Looks, Build Quality, Sound

Remote

I bought this receiver from Sony 3 months back. I have never been an ardent Sony fan prior to this. I have a Panasonic TV, a Panasonic VCR and a Sony DVD player (I know
its a Sony, but this was the only one on sale at the time I purchased it). I have had some problems with Sony products prior to this but after the new receiver I purchased, things have changed and my mindset is now all Sony. I also bought the Sony SAVE815ED home theater speakers to go with it.

This receiver outputs 120W of room filling sound that is crystal clear. The Night Theater mode very ably reduces high frequencies to more subtler listening environments. Most Equaliser presets are well designed and enhance the listening pleasure. I mostly use this receiver to listen to classical music and to watch movies. The Cinema Sound series of equaliser presets are just perfect for most movies I have seen thus far. The sound is very clear and well balanced across the five channels. Dolby ProLogic decoding works perfectly well.

As other users have pointed out the remote could have been better. The light goes off very quickly and it is almost non operable without a backlight as the screen is way too dim. Batteries last for a month or slightly more at most if used extensively (that is 2 hours every day).

Other that the remote, this receiver is great for almost all types of sound be it movies or music and I am going to give it 5 stars. After all I am not really reviewing the remote, as someone said.

Similar Products Used:

None

Pretty much powerful, Clean sound.

Not really.

I had this unit for about 6 months then upgrade to Denon 5800 for more powers. I don't have anything negative to say so far. For those idiots who wrote negative opinions about this receiver need to realize that this is just a machine. Your ass need to play around with it and stop crying over it. I'm not saying this is the top receiver but for its price, I think it's worth the money.

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Denon AVR4800, Yamaha RX-V1, B&K 307, etc.

Solid sound,easy setup,price for quality,unsurpassed!

Controls a little complicated, with the supplied remote. Visuals and time frames poor.

If your the type of person unwilling to pay megga bucks for good sound,this unit fits.

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Many different units,none as resonabley priced as this one!

Wonderful Sound

?

This is a great reciever. It has plenty of power and the DSP's are fantastic. Some complain about the remote, but if you're like me, and love technology and gizmos, get this receiver. Its full of them.

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Yamaha

I love the sound even with out a sub or center channel. Do not set the rear speaker height to "LOW" setting or you will experience intermittant noise. I like the remote, all aspects. I thought it ran a little hot temperature wise, but not too hot. Big bang baby for the buck. Its sorta hi-end but with money left over to buy good cables and peripherals. Virtual Multi Dimension is a good setting for football games. You'll have have to choose between RCA and s-video if you want to use it as a video switch. Built well-looks cool

Very good Unit for the price. Easy to set EQ. Outstanding performer.

Hard to read remote without the backlit

I absolutely love this unit and highly recommend it to anyone interested in a highly versatile receiver for their home theater and musical needs.

Power, solidity, great clear sound

Found non so far, even like the remote

Like the receiver very much. Thanks to all you guys who helped me make up my mind after my last posting. Got my sony DVD-player connected trough the coaxinput. Got some problems setting the amp on dolby 5.1, it still plays prologic. How can I solve this?

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Sony STR-DB940

Huge soundstage for price, clean, natural, detailed sound.( Does not overhype detail ) Realistic Dynamics, Excellent surround steering, Ease of use.

Great on movies but could use more drive for music. I use it in a movie only system so music performance to me is not critical.

I have had this receiver since early December and have been
very happy with it. My first love is music and I have been buying and trading up equiptment since highschool. (I am now in my 30's) My music system consisting a Forte' Amps
( a division of Threshold) Rotel CD player, Proton tuner and Celestion 300 speakers. All together a $7,000 + music system. The reason I mention all if this is that when you are used to the type of resolution and musicality that this type of system can provide, It makes it very difficult when shopping for a reasonable home theater system. On with my review of the Sony.

After spending many months in my search for the perfect
receiver at the $1,000 - 1,200 price point (there isn't one) I narrowed my choices to either Marantz or Sony. I had looked at Denon (Why all the hype? - never involved me in any movie I watched despite hearing Denon in many systems), Yamaha (Overall very good, but seems to hype detail a bit, gets a little bright and dry when pushed hard, and my wife would never figure out the remote.

Ultimately, what led me to the Sony over the Marantz ( which is also excellent) was a deal at Audio King that was too good to pass up. It was what they call a "simple solutions home theater package" that consisted of the 555 es receiver and Boston Acoustics speaker package which consisted of a VR10 center, VR940 mains, VRS surrounds and
PV10 sub. This combination blew me away. The sound is huge, dynamic, warm, clean and detailed. I attribute alot of this excellent sound to the Sony receiver. (in my many years in this hobby I find amplifiers are perhaps the most important part of an audio system. Run from the salesman who
wants you to spend the majority of your budget on speakers)

Would the Marantz be better ? Who knows. all I do know is that the Sony/Boston system is killer for the money. It is one of those rare systems that draws you into the movie and at the price I paid ($2,000) is an outright steal. System matching is perhaps the most neglected area that I see in magazine reviews and on this site. Everyone wants to have an absolute best in every category (speakers, receivers, amps etc). This can often lead you down the road to sonic disappointment. In the context of my system the Sony is excellent and I am very happy with it. I encourage others to check out its outstanding performance. (Don't let the brand name fool you !)

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Denon, Marantz

After hearing the STR-DA333ES at several audio dealers, I knew I wanted to get the 555. Not that there's anything wrong with the 333, I found it to be quite a nice receiver, but the 555 offers more power and more features for only a few $$ more. The unit was FedEx'd to me from onecall.com. I hooked it up to my KSP-400's, and found my self swimming in sound. Loads of power, cool features and a really nice control/remote layout.... and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg! I'm very happy with it.

Unit has tremendous sound and configurability. Top notch receiver in this price range. Followup to prior post -- the menu buttons on left are not backlit, whoever at Sony mad that statement is incorrect.