Kenwood 1060VR Instruction Manual Download
Jamar Lizarraga
I'd used my trusty Kenwood 1060VR Prologic reciever for years. I decided to join the digital video age, so I needed a Dolby Digital receiver. After the first DVD, I almost burned my VHS tapes! No comparison there.
I narrowed it down to the VR409 and the Sony DTS845 (I think that's the model number). Almost the exact same price and feature level. The Sony has about 100 DSP modes that no one will ever use, and they all sound alike. Also, the front panel layout was confusing to me. Not that I couldn't figure it out, but something you're going to live with "forever" should be intuitive; the Sony wasn't. OK, so Kenwood it was.
I then compared the VR409 with the VR410. The only difference is that the 410 has 6 preouts for all channels. Great for building a monster system using six outboard amps. But, if you have that kind of $$$$$, you probably won't be getting a midprice product like the 410 anyway, so it's a moot point. The 409 has the exact same power ratings, S/N ratio, inputs as the 410, at $100 less. Decision made.
For $350, I got a lot for my money. First off, I've used Kenwood products in the home and car for years. I'm very hard on electronics and I've never had any Kenwood products break. Your mileage may differ, but I like Kenwood. Setting it up was easy enough. Took about two hours to get all the wires hooked up.
Many have complained about lack of bass. Well, my main speakers have 8-inch woofers (which are really midbasses anyway!) so I've always had a powered subwoofer. Recently upgraded to a Cerwin Vega LW-15, so bass is not a problem.
The receiver automatically detects a digital signal from the DVD and switches on Dolby Digital automatically. A nice touch. At first, I was ticked that when DD kicks in, the monitor loop is disabled. I have a 27 band digital eq that is the heart of my system. I'm "a tweak" and to me, nothing sounds right without eq. (Sorry to those tube amp purists out there!) Anyway, even though the eq is out of the loop, DD sounds great! Don't know why, but it does. You do need to turn down the sub preout level with DVD, but that's no big deal as you need to do that every time you switch sources.
As far as power goes, it's plenty for me, and I like it loud. To be fair, 100 watts isn't really a lot of power, especially for bass. Most folks that have a decent stereo in the car have at least 150 just for bass. So, 100 isn't a lot for big home speakers. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I haven't tried this receiver with main speakers that have 12 or 15 inch woofers. I would imagine that it might sound a bit underpowered. But, 99.9% of everyone reading this is into home theater and has a powered subwoofer anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem. Even if you have mains with 12's, setting the fronts to "normal" instead of "large" will direct much more bass frequencies to the sub preout. Letting your subwoofer do it's job and relieving the receiver stress of trying to power big speakers from 20hz to 20khz...but you all knew that already. (Not being snotty, just rambling)
Tuner, CD, DVD, VHS, the sound is great. This receiver is a bargain at $400 or less. You won't get more for the money. Check the specs, you'll see for yourself.
The remote. Ah, the remote. (Grit teeth and try not to throw it across the room) My only gripe about the 409 is the remote. Yes, it works. But.
I've never had a learning remote before. I was looking forward to having one that can't become obsolete. The instructions for enabling the remote to learn are written in English...but make no sense. I quick call to 1800Kenwood solved it though. The instruction manual for the receiver is well written, well illustrated and easy to understand; standard Kenwood fare. The SEPARATE instruction manual for the remote is a piece of junk.
I've multiple gripes about the remote. First off, the remote can only learn 5 functions per source. The remote didn't come preprogrammed to operate my Hitachi DVD, and since it can only learn 5 functions, it's not a true "universal remote". I can't do everything (heck, not even half!) the functions of the DVD's remote w/the Kenwood remote. The display on the remote is backlit. Nice. But
it's small and hard to read. I'm sure this was to control battery consumption as well as cost. Niggling here, but saying it anyway.
This remote is supposed to have two transmitters: an IR and an RF, enabling it to operate from anywhere in the room, thru walls, etc. Baloney. Unless you point it directly and I mean directly at the component you're trying to operate, you get nothing. Yes, I changed the batteries! The remote on my old 1060 VR didn't have 1/3 the functionality of this remote and it worked 10 times better. It didnt'go thru walls either, but you could have it pointed backwards and it operated the component. Everyone *itches about the remote...Hopefully Kenwood addresses this in future iterations of the 409/410.
In conclusion, the receiver rocks. You won't be disappointed. The only thing I'd change about the reciever itself is the lack of FM/AM presets. Sometimes, I just walk over to the receiver and turn on the radio w/o using the remote. You can't choose a preset from the receiver itself, you have to tune manually. Again, niggling here.
In conclusion:
For value for your $$$ you can't do better. Period. Sounds awesome and has more features an inputs than boxes costing $200 more.
Overall, its' a four, because there is no 4 1/2. If the remote was just......that much........better, it'd be a five. You can live with the remote.