For the price this is definetly the best reciever on the market. Its loadedwith alot of features including 5.1 input (would have really liked 6.1 inputs,
but how much more can you ask for $400 including shipping).Here are
some of the specifics:

-Set-up was arduous, but well worth it.
-Bass output is excellent.
-Remote is not as bad as everybody seems to think.

So if you are in the market for an inexpensive DD/ DTS receiver this is the one.
regards.

I just purchased a brand new Sony STR-DE935 A/V receiver. There is, however, a problem with the rear channel output. There is significant distortion in the rear channels that can be described as follows:
1. Static/crackling sound when playing normal program material.

2. Distortion when playing the test tone feature.

3. When playing the test tone feature, there is low level distorted sound coming from the Rear Left speaker when the test tone is playing from the Rear Right speaker. The reverse is true, i.e. there is low level distorted sound coming from the Rear Right speaker when the test tone is playing from the Rear Left speaker.

4. All distorted sound disappears after the receiver "warms up", i.e. after it is on for 30-40 minutes.

5. Distortion is present even after the unit is warm AND the front speaker impedence switch is set to 4 Ohms.

6. The impedence of the connected speakers is as follows:

Front: 6 Ohms
Center: 4 Ohms
Rear: 4 Ohms

I connected an 8 ohm resistor in series to the center and rear speakers to increase resistance to 12 ohms. I verified the value with a multi-tester. This had no effect on the problem.

I have exchanged the receiver TWICE. The problem is identical on the current and 2nd unit. The first unit I connected had no output from the center channel whatsover.

Has anyone else had similiar problems?

I really wanted to pick up one of these 935's but have yet to find a place in my area(baltimore maryland) that has them yet. I know places like crutchfield(even they are on back order) have them but I don't want to mail order a reciver. Where did you all get yours because i called circut city and best buy and none of thoese places have them yet. Hope someone can help me. Plz post it here so other people can read it too :)

See I was in the market for purchasing the Sony 333ES, but then I came across the 935. What I'd like to know is what is the main difference between the 333ES, and the 935 I mean the 935 delivers 110 Watts per channel while the 333ES does only 85, so what is the difference please e. mail me with the info or post it here thanks a lot.

Good receiver. Best Sony non-ES to date. Too many pros to list.
Cons:

-Should have used banana plugs for rear/center outputs (maybe not a con for some users).
-Need to add preouts for all channels.
-On screen menus would be a plus.

Overall an above average receiver, therefore the 4 star rating (should really be 4.5). JVC 888 is comparable, more features, but does not sound as good (higher frequencies are a little exaggerated?). I would choose the better sound, so I'm keeping my 935. BTW, the 333ES (lower end Sony ES) sounds much better to the critical ear but costs about $300-$350 more. A little bit less hum in the rear channel also. I guess you get what you pay for.

After debating on a new A/V Receiver, I purchased this Sony 935. Having used a Kenwood 1070 'DD Ready' Receiver (which 'sucked'- sorry Kenwood), this unit is AWESOME!! Sure, it takes awhile to setup all variables, but once set, this unit kicks butt!! I used to have to turn the volume half or more on the Kenwood, the Sony 935 volume is loud at a quarter turn. Separation on the surround channels are incredible. On my previous Kenwood receiver, I had to listen closely to the surrounds. The Sony 935 unit brings all the 'sounds' to life.... sounds 'swirl' around you.... left, center, right, right/back, left/back. So many adjustment to configure for your listen pleasure (not to mention all the 'sound effects'.
The only downfall on not receiving 5 stars is the lack of S-Video.

If your looking for an inexpensive A/V DD/DTS Receiver, buy one of these.

>I need a technical review & evaluation on Sony's Receiver>STR-DE925 and 935.

Well, I just got a 935 last night.

I was after the 835 which is out of stock everywhere, tried the Kenwood VR309 which frankly is a turd with a pretty face plate. (I could say a lot more bad about it)

The 935 is very good sound wise. The amps are clean and powerful, the power supply is beefy with plenty of capacitance and the output sections are all discrete transistors. The boards of good quality and the digital section pretty well done.

One feature that stands out are the 935's tone controls, which they call the "equalizer". There are three bands for bass, mid treble, and you can not only cut and boost, but you can sweep the frequency on each band. That's probably the most flexible tone controls you'll get on a receiver.

The remote is a two-way job with an LCD screen. It was easy to program for the different devices in my system, since the brands are listed on the screen. On the downside, I still haven't figured it all out yet. I was hoping for some unity in the remote, since I have a Sony TV (KV27V65 - which in all honesty verges on turddom itself). My DVD and VHS are different brands. The remote seems complicated and comes with a fairly substantial manual. At this point, it seems like I will still have a pile of remotes on my coffee table at all times. Maybe it will get better once I figure it out.

The backside of the Sony 935 is where stuff gets a little weird. There's one optical out, and several optical ins, only one coax in (it accepts 96khz digital too). There's a 5.1 input, a second audio out, sub out, Two sets of large post speaker connectors for mains A and B, and set of smaller connectors for centers and rears. The FM features a coaxial input which is a nice touch. There's a pile of other connectors back there too for audio in out for various functions.

