6.1 receiver with Class-D power amp sections, Faroudja scaler/deinterlacer and HDMI connections.

Please notice that all prices in this review are referred to the Italian market or to the Internet, so prices in your own country should be checked.

 

The Philips comes in an adequate shipping carton with a very useful slot as a handle.
The package includes a full set of cables and accessories ranging from a DAB aerial to S/PDIF cable to audio and SCART connectors, listed at the end of this review. They are something more than plain entry-level items and this must be taken into consideration since wiring a multi-channel receiver is nothing cheap and, if you are a beginner, understanding what to buy can be tricky too.

The user manual is a very good one and includes an "Audiovideo" glossary that is worth downloading from Philips website regardless of your intention to buy this very device.

I like the looks of the Philips Cineos series.
As I was saying when testing the DVP 9000S player, it resembles me something between the fantasy machines of "The legend of the extraordinary men" movie and a Mac computer; the small Class-D power sections allowed a thin and rather little case that can easily fit into a bookshelf.
Three beautiful, round LC displays take the place of the usual, anonymous, single square one. They light up in pale blue and can be switched across three different levels of brightness with a classy fading effect.
In my opinion, this amplifier can be considered a really good piece of design.

 
 
Problem is, like in the Cineos player front panel switches are pip-sized and their writings are definitely too little as well; the indications in the LCDs are impossible to make out three feet away from the unit because of their grey on light-blue colours. User has therefore to rely on the OSD for all operations, and this is rather uncomfortable especially with music software. The two front "Source" and "Volume" knobs don’t have a good grip and are made of unexpectedly cheap plastic. A "small" (3.5 mm.) phone jack is present at front panel right end, this size seems to be almost a standard in HT machines but I’d prefer the larger, hi-fi standard jack.

Quite luckily, the remote control is a definitely good piece that will let you forget the above-mentioned problems with front panel knobs and buttons.

It is the same I found in the DVP 9000S package; hence I understand this must be the standard equipment for Cineos series devices. It can control Philips TV sets, players and a DVD+Rw. Since Philips code set is almost a standard, it worked with some TV sets I have at home and with my Marantz receiver too. This RC looks nice and properly heavy and well balanced so that it’s very comfortable to handle. Unfortunately it is not programmable and, though a light blinks when sending signal or selecting its target device, it is not backlighted (haven’t come across many in this price range anyway).

 
The amp does not get too warm and no sharp edges or tips are present. Even an extra protection for live parts is present inside the case in the form of several clear plastic panels that fully shield mains circuits; mains socket and connectors show a good and safe grip. Therefore, as far as I can see the DFR9000 appears to be a safe machine and you can securely let your cat smell the back panel (mine does).

I’ve always heard a light tone burst on switching the device on and off, can’t say whether this was a peculiarity of the unit I tested only.

 

The machine bears a full set of connections including HDMI in and out. A list of connecting, switching and decoding capabilities is listed at the end of these pages, but were you about to buy this machine I’d warmly recommend, as usual, to download the full user manual including detailed tech specs and/or the Product Specification Sheet from Philip’s website. Functions and settings have long become countless in these devices so that they can’t be thoroughly listed in a few-pages test report like this.

Being the unit rather slim, the rear panel isn’t very flexible and that is good for connectors grip, that is a secure one. All connectors including the S/PDIF ones are gold-plated, good quality pieces. Extra Stereo, S-Video and CVBS/Composite connections are available behind the thin door at front panel foot. Noticeably, each input has its own gain control.

What about video switching? Though the DFR9000 does it very well, I stick to my usual suggestion to always go straight from your player to the display with RGB, S-Video and Component as far as you can. This because some minor signal worsening is unavoidable, in my opinion more because of the further connectors needed than of the unit itself. As usual, CVBS/Composite can be switched with no remarkable worsening. HDMI signal seemed to be practically insensitive to switching.

BUT (and here comes the interesting part), falling Component and HDMI signals in the range of the Faroudja chip, if your player does not perform de-interlacing and/or HDMI upscaling features taking advantage of it will be a must.

