Gateway LN520 6.1 receiver review

[project86]

I already know what you are thinking... Gateway audio products??!?!? Allow me to elaborate...


HISTORY

I actually stumbled upon this product while visiting a friend out of town. He had recently purchased a system called the Gateway KAS-303, which included a DVD recorder, digital receiver, and 6.1 speakers. I immediately recognized the speakers as the HSU Ventriloquist VT-12 set, and remembered that all the Gateway consumer electronics I had seen in the past were just rebadged products from other brands. So I figured the other 2 parts were probably not made by Gateway either.
Here's the set on Amazon

Upon listening to it, it sounded excellent, which was no surprise because I had heard the Ventriloquist setup before. Not the greatest for music, but excellent with movies. The receiver especially interested me because I was in the market for a new one and had been especially interested in the digital models. I made it a point to do some research about it.

When I searched, I found that the receiver in question was actually a rebranded Sherwood Newcastle R-903.
Sherwood link
Looked decent, with the usual digital drawbacks, such as crappy speaker connections (spring clips in this case) and minimal inputs. I did a little searching but could not find this model for sale anywhere.

I moved on and was considering the Panasonic XR-55 or XR-57, and was very tempted by that Pioneer Elite EX500 receiver that comes bundled with a universal DVD/SACD/DVD-A player for only $250 on Ebay (someone review that please!). Then I stumbled upon the Gateway LN-520 on Ebay brand new for only $130 shipped. I also found it at another website for about $20 less, but the site seemed questionable so I spent the extra cash on Ebay.

At one point I used to have a fairly respectable system consisting of a Sony ES STRDA3ES receiver, 5 Paradigm Titans, and a Klipsch KSW-10 sub. I had a rough year and had to sell that stuff to make ends meet, and used a cheap crappy Sony HTiB for a while. Last year I upgraded to an old used Sony STR-DE545 receiver and those Insignia speakers that everyone likes. I don't have much time for movies, so I just got a pair of the Insignias and modded them using the GR-Research kit. I also got an Athena P300 sub, which is good enough for now. It sounds decent, but I thought the Sony was holding me back, and wanted something better. This Gateway/Sherwood seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

I'll add some pics when I get a chance. You can tell from the Sherwood website though that this thing is a bit.... funky looking. I actually kind of like it, but many of you may not. If you can get past the goofy color, it actually has a high quality look to it. It's lightweight like all these digital units are, roughly 10 pounds. Front panel has a small amount of buttons that really could have been made a bit bigger. I'd prefer a knob for volume rather than buttons, but no big deal. Rear panel reveals only adequate digital ins (2 optical 1 coax, with one optical out), plenty of s-video and composite ins/outs, but no component option at all. No big loss for my current TV but it would definately be an issue for some of you. The remote seems like the usual affair: ridiculous amount of tiny buttons scattered all over the place with no real thought to ergonomics or ease of use. On the other hand, it is universal and has a macro feature, which could prove useful.

I just barely got this thing up and running, so I'll take a few days until I can add further impressions. So far, I like it a lot. It sounds worlds better than my Sony in my attempt at an A/B comparison. OSD is crude but effective. Plenty of options for speaker size,distance, and Xover frequency. Also a novel feature that I've never seen before: if you don't have a 6th speaker for rear surround, you can use that 100 watts to power a sub. Obviously that won't be enough for anything huge, but could be very helpful for someone upgrading from an HTiB that has a passive sub; they could keep their old one powered by the 6th channel until they scrape up enough cash for a better sub.


Further to follow when I've had a chance to listen a lot more.

 

[project86]

I'm sorry I have not returned to finish this; things have been a bit crazy for me. I got a really bad cold that lasted for 2 weeks, and everything sounded all muffled, so I wasn't much good at listening. Then I realized the unit had a problem on the digital inputs, where there was a background noise during very dark scenes of video, or while skipping between tracks on a CD. I spent more time trying to troubleshoot than really listening critically. So anyways, here is the rest of my review.

In comparison to my old Sony, everything seems to be more real. I have played drums in several bands over the years so I am very familiar with the live band sound. This receiver seemed to make my music sound a bit more real, like the band was in the same room with me instead of just playing a recording of the band.

Specifically, I listened to the self titled album from MuteMath. Track number 10 (I think) is called "You Are Mine", and I couldn't believe how good it sounded through my speakers. It's a sort of slow jazzy type song, with great sounding drums, and it sounds very real to me. I also listened to Haydn's London Symphonies, which I find to be very well recorded. I was able to pick up a lot of sound that I had never heard, such as valves opening/closing on some woodwind instruments.

Overall, I found this to be a great sounding piece of equipment. I was somewhat limited by my relatively mediocre speakers, so I don't know if I got to appreciate the full potential. Also I don't have a lot of experience with some of the other well known digital receivers like the Panasonic XR series, so I'm not sure how they compare.

The seller on ebay promptly refunded my money when I shipped the defective unit back. I will be replacing this with either an Onkyo TX-SR504 or an HK AVR135, both of which are available for around $180 refurbed. We will see how they stack up.