The video switching is where I think it falls down.

There's a monitor out with one Svideo out and a baseband output. There's a DVD/LD and baseband video in and a SVideo input.

There's a VCR-1 with both baseband and Svideo ins and outs. Then there's VCR-2 with only baseband video ins and out.

There's only 2 SVideo ins to work with if you want to feed your monitor a SVideo input. Kind of short, I think, as the cheaper Kenwood and Pioneers have more (4-6 if I remember) S inputs. Since the TV only has one, I'd like to have more S video switching in a receiver like this.

But here's the worse part:

The SVideo bus is completely seperate from the baseband bus. That means you can't switch from an S-Video source (like a DVD or digital satellite) to a baseband source like a VHS VCR, nor can you record from one to the other.

So I have to switch the TV as well, which is a real drag.

Now, a y-c seperator is a pretty simple circuit and I think they should have put one in the receiver so that baseband video could be switched onto the SVideo output. A y-c combiner is even simpler and they could have put that in so you could record from an S-video bus to a standard device.

I don't know how this corresonds to other companies products, whether any other receivers can handle this task or not. I fully expected that the receiver should have this built in. I cannot be the only person who owns a vcr and a dvd player.

Bottom line:

Audio and DSP sections are excellent and extraordinarily flexible. The unit is well built and has a well layed out control panel for a device with such a bewildering array of functions to choose from.

The remote is powerful, but I have my doubts and not enough time fooling around with it yet to cast judgment. My initial impressions are lukewarm.

The video swtiching features are a little lacking. More S inputs would be welcome as competitors in this price/quality range offer more. Also the inability to see the baseband video from the y-c outputs and vice-versa is just unforgivable. I don't know what the competition offers (probably the same) but there's no reason this couldn't have been built-in.

I just upgraded to the Sony STR DE935 from a Sony prologic receiver. No comparison at all. The 935 sounds awesome. Setup was a pain and manual was no help. Remote is great except for trying to program it to work with my JVC SVHS VCR which it refuses to talk to. I had no luck with using the S-Links on my Sony TV, Sony CD jukebox, Sony cassette player. AFter unplugging the slinks everything worked fine with the exception of the JVC VCR. Sounds excellent with my Bose AM6 speakers. Overall I love all of the modes to choose from. I bought mine from Ultimate Electronics for $449 which is the only place local or internet that had it in stock. I definitely would give it 4 1'2 stars, only knocking it for the worthless manual!

Well, this isn't near the best Sony receiver however, I've come to the conclusion that my search has ended here. The Sony STR-DE935 offers 10 inputs which alows me to hook up everything I have. The 835 only has 8 inputs. Dolby Digital is nice, I've had it for quite sometime now, but DTS is what's great about this system. DTS using 4 times the infomation on a DVD than Dolby Digital producing much better sound. I can't help but listen the introduction a few times. With S-link I'm able to simlify turning on other electronics. I own a Sony DVD, VCR, Mini Disc, TV, Tape deck (which I no longer use)..etc. I think S-link works better with all one brand (I wonder why they do that). If your considering on purchasing a Receiver in the near future, do youself a favor and put the STR-DE935 on your list.

After considering several different models, I chose the 935 because it offers so many features for the money (built-in DTS, S-video inputs, plenty of A/V inputs, etc.) I've only had it for a day now, but I'm very pleased with it so far.
My previous reciever was a Yamaha RX-V490 (pro-logic), which I've had since '95. I was suprised to find that the sound on the 935 was dramatically better than what I was getting with the Yamaha, even on Pro-Logic sources (all three front channels are well-defined, spatially). Of course, Dolby Digital DVDs sound fantastic and you have a ton of soundfields to play with. (I haven't yet been able to try the DTS feature or the tuner, so I can't comment on those.)

Another good reason to consider the 935 is the fact that it has so many inputs. Until I hooked it up and actually started using it, I didn't realize what a benefit it is to be able to control all your audio and video sources from one place.

To give you an idea of my setup, here's what I have, and how I've set it up:

- DVD/CD player, using the S-Video, optical and RCA stereo inputs
- a DSS receiver using the other S-Video input and the RCA audio inputs
- a Hi-Fi VCR using RCA video and audio jacks for both input and output
- a Sony Playstation using the RCA video and audio inputs
- a TV hooked up to S-Video and RCA video outputs
- a subwoofer, hooked up via the mono sub out
(a have a few inputs left over, too)

I should point out that you don't have to use *both* the RCA and optical inputs for the DVD -- the receiver will handle digital signals from both DVDs and CDs. Mine is set up this way because I sometimes want to watch video from my DSS while listening to a CD at the same time. Also, the output from my sub is *much* tighter now that I'm using the mono sub output (I had been using the internal crossover in my sub to filter the bass out of the left and right channels).

As other people have noted, the 935 is kind of hard to find. I bought mine at Best Buy ($500, but you can probably do better through mail order). I got the last one in the store, and their initial shipment only contained two of them (mine, and the floor model). Crutchfield was out of them, and even the store that claimed: "if sony makes it, we've got it!" didn't have them. So it might be best to call around before you go driving all over creation to find one.

Overall, I highly recommend this receiver. For the money, I doubt you could do better.