On the upper board inside the green rectangle lays an ST Microelectronics V6618 video switcher especially designed for DVD applications, then a couple of JRC op-amps. I guess that most of the audio processing is the task of the codec sitting on a second lower board, a Cirrus Logic CS 42418 with its 192 kHz capability and digital-to-analog Delta-Sigma converters.

The red rectangle in the top centre of the picture shows most of the power supply unit. It is a switching circuitry that seems to have mostly overcome the typical limits of this solution keeping its advantages in terms of little space needed and lightweight. To take these pictures I removed the clear-plastic panels that fully shield all live parts inside the DFR 9000; you can see them in the picture here below, showing this amp placed atop my Marantz.

The yellow rectangle includes the three arrays of Class-D amp chips linked to a standard-quality loudspeaker connectors set on the back panel. Please notice that these small appliances are credited of 100W in 4 Ohm for each channel. Though close inspection had been made impossible by heathsinks and by a warning saying that touching may damage chips (static electricity?), I could make out that they seem to be ST Microelectronics pieces. The exceptionally little space needed for current supply and power sections, and therefore their extra-lightweight, are something that can drastically change our concept of multi-channel devices as large, heavy units. And this is a definitely relevant feature of this product.

Outside the case, on the left side of the picture, lays the power amp fan with its cover that I removed as well; also this piece can be seen in its place in the cart picture.
This cooler is smartly engineered: since a given fan is more powerful in blowing air than in extracting it, the fan takes air from inside the plastic cover that works like a wind tunnel enclosing two of the three amp units.
This airflow is then blown towards the heathsinks of the third transistor pack. Such cooling efficiency allowed using a small, therefore noiseless, fan that can be barely heard with your ear close to the case. The machine never went into heath protection and, in normal usage, didn’t get too warm either.
Side notice: as far as I went, I met all torxx screws and that is an indicator of assembly accuracy.

Class-D power stages show their usual need for a one-week burn-in. A thicker (2x1.5 or 2x2.5 mmq / AWG15 or 13), shielded power cord with a good, large plug (Schuko in continental Europe) is rather useful. Factory feet are fine, no need for softer ones or spikes. Mixed results with mains filter; I suggest testing such components with the DFR9000 in your very setup before buying one for this amplifier.

 

I placed the DFR 9000 in my usual audiovideo setup (details at review end) where it had to drive a Klipsch loudspeakers set (Klipschorn fronts) except for surround left and right (AR), and had a Marantz SR7000 as a benchmark. I never changed this 5x100 W in 8Ohm amp since in my system it has always outperformed its potential competitors. I will be mentioning just a part of the software I used (once more, a shortlist is available at review end). My system is usually a 5.1 one because of software availability, actual room optimisation and SACD multichannel requirements. This configuration allowed a better fine tuning and ended performing smoother than 6.1 in this test too, and this is something we should think over, especially if rocketing towards 8-channel systems. By the way, a "loudness" function is present in this machine along with easy-to-operate, "bass & treble" controls. And that is very comfortable. Additional features like Neo:06 etc. gave mixed results, often good, but I went for plain listening being their impact an add-on to basic amp qualities.

