The RCA 1,000-Watt Receiver Home Theater System Performs Poorly
I've been very pleased with other RCA purchases I've made. Unfortunately, this deal really was too good to be true.
I snatched the last one off the shelf as if they would never get another one in stock, and quickly hustled through the checkout line. I started setting it up as soon as I got home.
Lucky for me (I try real hard never to read directions) all the connections and wires are color-coded on this model, so set up was pretty much a snap. I mounted the back speakers close to the ceiling at the back of my living room and got the receiver all situated in my ghetto looking entertainment center.
Well, at least the RCA Rt2770 made my entertainment center look ghetto. It's an absolutely gorgeous looking piece of home-theatre equipment. The shiny, ebony finish is perfectly complemented by the glowing blue ring around the main volume knob, which turns red when the unit is on standby. Very slick. The speakers have the same sleek look with grills over them that seem to scream, "Awesome sound!" I was impressed.
I took another look around the face the main receiver and noticed it had line-in for mp3 players (very cool) as well as a usb port...this thing could read mp3s straight off a USB drive! Wow. Every feature seemed tailor made for me. I turned it at a fairly low volume level, and sat back to enjoy some tunes.
The sound was crisp and clear, with a good base response from the powered subwoofer. The only problem was that it just didn't get very loud...I cranked the volume all the way up on my mp3 player and almost all the way up on the receiver itself before I was satisfied. Next I thought I test out the surround sound on a movie. Once again, the quality of the sound was nice, but I had the receiver turned all the way to max volume, and I still just wanted it a bit louder. And once the dishwasher started in my adjacent kitchen, I was really unhappy. Just a bit of extra noise seemed to drown out this "1000 watt" system at the maximum volume level! Sure I had set up or configured something wrong. So broke out the manual, retraced my steps, and did some research online, only to find out that many, many, people have the same complaint. Serves me right for making an impulse buy!
I tried to live with the unit another day, but I just couldn't do it. I packed everything back in the original packaging, and had it returned in less than 24 hours from when I first purchased it. The bottom line is that even though the RCA Rt2770 offers good looks, a great feature set, and high quality sound, it just doesn't have a enough volume to fill most rooms. This set may be tolerable for a dorm room or small child's room, but that's about it.
I ended up buying an 800 watt system from Sony for a few more bucks that offered better sound quality and more volume! Sorry folks, but the RCA Rt2770 just doesn't deliver what it promises.
Published by Nathan R. Hale
Composer, writer, and sci-fi fan Nathan Hale was born in the USA, but spent his childhood abroad in Africa and Europe. He enjoys lending a global perspective to all his creative efforts, including freelance... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentI dont know what you are talking about. This home theater set rocks my whole house. Its a great buy. You probably have a shitty mp3 player. Everything i hooked up to my set worked perfectly fine.
I have an rca 1,000-Watts Receiver myself and it sounds great if you have it set up right my set is 10db+ for sourround and subwoofer, 7db+ for left, right speakers and at 5db+ for center speaker have the drc off for DD wich is dolby digital at level 25 to 30 and trust me it sounds great turn off drc by pressing night on your rca remote during dolby digital mold it a bit louder even stronger bass.
VOlUME AND BASS on each speaker???
Can You Turn up your VOLUME and BASS without using the remote??? because I lost mine....and thats the only way I did it, but like can you use some of the buttons..?
I have to disagree with this article. I too thought it lacked the power to fill my small 15x15 room, but after adjusting the settings (distance and adjust the pre-gains) this system honks! I had my blue-ray previously playing through my stereo and thought there was no better. This RCA home theater completely out performs any home stereo (including stackable units like receivers, amplifiers and speakers), even at volume level 30.
I do not agree with it not being loud enough at all. I think anyone who had said it wasn't loud enough either had it set up wrong, or had a faulty tuner. I have had this same unit for almost a year now, and it IS ever bit worth the money!! It has a max volume level of 50, and its too loud at anything over 30. I have had more expensive systems that had broken quickly and not sound nearly as good as the RCA 1000 watt system.
I agree, this is an OK system. Sounds really nice at low to moderate volumes, but seems to run out poop at higher levels. 1000 watts is reaching. I would guess around 200W RMS.
All in all, it is a good system for the price. I bought it for a low budget basement home theater. I have it in a 14 x 17 room. Anything larger and it would be lost.
It sounds good, it's $150 I would call it a good value for the money.
I have no complaint about the sound. Use the "Level" button on the remote to adjust the output level of each speaker and you should have no problem with the volume. I usually listen with the main volume at 30 or so and it sounds great.
I used optical inputs and placed speakers at level just above armrest.. sounds great.
I recently purchased the 1000watt RCA(black) from Super Target $160..Sounds OK with the factory speakers but better when adding on extra ones (including the factory speakers)..I recently connected a supertweeter(needs more tweeter sound!) to the center channel and two extra Subs on the subwoofer channel..300watt tweeter..a 75 and 400watt subs..sounds darn good! I got the extra speakers under $80..