Sounds AWSOME!
Adjustable crossovers
REALLY Customizable.
Remote
Look

TONS OF SETUP
Time consuming to customize
I love it personally but the remote IS complicated.
RECOMMENDED: Sub woofer
Some people might not like the manual...

I heard a quote once.... "Your system will come to life with this product."
I MUST say that that quote perfectly describes this product. I was using just pro-logic for a while until I decided to go for 5.1 and WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MADE! I LOVE IT! In fact I can't get enough of it.... Great for movies or music.... I am a tech geek and I love the remote however I know that not all people are very good with technology.... PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU ARE NOT A TECHNOLOGY PERSON YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER GETTING A SIMPLE PRODUCT AND NOT THIS ONE!!

Plenty of functions that the average joe wouldn't use. Easy to set up, looks elegant, and good sound quality. Has a crap load of jacks on the back of this thing, can't imagine that much equipment being hooked up to a receiver at one time by any individual!!!

Wierd remote, but you'll get use to it, and it has a long delay at first!

At first had some problems with the unit, but cracked it open to find out that it was the volume control connector. Anyway, it is MUCH better that the previous Sony equipment that I had. The highs are a bit clearer, bass tighter, and vocals more audible on movies. Music is better defined with details uncovered that I didn't notice before. I'm not one of those sorry tweekers or audiofiles that think they can hear every detail with XYZ cables or speakerwires, I just know what I hear and this is better than what I had before. I have a Sony DVP-S300 DVD player (Which is one of the best ever) running through Boston Acoustics CR7's bookshelfs and CRC center with a PV-1000 sub and it simply sounds great. I thought at first it would be low on power being that it is 80x5, but trust me it is more than enough for any medium or small room! I would recomend this receiver to anyone with the hope of having something that is closer to the upper-end of mass produced equipment.

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Sony STR-DE915 and upgraded to a STR-DE925. This was the best upgrade yet!!!

power,ease of unit,soundfields

remote

GREAT UNIT WITH TO MANY FEATURES TO NAME. GREAT POWER FOR A UNIT RATED 80WATTS X 5. TRIED DENON2800 GREAT FEATURES BUT NO POWER,THE YAMAHA 795A HAD THE POWER BUT NO INPUTS TO CONNECT ANYTHING. I HAVN'T HAD THE PROBLEMS OTHERS HAVE SO I HAVE TO GIVE THIS UNIT 5 STARS.I GOT THIS FOR $640 AT A LOCAL HIFI SHOP.

Similar Products Used:

denon2800,yamaha795a

More in puts than you will ever need!
Great overall sound, esp. in Surround mode

Remote is tricky, but seems to work OK

When i received the unit, there was a transistor dislodged inside the case from shipping. I figured i'd have to send it back, but opened it up and replaced it with no real problem. The overall sound in great. I am using it in a medium sized room with 2 Polk Audio monitors on front channel, powered subwoofer (highly recommend!) and 2 JBL surround spkrs in rear. No center speaker at this time. For video i have a panasonic VCR hooked in through our Sony TV, then into the 333. This works great and the surround sound is HUGE! Very nice preset effects/ rooms, and you can go in and tweak them in EQ mode. I like the labeling feature too, where you can name your own settings for different programs. I am so far quite happy with my purchase and have nothing but good news for you. The remote is wierd in that it takes a few secs to engage, but overall it seeems fine. I have it controling our sony tv, sony cd player,panasonic VCR. It wouldn't do our digital cable box however, oh well, i've gotten used to having to switch between remotes over the years. I got mine from home theatre world online for $578 shipped.

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Sony GX59ES

Detailed sound great dynamics imaging on 2ch music

gets warm, very poor manual

well im a yamaha fan so i was skeptical but curious about the ES models by sony, i was comparing the 333es to the yamaha rxv995. the yamaha displays a sound that has to be heard and not explained, it is very clean all the way to the top on both music and movies. well i went to the sony dealer listened to the 333es and side by side listening coparisons told my ears this. The yamaha very detailed with ample power to drive mid to bookshelf speakers with authority, power rating on the yamaha 100wpc 5/2ch. The sony333es right out the gate very smooth and open great imaging and depth causing the speakers to almost dissapear, same results with movies. I have to say that i was supprised at the level of performance i was hearing from this product being that for the most part sony has a pretty bad rep for quality control performance failers etc, but on this prouduct they got it right. For all you that are reading this do your homework before buying a reciever then go and listen to it no matter what brand it is if it has the features you want and need and most of all it sounds right to your ears then it is probably a winner. Oh by the way all the settings on the 333es were set to 0 no sounfields no eq everything was set flat as well as the yamaha this is how you should audition a reciever it will bring out the true sounds of that product. I would also like to ad that the 333es is 80wpc 5/2ch high current amps with tons of muscle lots of tight deep bass. My only concern is the mild heat build up and my unit is well vented, when i first bought it i let it run for 8hrs straight at about 45% volume and the amps never gave out and the unit was still only slightly warm were as the yamaha barely felt warm, but i dont think this will be a problem. To sum it up buy a reciever for its sound quality and features you need, because never in a milion years did i think i would own a sony, but i found myself a winner here go give it a listen you might be supprised in the sound quality, im still a yamaha fan, but im also a sony es fan as well, hey theirs nothing wrong with liking 2 teams. we need to squash this denon yamaha war theres other recievers out their that are just as good and some better than the two. Oh the remote is pretty good on this thing also no complaints takes getting used to like all the others it learned all my componants with no problems. my system is SONY STRDA333ES PIONEER DV-414 DVD PLAYER HITACHI 32" TV PARADIGM 7SEMK3S MAINS PARADIGM CC-170 CENTER CH PARADIGM ATOMS SURROUNDS AND PARADIGM PS-1000 SUB. This system is very smmoth sounding with alot of authority and the 333es brings out every detail and excrets alot of muscle i am very pleased with this product, good luck!!

