|
Review 5 of 5
Price Paid:
$199.00
from Best Buy Summary:
For once I can write a review that says, this time I got exactly what I expected for my $199.00. A perfect Reciever for my gaming console and TV watching and DVD playback without paying for those HEE-man like recievers out there. Home theater is NOT my thing. I love gaming though and my XBOX just beckoned to have a full 5.1 rig. So here I go to Best Buy and after much pondering; the Sony made the most sense. A Pioneer 815 and 515 also was in the running, but I needed 2 optical and not 2 coaxial connections. This afterall for my gaming sounds mostly. Well, I will be if this 17 lb. unit just didn't sound half bad. I was surprised how well it drove my Sota Time domain 4 speakers. Now it wasn't magic and didn't make me believe I was really there, but hey it was clear, tight and pretty well controlled. Movies did just fine especially The Incredibles DVD, disney 39841. The sound was darned good. The jungle battle with the kids was really fun to watch. Playing my David Benoit Shadows Cd GRP-9654 it was very clear and the prologic 2 music mode made it enjoyable to here. Track 7 "Already there" was actually played with some warmth and not steely harsh sound I expect from forward sounding A/V recievers. I am not giving up my Tube rig now, but still the Sony was quite respectable in its performance here. The midrange and highs were easy to listen to, however the bass could have better definition and extention and control too. Still for such a cheapy A/V box, I was well, pleased. The reciever is equipped reasonably well, but not more generous so than any other make. Still you get 2 component video with HD 80Mhz pass capability, B speaker drive select, and 2 optical and Coax digital input. Perfect for my gaming. The speaker binding posts are cheap looking but at least all channels are binding posts and not the spring clip junk like on the cheapy Yamaha recievers.
Thank you Sony at least for doing the binding posts. I use bananas and it just makes life allot easier on hook up. The FM tuner worked better than I expected too, pulling in weak stations fairly well with its feeble looking wire aerial provided in the box. AM is well, nothing more need be said there except you get the AM loop aerial included too. Progamming input custom names, and radio call stations is a snap thanks to the custom menu. Sony Also employs a "easy or Normal setup for your speakers.
Nice of them to give you a choice, but I would give them that back for full Audio Calibration level adjust on all channels.
Though audio calibration is poorly done. Like my last SONY, you cannot increase or decrease front channel left/right. So I used my Sound meter...a Radio Shack one and balanced the center,surrounds, and subwoofer to the front left/right reference. All is fine here. I like the selectable crossover point for the subwoofer. Other cheapy units don't offer this one. I also like how Sony didn't over do it with the Surround modes. Just a few here like Jazz mode, and few others.
Following the method of the reciever, the remote is small in size and the buttons and the script are too small to read. While fairly comprehensive, I would give up the DVD control for bigger buttons,backlighting and a larger script.
The looks dept of the reciever, typical Japanese look, that is to say, clean, without too many buttons on front. You have a black face U channel with some angled sculpting; can't tell if its metal though it looks it with its faint brused black look. Eight small round buttons flank the central area. Input selection are their jobs. Right side has the Volume control, not of the detented variety, but has a mechanical resistance when you turn it but not overly so. Left of input select buttons are the manual tuning up and down, and preset tuning up and down. Lower left, headphone, and A/V input port for composite video in and left/right analog input. Power is upper left. Status panel display is a well lit l.e.d. affair in white. While clear, I would have liked a bigger display but this one works fine.
Another observation is the white silk screen lettering on the panel is a bit small and maybe difficult for some to read. NAD still has this one right with the white on Gray scheme. I have yet to find a clearer way to see which selections I wish to make. The rear apron has plenty of room for all its connections and I never felt crowded wiring up anything. Compared to some of the big complex A/V recievers I have used, this is refreshing. The power cord is a captured type, so upgrading the power cord is not an easy deal here if you wanted to, but others in this price are captured too, so no ding here.
So all in all, this Sony isn't going to make you think you got a top flight rig for under $200.00, but what it will do is give you a solid choice for a basic theater and a nice foundation for a fine gaming reciever.
Check it out if you want or need an economical A/V reciever solution.
Thanks for reading. Strengths:
does what a reciever should do for the price. Easy setup, runs my DVPS7700 dvd player. Sounds better than I expected. XBox games sound great and more fun to play now. Easy setup, not crowded back apron for connections. Short chassis depth makes it a snap for cabinet installations where to much chassis can make hook up a chore. Doesn't over do with too many surround modes I don't need or want. Weaknesses:
Remote control buttons and scripting too small, not backlit either. Cheap binding posts. Audio level calibration like all Sony products I have used is not like what everybody else does. Pretty weak here. Similar Products Used:
NAD,Rotel, Harman Kardon.
| 
Featured Merchants
2 of 5
4 of 5
1 of 5
3 of 5
