Tremendous power, clarity, looks, plenty of inputs, lots of sound modes

Remote, heat output, manual

I've had this receiver for about 4 months now, and I'm still in awe. The clarity and power in this unit is just amazing. I feel sorry for my neighbors when I'm watching The Matrix for the zillionth time.

Around the beginning of the year I decided it was time to upgrade to a receiver that had full AC-3/DTS decoding. I'd had my Sony 550 DVD player for nearly a year and really wanted the full digital experience. An initial look led me to the Sony 555ES model because it was under $1000 and "seemed" to have all the features of the 777ES. After about a month of research, comparison's, etc., I decided I had to have the 777 but didn't really want to pay double what a 555 costs. Fortunately, I found the 777 at www.oade.com for $1025 and the rest is history.

The sound that this unit can deliver is outstanding. I can crank the volume up till my girlfriend begs for mercy and can’t hear a bit of distortion (or her pleas to turn it down). One of the reasons I went with the 777 was my power expectations. The mere fact that it weighs 55lbs told me it should deliver. I don’t have a sub, but I do have a pair of custom cabinets for the front with 15” drivers. Before I bought this amp, I figured I’d need a sub someday because I wasn’t happy with the bass. Well, that’s changed. I can shake the house with explosions in The Matrix and still clearly hear subtle sounds like shell casings hitting the floor.

I’m very happy with the flexibility the 777 offers. It remembers the sound settings for each input you select. This is a huge convenience as you don’t have to select sound fields, parameters, etc when going from CD to DVD to Tuner, etc. For some reason, this memory feature is not enabled by default, so you do have to enable it. The Sony Cinema sound modes really separate this unit from others for home theatre. I’ve listened to other modes and receivers and I can’t imagine watching a DVD any other way. I just love seeing the big blue light come on and knowing I’m in for a sonic experience.

As close as this unit may be to perfect, there are some downsides. The manual is almost useless and this baby can heat a room by itself. I have it in a cabinet with about two inches of clearance above it and after watching a movie, it’s almost too hot to touch. I added a small blower I found at Northern for $8 and now it stays cool, so just remember this unit needs plenty of air. Then there’s the remote. I can live with its pathetic attempt at storing learned commands, but the 10sec timeout on the display drives me nuts.

I think this is one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. While there are some blemishes against it, none of them affect the sound, which is what really matters.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Onkyo

Flexibility, build quality, warranty and great supply of clean power.

Without rehashing all the good comments that everyone else has already said about 777ES, I just have to say "I can't believe its not butter".

I had actually decided to purchase a 9000ES preamp until I heard about the 777ES. It basically the same preamp with the TA-N9000ES for the price of single piece.

You can go wrong with a steal like this.

Vince

Similar Products Used:

TA-E9000ES and TA-N9000ES

THE SOUND!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN'T TAKE IT TO BED WITH ME

This is my second review and I wanted to pass along some new insights into this beast. I recently purchased a Pioneer 1007 300 disc CD changer with optical out. Anyway, I put in over 200 and in the mix were 10 new DTS CD's I just purchased on line. Santana, Eagles, are my favorites. If you haven't heard a dts CD, reserve your raving about 5 channel stereo. It blows every sound format away. 5 distinct channels, less compressed than 5.1 and being driven by this great amp. I just start the pioneer and play on random and put the 777 on auto detect and the rest is pure pleasure. When a dts, hdcd, reg cd is played the receiver automatically adjusts. I have now expanded my dts DVD collection also.
One final thought. I really don;t feel the speaker reviews are fair or can be.I have learned through the years that the same set of speakers will sound as different as night and day depending on the receiver or amp driving them. to all of you hung up on the remote being easier or lack of light on volume knob===That does not effect the sound of this masterpiece.
Lighten up and enjoy. It doesn't get much better at any price. Soundpros.com were a great pleasure to deal with in obtaining this at a great price and service.

Similar Products Used:

harmon/kardon avr75

Clear, powerful sound. Well built. 5 year warranty. Great bass management. Sound can be tweaked to taste.

Lack of volume indicator. Remote is dificult to use as a learning remote.

I was leaning toward a Denon 4800 until I tried this unit. I had a Sony 50 ES and while I liked it, there were some things that just were not the best. Sound would drop out when you changed digital scources or started a CD. It had a very high built in crossover that could not be adjusted and it didn't have inputs on the back for 5.1. Also the remote was only fair even after being sent in for an upgrade. The 777 does not have any of these troubles. In addition, it sounds noticibly better. I don't know why but it seems to be much more powerful even though the power rating (120 watts) is the same as the 50ES. My 50ES ran quite hot but the 777 so far has remained cool. If you want to customise the sound you have tweaks galore, including great bass management. I don't know why Sony didn't put an indicator light on the volume knob. A silly oversight. I like this remote much better. You seem to be able to do what you want easier than before. However if you use it as a learning remote it's not the greatest. Others in these review posts condemed the remote and rated the unit lower because of it, but frankly I haven't found too many standard remotes to be all that good (other than learning uses). Most users buy after market remotes. For my use this remote works quite well. As for the sound, I had already really listened to several others and had decided on a Denon 4800. But, since I had read so many good posts on the 777 I thought I would give it a listen. Right away I didn't like the absence of a light on the volume knob. When I heard the sound however I found myself going back and forth between it and the Denon. In the end the clear sound and bass management of the Sony won out. In the end I also saved a lot of money. Had I liked the Denon better, the extra bucks wouldn't have made any difference. Sony really built a fine unit here. Great looking, great sounding and a 5 year warranty. I fun-tacked a white dot on the volume knob. Not as good as a light but about 100% more visible

