I have had my unit for a couple of weeks now and love it. I purchased it from One Call for $613+ S&H. I also purchased the CDX-350 mega changer to add to it. So far I love them both, sound is great in music and movies. I have Boston Acoustics T1030's (their top of the line before they introduced the "Lynnfield" line) for my mains, and a Pioneer 10" sub. I don't have a DVD player yet, but I watched "Elizabeth" in Dolby Digital off of my RCA DSS receiver (the only movie in DD so far on DirecTv since my purchase) and the sound effects were spectacular.
As for the CD funtions, they are great. The names of the CDs are displayed on the remote control, making it easy to select one by scrolling down through all of them until you see the one you want. This process is a little simpler using the 350's supplied remote since you can use the search function on it. ie: search for all starting wit the letter d., and you only have to scroll through the matching criterea instead of all 300!

After receiving a ton of emails about more details AND having a couple of weeks to get the box sounding right the way I want, I'm posting another "more in-depth" review. I'll try and not duplicate other people's reviews... (BTW, Paul C., good review :) It's a long one so put on your glasses and kick back. :) Also, check my website for a scanned picture of the back of the receiever from the manual:http://wesandleah.home.mindspring.com/pics/receiver.jpg (should be posted 6/24/99)

Hope it helps..

I'll start out by saying please feel free to send an email concerning the price I paid... It was completly legit and the box was brand new. I paid $525 + S/H. (I got it 2day shipped to NC for $50, regular UPSGround is $25 and no sales tax) The Sony specific dealer that I ordered from has a web page, but since they don't publish their prices, I feel that I shouldn't post it on the web either. But I don't mind sending you an email. The next closest deal has been $550 for a "demo-model" and brand new was ~$650.
Also a FYI: although I'm not a fan of the upcoming 555, the same dealer has quoted $625+S/H available in August.


MY SETUP
Downstairs room with a loft, (25' long, 15' wide, 9' ceilings)
Speakers mounted 6' up on the wall, Front and Back and 7' apart (details below)
speakers are angled slightly down and facing straight forward.
Center sits on top of TV
Couch is in center of room, 12' back from fronts, 12' from rears.


RECEIVER SPECS:
Power Consumption: 280 VA
Dimensions: 17" X 6 3/8" X 16"
Weight: 30lbs. 14oz. (same as 30es)
Output: 80W X 5 @ 8ohms


RECEIVER SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS
-display can be dimmed.
-Tuner Stations showup on remote once programmed
-easy display of signal type being received
-sound field selected from remote
-bass boost
Easy Setup eg.:
-can distinguish between using small and large speakers
-can set specific speaker distance from listening position
-can set speaker height (low/High)
-S-video Switching (set a different source for either Audio/Video for a specific function)


RECEIVER SOUND
I upgraded from a slightly older Sony Pro-Logic receiver. The addition of AC-3 & DTS is phenomenal. Especially if all of your speakers are the same or matched. I can even listen to any Music in Normal Surround and it comes across great. I listen to Rock, Jazz and Classical and all have a warm sound. Music comes out of all speakers with no distortion and little loss in quality using the Surround sound field and the lead is pushed through the center. I haven't tuned it yet to get a completely perfect sound on some Heavy Metal sounds to get the "meat" of the music, but it sounds decent. Jazz & classical sound great though. R&B is great. The sub and even the sats thump the lows and chirp the high hats.

Movies open up so many more sounds and directional seperation and the quality and output is great even at low volumes. There is ample bass and a full range of sound even through the surround channels. I even send my TV's sound through it and it sounds good too. See Speakers section for more details on Sound

A note on the AC-3 Coax Input... It really does sound A LOT better than the standard RCA A/V input. I have both hooked up from my DVD player, I have the AC-3 Coax going into the DVD Connection and the standard RCA A/V into the CD input. When playing CD's on the DVD player, there is a HUGE difference in sound quality from switching to DVD Coax from CD RCA input. Funny, I just thought the differernce wouldn't be so obvious. I guess that $40 dollar cable was worth it.

****Key DVD's I recommend for sound demos (in order):
I thought I would include some movies that I have really enjoyed so far on the system:
**Armageddon
-the positional sound effects are an extemely effective demo. It combines great flying around and over head effects in almost every action sequence. It's the one I use to show off the system.
**The Fifth Element
-the sheer sound of this movie is breathtaking with lots of Ambient effects. It's not the best movie in the world, but it sounds cool.
**Days of Thunder
-this movie is just a complete collection of believable modern day sound effects. Another good demo.
**Twister
-more great surround effects. This movie is just loud. It's scary. It's a reference kind of DVD. Great for giving you chills. Get it.


