Sony STR-DE515 A/V Receivers Reviews

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
It's a good stereo reciever with alot of power. The surround sound I leave to a new Sony STR-DE885. But for the stereo setup with Mirage speakers, it works well until it goes into Protect Mode. I removed the cover and jiggled the wires right behind the A/B Switch on the left. That keeps me going for several weeks. I hope this helps other owners

Strengths:
Loud

Weaknesses:
No optical, weak rear sound, best for stereo

Price Paid:  $199.00 from Sears

Summary:
I bought the STR-DE515 on clearance at Sears over 5 years ago and have never had any problems with this unit. It has recently been replaced with a Sony STR-DE835, which is more powerful and has Dolby decoder and optical inputs. I intend to keep this unit around as a spare, as it has served me very well. I even used it as an Amplifier to DJ several weddings, and even after hours of playing at nearly 80% it never faltered.

Strengths:
High Power, Simple Operation and adjustments

Weaknesses:
No decoders or optical inputs

Similar Products Used:
Sony STR-DE835

Price Paid:  $150.00 from ebay

Summary:
I have owned this receiver for about 5 years now and ive never had any trouble at all out of it. It performs perfectly everytime i use it, which is almost on a daily basis. Even in surround sound mode, its sounds better than most theaters do. An as far as some of the people on here who say Sony is junk, why dont they try not using the sucky speakers cause thats alot of the trouble. One person said that the rear surround wasnt as loud as the front, well there not supposed to be. There just to add certain types of the audio surroundtracks. Ive also owned 3 sony cd players which ive owned for about 4 years and have never had trouble out of any of them either. This sony receiver is the best in its class and for the price range.

Strengths:
Great sound in both stereo and surround sound modes. Execellent power performance. No flaws in anything, would recommend to anyone!

Weaknesses:
Havent found any in 5 years yet and im not gonna find any either!

Price Paid:  $300.00 from sears

Summary:
at first, very nice receiver especially if you have a basic surround speaker set up,then occaisionally it would go into "protect mode"for no reason..now it won't come out of protect mode...volume has never been above 50%....no wires have been crossed,,i even replaced all the fuses that i could find inside....

Strengths:
when working,it did have nice 5.1 sound

Weaknesses:
Protect mode for no reason. it did have a tendency to overheat.

Similar Products Used:
pioneer,kenwood...

Price Paid:  $500.00 from second hand

Summary:
The 515 was my first receiver that supported surround sound so understandably I as very happy with it initially, however after becoming accustom to surround sound I have found a few faults. The centre speaker lacks clarity and the rear speakers are nowhere near as dominate as they should be. The clarity of the centre is so poor compared to the fronts that I resort to stereo over surround often, which is excellent sharp and rich sounding I must say. Although this review seems mostly negative I do like this receiver a lot and recommend it to those wanting to enter the market in this price range.

Strengths:
Stereo is great, bass is great I use bass boost as I dont have a sub and it rocks, looks cool

Weaknesses:
Protect mode comes on every so often (Once a month for me), remote is now completely useless no buttons work, bad clarity and depth for centre and rears.

Similar Products Used:
none