Dolby Digital, DTS, ample power, clean sound

Display hard to see, no tape monitor loop, manuals

I purchased this receiver based on what I've read on this forum, and on information from audio magazines. It has just about everything that a home theater would need for great sound, but I feel it is missing a vital feature that used to be standard in most older receivers / integrated amplifiers: a tape monitor loop. I've had this receiver for about a month and have continually tweaked the tone controls, but I cannot get decent sound. The sound is muddy, lacks bass and the highs are irritatingly harsh. I know most of the problem stems from my speakers, which are a pair of old Bose 501 speakers (the ones with the ten inch woofers, circa 1977) and three Bose 301's. I've used an AudioControl C-101 equalizer connected through the tape monitor loop on my old pro-logic receiver to smooth out the response and my old speakers sounded great. The upper bass was tight and well defined. Highs were crystal clear with no listener fatigue even after long periods. Midrange was warm and clean. It was just the way I liked it. I know most purists will say that an equalizer is evil and should be avoided at all costs, but I think that no matter what the quality of your system, the sound can be dramatically improved by the addition of an equalizer / analyzer. If my old speakers can be made to sound great, I can imagine how new speakers will sound with a little equalization. There is such a dramatic difference that I've decided to return my Sony DB930 and trade up to a Denon AVR 3300, which does have a tape monitor loop. Bottom line: if you use an equalizer, don't buy a receiver unless it has a tape monitor. I'll be upgrading my speakers later this year to either Definitive Techs BP2002's, or B&W's.
My system currently consists of a Sony Wega KV36FV1 36"flat screen television, Sony S500D DVD player, Sony STR-DB930 receiver, AudioControl C-101 equalizer, Denon DCD-1500 CD player, Sony Hi-Fi VCR, pair of Bose 501's as fronts, three Bose 301's as surrounds and center channel, Definitive Tech PF15TL subwoofer, all connected with Monster Cable and Audioquest interconnects, and protected by MonsterCable HTS1000 surge protector.
I'm giving a 3 star rating due to lack of a tape monitor, crappy owners manual, and a terrible remote.

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Sony STR-D1011

Excellent Price, Great Quality* (see below - Help!!!)

Possibly the remote

I purchased this unit about 1 month ago. I love its looks, build, overall sound quality, except for 1 issue that I have not resolved yet. Other STR-DB930 owners, please email (patti_clark@hotmail.com) me if you have any suggestions. Here is the problem:

On certain dialoge sequences, there is a noticeable buzz/crackling sound. It does not matter if the volume is high or low. It is always there in the same spot and can be duplicated every time. It is most noticeable on mid-range sounds.

I thought at first it may be my center channel, but I tried 2 channel stereo and the sound is still present. For this reason, I have not tried different speakers. My speakers are 6 ohm Infinity Delta 60's.

I still give this unit 5 stars because I think I may just have a defective unit. I am going to bring my center channel over to my friends house to try on his system.

Thanks

Solid build, amazing sound and looks.

Really thin manual for such a complex receiver...

Sound is amazing! Haven't tried the DD or DTS, but it is ten steps above everything I owned before. Very cheap at $400 US, but hard to get it (few people have it in stock at a good price). Is there any place where you can ask questions about how to operate it? Sony has minimal information on it and the manual is too general for me.
Why is it that the availability is such on this receiver?

I agree with the previous postings, to get this receiver in Canada for US price is like pulling teeth... I had to pay $800 with taxes (i.e. $535 US) and this is considered a good deal... Hm, is Sony Canada cashing the difference?

Anyway, worth every penny!

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Technics gx670

Build quality, looks, value, lots of i/o and most important sound is exceptionally good.

REMOTE!!!

I was also bitten by the DD/DTS craze and was thinking of upgrading my Denon receiver which is a Dolby Prologic only receiver. Through the reviews of this site, there were 2 systems that caught my interest, the Sherwood Newcastle R925 and the Sony STR-DB930.

A friend of mine bought the Sherwood at ubid for $247 some time ago, so I got the chance to actually audition it. It sounded very bright and the tuner sensitivity is somewhat low. Those two weaknesses were enough to keep me away from purchasing it.

After reading all the great reviews on this site and some UK sites about the DB930, I said to myself, this is the receiver I want. So I shopped at buyersedge.com and got a quote from a vendor in New Jersey for $419 shipped and jumped right at it.

My first impression of it is that it sounded very well balanced compared to the Sherwood. Next I operated the tuner and its sensitivity was marvellous. I tried watching movies using Dolby Prologic and it was great even though I have only 2 front speakers at this time and used my TV speakers as the center. Also go a chance to test the DD decoding from my DVD and it too sounded exceptional. Overall I am very impress with this receiver.

There is also a whole array of inputs and outputs. It has the 5.1 inputs that allow you to upgrade it in future. It has pre-amp outputs, it has 3 optical input, 1 optical output and 1 digital coax input. It has i/o for video1, video2, video3, dvd/ld, md/dat, cd, phono, aux, tv/sat and etc.

