirm that it's converting everything to PCM.if it is PCM, it's the smoothest i've ever heard it! i always listened to my onkyo/onkyo setup in bitstream mode. the panasonic spanks the crap out of it top to bottom regardless.
if you're looking to do high rez audio... you might consider the SA-XR70 instead as it has an HDMI input. had i known my SA-XR55 would elevate my sound so dramatically, i would have sprung the extra $50 for HDMI. i was planning on eventually feeding the panny analogue ins to biamp maggies i wanted to get, so HDMI would have been useless.
now i don't want maggies so much anymore and will have to contend with 16/44 multichannel unless i use analogue ins. oh well. i'm still happy with my panny as-is.
is the price one can get from internet vendors, which is what I paid for my SA-XR55.So far I've only played with it in my home theater/2nd system, but I do plan to eventually try it with my main speakers, which needs active biamping.
In 2-channel music, do you kow if you can set the main speakers to "large" but still have subwoofer out to function? If I do this and play a CD via digital connection, I can't get the subwoofer to work if my mains are set to "large."
Also, if you biamp, do you know if there's a way to set a crossover point and not send full signal to all 4 channels? From the manual, It looks like the biamping is meant to speakers that have passive crossovers to take care of the crossover function.
But even now, is is one heck of a bargain and sounds great.
i don't think that the panny is truly doing biamplification, it's doing biwiring. if you want to use the panny for true biamplification, you'll need an external x-over.i bought my SA-XR55 with that as my intended purpose eventually. i was going to get maggie MMGs and x-over with a behringer DCX2496 sending 4 channels of analogue in. now i'll be getting a DEQ2496 instead for 2 channels of room correction only with a digital out eventually feeding a monarchy DIP2496 upsampler/jitter reducer.
if you're looking to biamp, then the SA-XR55 is a great unit and the behringer x-over will also let you tune your in room response to +-1dB if you buy a $50 mic.
had i known my panny would breathe so much life and detail into my NHT superzeros, i would have bought an SA-XR70 instead for high rez HDMI multichannel digital audio.
from what i've gathered from my owners manual, "biamp mode" is really just dual stereo or what my onkyo called "all channel mode". you'll be sending the same full bandwith signal to both your drivers and still having the speaker's x-overs doing the same thing only with one channel wasting treble power and the other wasting bass power.
The 230 was at JR.com (J&R Music World, NYC) about a month ago.I haven't played with bi-amping, so I haven't explored the options for that. The manual does mention there is some degree of control of what gets sent where.
As for subwoofer in 2-ch dual-amp mode, with front speakers set to LARGE, mine sends subwoofer output. I'm using coax in.
I have the five speakers as close to within 1db of each other, and the sub has a nice +4db bump (to account for the radio shack spl meter curve, dontchaknow).. when playing 2-ch music, in dual-amp mode, my subwoofer does move... but it isn't an overly-inflated, thumpy bass.. it just plays along with whatever is being fed to it.
I'm playing "Marches in Hi Fi" right now (the recent CD re-release of the old Living Stereo with Fiedler and the Pops,) and I can guarantee that woofer is working. =o)
my subwoofer still works in large mode. small mode only affects the mains. actually, the panasonic has large and small for surrounds too on a seperate channel.if you're using a radioshack SPL meter, make sure to check out some websites that have EQ curve compensation. the unit isn't entirely flat. it's curve is about 7dB low at 20Hz i believe and rolls off at the treble too. the midrange is pretty flat though.
the 4dB "bump" you're speaking of may acually be a 3dB rolloff unless you're compensating for the response. i don't have the URLs for the sites, there's at least 3 different curves i've seen withing about 1-2dB of each other (i was going to average them), but they're easy to find. i just copied and pasted the curves. hey... why don't i just do that here?
