solid 120 hi-current watts to all five
channels.5-year waranty.

hard to use,exspensive remote.

I compared the strda555es against the
new strdb930 for the past two weeks at
my local tweeter etc. stores,after end-
less in store listening and comparing
features,the 555 sounds more solid so-
nic-ly than the 930. the 930 just had
to much of an echo noise. I also noticed
that the 555"s e.q. goes all the way down to 100 hz where as the 930"s only
goes to 400 hz. I have to say, go take a
listen for your self,you will hear a di-
fference. I love the 555 its definantly
a winner. I was planing on getting the
930 because of the price and good re-
views but power wise it falls short of
that hard core hi-current bass drive.
buy the way the 555 draws 390 watts of
a/c current to run its massive trans-
former and large amp chips compared to
280 watts for the 930. shop around alot
of companies have the 555 at agood price. good luck and have fun listening.

Similar Products Used:

new sony strdb930

5 year warranty, lots of input and output, good looking receiver.

Remote turns off in seconds

I hook up this receiver with the Energy Take 5 speakers with the 10" powered subwoofer. The digital cinema sound fields are excellent. It has all the power that I could ask for. The remote has a lot of functions, but it switches off in seconds. I guess I have to hold down the light button in order to keep the remote on. This receiver does not heat up as much as my previous Sony receiver. There are less distortion. I guess I have to get the DTS DVD in order for the "Multi Channel Decoding" light to go on. All the movies that I have watched thru the Sony 550D DVD player have given me the pro-logic sound field. I used a coaxial cable to the receiver and S-Video to the TV.(Since most of the DVD are just dolby digital without the DTS.)
I am still excited to find out more new fuctions of this receiver.
PS:I only have to set one time with the two way remote commander.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha

Dolby Digital decoding, musicality - if that's a word?

preamp outputs are very weak

I've been running the 555 for three weeks with no significant problems. Having read previous reviews, I count myself lucky in that regard. I upgraded from a 700ES that did Pro Logic and I have a 69ES (early Pro Logic) that powers my bedroom system. So, I'm pro ES.

Music is noticably better. Even my wife is impressed and she normally could care less. Like a previous reviewer, I am stunned by the DD sound on 'The Matrix.' It's mind-blowing at times.

My one concern is with the 5.1 channel preouts. I have a large room and my surround speakers are behind me. My front speakers are Klipsch Forte II's which are extremely efficient (i.e. load). So, I always have the rear channel cranked at +10 db which still isn't enough for my ears. I figured that I could use the rear preouts as an input to my 700 ES receiver and connect the rear speakers to that receiver and crank up the sound to my heart's desire. I previously used Atlantic Technologies powered sub/sat speakers (yet another 'upgrade' is involved) for my surround channel so I know what kind of rear channel oomph I'm looking for. Unfortunately, the signal coming out of the 555 is very weak. I tested it with another amp and the result was identical. For whatever reason, very little comes out of the mains and rear preouts. Luckily, the sub output is fine. To get okay rear sound levels, I have to crank the second receiver almost to its max which we all know is bad. And even then, it's no louder than the regular rear channel speaker output on the 555 so what's the point?

So, I really like the overall sound but am disappointed with the preouts. If anyone has information on something I'm doing wrong, please email. I'm wavering on whether or not to try a Denon instead. If I could crank the rear channel, I'd be happy as a clam.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 700ES, 69ES

Great sound, Back panel labeled well,integrates well with other Sony stuff

Remote love/hate relationship, eq hard to set up, doesn't always switch on Dolby digital when I think it should, my TV doesn't like the signal from the remote to turn on.

I bought this receiver to replace and aging JVC 707v set-up, picked up a Sony 260 jukebox CD player and the 555 for the new receiver. Sounds fantastic through my little Boston speakers and sub set up, the detail and dynamics are much better than my old receiver. My only complaint with the remote is, although it does drive all of my equipment, it doesn't always switch music sources when I think it should. It also is hard to multi-task, like rewind a tape while you are watching a DVD, switching the source to VCR1 cuts off the DVD sound,and vice-versa. It is still handy to have dedicated remotes that don't disturb what you are doing. I have just the optical cables running from the CD player and a Sony 330 DVD player, and I don't think it turns Dolby digital on when it should, (the DVD says its Dolby Digital, and that's what I have it set for an out, but it still downgrades the movie from Dolby digital to Dolby Pro-logic. I don't know if its the disk, cd player or receiver. Overall with a few nitpicks it still sounds awesome. I looked at some of the other receivers like Onkyo, but they don't have large CD jukeboxes in their line. I like not having to touch the CD's, and if I want to play one that's not in the Jukebox, I use the DVD player as a single CD player ( it sound twice as good as my old single JVC CD player it replaced.)

