Value, Power, Better than average consumer grade circuitry.

Considering the price of this unit, none.

I purchased this unit based on reviews I've read in various magazines, and information provided here. This being my first DD/DTS receiver, I feel I made every effort at selecting the best unit for the money. I began looking into this about October of last year, purchasing this model in January.

I do not appear to have the hissing or humming noise at any volume levels that some of you have reported. This can only mean that there were perhaps a run of units from Sony that got past their QC, or maybe there is some stock in using expensive cabling (I am using Monster products throughout). EMI is most likely the problem here, I have never used those cheap, poorly shielded phono plugs that manufacturers supply with their equipment; its like those push-on cable TV jumpers- you get a better picture when they're in your trashcan.

Quite frankly, this unit performs functions that I'm only begining to fully appreciate. You're able to have plenty of inputs and outputs for future expansion, functions that you're able to rename, and sound fields that will have you pushing buttons and annoying your wife.

Then there's the remote control unit. It's like anything else, once you get used to it, it is not the issue some of you seem to think it is. True, it isnt the fastest thing going, but remember you have to point it at the receiver, so it can communicate! (I can picture several of you, pointing it at the ceiling, reading the display, cursing)

I hear the replacement model for the 930 has on screen displays...I can't imagine many more improvements that would still keep this unit unit in the $500 to $600 range. If that's the case, snatch up one of these. It's true, you can get better, spend more and adopt the latest and greatest, but there's always tomorrow.

Toshiba CZ36V51 Television
Sony SAT-A50 Digital Satelite Receiver
General Instrument DCT2244
Toshiba SD-2109 DVD player
Toshiba M-675 VHS
Yamaha NS-A1738 (front L/R)
Optimus PRO-CS5 (center)
(4) Optimus PRO-LX5II (wired in parallel for surrounds)
Optimus PRO SW-200P (subwoofer)

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None.

Power, Versatility, Value

None that carry any weight

I was talked into this receiver from my local authorized sony salesmen. Those that buy online better BE CAREFUL, you could be getting a damaged but fixed receiver. I could not be happier with my receiver. In fact I had the money to buy the 555ES and decided to save my money. The power is unmatched in its price range. I have great B&W speakers (603 s2) and am blown away in 5.1. Throw in my M&K sub, and I have a great package.

I have read poor reviews about the remote and I do not see what the big deal is. Take a little time to read the manual and a little time playing with all the buttons, but once you have it programed, it is a good remote. Those that are complaining, try using the 555ES remote, and come talk to me.

The hissing is not a problem with me. There is a tiny bit but only if I am sticking my ear practically inside the speaker. Those that have a serious problem, should check the quality of their speakers. I fully recommend this receiver to anyone wanting the most out of their money

Similar Products Used:

All Sony Products with a Panasonic DVD

Cheap, power

Remote control makes it hard to switch inputs, only 1 coax input

Very good receiver for the price. I paid AU$1000 for this receiver here in Australia just over 1 month ago.

No hiss problems from the 5 surround speakers. Did have problem with hum from my passive sub woofer using 1 & 2 sub outputs. Fixed that by plugging the sub woofer power amp into a different mains plug in the house. I don't understand why, there's just no hum anymore.

First time I have used digital output from my cd player, and there appears to be more bass than when using the analog cd output. Can't crank it up past 10 o'clock on bass heavy cd's like Portishead Dummy for fear of being pounded with too much bass. Maybe it's just my setup.

Home theater sounds pretty awesome. Old standards like SPR(DTS), Fifth Element, and others sound terrific and have lots of surround effects.

My setup:

Sony 930 receiver
Denon LA2300 laserdisc player
Rotel 965BX cd player
Kit built 200 watt power amp to power the sub woofer
Passive sub woofer based on 30cm Peerless 831857 driver (tuned to 18Hz)
Dali tower fronts
Polk audio bookshelf rear surrounds

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Sony 835

Great Unit! Tons of features and I LOVE the remote! It's like ES receiver for the price of DE series.

No optical input from CD and no digital coax input from SAT.

My DE925 broke and The Good Guys gave up trying to fix it (I had an extended warranty 5 years for $50 - ha!). And they didn't have De935 in stock so they gave me DB930 as replacement!
What can I say. It works great with my Klipsch Quintet speakers. Except for AIWA MX100 the rest of my equipment is SONY so S-link and remote work very well. Even CD-text on the remote from 300disk changer. Never tried 2nd audio output. But I have front B speakers wired into back yard (can't switch A/B with the remote though). As for me there's too many DSP modes. Is there anyone who buys these units and uses VIRTUAL surround using two speakers? By price/features/quality it is a definite 5 stars.

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STR-DE925

Sounds wonderful

Problems with S-VHS cabling, hissing

I'm currently in "installation" phase, but wanted to provide early feedback, if I solve the few problems I have, I'll add an update.

