[eico1]

I'm a little bummed about the purported low-end analog sound

this might be a good use for all those di/os left lying around...

steve

[vpolineni]

I just bought a Chris Venhaus Flavor 4 power cord and want to know if it will work with the sa-xr45.  Does the sa-xr45 have an iec inlet to use after market powercords or does it only accept the cheap two-pronged cords used on dvd players...

[mgalusha]

I just bought a Chris Venhaus Flavor 4 power cord and want to know if it will work with the sa-xr45.  Does the sa-xr45 have an iec inlet to use after market powercords or does it only accept the cheap two-pronged cords used on dvd players...

In stock form it does not have an IEC inlet. That is one of the items Wayne updates.

[ABEX]

You can buy an IEC Adaptor from Redcobracable.com ,but Waynes solution is by far the best.

[smargo]

I'm really intrigued by all the hype that the Panasonic SA-XR45 is getting. I think a majority of the people on this forum -- which tend to favor more esoteric gear -- haven't heard most of the mass-market digital receivers, thus making the Panny's performace seem like a revelation.  

What I'd be interested to know is how the XR45 (stock or modified) sounds versus the other digital receivers out their such as the Harmon/Kardon DPR 1001 (soon to be replaced by the DPR 1005 and 2005), Sony's S-Master recei

[/list:u]...

Here is a comment of someone who emailed me of his impressions of the sony avs 500es with the s master pro technology- he has had the unit a little over a month. as far as i know he hasn't made any mods or tweaks, etc.

"Yes. I really like the Sony 500. For surround sound it is the best I have
had set up, and the best I heave heard outside of audio shows.
It does everything very well.

At first I was so enamoured that I thought it might replace my 2 channel
tube set ups. And it images as well as my PP and SET amps in 2 channel.

But, it just lacks a little something - it may be purely placebo effect -
wouldn't want a plug and play to replace my hard-fought preferences.
Another BIG plus is it is really easy to work - my 5 y/o daughter can play
her DVDs.

The one problem I have is I haven't been able to get my VHS to play - could be the VHS though as I haven't tried it on another TV."

Cheers,
TommyK

[ABEX]

ez-v wrote:
I'm really intrigued by all the hype that the Panasonic SA-XR45 is getting. I think a majority of the people on this forum -- which tend to favor more esoteric gear -- haven't heard most of the mass-market digital receivers, thus making the Panny's performace seem like a revelation.
-----

When I first heard about the new Digital amps my first thought was seeing that they are a mass market manfs. dream to make I hoped that a good one would trickle down at an affordable price.At this moment it seems like it is the Panny unit.

The part about mass market gear by EZ:
When going to listen to the prdt. for the first time ,I needed to go into the soundroom where they keep their most prized show pieces at CC(LOL) to make certain of what I was hearing. Most of the stuff they carry truely makes me cringe so I do not pollute my ears for more than a minute at CC and BB. No offense to people that buy things from them as I own plenty myself.

Anyhow what I noticed was the Panny is very clear and I would not have a better demo till I could place it in my own system. I sometimes pass through a more upscale place that carries a manfs. pieces that are mid-fi and they use them with relatively expensive stuff like Vandy's also. Just ruins an otherwise good experience.

I think the Panasonic units are very revealing of things almost like Passive Controllers ,being very clean. Most Mid-fi stuff adds  colorations which make me run from the room.

I have heard Rotel and B&K Receivers which are very good ,but I still like seperates.The Panny is just a great deal and having it modified I think would just further enhance it for delivering even better sonics.Most  Mid-Fi gear add more colorations is what I notice compared to what the Panasonic delivers. As John Curl and others have mentioned I think the thing that makes it so good is the Direct transfer being almost left totally in the digital domain. Less sometimes gives you more.Cutting back on the coversion circuits might help enormously.

Just thinking and rambling!

[Wayne1]

There has been A LOT of talk and interest in the SA-XR45 mod.

I am a little overwhelmed.

I will be working on some refinements to the mod for two channel use.

I have a few ideas that will improve the performance of the mods. I will implement them in the current modded receiver.

