Component Review: Technics SA-DX1040 Surround Reciver
Back in the early 2000's true Multi Channel Home Theater was starting to gain main stream traction thanks with major players like Denon, Onkyo, amd Marantz beginning to put serious money and time into making very capable multi-channel amplifiers and receivers. At Technics things were much less rosy, after over a decade of floundering in the market with rather mediocre offerings they were trying a large scale revitalization. Enter the SA-DX1040 (DA-10 outside of North America).
As the companies flagship Receiver for the December 1999-2001 model year the The DX1040 demonstrated a return to form for Technic's; emphasizing the companies original design philosophy of offering components that not only offering competitive specs but attractive styling at a lower cost than the competition and boy did they hit the ground running. After quite a few years of releasing competent but at times pedestrian looking receivers Technics swung for the fences and hit a home run with the top end DX receivers (the 1040 in particular).
Gone are the cheap plastic faces with rows for flimsy plastic buttons. In their stead is a very attractive and minimalist face (available in both black and silver). All the source buttons have been replaced by a solid feeling digital knob with positive detent's which displays each source on the main display located in the lower half on the face. Flanked by the Tone Controls and and tuning controls. The large volume knob has been moved front and center and is motorized and is an digital pot (though it still feels a bit cheaper than the source knob as well as the volume knobs on some of it's more costly contemporaries). All the remaining buttons feel solid and give a very positive click when pressed. Sadly the 1040 would be replaced in 2002 with the 1050 which took a step back in the looks department and really didn't ad much in features or specs department; hence why in europe the 1040 was still sold as the flagship receiver as the DA10 until they released the DA20 in the middle of 02 (which was a 1050 in the Chassis of a 1040) .
Though the real big news on the source front is that this baby features optical inputs (three of them) for CD, DVD, and TV as well as the standard inputs for Phono, TV, A VCR Loop, Second VCR/LD input, Tape Loop, and analog multi-channel input for a DVD player. There is no shortage of options for hooking up any kind of source you could imagine, you can also double up on inputs that feature digital options. So you can have a CD player on the analog inputs and a Mini Disc player on the optical and just toggle between analog and digital. The phono stage in the receiver is wonderful just as good as the one in either my 9090DB or my QRX5500A. Though to be fair making a solid phono stage by the early 2000's wasn't that expensive or hard; I really have yet to hear a decent receiver from this era that has a horrible phono stage.
Spec wise the DX1040 is quite the performer at 100 wpc over all 5 channels at 8 ohms and a very impressive THD rating of .09%. It also features a Bi-Wire mode that bridges the front and rear channels (something that even the more high dollar receivers at the time don't feature), which allows you to bi-amp compatible speakers with 100 watts available for both the highs and lows. It also features a High Impedance mode for speakers rated at 6 or 4 ohms; power bumps slightly to 105 for 6 and 4 ohms, why it needs a dedicated mode I'm not sure aside from it's another thing to list as a feature. It also has a neat little feature for the "purists" in the form of the VGCA button which bypasses the tone controls and disables the display in an attempt to eliminate any potential noise that these circuits could inject, it's a gimmick but kinda neat. Though Like most Technics is does run warm and actually features an active cooling system (a 80 MM fan bolted to the outside of the case, a last minute edition when they realized that overheating would be a problem when the receiver was in hi-impedance mode.
As for it's capabilities as a surround receiver it is pretty good at the time sporting 5 channel direct audio inputs but to be fair it's pretty underwhelming by today's standards but your not buying a 20 year old AVR for it's multi channel decoding, this guy comes from a time when they were still building these guys to be solid in both 2 channel as well as multi-channel mode.
Summary: The SA-DX1040 was a very impressive receiver when it launched rivaling some of the more expensive multi channel receivers available. Almost 20 years later and it is still an impressive little amp, while it doesn't feature HDMI, the latest surround processing standards and features it is still a very competent amp. If you want some serious power with many inputs all in a handsome chassis and you really don't care to have dolby dts mega ultra x atmos with cheese then the 1040 might be for you. Given that that a nice one tops out at around $100 shipped as of this posting it a pretty damn hard deal to beat both vintage or new.
