sound great,modes,AFD,2 Optical inpouts,Cinema modes,lots of properties

None.If i can say one is the Remote control.Those green buttons are horrible.

I would like to inform all those guys who own this receiver and have the same problem that I had, the Hiss!!! Well, the solution is simple...Get it back to the Sony Service and they will fix it!!! I took mine back and in 2 weeks it was fixed. No more Hiss and it sounds great!!! They admit that some models with a specific serial number had this problem with the hiss and not all of them. So, they replaced a box inside the Amplifier and that was all...A new machine that sounds better that ever...And if you replace your cables with monster cables and connect your CD, DVD with optical fibres the hole result would be more than perfect...amazing...To conclude, this receiver with no hiss at all is a great choice for the money...

Sony name, 100W per channel, optical and Coax inputs.

Remote control is unreadable in any but the brightest lights (I have had to memorize the button positions).
Remote control TV features only work on Sony TVs.

I discovered all these reviews after I had placed my unit on layaway. I revisited the store several times to listen to the display unit. I bought the Sony micro-speaker system with the A/V receiver. I didn't hear the much discussed hiss at the store. I went ahead and bought the unit and took it home. I was very pleased with the system. I could detect no hiss. However, 6 days into the purchase and 5 DVD movies later there was a whumph and a puff of blue smoke (fried power supply). Luckily, the store took it back and gave me a replacement unit. I have had it two days and it seems to be working fine. It has all the features I want. One thing that was a surprise to me is that the S-video out and video out signals are on different buses. You can't put RCA video into the unit and expect it to come out on the S-video connection. That meant I had to provide both S-video and RCA video to my Mitsubishi TV inputs (that means switching each time).

I was very surprised that a Sony product was defective and fried within the first week.

The price (in France, 300 dollars is a good deal as the usual price is more around 400!!!.
Many features

Hiss. No top of the class audio quality

Ok, here is my input.
For the price and with those features it is a fairly good deal but there are surely better deals to get.

About the hiss:

For CDs, use the normal 2 channels mode, don't use the tone functions (bass, treble, bassbooster...)and it will be totally quiet. As long as the tone function or the DSP gets in, you get a noticeable hiss but only if you are are less than two meters away from the amp with no music. Good point is that the hiss is as loud on 1 as it is on 10, so unless I set the volume so low that I have to be right in front of the speakers to hear anything, there is no audible hiss for me. One meter away and above volume 3, I don't hear it anymore. I must precise that I use cheap cables at the moment and I am talking only about analog inputs.

BUT it is nevertheless the noisiest amount of hiss I have ever heard (I wasn't able to hear the unit before buying it and have tried others since). For me it is poor quality components or/and design that are to blame and even at this kind of price, a company like Sony should be ashamed of selling this as a HI-FI product. It is certainly not good to feed your speakers with this constant background hiss on top of the proper musical signal. I have tried other amps since and they are not as noisy.

Sound quality:
I bought along a pair of BW 602 S2 speakers. I tought they were awesome when buying them and the many good reviews I read on this site confirm my opinion.
Used with the 545, the sound is a lot less good than it used to be in the shop with a fairly basic Marantz amp. I bought those speakers because they had a very balanced sound on all kinds of music (from metal to classical) and the Sony puts the bass and mids in the foreground. It is alright anyway but I will never have to use the bassboost button. The sound is fairly well defined but it is far from the clarity and scope a proper HI-FI amp would give you.

Power: Very powerful but I think it mainly depends on the speakers you use.

OVERALL FEELINGS:
I won't bring this unit back simply because the shop in 200 miles from home and anyway, past the first seven days of purchase, it is not possible to bring it back anymore. This is no HI-FI machine but I don't blame it for that as I was mainly looking for an all rounder for HIFI and Home cinema. The amp does all of this with average results and I will live with it but there are probably better deals to get. I would advice not to buy it just because of the hiss which shows how much Sony has agreed to compromise on quality to bring the prices down below what you would expect even in this price range.

If anyone has found a way to overcome the hiss, I would be happy to know how.

Similar Products Used:

No one. I previously used studio monitoring stuff (behringer desktop mixer + alesis RA 100 amp + spirit absolute 2 speakers).

This Thing Stinks, Take It Back!!!

Everything - Espescially The HISSSSSS

I got suckered into this thing because they were out of the Yamaha 5245. Took it back in 2 days after dealing with the annoying hissss.

What a joke.

Sony Cinema Sound offers a multitude of surround options that were sampled from theatres around the US. This option gives the listners a vivid theatre experience they do not get from other recievers in this price range.

The setup is optional but, it maximizes your room for optimal audio performance. The reciever takes you through the type of speakers you will use as well as the height that you will place them at and the ditance they will be from the listener.

The remote control which, I thought was only going to be a minor factor in this review is excetional. If you have more than 5 controllers than this controller will control all the A/V devives you have.

It will make you change your schedule to fit its needs for you to watch and, listen.

A fine, fine reciever that has many options and, is intuitive to use.

There is no hiss that other reviewers at this site are reporting about.

