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66 of 71 found the following review helpful:
 A 4+ star audio receiver with 2+ star video functions Feb 15, 2007
By Snap, Crackle and Pop
IN SHORT: As an audio-video receiver, it's solid on the A, but falls short on the V. Still, it's a very good option if that fits your needs.
The Panasonic SA-XR57 is a solid receiver for someone looking for to fill out the audio section of their home theater, especially if the compact size and lower heat output of this digitally amplified model are important to you. The sound and power are good, and the audio feature set is reasonably complete. For people who primarily need audio, and have a limited number of video sources, the rating would be 4+ stars. (There are a few quirks, and the power output probably won't fill a large room as well as other options, so it doesn't earn 5 stars.) Consider the SA-XR57 if you just have one or two primary video sources, and can manage with the XR57's connections, or directly connect the sources to the television.
Unfortunately, this receiver is not a good option if you want to rely on it for the video part of a more complicated home theater setup. See the detailed discussion below. So as a true AV receiver, this rates 2+ stars. If you are looking to connect and switch several video inputs, look at another receiver. (Yamahas are sweet, they will have to pry my old one from my cold dead hands.)
SOLID AUDIO FEATURES FOR MUSIC AND HOME THEATER
There's a lot to like about this AV receiver if your are looking for a lower-priced receiver for music or home theater.
- The audio quality is good and provides enough power to up to 7.1 channels to satisfy lots of people. It handles nearly all of the multichannel and audio formats you're likely to want to use, with a few small wrinkles.
- All audio inputs are processed and amplified digitally (with high sample rate conversion to digital for analog sources).
- Because it's a fully "digital" amplifier, it's much smaller and lighter than other options with the sound quality and features this offers. That also means it's more energy-efficient, and generates a lot less heat. (But note that does NOT mean you can squeeze this into a cramped, closed cabinet with no air or circulation!)
- Cleverly, if you've connected just a 5.0 or 5.1 speaker setup, the XR57 will automatically use the idle amplifiers from the unused rear surround channels to "dual amp" the front left and right, to deliver full power with less distortion.
The receiver has enough connections for most people, and the real binding posts for the speakers are nice to have.
It's not the most beautiful receiver, though it has a nice slightly retro feel - you can imagine the silver one in Starsky or Hutch's pad. If you can get past that, and past buying audio gear from the same company that makes your electric razor, you'll like this receiver.
LIMITED VIDEO FEATURES
This receiver will make you happy as long as your video requirements are limited. Other people will quickly run into some of the shortcomings of the video side of the XR57:
- If, like most people, you have any equipment that isn't brand new, this implementation of HDMI leaves a lot to be desired. You can only output signal through the same type of connection as it was input (for example a component connection in means component out). So you can't plug all your video sources into the back of the receiver and expect to run one HDMI cable to the TV. Given that the whole point of HDMI is to reduce cable clutter, it's not entirely clear what they were thinking when they produced this implementation.
- And even if all your gear is brand new, that won't help. There's only one HDMI input and one output. So even if all your inputs are HDMI, you can't connect more than one. Further, the XR57 supports resolutions only up to 1080i, so even as a pass-through you can't connect a 1080p source.
Just in case it doesn't go without saying, there is of course no upconversion (for example, turning a 480-line DVD signal into a carefully resampled 1080-line signal for the TV).
By the way, connecting video sources directly to the TV can work fine if you have a high quality digital output from your TV to the receiver. You can output the audio from the TV to the receiver over a digital cable. This will not only get you the audio for the directly-connected sources, it will also feed the Dolby Digital audio in the HDTV broadcast to your amp and speakers!
A FEW OTHER ISSUES
There are a few quirks that should be ironed out:
- Some of the features, including things you might use regularly like balance, can only be accessed from the front of the receiver, not from the remote. That matters a bit more than it might since you there's no separate level adjustment for the front left and right speakers.
- If you connect an HDMI source, you can only use the audio from that HDMI cable - you can't select another audio source. So, for example, you can't connect a DVI to HDMI cable and route the audio separately.
There's also some room for improvement on the nice-to-have features, although using a universal remote would hide most of the rough spots in the interface. (Just a quick note, if you haven't looked into what a good universal remote can do to simplify using your home theater, look into it! The Logitech Harmony brand is popular.)
- It would be great if there were a manual or automatic edit to the list of inputs/sources, so that you didn't have to scroll through ones that are non-functional to get to the one you want.
- It remembers the settings by source, which takes you part way there but isn't that much help if your DVD player/recorder is also your CD player.
- It's nice to be able to rename the inputs to fit your own description. (For example, I don't have a set top box, so I don't really like seeing TV/STB as the source.)
