Kenwood Sovereign DVD (1 Viewer)

[Dave Moritz]

Does anyone have the Kenwood Sovereign DVD with the Faroudja chip? I am looking at buying the Kenwood for my own HT system. This would be replacing a Pioneer DV-525 DVD player. I currently own a Yamaha RV-X995 receiver but will be upgrading this to the Denon 5800 or the B&K.

 

[John Kotches]

Dave,
I am working with the Kenwood 5700 as we speak. Please take my video commentary with a grain of salt, as I am nowhere near the video expert that Stacey or Don are!
The picture I'm seeing is one of the best I've had in my system. The only one that might have had a better picture was the Camelot Roundtable. I don't know for sure which was better, as the Camelot was on an RPTV, and the Kenwood is on an FPTV, and there's been too much time between them :frowning:
Once you back off enhancment (which is edge enhancement, ewwww!) you're rewarding with an excellent image, with good coloration and tremendous detail.
Couple this player with a good RPTV or an FPTV setup, and I think you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of the picture.
DVD-Audio from the player is also very good, but not on a par with the best I've heard within my system. I've had a couple of very expensive players in the system, so this isn't quite fair to the Kenwood.
Downsides: The changer mechanism is slow, and some layer changes are excruciatingly long (3 or so seconds). The ergonomics of the player could be better, and I hate the remote.
For the asking price, with the combined video and audio quality it provides, and even with its quirks, it is worth your serious consideration.
Hope this helped.
Regards,