Set the meter for "C" weighted, Slow. For best results, set the meter on a tripod to keep reflections at a minimum. Get a Test CD that has 1/3 octave warble tones like Stereophile Test CD #3. Start with the 1 kHz tone and set the meter at 80 dB and set the 1 kHz tone to show 0 dB on the meter. I would suggest setting the meter at you listening position to see what the response is there. Start the test tones and with the chart I am suppling below, mark the level beside the frequency on the chart. You can do the corrections after you finish. Stand as far from the meter as you can when doing this so reflections off of your body does not influence the reading. Also try not to have anything else to near the meter. This will give you a close approximation of what the frequency response is of your speakers at your listening postion. Below is the correction chart. Everything is added.
(unknown which model this chart is calibrated for. see below for another chart)
20 Hz. _________________20HZ 6.2DB...................+7.5db..........+6.85db (avg.)
25 ____________________25HZ=4.4DB..................+5db.............+4.7db (avg.)
31.5 ___________________31.5HZ=3DB.................+3db.............+3db (avg.) =
40 ____________________40HZ =2DB....................+2.5db..........+2.125db (avg.)
50 ____________________50 =1.3DB......................+1.5db..........+1.4db (avg.)
63 ____________________ 63HZ =.8DB..................+1.5db..........+1.15db (avg.)
80 ____________________ 80 HZ =.5DB.................+1.5db..........+1db (avg.)
100 ___________________100HZ =.3DB.................+2db.............+1.15db (avg.)
125 ___________________125HZ =.2DB.................+.5db............+.35db (avg.)
160 ___________________160 =.1DB......................-.5db.............-.2db (avg.)
200 _Start______________ Flat.................................-.5db.............-.25db (avg.)
250 ___________________ Flat
315 ___________________ Flat
400 ___________________ Flat
500 ___________________ Flat
630 ___________________ Flat
800 ___________________ Flat
1kH___________________ Flat
1.25___________________ Flat
1.6 ____________________1600HZ = .1DB
2 ______________________2000HZ =.2DB
2.5 _Start_______________ 2500HZ =.3DB
3.15____________________3150HZ =.5DB
4 ______________________4KHZ =.8DB
5 ______________________5KHZ =1.3DB
6.3 _____________________6.3KHZ =2DB
8 ______________________8KHZ =3DB
10 _____________________10KHZ =4.4DB
12.5____________________12.5KHZ =6.2DB
16 _____________________16KHZ =8.5DB
20 _____________________20KHZ =11.2DBClayton- are these corrections needed to make Radio Shack meter readings accurate? Do I add 6.2DB at 20 HZ and 11.2 DB at 20KHZ?
Yes, these make it pretty darn accurate. A lot of people have had their meter calibrated and this was the average correction. All corrections are added as you say. (AUDIO ASYLUM)
More compensation numbers from a subwoofer site for the ANALOGUE model.
At 10Hz add 20dBs to the meter's readings and at ...
12Hz add 16.5dB
16Hz add 11.5dB
20Hz add 7.5dB
25Hz add 5dB
31.5Hz add 3dB
40Hz add 2.5dB
50Hz add 1.5dB
63Hz add 1.5dB
80Hz add 1.5dB
100Hz add 2dB
125Hz add .5dBanother set of analogue meter compensation numbers:
Correction Values for Radio Shack SPL Meter.
10hz........+20db
12.5hz.....+16.5db
16hz........+11.5db
20hz........+7.5db
25hz........+5db
31.5hz.....+3db
40hz........+2.5db
50hz........+1.5db
63hz........+1.5db
80hz........+1.5db
100hz......+2db
125hz......+.5db
160hz......-.5db
200hz......-.5db
250hz......+.5db
315hz......-.5db
400hz......0db
500hz......-.5db
630hz......0db
800hz......0db
1k...........0db
1.25k......0db
1.6k........-.5db
2k...........-1.5db
2.5k........-1.5db
3.15k......-1.5db
4k...........-2db
5k...........-2db
6.3k........-2db
8k...........-2db
10k.........-1db
12.5k......+.5db
16k.........0db
20k.........+1db
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