REMOTE:
Straight forward.. easy to use, I like it and use it mostly, but it's a little awkward (due to the flip-up) when trying to access DVD menus instead of the Reciever Menus. It's nice that it does it, and if I'm just watching a movie it's fine... But if I'm skipping around to different scenes and so forth, it's just not as easy.

The "SUB" menu button is a nice feature and intuitively knows most of the functions that any particular selected component has and makes them readily available through this button.

I think the remote would handle other branded devices well (depending on age) and is extremely easy to program. No shuffling through a crappy manual to find a code to punch in.. It's internal list is extremely extensive. It controls all of my equipment except for real special stuff features.

The back light is nice, especially when watching movies and trying to figure out where the Pause button is when the phone rings.

Only real negative on the remote: it's still sometimes slow for some things... Basic functionality is instantaneous.


SPEAKERS
Definitive Technology: Pro Cinema 100's (4) + Pro Center 100 (1)
dimensions: 10"H X 5.7"D X 5.9"W
freq Response: 50Hz - 30kHz
Efficiency: 90dB
Recommended Amplification: 10-175 watts/channel
Klipsch 100 W Subwoofer (8" Front Firing, 10" Rear Firing)

Although the DT speakers have a "breaking-in" period, they already sound excellent for movies AND music. I haven't listed to as much rock and roll with them yet, and I'm sure I'll have to do some tweaking to work that in. I paid $750 for the 4 DT pc100 + Center pc100.. I listened to Klipsch quintet, Bose AMIII-15 and the Energy Take 5's and I feel that DT was best overall, even though not most expensive. (Bose) I live in a townhouse, so I can't play them as loud as I like, but even listening to TV, movies or CD's at low volumes is still very effective and enjoyable. I can still detect separation and it's enjoyable. I usually don't even use my sub (Klipsch 8"+10" X 100W) and the bass is transferred nicely among the speakers even without it. Of course it sounds better with it, but the neighbors would definitely complain if I ran it all the time. :(

I'm not sure how the receiver would handle larger, higher efficiency speakers... My Definitive Technology Pro Cinema 100's sing with any kind of music or movie. I can even use them without the sub for a decently full range sound.


NEGATIVES (not many and nothing alarming)
- I really think it produces a great deal of heat. My cabinet is enclosed and when I run it, sometimes I leave the glass door open so it will breathe. I wouldn't say it produces a dangerous amount of heat, but it's certainly noticeable.
-Connectors. They load from the top and then screw down. I wouldn't necessarily say this was a negative, but if your planning on using banana plugs, I would imagine it a bit awkward. However, I found some Right-Angle Monster Cable Connectors and they slide in nicely and are definitely secure..


COMPARISONS
As to comparing other receivers, I only previewed a few. I must start off by saying that although I am open-minded, I am pretty loyal to Sony equipment. I feel they make a decent product and I usually try to keep all of my components the same. That being said, I narrowed my "playing" field down quite a bit. I listened to some of the Pioneer Elite receivers, and a Kenwood receiver, and I although both the Pioneer and Kenwood were much higher in price, I felt the Sony was an extremely comparable receiver for the money. (Sorry I don't have model numbers) I looked at the STR-DE925 and the STR-DA50ES and the STR-DA30ES. I was betting my money toward the 30 and actually went to order it the weekend that the 333 came out. The store that I ordered it from no longer had the 30 in stock and recommended the 333 being that the main changes were in the updated remote and the 5.1 channel in/outputs. I thought the 50 sounded great, but the remote is really a non-remote. I want to operate my equipment with one hand and the 50 is really a two-hander. Basically it's like using a Palm Pilot to control everything. The 925 sounded decent, but didn't have the "umph" that the lower power rated 333 had. Also, I was extremely disappointed in the lack of S-video I/O on the 925. For all of that money, I thought the 925 was a pretty featureless receiver.


FOLLOW UP
You can't go wrong with this receiver, I don't think. Of course you could shell out around $500-1000 more and get something that sounds better (or doesn't). But I just wanted to put this in my townhouse, get chills from watching Twister on DVD in 5.1, in addition to listening to soft jazz, classical or rock and not sacrificing musical fullness for the hometheater. I certainly feel that I have accomplished that with the speakers + reciever + DVD. It's a great all-around receiver with lots of features and expandability and I'm going to be happy with it for years to come.

Well this has certainly been a novel, and I hope it helped... but if you need more information, please write or checkout my website.. I should be updating it in a couple days with more info as I think of it.