- There are just barely enough adjustments for most people, but it would be nice if they went a little further with the fine-tuning options for the audio and speaker setup. Not everyone has a dedicated, perfectly shaped room for their home theater, more options can help adapt to various situations. It would also help out some of those who are more particular about their settings.
Panasonic is also touting the ability to control an all-Panasonic home theater (TV, DVD, etc.) using their proprietary HDAVI control signal system. But other reviewers have given that unenthusiastic reviews, saying that it takes some time to figure out, and it doesn't do anything you couldn't do (maybe better) with a universal remote.
[...]
54 of 58 found the following review helpful:
 successor to the legendary xr55! Jul 09, 2006
By Eduardo Nietzsche
...what it has that the xr55 does not: HDMI, dual-amping of front mains now available during 5.1 playback, one extra set of component inputs, and all-channel stereo (called "party mode" on other receivers).
Otherwise the internal components are identical, so expect similar performance---in other words, outstanding SQ when matched with the right speakers, blows away all other receivers under five hundred bucks and most under a thousand. If you don't have a burning need for the extras above, you may still be able to get the xr55 for fifty to a hundred bucks less.
See my lengthy review of the xr55 for more details.
Boutique audio shops do not want you to know about this product, because it'd put them out of business...they make much higher margins selling you receivers costing several times this Panasonic's prices, since their profits are usually a fixed percentage of the street price.
ADDED 2/20/08:
I just finished installing one of these for a friend of mine, running a pair of Athena LS-500s (which are excellent speakers for the money, btw) and was very impressed again. The sound, especially movies and music running through the optical input, is just crystal-clear. The speakers were also brand new and being broken in, so they sounded a bit rough at the high ends...easily remedied by lowering the treble about -4.
Something I wanted to point out: the promotional pics of this receiver have that butt-ugly yellow and red "Dual Amp" logo on the top right of the front faceplate. Much to my relief, I discovered that this is simply a sticker and easily removable. So this receiver is just as beautifully sleek and clean-looking as the xr55 it replaces!
It simply boggles the mind why this receiver isn't even more popular than it already is, because the phenomenal sound it delivers is easily comparable to that of regular thick-and-heavy analog receivers costing around a thousand bucks. Sure the directions leave a lot to be desired, the user interface is less than effortless-to-use, and it doesn't have a gazillion different connections on the back...but doesn't anybody care about simple SOUND QUALITY anymore??? (scratches head)
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Limited functionality: home theatre for DVD, pretty much Feb 11, 2007
By tomh
To me, the promise and point of HDMI is that you have a single cable going to your TV (and even a single cable from other components).
But this unit will only work this way if you are just using a DVD player (or just connecting HDTV) because the single HDMI output is just a pass-through for the single HDMI input. I have another AVR in my living room (Yahama HTR-5990) which allows any inputs (analog or digital) to be sent out through the single HDMI cable. On this unit, all the video inputs and outputs are just pass-throughs, and are not switchable. So if you have composite in, you have composite out, or S-Video in require S-Video out. Thus, if you have more than one component sending video, you must have another video cable to your TV, and it can't be HDMI. I wish I had known this before purchasing this unit.
As a surround sound unit, it seems fine. Nothing special, but inexpensive and fairly straightforward. It's not a bad AVR, but didn't suit my needs very well at all.
7 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Incredible sound quality, no 1080p. Aaaahhh!!! Feb 23, 2007
By Daniel J. Zajic
I love this thing. However, it might be going back to the store because it can't handle 1080p! I'm dissappointed. I should have read the owner's manual not just the specs on the store's website. I could simply connect the Oppo directly to my TV and use optical/coax for audio, but if I ever get a 1080p HD-DVD player I will either miss out on TrueHD audio or be limited to 1080i. Such a small nitpick, but I'm a perfectionist. Maybe I can get over it. The sound quality is THAT good.
I love the small size, light weight, appearance, user interface and most of all, the outstanding, clean, brute power it produces. It really blows away my previous Sony 80w/channel.
When I first got the Panny, I spent over 5 hours straight listening to my CDs being amazed at how good a CD could sound. It made the difference in recording quality between a good and bad CD unmistakeable. It made me want to try SACD or DVD-Audio.
UPDATE (June '07)
=================
I still love this machine. It's light, small, and uses only about 30W of power! Unbelievable. I've got an HD-A2 feeding 1080i and TrueHD through it and I feel like I'm at the movies. Awesome, clean power.
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 1080p no-go Jul 28, 2008
By W. Walcott
As I reviewed the listing for this product, it was not clear what resolutions it supported. if you have 1080p in your plans (and who doesn't), this is the wrong choice according to the user manual. This is probably a useful tidbit to include in the product description before shipping boxes around the country.
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