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yamaha

First of all, my brother upgraded his system and he sold me his 333; he is somewhat of an audiophile and upgrades quite often. The price though did not include the remote or manuals as these were lost.

Still learning to use the system but without the manual, its somewhat difficult. If anyone has the manual online, please email me. I had a Sony STR-945 previously so the functionality and remote were all familiar.

I have the Energy Take 5's (8" subwoofer) with the 333 and they sound very crisp. As these speaker are not high-end, they are more adequate for my tastes are definitely the weakest link in my system.

I have since gotten a replacement remote and it seems to work well with all my Sony components. I also have a 560DVD and 335 CD changer along with a 53HS10 (HDTV).

All in all a great system for my needs. If I had to pay retail, it would have certainly been out of my price range.

Again, if someone has the manual, I would really appreciate an online version if someone has one available.

feature set, soundfields, flexibility, 2 ch stereo, build quality

the instructions for the remote

I read the earlier reviews posted here earlier and was intrigued by the es line of receivers. Every review was pretty positive and it seems the receivers had two features I was interested in, good two channel stereo and soundfield flexibility.
When I read that onecall was moving them out ay $389.00 I decided to jump on one, even though I had just purchased a marantz sr-7000. My current home theater receiver was a nakamichi AV-1s.

In home I tested all three with a panasonic dvdc50 dvd changer, pioneer 300 cd changer, panasonic stereo vcr, optimus lx 10 tower speakers for front and rear, optimus pro cs5 center channel and a panasonic 36 inch tv.

The Nakamichi was excellent in 2 ch stereo, good in pro logic and dolby digital. The build quality is fair and the remote was excellent. The feature set was poor.

The Marantz was okay in two chanel stereo, goood in pro logic and dolby digital. the build quality was excellent and the remote excellent. The feature set was good. 5 ch stereo was ok.

The Sony was awesome out of the box. Excellent in 2 ch stereo, better then the Nakamichi and much better then the Marantz.. Prologic and Dolby digital are excellent and the flexibility provided by the soundfields and equalizer are unmatched by the other reveivers here. The build quality reeks of quality, like an acura or a lexus. The feature set is awesome. Now for the remote. the remote is not bad , but the manual sucks. If the manual explained how to use the remote and all of its features, probably so many people would not complain about it.

Final ranking
Five gold stars for the Sony ( its is excellent in all categories)
Four Stars for the Nakamichi. I rate it above the marantz sr-700
Four stars for the marantz sr-7000. The most expensive reciever of the lot. Sounds at best OK, a tad on the bright side. Five channel stereo is a nice feature.

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Denon 1800, Dennon 2400, marantz sr-96 marantz sr 7000, nakamichi av-500 nakamichi av-1s

Great power

dont't like the remote, hard to get use too but works great

Have all sony components DVD-CD-VCR-32TV- CASSETTE THREE HEAD . Also Definitive Pro 100's for frt. Left-center-Right Pro 100 sub, Pro 80's for rear great sound .Use all monster cables -also speaker cables

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Sony Str-D1011s

Great sound, lot's of digital inputs

Terrible ergonomics

This receiver really surprised me with its sound quality. I compared it to all it's competitors (Onkyo, Yamaha) and found that it had more digital inputs (5, plus 1 output), a nice eq function (separate 3 band semi-parametric for fronts, center and surround) and a promising remote. I don't like to buy Sony equipment, but somehow I keep doing just that. Mostly because they have the features I want that no one else does.

I am very pleased with the sound quality - no pops when changing inputs, no bleed over from other inputs, no hiss, great bottom end, wide, wide soundstage. The depth isn't great (compared to my Carver CT-17 which it has replaced) and the highs are a bit edgy at times. Movies are fantastic though.

The lowpoint has to be it's ergonomics. Getting to all the functions (sound fields, eq, etc.) is difficult. Certain functions (sleep, display dim) are not on the remote. The remote doesn't control my TV correctly (it's a 3-year old 32" Sony) - can't get to menu, PIP functions are only usable through the slow-to-wake "thumber switch." Couldn't control my Phillips DVD player unless I told the remote it was a Toshiba (transport functions only). Can't select previous disk, only next disk in my Sony 5 disk changer. A2 control link doesn't work with my CD player's S-link. Little things like that; they add up to a lot.

Finally, the speaker binding posts have holes too big for bananas (Audioquest, Monster and Esoteric Audio banana plugs just fall right out) and can't accept spades! What's the point of binding posts then?

Luckily, I'll be paring this with outboard amps (Proton, Carver) which have proper binding posts, and lots of power. The Sony's 80x5 built-in amps should be plenty for most rooms though.

I'd give it a 3.5 total, rounded up to 4. I'll keep it for the great sound quality truckloads of features until I can afford one of those $2000+ controllers (as soon as they put enough digital inputs on them!).

great sound, the DAC's are amazing, good looking unit, lots of inputs.

remote

This unit sounds great. I'm using it has a preamp with the N9000ES power amp. It totally blows away my old yamaha 793 unit. The remote is diffcult to get used to. It grows on you however.

Listen you won't be disappointed.

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yamaha