Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I had a good audio system once - it was overall good sony reciever STR-DE425 and the very good sony speakers SS-126E. These probably was the best speakes sony has made ever. I was stupid that I sold them. It is sad they do not produce them anymore. Additionaly i had a good sony dvd player. After some while I thought, I want something else, something what ir more compact and has more soundield programs and is more modern. I sold old system and bought a sony DAV-S550.
O may God!!! It was a mistake!!!
Terrible sound for music, everything SUCKS except compact size and remote!
I strongly recomend always test sound of these small compact sysetm and only then to buy!
I will never buy home theater packages again. They are maybe good for movies, but they are realy bad for music. Practicaly immpossible to listen to music.
Don't do my mistake.

Strengths:
small size
design
remote

Weaknesses:
very very very bad sound for music

Similar Products Used:
Will never use a home theater pachage again. this was one and only in my life.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Got this unit for xmas. It SUCKS... The unit is hung up in manual mode which means that the remote control doesn't work with the unit. When you press the power on button it lights up in red. No display appears. If you get up to manually operate the unit it will work but the red power on light goes out. Don't bother calling Sony Customer Information Services Center @ 1800-222-SONY, because they don't have a clue as how this unit works.

Strengths:
Sounds nice if you like to get up off of the sofa everytime you want to do a function.

Weaknesses:
If it ever gets hung in manual mode you're screwed. Also, the dual remote isn't compatible with my 25 inch Sony TV monitor. This will be my last Sony purchase ever.

Price Paid:  $530.00 from Future Shop

Summary:
I was eyeballing this little Sony for sometime now. It seemed to be the ideal solution so my smallish living room where big speakers and a nasty web of wires would look definitely out of place. I do own a pretty good music system already so DVD replay was my main concern.

When I saw the DAV-S500 on clearance at the Future Shop for Can$530 it was too good a deal to pass.

This little Sony did not disappoint me. Yet...

Strengths:
The Good:

The two main channel speakers are two-way designs (probably concentric) and the rest are one way. On the outside the speakers look identical but Sony carefully labeled and color-coded each one of them and their supplied wires so installation is a crystal clear snap.

Wall mounting the speakers is easy but stereo imaging becomes pretty messed up by the back wall's proximity. I tested them both on stands and wall mounted. While on stands the CD playback had been quite satisfactory from the imaging point of view. Classic tracks (Beethoven's 9th for instance) were rendered quite faithfully despite the small speaker size. The whole orchestral layout (aka the stereo image) was also surprisingly good although the system lacks the power to reproduce the true scale of a full symphonic orchestra.

Equally surprising was the relative ease with which the Sony negotiated difficult musical passages without ever sounding congested even at high volume levels. Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells 2 has some of the most difficult bass tracks I ever encountered. Sony's subwoofer performed incredibly well with this kind of material avoiding the characteristic "thumpness" so common at this pr

Weaknesses:
The Bad:

Frequency response is only adequate. Sony states 20Hz to 10kHz. While the upper portion appears OK the bottom 20Hz end is probably wishful thinking.

Consequently the sound with all other sources except DVD will miss some "sparkle" at the very top and some bass low level resolution. To add insult to injury tone controls are sorely missing. While the subwoofer output can be adjusted to match the room, treble is un adjustable.

I'm accustomed listening to stereo material bypassing the tone controls on my main hi-fi system but the Sony still sounds "polite" at the top by comparison. To be honest I do prefer this fault by "omission" to the relentless and fatiguing treble quality of similar priced systems.

Replacing the main speakers with a pair of Polk RT5s corrected the problem to a certain degree but the 5.1 coherence and integration is lost on DVD playback.

Another solution is to raise the volume a little. The sound really opens up quite a bit without sounding harsh or congested at higher volume levels, however the ultimate top end resolution is still under the one displayed by my "dedicated" stereo system.

Ultimately this is more a taste thing. I find the s

Price Paid:  $389.00 from Online

Summary:
Having high end audio/theatre in my den I was looking for a dvd player to match up with my new Toshiba TV in my bedroom. I have purchased Sony products before and been pleased. The $400 price range was just right too. I listened to this unit at BestBuy before I bought one but listening there is a pain, all the speakers piled on top of the unit- definately not possible to evaluate the sound. What I did like was the size of the unit (small) and the reviews I read mostly seemed positive. Setup was easy with the color coded stuff, mounted the speakers on the walls, put the sub behind the bed and ended up with a great sounding DVD player. Definately worth $400. -Probably not $700. A few pluses and minuses listed below...
Can't beat the price/value for a small room!

Strengths:
Small size.
DVD/TV sound excellent.
Average to very good cd/tuner audio.
Saves soundfields for different inputs.
Saves soundfields for different radio stations.
Plenty of sound customization except one.

Weaknesses:
NEEDS ONSCREEN PROMPTS for volume, soundfields, functions, inputs etc for us that can't read the small display across the room.
No tone controls, I like to up the high end a bit.
Teeny buttons on remote.
Bass a little light.

Similar Products Used:
None

Price Paid:  $450.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I bought this system because I wanted to continue using my stereo system as it was.I have a vintage collection of LP's and some of the newer home theater receivers do not have phono input. I had also read many reviews that the home theater receivers are better for the movie sound than music sound and I as listen to my music more than I watch movies, I did not want to compromise. This little system is terrific for those of you in a small apartment, dorm room or condo. I keep the sound at about 10 or 11 position and it is more than loud to fill up my living room. The picture is beautiful on the dvd player, color is very vivid and the movie soundtrack is very realistic. I would not recommend this to anyone with a larger family room or den as the 40 watts would not be enough power to fill a larger room. It is not hard to set up as it is color coded but very time consuming. Since the speakers are so small you can easily move them around but it will take a few times of viewing to find the best place to set the speakers, you just have to experiment. The remote is not easy to learn how to use but after about two weeks it started to make sense how it is layed out. I was watching all my movies on a VCR and will never go back. The clarity and stunning colors on the dvd are just terrific. This little system was a good choice for me.

Strengths:
Beautiful vivid color and clarity on the dvd player Easy to store in the cabinent and small speakers don't take up much room in small apartment setting

Weaknesses:
radio and stereo sound is just average. Not bad sound but does not compare to the reproduction on my stereo system

Similar Products Used:
None this is my first dvd player