Home theatre sounds .
many sound programs. sensitive tuner

remote control - bad design & U.I.

I have used the 830 for 3 months with a sony DVD345 and Bose AM10 speakers.
learning the control& features was not that easy and operating is not user friendly enough, but the H.T. sounds are full, stronge better then many (more) expensive receivers.
The display is very nice, back panel and connectors are well built.
The remote control operates well, but it is very difficult to read the labels of the buttons. ( bad U.I. )
missing RGB output.
the reciever is very big in size, weights over 16Kg so it seems that it is well built...
Many programing options..( I haven't used some of them yet..)

Similar Products Used:

pioneer 808,
yamaha496

tons of features, great processor, fairly clean power supply
and low cost

none for the reciever itself, but visiblity of the buttons on the remote is a pain

Not quite as clean and power full as my sunfire equipment, but for the money they beat the sunfire hands down . most all the same features as the ES line ,but at a lot less cost !

Similar Products Used:

kenwood, pioneer, sunfire

Excellent DD and DTS decoding
User-friendly
Lots of surround and acoustic options

Very noisy sub-woofer output
Over-rated power rating

I couldn't help but getting one after seeing the 5-star reviews about it. Actually, I wanted a full-functional receiver instead of my Technics DD/DTS decoder. However, after I did some initial testing and investigation, I have to say I wouldn't give it 5 stars. The reasons are followed:

(1) The 100Wx5 power rating is heavily over-rated. A look at the back reveals that the receiver consumes 280W of power. A typical Class AB power amp has a little more than 50% efficiency. That means the 5 power amps can output at most 140W of total power to the speakers. Just where does the 100Wx5 come from? A look inside reveals a pretty large power transformer (300VA-400VA, my guess), but only two 12,000uF power caps. This power supply cannot possible supply 1000W to the power amps, which is needed to output 100Wx5.

(2) The subwoofer pre-amp output is very noisy. I guess we'll have to rely on the quality of the sub's low-pass filter to filter out the noise. If sony knows about the noisy output, I bet it won't tell the user to set the cut-off frequency of the sub as high as possible, as stated in the manual.

(3) A look inside reveals that the pre-amp outputs is fed by the power-amp outputs. This is a bad configuration for pre-amps. This would add one more layer of noise and THD to the pre-amp. Nonetheless, the noise is acceptable (except the sub-woofer), and the sound is warm and I am using them for my home-theatre setup. Yet, I won't expect too much from them.

Aside from these problems, this receiver is a value. It has excellent decoding capablity and lots of surrond and acoustic options. The remote is okay since I don't like the remote's flip-door. It is a pretty good entry-level receiver. But definitely not for high-end use.

By the way, I paid US$399 delivered (by FedEx) to Canada from JandR. Great service. Highly recommended. Beware Ontario residents: Customs now charges 7% GST + 8% PST!

Sorry guys, I cannot give it a 5-star for overall rating.

High Quality/Value

The remote

Dolby Digital is awsome!!!

The DB model line is vastly superior to the cheap DE model line.
Great features and performace for the price...can't beat it...except maybe the 930DB.

You can't go wrong if you pick this model.

Functions,configuration options,output power,outputs,price

They could have shipped the LCD remote with it.

I have this receiver a few month now. I wanted to get the STR-DE835 but the sailsman pointed me at the right direction and i got this one instead. It is just great with all this inputs and outputs (5.1 input,output,double subwoofer,4 optical in,1 optical out e.t.c). For the price i got it (8400 ATS in Vienna) it is excellent. Much better options and capabilities from any other receiver. I use Jamo classic 6 in the front, Jamo classic 4 in the back, Jamo center 160 and Jamo 505 subwoofer and the sound is excellent. You can edit any aspect of the DSP programs (32 bit) individually so as to get a great soundstage suitable to your personal taste. It is simple Great! Power,configuration options and price! Try to beat this one!

top notch build , outstanding multichannel performance (dd,dts),impressive stereo and dplogic options,name labling for selected inputs

remote sucks!......but thats all ! at this price the receiver you get should leave no room for complaints!

for the price paid on this receiver 3oo dollars for what you get i should have paid close to a 1000 bucks! this receiver is definatly an overachiever , tons of inputs ,exellent dts and dd decoding but doesnt do to bad on dpl or stereo either,i have not one single complaint - other than the remote and 24/96 dacs but thats all and as i said before 300 bucks! .

by the way if you are interested i am using this receiver with the following equipment,

b&w 600 series 1 digital center
b&w 600 series 2 digital monitors
b&w dm302 prism enclosure rear speakers
bose 201 series 3 (alternate surround 6.1)
sony 650d 5 disc dvd player
pioneer 645 laserdisc player /via yamaha adp1 rf decoder
original monster speaker wire with rf traps (ferrite)
monster audio cable optical/coax/interconnects

Similar Products Used:

only lower models from jvc , kenwood

top notch build , outstanding multichannel performance (dd,dts),impressive stereo and dplogic options,name labling for selected inputs

remote sucks!......but thats all ! at this price the receiver you get should leave no room for complaints!

for the price paid on this receiver 3oo dollars for what you get i should have paid close to a 1000 bucks! this receiver is definatly an overachiever , tons of inputs ,exellent dts and dd decoding but doesnt do to bad on dpl or stereo either,i have not one single complaint - other than the remote and 24/96 dacs but thats all and as i said before 300 bucks! .

Similar Products Used:

only lower models from jvc , kenwood

The design, soundquality and price

The BLODDY remote and problem with the volume at low levels

Overall I'm very pleased with the STR-DB830, but I will NEVER understand why they asked an IDIOT to design the remote!

And then I have a small problem with the volume at low levels: When I turn the volume to the lowest level, the sound is only to be heard in the right speaker.

Beside that, the next-lowest level is to high in volume for "easy-listening" and background music. Two friends of mine share the same problem with other Sony receivers.

Sony says "They know the problem" but there's obvisiouly no solution to it. Send me an e-mail if you have found a solution to this problem.....

Similar Products Used:

none

DD sound great, no hiss

None so far

I was looking for a DB830 when I found a DB930 in stock for $399 at State Street Discount in Portsmouth New Hampshire. 60 miles from Boston. Tax Free. In stock. The remote is funky - I can't seem to find the right code to get PIP to work on my Toshiba TV - but that's okay.
I've heard it said before - Dolby Digital is really a big step ahead of Pro Logic. Haven't tested DTS yet.

Similar Products Used:

Old Pioneer (1995) Prologic

I liked the STR-DB830. The sound was excellant, the manual was easy to understand...but I returned it because my Home Theater setup is differentand I wanted to use the preamp outputs for my power amplifiers. There was
nothing wrong with the Sony. It just didn't meet MY personal needs. If
I had a traditional Home Theater, I would have kept it. As far as pricing,
let me give you a word of caution: I paid MSRP for it and I purchased it
from Crutchfield. A couple days after I received the STR-DB830, the remnants
of Floyd hit our area and we lost electricity for almost four days. If it
I had purchased it from one of the discount Internet companies that have
a restrictive return policies (as in 2 weeks) I would have been stuck with
a receiver I couldn't use. I returned it and all I paid was $9.95 for the
shipping...the return shipping was free.