Both Tyson and I have received quite a bit of e-mail asking how the stock Panny compares with the modded one. Tyson should get his stock one this week and he plans to run it in for a week or so. Sean is also getting one this week.

We are currently planning a rematch with the modded Panny vs a stock one for Saturday the 31st. If anyone in the Denver metro area has a well run in SA-XR45 or SA-XR25 and would like to compare it, please get in touch with Tyson or me.

Pete,
If you would like to bring your modded Carver and your Panny, that would be fun.

I have also been getting a lot of mail and calls about demoing the modded unit. I have gotten the impression that most of the interest is in the Panny for two channel use. The modded unit that will go out for demo will be set up JUST for two channel use. There will be binding posts for four speakers. There is not enough room for a center channel connector.

After the shoot-out on the 31st, if folks are still interested in taking a listen, I will ship it out on an audition tour. I have been contacted by quite a few good customers and old friends who want to be first to get the unit. I am not sure who exactly WILL be first but I will try to be fair about it.

One more little note, the price of the mod DOES NOT include a power cable. The mod changes the stock power connector to an IEC connector. Make sure you have a good power cable to use if you want to get your Panny modded.

I will be working on a special power cable for the Panny that can be ordered with the mods at a discounted price.

For the last comparison, we used a NITRO power cable with Furutech Rhodium Plated connectors on the Panny. In Tyson's HT system in was plugged into a Monster Cable power strip. In the two channel rig, it was plugged into a BOLDER Cable Power Bar with Bybees Inside.

[JoshK]

As long as we are hypothesizing about the future of digital technology it seems as though, with a all digital approach one could add a digital xo in the works and actively biamp (triamp) your speakers.

[dwk]

As long as we are hypothesizing about the future of digital technology it seems as though, with a all digital approach one could add a digital xo in the works and actively biamp (triamp) your speakers.

No hypothesizing necessary, really, particularly considering that it was the Newform biamp article that started much of the excitement on this unit.

Someone over on diyaudio has already done this using the XR-10 (precursor to the XR45). He's taken a studio xover and modded it to have I2S output, which is run directly into the amp section of the XR10 (which itself has been modded to run from batteries). Fully digital all the way.

Another guy has used the TI MuxIt parallel-to-LVDS-serial chips to pass 6-channel DVD-A digitally to an XR10, and one-upped himself by adding a DSD-to-PCM stage as well.

IMHO this is a big part of why I find these Panny units are so exciting - they potentially open up an accessable high-quality multichannel digital experimentation environment.   I would have been perfectly happy with 'pretty good' performance at the price - that they exceed this is outstanding.

[_scotty_]

Thanks to Wayne for taking this piece of gear to the next level. I thought  I saw some potential for modding when I looked inside my XR25. Are there any before and after pictures available. Has anyone tried a Monarchy DIP
Processor to reduce jitter between the transport and the Panny.

[Wayne1]

Scotty,

No pictures of internals.

I use a modded DIP II between my DVD player and the Panny in my HT. I have not tried it without it. I will try to find some time to compare it to just a straight digital cable. I have found quite an improvement when a Bybee purifier is used on the digital input, even with the DIP.

[Tyson]

Yes, I forgot we had the Panny plugged in to the bybee'd power strip too.  

It's funny, the more time passes the more my audiophile snobbery pre-conditioning tries to convince me that the panny didn't "really" beat my expensive gear.  That such a thing is simply impossible.  Yet, no matter how improbable it seems, there it is.  It happened, and 3 other people were there to verify it.  

I keep wanting to tell Wayne to bring the Panny back, surely we were mistaken, surely this little guy wasn't that good.  But it was that good and I'm not crazy.  It just seems so weird to sell $5k worth of gear and get a modded $300 unit.  Granted the Panny will cost more with mods, but I was about to get my old gear modded as well, and it would have cost even more to do both the preamp and the amp.  Even with the mods and the bybees, the cost differential is still friggin huge.  That's what's so difficult to wrap my brain around.  

Anyway, enough rambling, time for me to go back to impatiently waiting for my Panny to be delivered.