Soundtracks other than music. We tend to forget that this is much of the duty a multi-channel amplifier carries out. That means for instance recreating the explosions of a naval battle as well as spring raindrops on a gazebo roof. The DFR 9000 showed a remarkable attitude towards thorough detailing and smooth panning, even in 5.1 the sound spread across the whole listening room from any given location amid, beyond or before the speakers.
If a HT system is playing for instance sea waves you have to hear sea waves, not a motorway as it happens with some Rambo movies-tuned gear; well I got a perfect sound reproduction of sea waves from "The Sea" CD.
Another difficult task is properly reproducing noisy environments keeping speech clear. Otherwise you’ll feel the uncomfortable wish to excessively increase front channel gain to better make out actors’ words. Once I had found a proper balance, I simply left the problem behind me and enjoyed my comedies. Tom Hanks’ Viktor Navorski speaks with a strange accent from Krakozhia amid all kind of airport sounds in "The Terminal": with the DFR 9000 speakers simply plunge you inside that noisy airport while actor’s voice is clearly detailed out. Panning is really good as well; a good example are the arrows hurled across your room in the battle scenes of "The Gladiator" or the space ships roaring over your head in "Star Wars".
The Marantz delivered a somewhat more blended sound, with a higher amount of details. But to my surprise the two devices sounded different in style but comparably in absolute quality, even though the DFR9000 costs less than two thirds of Marantz’s current heirs that bear no HDMI ports or Faroudja chips.
Coming to action movies the question is: can this thin, light piece of design credited of 6x100W in 4 Ohm deliver enough power and dynamics into speakers’ binding posts? Answer is "yes".
In my original configuration (high-sensitivity Klipschorns on front channels, sub amplifier on) I enjoyed several of my preferred action movie scenes with all the energy it took. In a word, you can easily make enough noise to have your neighbour call the police if you like it, unless you’ve got a very large listening room and a low-efficiency speakers set.
I also ran some tests using my 86 dB AR speakers as front channels and my subwoofer in passive configuration to have it driven by Philips power sections as well. Power was still enough, even if you can’t break window glasses with "Pearl Harbor" bombing in this configuration.
The Marantz, credited of 5x100W in 8 Ohm, was obviously a good step ahead, but that was not a giant gap anyway.

With music soundtracks from Video DVDs, the Philips did good job with proper instruments timber and correct soundstage (damn, how can it be confusing when the audio soundstage stays still and the camera goes elsewhere) though some "loudness" effect could be heard. "Moulin Rouge" was definitely enjoyable, and so was an old, therefore hard to treat, soundtrack like "The Blues Brothers".

SACD multichannel music took advantage of the above-mentioned panning and soundstage location abilities, though I prefer to use the DSD stream in two-channel mode.

CD and SACD two-channel music was a further good surprise. I expected some "Cirrus" family feeling from the CS42418 chip that would resemble me the DVP 9000S player’s CS4398 in terms of details and fine high frequencies; I also expected some Class-D typical features, in soundstage for instance. I got them but also a generous, elastic bass range for what I’d call a "British" sound in the best possible meaning, I’d say a kind of "NAD-style" rigorous but musical sound.
Main features here are a great timbre precision and a neutral overall attitude. In my opinion, mid frequencies should have been a bit more highlighted but, more than being them a bit behind, I’d say that are high and bass ranges that seem just slightly forwarded.
Human voices are correctly reproduced with all the presence one could expect, both Freddy Cole and Rebecca Pidgeon, two of my favourite terms of comparison, came out in full richness.
These results in terms of soundstage precision and clear timbre came in my opinion from a proper implementation of Class-D power stages.
The energy is more than enough, and both dynamics and micro-dynamics are good enough to follow the "Scheherazade" in its most powerful passages while detailing ability allows the Philips to keep track of each single instrument, and to rock your sofa at Takeshi Inomata explosive drums.
I had a good occasion to appreciate Rubinstein playing Chopin on his piano; here the overall timbre neutrality and the fluid dynamics allowed a definitely convincing performance.
Both soundstage extension and instruments placement within it were good.
The DFR9000 surprisingly closed in to the more expensive, musically lucky SR7000; I’d say that in some dynamic passage played at same level. But didn’t deliver the same amount of details and in my opinion this is somewhat still a limit typical of Class-D machines.
Fact is this Philips is very close to a good stereo hi-fi amp of comparable price; a gap will always exist in this field but it’s getting continuously narrower.

Radio. As I mentioned above I couldn’t test the DAB tuner probably because of some broadcasting standards problems, but the analog radio tuner proved to be a definitely good, easy to operate unit. I have no tuning problems in my area but I do have crowded band ones and the Philips made out targeted stations with faultless precision. Music reproduction encountered the limits of radio broadcasting itself, but I got very good results with live concerts on high-quality stations.

Manufacturer: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.

www.philips.com