Kenwood VRS-N8100 Receiver

(100 W/Channel, 6.1 Channels - MPN: VRSN8100)

Description: The VRS-N8100 seamlessly merges your entertainment system with your home computer. The rear-panel Ethernet connector lets you stream audio and video files from your computer to your home theater system, so your entire family can enjoy them .... Read More

User Reviews

(3 Reviews)

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Date Reviewed: 06/19/2005
pnghiem from CA Member Since: Jun 2001 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 4 Months	The VRS-N8100 receiver offers plenty of features a ... Strengths: Compact size; clean and clear digital sound; lots of inputs including two digital coaxial inputs and two tosh optical link inputs. Weaknesses: Fan noise a bit loud; video A-B switching for only component inputs and no DVI inputs; speaker ouput level settings not memorized after power recycling. Summary: The VRS-N8100 receiver offers plenty of features and inputs in a very compact size. The sound quality is good with a large variety of audio settings including Dolby virtual surround sound for speakers and headphone. I used it mostly in Dolby Digital mode which does not have various simulated ambiance sounds in analog mode such as arena, jazz club, theatre, stadium and disco. The two coaxial digital inputs and two toshlink optical inputs came in very handy to take the pure digital sounds directly from various digital audio output sources including DVD player, HTPC and HDTV tuner. I noticed that the 100 watts per channel in digital amp is somewhat weaker than the equivalent wattage in an analog amp. The fan noise is low but noticable with its constant humming sound. The unit came with an A-B switch for component video but I wish that it could do DVI inputs switching instead of just component video switching. Perhaps, Kenwood should release an updated firmware to allow the unit to memorize any custom sound speaker level settings for each channel after the unit is powered down. The network function is a plus but its navigation through the Kenwood PC server onscreen menu is not very intuitive. In general, the VRS-N8100 is a great receiver for a home theater and regular music listening but it still has lots of room for improvement. 78% of People (7/9) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Date Reviewed: 04/27/2007
Dlord from VA Member Since: Apr 2007 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 5 Days	Arrived Defective Strengths: Small and pretty Lightweight, easy to return Weaknesses: The unit was defective when it arrived, and I was unable to get adequate assistance from Kenwood Customer Service. Summary: As a long time consumer of Kenwood products and assuming the unit would work when I took it out of the box, I very carefully connected speakers and components. I checked all connections several times to ensure all were correct. I turned on the unit and it immediately went into fault/standby. Rechecked all connections, turned unit back on with the same result and tried to contact Kenwood customer service. Sent an email explaining the situation and asked for advice, while waiting, I reset the unit, then disconnected components one by one to see if a cable was bad. I eventually disconnected everything and it still faulted. Five days and two less than helpful email exchanges later first suggesting to take it to a service center 20 miles from my home, I finally received a third response from Kenwood to just send it back to the point of sale without so much as a "sorry for the inconvenience". Pretty disappointing experience overall, will not buy another Kenwood anything again. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Date Reviewed: 01/29/2007
JMR4 from GA Member Since: Jan 2007 View Member's: Reviews Product Experience: 60 Days	Bargain - Great Value with Performance Strengths: 1) Streaming music from router audiophile quality WMA+OGG (decoded from FLAC) 2) 2 Optical Toslink / 2 Digital Coax inputs (SPDIF) allow me to play highbandwidth audio in full digital 24 bit soundcard Weaknesses: 1) No HDMI ports 2) does not allow you to connect A + B zone speakers (just 6.1 or 5.1 in 1 room) So I had to buy Speakercraft S4dc impedence matching speaker selector to drive my kitchen + porch Summary: The GUI on TV is clunky, yet convenient. We're an audio centric home streaming MusicMatch into SPDIF with non-techie spouse very happy. Streaming DivX is fine, checking out AVI from Hi8 camera is handy. I think the Amp sound quality is fantastic (not powerful - but clean + clear). Using Digital Toslink inputs from CD player and HTPC allows perfect 24 Bit audio input and the imaging is very nice, bass seems thin, but on HTPC I use Audigy 4 sound card via SPDIF and set a custom EQ for my recording source (FLAC or WAV or Stream into Kitchen or Living Room) to compensate. The heart of it all is the REMOTE CONTROL, which handled all but 1 funky Onkyo 5xDVD player from 2000 (but that's a short-timer). The ambience EQ modes are handy on downloaded audio files that vary on quality. The Neo (Cinema/Audio) EQ lets me adjust the image center in surround audio any way imaginable. it's my preference for Dolby Digital video (THX or 5.1 DVDs). I am adding some monstrous Polk Audio 4-way speakers soon and they will tell the truth. My Wharfedale Diamond bookshelf speakers in kitchen are notoriously thirsty 8 Ohm speakers and the impedence matching device (Speakercraft) leveled out the volume difference room to room (versus Bose 5.1 I hate in my living rm). Overall, I feel like this is a bargain. I don't want to stream video signals gimme a cord to my router anyday. The higher end A/V receivers of today have HDMI ports and that is a killer. Kenwood-san get on it (Motai nai desu nee)! This is a great chassis to leap forward if they do, but for my big tube Trinitrons on component video & digital audio for $280 delivered -- I'm happy as can be with a networked house and happy spouse jamming to hers/kid's tunes, too. I'll write back once I settle into the Team Media Portal (TMP) and Remote Wonder II to ATI 9600 XT All-In-Wonder 256Mb video card. For now I've not got the PVR functionality high on my list given no spare time for watching recorded shows. I suspect that I'll skip the Kenwood GUI and use TMP over component vid + SPDIF audio with the HTPC driving the TV Tuner card. Hopefully, Feb 07 I'll write back. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you? Report this as inappropriate. There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.