[audiojerry]

My oh my, Wayne has really created a lot of buzz about the Panny. I am familiar with Wayne's work, and I have great respect for what he does, as well as his ear. I'd love to hear what he has done to the Panny.

For those who may not know, I auditioned the Sony AVD-C70ES. It was so impressive that I ordered the newer C700ES. I eventually sold it to a friend primarily because I found the remote to be too cumbersome. It is an incredible value that provides a powerful array of capabilties in a one box system. It had very good sonics, especially multichannel SACD, and it offered a high degree of musical performance. I've listened to a lot of mega buck "audiophile" systems that were not as enjoyable, but in the end, I was too accustomed to my hi-rez system and unwilling to compromise. It was dead quiet, and made no noise that others have complained of.

If Wayne has found a way to take the Panny to a significantly higher level, that is truely noteworthy. I look forward to hearing what further refinements he can come up with.

Wayne, with speakers that have only one set of binding posts, would the modified Panny not be compatable?

[Zoe]

Tyson, It has become evident from many of your other posts that you are a big classical music fan.  But, sadly, you folks didn't appear to have listened to much  (or any) classical music in the Panny Mod listening tests.  What can you tell us about how it handled big tangled orchestral passages?

[maxwalrath]

With so much talk of the quality red book cd playback, how does it compare to SACD playback? Just to be clear, with the panny all one would need is a transport (cd and dvd transport in my case)? Everything in redbook stays in digital all the way through? Sorry, I just want to be clear...it seems like it might be a good time for me to go with some less expensive gear (and a good time for Wayne too...$$$$).

[maxwalrath]

and Tyson, besides the AVA amp what was the rest of your system? Right now I have a Sony DVP9000ES, an Eastern Electric Minimax, and the AVA. I just want to get a feel for the type of system you were using when you preferred the panny. Also, do all VMPS's need bi-amping with the panny in your (or Wayne's) opinion? I have RM1s and love good bass.

[Tyson]

Zoe,
The week before we had it at mgalusha's place and we did listen to the beginning of Mahler's 3rd several times.  In his sytem (no bybee's, and not biamping), it untangled large orchestra very well indeed.  Seperation, low level detail, scaling dynmics, all of it was very impressive.  What it did not have was the smoothness and sweetness I demand for my 2 channel setup.  So I doubted I would ever consider buying it for the 2 channel system.  For my HT, maybe, but not the 2 channel setup.  Don't get me wrong, it sounded good, and did some things extremely well, but even after modding it was not smooth and pleasing like my hybrid tube amp and preamp are.  Then the next week when we put it in my 2 channel system, the bybees made all the difference in that area, and in fact it was more pleasing to listen to than the AVA 550ex amp Transcendance 7 preamp and Mensa DIO I own.

maxwalrath,
I don't know, as I don't own any SACD's, nor do I intend to buy any.  I think it is a dead end format and we'll never see the public embrace it.  My primary concern is CD playback because I have close to 3000 CD's now, most of which will NEVER appear on SACD or DVD-A or DAD, or whetever . . . so, my primary concern is CD.  

And, since the Panny has a nice tuner already built in, I can sell my classic Sansui tuner too.

[Zoe]

Where were all the Bybees in the system when auditioned at your place? i.e. how much moola are we talkin' here?

[Tyson]

Well, no moolah for me, cause I had bought them all long ago  But there was one in front of the power supply, one on the digital input of the Panny, and one at each of the speaker terminals.  We didn't pull them out to compare how it sounded sans bybees at any of those places, but based on past experience I can hazzard a good guess that the bybee on the digital input made the biggest impact in smoothing out the sound.  The power supply was probably 2nd, and in my experience the speaker level bybee's are merely "polishers" that just give that last little bit of clarity.  I'd say that a bybee in the digital cable and one in the power cord would be all you really need if you really want to keep the cost down to a minimum.

[Mathew_M]

How close does CD sound to SACD with the Panny?  If one has a small investment in vinyl, is the Panny good enough to convince them to sell and switch to cd?