This is a great unit, I have had it over a week now and it sounds great, Music is very rich and AC3/DTS are very nice. This unit puts out power, while watching the peacemaker DTS, it blew holes in the foam on my EPI 100 Speakers I was using for the rears. I am replacing them with Sony SM215, 150W-3Ways, $48.00 Each at brandsmart. Great unit And for $545.00 you cant go wrong.

i realy got a great deal today at brandsmart when I went to pick up the sony speakers replacements for the Epi's, A Set of Energy RVSS Dipole Surrounds for 98 Bucks, They sound Great and so does the 333, Lots of features and plenty of power.

I ordered my ES333 from OneCall.com. I paid $585 + $30 s&h. Well, I hooked everything up..spent over and hour. I turned it ON, I got the sound but NO display!! I was really dissapointed.. I never expected this from Sony.
Anyway, I am going to exchnage the receiver for a new one..

Dakshesh

You sure can tell the diff between good equipment and bad. I started out trying a kenwood 3080 and it was so so. Sent it back after reading tons of bad reviews on these Kenwood systems breaking down after 1 to 6 months. Then I tried a JVC 888. Nice features but poor sounding. So then I went to the Sony 333es. NOW thats a great sounding system! A keeper.

Heartbroken! I ordered the STR-DE 935 two weeks ago but canceled the order due to all the bad reviews, I figured I would upgrade to the 333ES to avoid all the hassel of returning a defective receiver. Mail oreder returns are always more of a pain, and take a lot more time. I ordered the 333ES from J&R for $549 +2 day air. After J&R took an extra day to ship and Fed-Ex miss routed the package I received the package 7 days later!(so much for 2 day air) I was to excited to care. All I wanted to do was hook it up.
After about an hour of unpacking and hook up I was ready to fire it up. The receiver is paired with B&W 305's, CC3, Rock Solid S100, Sony 530 DVD player and JVC D500 32" tube, all of which is brand new, unused, and ready to go (I know this isn't even close to a killer system, but as you can see, I'm a "Casual Listner", I don't want the best of the best, I just want a decent solid system). So their I am ready turn this system on for the first time, I push power and....click, the volume light turns on, that's it, no display, no sound, no input selection, nothing, just a volume light. I could hardly see straight I was so mad. I would expect this from a regular Sony product, but not ES, I went out of my way and paid more for the ES to avoid this problem.

I'm going to exchange this receiver for another 333ES, and I'm sure I will give it great reviews for everything it has offers and the sound it produces, but for now I'm another four days out(if J&R and Fed-Ex get it straight) with no sound, because of a defective ES receiver, and that my friends deserves 0 stars, but I will give it two as I know I was probably the 1 in 1000 guy who got the Lemon. I can only hope that when I finally receive a 333ES that works I can give another review that will cancel this one out.

Features

Bass, Musicality

8 Months ago I purchased the HKAVR65 for $700, I had to return it the next week because of all the hisses and hums that came with it. So I decided to move away from Harmon Kardon. I then bought the Sony Unit 333es since I thought I could live without the bass and musical qualities that Harmon Kardon had. I was wrong. I returned the Sony and recently purchased the HKAVR500 for $600 instead. The Sony unit was so weak compared to this new Harmon Kardon unit. I used to own the Sony 9000es preamp also, I returned this unit too. Sony has not caught up with the other names in the receiver industry for this price range.

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon AVR300, AVR500.

I've had this unit for 3 months now and LOVE it. It does everything I want (except the S-VHS/composite switchover, but not a real issue since I mostly watch DVD's with player hooked directly to TV)
Anyway, I have posted a positive review previously so I am not going to rehash the great features. Instead I am going to share a FREAK malfunction that I experienced this week. I was listening to a music CD using my Toshiba 2108 DVD unit, connected to the 333's digital coax plug with a plain RCA cable.

All of a sudden I hear a loud shrieking noise followed by a few words, it sounded like somone on a CB-radio. The receiver went into "PROTECTION" mode....luckily...I am surpised the speakers weren't blown just from that instant of noise. It was incredibly loud and high-pitched.

Anyway, assuming some dude with a CB in fact was driving by my house why would my ES pick this up? I don't believe in aliens so there's got to be a logical explanation for the noise. I'm not insane my girlfriend was there and heard it too.

I have been reading a lot about the dissatisfaction people have had with the remote on this unit. While, at first, I must say that it IS rather difficult to operate, after a few months I think the remote is great! I actually sell A/V equipment and realize that most vendors come out with a generic remote (the type everyone is used to using). The remote for this unit just takes time to get used to. Once you are past the "break-in" period, you will find that it is simpler to operate than any other remote.

One of my favorite aspects of the remote is the fact that it has fewer buttons. I hate remotes with a thousand buttons--it makes it difficult to find the right one--especially in the dark. Once you learn the layout of the remote you can actually operate the remote blindly. I do wish, however, that Sony had made the 333ES with onscreen menus for the remote.

I have not purchased this product yet but I would like to say a few things about my initial research that may interest you.First of all I was looking for a receiver with an RF demodulator and the str da333es is the only receiver on the market besides the denon avr-5700 that has this very rare feature,so all of you "old school" Laserdisc fans should take a look at these models.I was seriously considering the avr-5700 because of the Lucasfilm RE-EQ feature buried within the THX certification but in doing some research on the net I've found that the Lucasfilm RE-EQ and the Denon cinema EQ high frequency rolloffs that tame bright film sound can be simulated with a good EQ.According to my notes Lucasfilm RE-EQ rolloff frequencies are as follows:1 db down at 5 Khz, 2 or 3 db down at 8 Khz and over 5 db down at 12.5 khz also I read on a review 7 db down at 20 Khz.I would like to add to that it is used in the high frequency range starting at 2 Khz.So there you have it Lucasfilm RE-EQ revealed there is much less on Denon cinema EQ but it appears to be less aggressive then Lucasfilm RE-EQ.On a review of three budget receivers in Hometheater magazine the receiver that sounded the worst was hooked up to subwoofer and bass management was used and it did improve it's sound so I don't belive the low wattage rating on this receiver is really no problem if run this way with a sub and highly efficient speakers after all I'm running 75 wpc in front with a powered sub and it's a lease buster and I' using dolby pro-logic.So I hope my research helps you a little "old school" laserdisc fans and for you folks with DVD DVD-HD is coming in 3 to 6 years it will be the same size as the current DVD,it will hold 20 GB's of material,it will have 2.6 to 7 times more resolution then the current DVD and it will use a blue laser thats incompatable with system which makes your current one useless for DVD-HD.The blue laser just debuted at the CES in japan this year so look out guys and know when to dump your collection on the market before the DVD market tanks like the Laserdisc market did.

Good overall sound, nice bells and whistles, lots of connections

Receiver gets hot! , Remote (but not what you think)

I decided to revamp my entire system....I needed a little Dolby Digital in my life. I purchased a new SONY DVD changer and started my search for a new receiver. I knew I wanted a receiver who's remote would control my changer. It was a toss-up between the STRDA333ES or STRDB940, I picked the 333.

First problem I noticed was the cabinet got rather warm pretty quick, my KENWOOD never got that hot and I pushed it hard all of the time. But this unit did sound pretty damn good....so I overlooked it. Second issue...the remote. The remote would not control major features on my DVD....it was the straw that broke my back......it was out of here. Should have gone with the 940.....more power, doesn't run as hot, the remote is learning, and same great look.

Sorry guys this unit is over-rated as well as over-heated.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood KVR-8050