Similar Products Used:

none.

Sound clarity at high volumes, ease of use, remote features, A1-II control

none so far! knock on wood

I absolutely love this product. I just added the CX333ES 300CD changer and it sounds awesome on my paradigm monitor 9 speakers. I really like the remote because I can shuffle through the title or atrist list of CDs right on the remote!!! how cool is that. This is my first high end component and am very please with the product. It is well worth the money, and I can't wait to hear its dolby digital processing. If you're int he market for an awesome high end sounding system, but don't quite want to go overboard the is definately the best bang for the buck, especially if you can find it for under $800.

Similar Products Used:

first time buying high end, but have used other sony bookshelf systems

I have used my receiver for a couple of months already and I don't have anything negative to say so far. Overall, I am very satisfied. However, I have noticed one thing though. Every time after I play a digitally surrond (DTS) recorded music CD (The Police - Best), when the next CD in the CD carrousel (one that is not DTS) is played, the receiver will not give any sound, although the music CD is playing in AFD mode. What I have ended up doing is changing the CD function to a different function (for example DVD), then return to the CD function, then the receiver will sound. Has anyone experienced this problem after playing a DTS recorded music CD?

Price, S-Video connections

remote backlite

I replace an Onkyo Sv-636 with unit in order to run a totally s-video video bus and a cable connection to a new DVD/CD from Sony. The sound was decidedly superior even on poor speakers [Bose Accoustimass]. The multiple s-video buses are a major reason to purchase this product.

I hit the backlight button automatically now. This makes the remote usable, even fun. The remote controls my Sony C650D cd/dvd very well, another reason to purchase this product. After reading reviews on this page I tested the remote through glass. It worked fine from 8 feet away. As my TV is only used as a monitor, I have no need to control it. I think I can figure out how to control my SAT dish but havn't put the time in yet.

My goal was to build a near-audiophile system [very good sound without going non-linear on the budget] At $740 for a near-audiophile system I heve to give this 5 stars as I do the C650D sony DVD/cd. I matched thes components with M&K THX 750 speaker system and decent cables and accomplished my goal for less than $4500 including TV. [Not including the $2K for carpet and $2K for cabinet that was my wife's piece of the action (: }

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo 636

Sound quality, power, lots of inputs

the remote and an annoying delay in starting to actually play sound (see below)

I bought this receiver as a present to myself along with a pair of Mirage FRX-7's in August of 1999 and I'm very happy with it. After reading so many negative reviews of it I felt like I had to put in my two cents.

I have never been anything but impressed with the sound quality of this receiver. I heard more nuances in my music after I got this than I ever have before, from bass grooves to high frequency. I didn't think it was especially hard to learn to use, but then I've never had a problem programming VCR's either.

That said (and I do want to keep this brief), there are a couple of things I think could be improved upon. Numero uno is, of course, that infernal remote. At first I thought it was a cool idea (and it does impress guests) but actually using it is something of a headache. It's clumsy and feels clunky, like some product engineer never really thought it through.

Another thing I've noticed is that when I'm playing CD's through the optical input, there is a noticeable delay while the receiver figures out what sound format is coming its way. After about 1.5 seconds it realizes it's a PCM stereo signal, I hear a click, and the music starts. But it is annoying to have to restart the track when that happens. I should note, though, that it only happens the first time I play a CD after the receiver has been turned on. Every other time, there is no delay.

The other time I notice a delay is when I play a DTS DVD. The receiver takes about 2-3 seconds to realize it's a DTS signal and start playing, which is annoying.

Other than these faults, I think it's a great piece of equipment. I've owned a lot of Sony electronics over the past several years and never had an ounce of trouble with them. I even have a CDP-C715 CD changer that I got 10 years ago. Still works fine. The 555ES is no exception.

A good looking unit, heavy, seemed well built, OK specs.

Remote is really bad, no subwoofer output with the soundfields off, too complex of an equalization system with no visual references. Runs HOT!!

This thing sounded OK for a few days and then I noticed that the sound started buzzing. I couldn't stand it-it was in both by speakers and through the headphone jack to my Sennheiser HD600's. I also couldn't stand the remote, and it's also non-learning. I returned it and got the Yamaha RXV2095 and the sound is flawless as compared to the Sony. I currently own 2 Sony televisions and a Sony DVD player so I was looking forward to a complete Sony set up, but I'll certainly check out Sony products more carefully in the future as I think their quality has gone down a whole lot recently.

Similar Products Used:

A JVC RX888V (an inferior product) and a Yamaha RXV2095 (a far superior product).

clean sound, remote

no sub with out sound field

patrick is full of it, from the price he paid to where he bought it.I would think a audiophile could tell the difference of an ES and the one he's got with spring loaded spkr terminals

Similar Products Used:

H.K., Denon 4800