-wes bolton
http://wesandleah.home.mindspring.com/theater/
wb74420@glaxowellcome.com

Got this great unit from OneCall ($595+shipping). Still waiting for Energy Take5 package with ES-8 sub to complement it.
Meanwhile, it sounds awesome with my old AR speakers for stereo playback. I even cheated a bit and ran a subwoofer signal to my keyboard amp, which produced a gargantuan bass sound. If it wasn't so big and ugly it would serve nicely as a sub.

No problem hooking up speakers with banana plugs, they slide right in the back of the connectors. I believe the vertical slots are for loose wires.

The remote is cool and has a nifty autopower feature that turns on power to a connected unit when you select it as the source. F.ex when I select MiniDisc it powers up my Sony 510. But it seems to only work with Sony stuff. I have a Toshiba DVD and it does not work, even though I can turn it's power on and off with the power button on the remote. This is a stupid blunder by Sony, obviously the remote has the capability to power up the Toshiba.

I have the DVD hooked up with Coax (tried optical also, but manual says coax is better). Used a $2 RCA cable that works great. Maybe I am missing something but a digital signal is either there or not (0,1), and if the $2 cable was losing data I bet the Sony would complain. If anybody with a $40 coax cable has done a blind comparison with a cheaper cable I'd be interested to know the results.

The 333 generates a bit more heat than my previous JVC unit, but not alarmingly much. I have about 3 inches of clearance above it plus an opening in the back of the bookshelf so air can circulate. Of course I have yet to challenge it with 6 speakers :)

I don't really have the chance to listen to this reciever but most companies are recommending this unit highly, J&R is giving it to me for $612 shipped 2nd day air... But I also like the RV 1105 except for it's features, looks, and remote, this unit seems to be pretty good due to the amount of watts it carries to every speaker, I have 8 speakers, 5 Atlantic Technology Compact Home Theater 1 speakers, then a 162PM Sub. then I have 2 25th Anniversiry Edition Advent speakers... LoudSpeakers... So I'm still comparing this to the RV 1105 if you could give me any opinions please do so at JCBoY56@aol.com. Most sales people I'm talking too are saying it's great, and are highly recommending it. But I'm scared that if I do hook up 8 speakers the reciever might not be able to handle them... See right now I have the exact same speakers hooked up to a 9 year old Yamaha Dolby Pro-Logic reciever... but I get extremely low sound out of the rears which sucks like heel. The remote I hear is pretty excellent too with LCD and On TouchScreen features it's got to be good. So if you have any comments please post them or e. mail me at JCBoY56@aol.com. So I'll give it 5 stars since everyone says it sounds so good.
LISTEN TO MY STORY:

About 1 month from now I purchased the Compact Theater 1's from OneCall with Shipping & Handling and 100 ft. of speaker wire, and a JVC XV701-BK, all for 987.00 pretty good price knowing that it's gone up 100 dollars. I really liked the JVC's DVD Player except for the fact it wasn't all regions. So I returned it and got a Toshiba SD3109 which is pretty good except for the fact the remote sucks, which I could live with. Then I got the RXV-850 reciever hooked up with 8 speakers, and my 35" JVC TV hooked up to the reciever as well as a Yamaha Cassete Deck, and a JVC CD Player... The reciever handles all speakers pretty good except for that I hoped that the surrounds would be louder. Many people have told me that with DD Reciever every speaker is at the same volume as the fronts... so no matter what mode I'll have it in I'll get different sound out of all the speakers but it'll be all at the same peak which is really good because then my Home Theater system will equal 4.260 Watts. So I recommend the Sony 333ES since I'm hearing such good stuff. So I'll give it 5 stars.

I've had the 333ES for about three weeks now and am generally happy with it. At $600 or less it must be among the best values available. It does a superb job withe Dolby Digital and DTS. I find the stereo sound quality when playing CD's to be less impressive, certainly not up to my old NAD stereo unit. There are only two major problems I have with it: 1) setup can be tedious because there is no onscreen setup, and some of the functions must be done from the front panel; and 2) bass management could be better: subwoofer cutoff is apparantly set at 120HZ (and cannot be adjusted), so unless your subwoofer goes that high (manuy don't), you must set your mains to large and adjust the subwoofer cutoff to fit them.
Overall a very good receiver. It is clearly a 5 on value, and I'd give it a 4.5 if half-stars could be awarded, but based on convenience I have to give it four stars.

Simply put, this receiver rocks. I purchased my receiver from Onecall.com for a total price of $612. For the price I paid I am more than impressed by the sound and overall feel of this receiver. Even though I bought a DVD player just months after they were released nation wide for sale, I have been listening to DVDs with a Pro Logic receiver. Its just an incredible difference from PL to DD. For anyone who wants to go DD and not pay over $1000 this receiver is a good choice to go with.