However there is also a weakness. THE REMOTE!!!. I am fine with the operation of the remote but it lacks the full control capability of the receiver. From the remote, you can't auto tune the tuner; you can't save any settings into memory; you can't select the input mode(coaxial/optical/ analog); you can't set the dimmer and display,; you can't assign names to the inputs; you can't change the volume on your TV/cable box in universal control mode etc. (If anyone found out how to do all these function from the remote, please email me).

As for rating, I give it a 5 stars for value, 5 stars for sound, 5 stars for number of i/o and 4 stars for the remote.

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Denon AVC2500

Great sound, lots of features, low price, S-link adds convenience (but you have to use Sony)

Remote is slow and hard to learn.
No digital input for CD player.

Don't want to repeat what people have said millions of times: THIS IS A GREAT PRODUCT!

Had it hooked up with a set of Energy Encore speakers. Music sounds clean and smooth, while movies sound unreal. I like the S-link feature, which automatically turns on my Sony 36XBR250 each time I pop in a DVD into my Sony 530D. 2-way remote is nice but slow. No digital input for CD player. I have to cascade CD through MD player.

While DB930 is certainly not the best receiver on earth, I still give it a solid 5 overall, and wish I could put 10 stars for the value.

S-video connections, AI and S-link connections, all the possible connections you could need and configurable digital connections

Confusing remote control, but still very cool because I can run all my Sony components through one remote. And the remote is a two way remote.

I got the machine a couple of months ago. It has performed flawlessly, which is what I expected from Sony top of their middle line. Sound quality much better that the high end (american made) amplifier. I give this machine a 5 star rating as it I researched it to death before i bought it and it lived up to its claims completely. Thanx Mike

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None

Great sound and features for only 425.00(One Call). You must quote a price from another retailer- I got one from OADE Brothers One Call beat that price.

Manual difficult to understand at first.

Not everyone wants or can afford a $1000.00 plus receiver. You can thoroughly enjoy home theater with this unit. A true "audiophile" would probably find fault with this receiver for music only but would expect worse for this kind of money. I think it sounds great.

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HK AV65, Sony 333es

Unit's construction, quality, inputs/outputs (although one more S-video would have been nice off of Video 2), DTS and 5.1 sound.

The remote takes some getting used to and it's a bit slow to respond at first.
The fact that they do not make more "DB" products to bridge the gap between low end Sony and ES Sony.
The remote will not recognize the AI controls/CD titling from the CDX-850D 200-disc DVD player.

Overall I have had nothing but good luck with this receiver. Some people were complaining of the heat it exhibited but to remedy that I bought a $15 fan from Radio Shack and installed it over the cooling fins of the amp (plugging it in to the back of the receiver)---I have had the receiver on for ten hours straight with no excess heat buildup.
The remote takes some time getting used to but after two weeks its second nature.
I was looking forward to listing DVD's and CD's on the remotes face but unfortunately it will not download the titles from my new Sony DVD player (CDX-850D).
In conclusion, if you are looking for a sub-$500 receiver with good quality and sound look no further than this one.

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JVC, Onkyo

Price/Performance/Build/Features

Quality control

Sorry I forgot to add this before.

The range of features it offers is trully brilliant. Overall I've been pretty impressed with the sound quality, build and price despite some problems. This is my second unit and I'm still having problems with noise leaking from both front speakers to the center and rear right speakers even when I'm just using the test tones. The first unit I received had no signal at all in the Left rear channel but noise was coming out whenever a signal was being sent to the rear right channel. This problem seems to be occuring in the preamp stage because I get the same problem if I use an eternal amplifier with a signal coming in from the DB930's Pre-outs.

I haven't read about anyone having the same problem occuring in other countries but if you are...then please let me know. The models in Australia are made in Malaysia and my main concern is that both machines had similar problems so it may be a quality control issue.

Despite having this problem my rating on the machine is based on a fully working one as I know that many people have also had problems with the Yammy's and HK's yet they are really good machines (when you can get a working one), But for now the Sony offers more bang for bucks that
the other two but if I can't find a working DB930 I'll probably go for the Yamaha RXV795A. The Yam is about $200-300 more here in Aus...and the HK AVR65 is $500-$600 more.

I have no idea about the 'true' power rating of this machine because Sony tends to fudge their figures a lot. I do know that the DB925 actually had a more realistic power rating of about 55 Watts as measured in a few audio magazines. The Yamaha RXV795 was about 85Watts and HK AVR65 was 65Watts. Despite the DB925s lack of power it still received positive reviews...and I'm not sure if Sony has upgraded the amp in the DB930.

I think that AUDIO is being a little childish with his posts. This is not a discussion group and the so called Audiophile seems to be targetting just the amplification of the DB930 as the sole focus of his review. It may or may not be more powerful than the Yamaha or HK...but its a lot cheaper and offers more features than the other two. The construction is very solid with loads of
inputs and outputs...and it does weight 13.5kg.

Bottom line is some people have had problems with Onkyo, Denon, HK, Yamaha and so on...so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a problem free one third time round.

features, sound, flexibilty, power

none

Best that money can buy right now!