Typical cost (at time of writing):
In the wild: $15-75* (depends on store and region)
Online: $100-150 (including shipping)
*(depends on store and region prices are based on what I have personally seen or have paid )
Pros:
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| DA10 from Technics 30 years in Europa Catalog (Italy) |
Gone are the cheap plastic faces with rows for flimsy plastic buttons. In their stead is a very attractive and minimalist face (available in both black and silver). All the source buttons have been replaced by a solid feeling digital knob with positive detent's which displays each source on the main display located in the lower half on the face. Flanked by the Tone Controls and and tuning controls. The large volume knob has been moved front and center and is motorized and is an digital pot (though it still feels a bit cheaper than the source knob as well as the volume knobs on some of it's more costly contemporaries). All the remaining buttons feel solid and give a very positive click when pressed. Sadly the 1040 would be replaced in 2002 with the 1050 which took a step back in the looks department and really didn't ad much in features or specs department; hence why in europe the 1040 was still sold as the flagship receiver as the DA10 until they released the DA20 in the middle of 02 (which was a 1050 in the Chassis of a 1040) .
Though the real big news on the source front is that this baby features optical inputs (three of them) for CD, DVD, and TV as well as the standard inputs for Phono, TV, A VCR Loop, Second VCR/LD input, Tape Loop, and analog multi-channel input for a DVD player. There is no shortage of options for hooking up any kind of source you could imagine, you can also double up on inputs that feature digital options. So you can have a CD player on the analog inputs and a Mini Disc player on the optical and just toggle between analog and digital. The phono stage in the receiver is wonderful just as good as the one in either my 9090DB or my QRX5500A. Though to be fair making a solid phono stage by the early 2000's wasn't that expensive or hard; I really have yet to hear a decent receiver from this era that has a horrible phono stage.
Spec wise the DX1040 is quite the performer at 100 wpc over all 5 channels at 8 ohms and a very impressive THD rating of .09%. It also features a Bi-Wire mode that bridges the front and rear channels (something that even the more high dollar receivers at the time don't feature), which allows you to bi-amp compatible speakers with 100 watts available for both the highs and lows. It also features a High Impedance mode for speakers rated at 6 or 4 ohms; power bumps slightly to 105 for 6 and 4 ohms, why it needs a dedicated mode I'm not sure aside from it's another thing to list as a feature. It also has a neat little feature for the "purists" in the form of the VGCA button which bypasses the tone controls and disables the display in an attempt to eliminate any potential noise that these circuits could inject, it's a gimmick but kinda neat. Though Like most Technics is does run warm and actually features an active cooling system (a 80 MM fan bolted to the outside of the case, a last minute edition when they realized that overheating would be a problem when the receiver was in hi-impedance mode.
As for it's capabilities as a surround receiver it is pretty good at the time sporting 5 channel direct audio inputs but to be fair it's pretty underwhelming by today's standards but your not buying a 20 year old AVR for it's multi channel decoding, this guy comes from a time when they were still building these guys to be solid in both 2 channel as well as multi-channel mode.
Summary: The SA-DX1040 was a very impressive receiver when it launched rivaling some of the more expensive multi channel receivers available. Almost 20 years later and it is still an impressive little amp, while it doesn't feature HDMI, the latest surround processing standards and features it is still a very competent amp. If you want some serious power with many inputs all in a handsome chassis and you really don't care to have dolby dts mega ultra x atmos with cheese then the 1040 might be for you. Given that that a nice one tops out at around $100 shipped as of this posting it a pretty damn hard deal to beat both vintage or new.
Typical cost (at time of writing):
In the wild: $15-75* (depends on store and region)
Online: $100-150 (including shipping)
*(depends on store and region prices are based on what I have personally seen or have paid )
Pros:
- 100 WPC with .09% THD
- Very attractive minimalist aesthetic
- Inputs Galore (3 optical ins)
- 5 Channel Direct inputs
- Bi-wire/Bi-Amp mode
- Motorized Volume Knob
- Not as polished as some of it's contemporaries
- Runs Hot
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