Ideally I'd like to position the Amp below my TV, and in preparation I built a shelf in the alcove in which my TV is positioned, although this does mean that I have audio cables running from the Sky Digi receiver and Toshiba '530 DVD unit. It does have the advantage that my three year old can't insert DVD discs!

I do hear hissing, which does seem to be related to the amp being on for a little time (which makes it hard to debug).

Worryingly it may also be due to the proximity of the TV - I read the small print of the manual about the amp needing to be positioned 10 feet from the TV !! A little awkward for an A/V amp ?

I would have liked to switch a variety of A/V devices via the S-VHS cables, but (a) decent quality ones are expensive in the UK and (b) there is a problem getting colour going from S-VHS to SCART (maybe a problem with my Sony TV - although it is fairly decent or the converter Cable).

In the end, I hooked up the S-VHS socket at the front of the TV directly, and this corrected the problem.

I would have liked more S-VHS connectors in retrospect - ideally I'd like to switch between a PlayStation 2, N64 and DVD Player and perhaps other devices.

Any, despite these niggles, sound is great, and wiring relatively easy, and I do recommend the amp.... so far.

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Early Sony Prologic kit

Great Sound,lots of power,very versatile

none yet

It's having most of the ES-series components at a discount price. Great sound lots of inputs. As soon as you take this baby out of the box you can tell how well this component is bulit. Gets very hot, I put 2 computer fans on top of it and pluged it to the back works great stays very cool.

About the remote; not bad but not great

I just bought the UCOMMAND from www.crispsolutions.com ($119.00) very easy to program does everything you whant and more

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SRT-DE935

I purchased online from a US dealer and saved over $400 CDN versus local dealer (this includes exchange rate of 1.48, tax, duty, and UPS shipping).

See comments below about left-channel difficulties.

Like many of the over 300 reviewers of this product, I must say I have been extremely pleased with its performance. Despite what some people say about the quality consistency of Sony's consumer electronics, I have always had good luck with cassette decks, cd players, televisions (until now).
It appears I may be one of the victims of a faulty unit. When I first set up the system I was unable to get any sound from the left front channel in 5.1 mode. However I was able to get sound during 2-channel playback so I attributed the problem to some wiring mix-up. After "frigging" for a couple of hours I was able to get full 5.1 effects. Unfortunately, the problem has reoccurred and I am now left contemplating whether I should take it in for service.
Has anyone else experienced this left-channel difficulty?!?!
Incidentally, does anyone know if Sony Canada will honour warranties of products purchased in the United States?
Nevertheless, this product still is a tremendous value but I can't rate it 5 stars overall until this problem is fixed.

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Pioneer, Sherwood

Clean Power, affordable, ES Look and build quality, tons of features, nice set inputs/outputs, second audio source, and much more

None so far

Impressive...sound quality is top notch and this is after comparing it to Dennon, Pioneer and Yamaha. For what this unit costs it has a lot of bang for the buck. It works well with all the other SONY componets I have, which I admit influenced my decision on the unit.

The unit itself is just amazing. The sound for DVD and CD is very good. Even videos sound great. I recently watched Jurassic Park There is so much rear info on that video, that I had to turn my surround way down because it was too distracting. But it sounded great! Digital sound is supurb, I've yet to try out DTS. I'm told it's unbelievable. You can do pretty much anything you want with this thing.

My final verdict: the Sony STR-DB940 gets a 5-star rating from me. It's a great deal, and performs wonderfully. Anyone that wants good amp performance, plenty of A/V inputs and DD/dts will love this receiver. It delivers the goods for under $600, (and can be had for even less if you shop around the net.) which is an almost unbeatable deal. I recommend this receiver very highly.

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other sony recievers,Pioneer and Denon

Digital 5.1 / DTS sound and many great features.

AMPS

The amps "SUCK" not hight current. Gets to hot too soon, cuasing the "Protector" to light up and the receiver to shut off. Have to be resetting it. Can't play it at high levels. When played a level 12 o'clock on the volume knob, the unit shuts off. I don't know why Sony states tha the STR-DB930 is close to their ES line. Perhaps, there's something wrong with my receiver. Is there anybody out there experiencing the same related problem? HELP!

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15 year old Fisher model CA-890. By the way the Amps on this receiver blows Sony away. Doesn't gets as hot and shuts off as Sony's STR-DB930. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, THAT A 15 YEAR OLD RECEIVER BLOWS SONY AWAY.

Has a lot of tweaks available

Really badly built amplifiers. The dropoff in performance when low freqs are used is dramatic
Has destroyed lots of good speakers

This receiver is good, apart from all the interfering electronics.
The amplifiers inside are really quite rubbish.
I measured it on the test bench, and it really does perform badly..
it only came out around 82W x5 (but all of sonys stuff is overrated)
If you want a cheap reviever, and have cheap speakers.. by all means jump in, but dont bother if you actually like the sound Over halway with no distortion. Dont buy if you listen to music either

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yamaha, denon, both which kill this receiver in sound quality