I received this receiver from OneCall for 597.00 plus 56.00 s/h (26.25 of that was for delivery to Hawaii. The package was delivered in three days and came double boxed and in mint condition.
The sound quality of this receiver is remarkable. I used to own a Pioneer VSX-D702S but there is no comparison between the two. The Sony is full of rich and vibrant tones, both in music and home theatre applications and the power is amazing. I'm currently using 4 mini-advent speakers + JBL center, but plan on purchasing Energy's Take 5 speaker system. If this receiver can make four mini-advent's sound good, I'm sure it will do a wonderful job on a set of matched speakers.

The remote, after learning many of the functions from the manual, is very well designed and easy to navigate. I would have preferred the blue backlight on the LCD screen (similar to Sony's RV-2000 remote), but that is a very minor complaint. The two-way interaction between the receiver is a wonderful addition, and with this feature alone I feel Sony has outdone it's competition (remote wise).

Only a few minor complaints: First I thought the front door of the receiver was a little to flimsy. I figured with a ES receiver that Sony would have made the door a little stronger. Second, the binding posts appear to be a little light-duty in nature. However, Sony has done a wonderful job providing so much for a relatively small price.

With that said, I feel this is a wonderful receiver. I planned on purchasing Yamaha's RV-1105 receiver until I heard about the limited S-Video inputs and the terrible Yamaha remote. After playing around with the Sony, I'm sure glad I changed my mind.

***** A five Star Receiver.

I purchased this receiver two weeks ago from SoundCity. I have always had great service from them, but a sales rep lead me astray in early June (see June 3 posting I made to this list) about quality control problems with the 333ES. Peter Green of SoundCity, who does the purchasing for them, said the sales rep (Matthew) was wrong about quality control problems with the 333ES. Matthew read the wrong memo. Peter told me that the only memo on Sony ES receivers was on the 30ES and it pertained to the remote control. He said they have sold a ton of these receivers and they have had zero complaints or returns. He apologized, and it was a good enough explanation for me to go ahead with my purchase.
Now the review. On the negative side, setup was a bit tedious and was not intuitive but if you carefully read the manual it tells you everything you need to know. I had to abandon the use of banana pins on the bidding post because the Radio Shack speaker banana pins that snapped firmly into my Pro/Logic Harmon Kardon integrated amp's binding post were extremely loose and fell out of the 333ES posts. It was not clear whether to use digital coax or digital optical in the manual, so I went with the coax b/c I believe it has a higher bandwidth than the plastic optical link. Lastly, on the negative side, is the unit runs hot. Not warm, hot. I have the unit in an enclosed entertainment center and always leave the door open when I use it. The unit is on the top shelf with 5 inches of headroom and a cutout in back of the entertainment center to allow ventilation. I am currently looking to purchase one or two whisper fans to blow over the top of the unit to keep it cooler.

On the plus side, it is an awesome unit for both music and DVDs. For Home Theatre I am running four S100 Solids, a C100 Solid center channel, and a B&W ASW500 sub for movie watching and the thing rocks! Off the B side I run a pair of B&W 602's in the other room for dedicated stereo listening and they sound terrific with this receiver. I like the remote and the soundfields are a lot of fun to play with. The greatest thing about the remote is the dB level adjusting you can do with the rears and the center b/c I have found that every movie requires a different set up to get balanced sound out of each speaker. Or, maybe I just like tweaking it.

I give it 4 stars overall.

After nearly a month of research and reading reviews on this site and others, I bought the 333ES. I'm upgrading from an Onkyo prologic and considered the Onkyo 656, but it's more expensive and doesn't have DTS inputs. I must say that this receiver is incredible. I really like the flexiblity in controlling the EQ and levels to all speakers.The Dolby Digital sound from DVD's is great and it even makes Prologic sound better than before. The only sound field I'm using right now is the Virtual Muti-Rear surround that seems to expand the sound of the rear speakers and the 85 watts is more than enough power for my Cerwin Vegas. Now if cable TV would only broadcast in Dolby Digital, I'd be very happy. I'm giving it *****.

Well i purchased this reciever about a week ago for about 650 buck and i got a free optical cble for my new dvd player(pioneer dv-414)so far this reciever has been awesome i recomend it to anybody planing to buy a dobly digital and dts reciever. It preforms well with my carver cinema 5.2 speakers. with this reciever i get the most out off my built in subs 300 total. The only thing i didnt like was the remote i much perfer the blue lcd remote from the da50es but for the price i would sacrafice it any time. need any help email me setup is also tricky but worth it!