Similar Products Used:

I also had an opportunity to try out the Aiwa and, Technics at a similar price. The Aiwa was inferior in every way. The power output stated was false and, the conrtols were confusing. The Technics was well powered but, a multitude of reviews said that it overheated. In my case it did. the Functions on the remote started to not work and, the reciever was hot to the touch.

Cheap price; reasonable features; can get refund from Sony Store.

HISS! Don't buy this unless you're willing to put up with the hiss...

This is a review for the DE445 but the DE545 suffers from the same flaws!

As noted by others, there is noticeable hiss on all 5 channels even at volume level 1 (which is one notch pass the MIN). There's also a "clicking" noise when the volume control is adjusted.

For a small room, the hiss can get irritating and I had to return the product (DE445). I decided to go with the DE945 and I'll give a separate review later. I did listen to the DE845 and the DB840 as well, but I felt it as better to go in between and settle for the "top of the line" in the DE series...

Similar Products Used:

Switched to DE945 but stuck with their CR490 surround speakers (which are adequate).

DTS

busy and hard to read remote

All i hear is whining about hiss. It isn't as bad as some of the equipment i've heard.

As far as sound quality goes, the RX-V490 sounds a little cleaner, but the sony seems to be smoother and offers more believeable soundstaging with the same speaker setup.

In dolby digital, this thing rocks hard. my only complaint is that the rear speakers could be more adjustable; they are a little quiet.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V490

AS AN INTRODUCTION INTO DVD AND DTS DOLBY SURROUND 5.1..THIS UNIT IS MODERATLY PRICED.....HOWEVER.....

NO PHONO INPUT.ONLY ONE VCR SET OF REC/PLAY PLUGS..AND YES THAT AWFULL HISS IS REALLY EVIDENT...

..I AM USING THIS UNIT IN CONJUCTION WITH A PAIR OF MAGNAPLANAR MG1 FRONT SPEAKERS...A BOSE BOOKSHELF AS CENTER CHANNEL AND A PAIR OF DAHLQUIST DQM3s AS MY REAR SPEAKERS.THE MAGNAPLANARS ARE RATED 5hms AND TO MY SURPRISE THE SONY DRIVES THEM VERY WELL AS WELL AS THE DAHLQUISTS..NOT BEING A BIG FAN OF CDs I TRIED THE UNIT USING A PIONEER PDM510 CD PLAYER...AT ONLY 4X SAMPLING THE CDs I PLAYED SOUNDED MUCH LESS HARSH THAN PLAYING THEM ON THE SONY GX700ES...WHICH WAS PLEASANT.THEN THE TRUE TEST CAME...I PLAYED A DIGALOG PRE RECORDED CASSETTE TAPE AND LIKED THE DETAIL THAT CAME THROUGH THE SYSTEM.I KNOW MOST PEOPLE MUST THINK IM CRAZY LISTENING TO CASSETTE TAPES IN THIS DAY AND AGE BUT AS AN EX PRODUCER IN THE RECORDING INDUSTRY..A GOOD PRE RECORDED HX PRO CASSETTE PLAYED FROM A SOLID AND WELL ALIGNED TAPE MACHINE,TO MY EAR SOUNDS SO MUCH MORE HONEST TO THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES THAN ITS CD COUNTER PART.THE STEREO IMAGE FROM THE SONY WAS INTENSE...CRISP BASS AND UNLIKE MOST JAPANESE AMPS THE HIGHS WERE MILD AND ROUNDED.I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE A PHONO INPUT ON THIS MACHINE BUT A PRE AMP CAN TAKE CARE OF THAT..(USING THE AUX INPUT).THE FACT THAT YOU CANT DUB VCR/VCR IS AN ANNOYANCE BUT WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR $300? 5.1 DTS IMAGING WAS PRECISE FROM DVD.CABLE SURROUND SOUND WAS HOWEVER A LITTLE WEAK..INFORMATION FROM THE REAR CHANNELS BEING A LITTLE LOW.ON THE WHOLE, FOR THE BEGINNER THAT WOULD LIKE TO ENTER THE MOTLEY WORLD OF HOME THEATRE ON A BUDGET..THIS UNIT IS A FINE INTRODUCTION.

Similar Products Used:

SONY GX700ES AV/RECEIVER..DOLBY PRO LOGIC ONLY

N/A

Loud Hiss, remote, rear channels quiet

This is a follow-up review to my review posted on 6/24/00. As I used the product longer, I discovered some increasing problems with it. For starters, the static hiss that others complain about, started on mine, and kept getting worse. I have since returned the unit, and purchased a Pioneer. I highly recommend you do so now if your unit is still able to be returned. When I got it, there was no static. When I returned it a little over a month later, you could turn the volume to nothing, and still hear the static plain as day. I regret to say, that while the features of this unit are great and if it worked correctly, the unit would be absolutly gorgeous for the price. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and I am dissapointed with Sony.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneers, McIntosh

Lot of features

Basicly Everything.

I was very unhappy with this Sony product. I had the Sony STR DE-615 for many years and enjoyed it very much. The DE-545 had a very week amp, a lot of hum, and way to much distortion. After returning the Sony and eventually buying the Onkyo TXDS484 there is no way I will ever go back to Sony. I have allways admired Sony products, but this one I give two tumbs down.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR DE-615, Yamaha RX395, Onkyo TXDS484