Similar Products Used:

Sony 50ES, Yahama DSP-A1, Denon 4800

Fantastic Amplifier, lots of power and technology to boot, with the precision & finesse that one would expect of ES
Oh, and a really-cool chi-chi motorized control panel

Remote SUCKS! Rear aux power supply is US only.

I have had the pleasure of having one of the FIRST 777's that have been made for the Aussie market, and I am quite impressed.

I must agree with a previous review, stating quite whole-heartedly that the remote sucks. Badly. In addition to everything that the previous review states, I also found that the remote auto-powered off a bit too quickly. It's fairly ridiculous to find that the remote shuts down IN THE MIDDLE of attempting to learn another remote signal. In addiiton, it's ridiculous to find that quite a few of the "preprogrammed" functions for other brands were WRONGLY programmed. For example, the "enter" button on the remote actually activates "Menu" on my Pioneer DV-525!

Sound:
The sound from these amps when played through everything from the B&W LM1's (my computer speakers) to my B&W Signatures is wonderful. This amp is best described a "full," with a deep, resounding bass, and a highly defined mid, with a precise, and tight trebble.

In order to get the best out of this amp, however, one does need to invest the best part of an evening to "fine tune" the amp's Equalizer to match the speakers. Not that it's hard to set up the amp; it's just that the 777 has SO many options that just BEG the perfectioninst to spend ages, trying to search for the elusive "perfect" sound. If you take long enough, you'll even find it!

Luckily, the 777 features "EQ Banks," allowing for multiple setups to me made, so in my case, I have one setup for my LM1's (Homeworld has never sounded so good, and I scare myself sometimes when I play Opposing Force), and another setup for the Signatures (can you say "DTS"?). Oh, and one as well for my headphones.

As an autiophile amp, this encompasses eveything that one would expect from Sony's top-of-the-line no-technology or expense spared ES line. The sound that this amp can produce is rich, but controlled and tight (precise). Also, the current technology employed in the 777 actually superscedes that of the top-of-the-line ES9000. This amp also offers the ability to "purify" the sound, whereby unused electronic circuity is actually shut-down to reduce interference between circuits. Good idea, and it works, especially when you give in to your primal urges, and crank the amp up. The brilliant thing is, even at the "high end" of the volume range (I love the look of thumping kevlar cones sometimes), there is very little change in the distorion level. Like all serious recivers, it also allows the option of a power amp connection (I'd love to connect up a set of monoblocs there...)

Home Theatre:
This unit comes into its own when it's asked to do some digital decoding. If one needed an excuse for DTS, this would be it. Sounds are crisp, and controlled, and watching Sony/Columbia and DTS/THX coded movies are a special experience (Primarily in Cinema mode A&B). Even in DPL mode, The Phantom Menance sounds fantastic; and it's a VHS tape! (I must admit, it IS the crispest sounding VHS that I have ever heard). My friend who owns a High-End Yamaha, did comment that he found the Bass not to be as "big and rolling" as his decoder; however it was a lot more "precise." I prefer the "precise" sound. It could also do with the fact that he's got an ASW 2000 against my ASW1000.

In Summary:

A fantastic, precise amp. Think a self-powered iMac'd ES9000. Will satisfy audiophiles, and wow the socks off CinemaPhiles. Fantastic decoding circuitry and feature-packed. Elegant controls, with a "dual screen" LED display. Most controls are "hidden" behind an elegant motorized control panel that conceals aux video/sound input, and the jog/cursor dial that allows easy navigation of the controls.

Unfortunately, the package is let down by it's abysmal remote control software. Every owner should hassle sony to provide a firmware change to it!

Similar Products Used:

DA9000ES

Most every thing that has ben mentioned.

Remote, manual, no light on the volume dial. Unit may be a little "too involved" for some users.

Wow, where do I start ? I bought this unit to replce my trusty Yamaha because I wanted more power, more digital inputs, and 5.1ch. The sound quality is great, a little brighter than my Yamaha (which, I dropped removing from the rack and now the display doesn't work, smart huh ?)
Okay, first the remote... The remote could be so much better, Sony really dropped the ball on this one. It doesn't even have my Onkyo DVD player listed, the disk skip button for my Yamaha 5 disc player doesn't work, it just come up really short with other markers. You need to be able to move the learned groups in the CD area or DVD area, I just can't understand it ! Maybe I'm missing something. The remote is neat and has a "wow" factor of about 8, but it could be so much more... FWIW: The local shop's demo 777 has a blue light in their remote, mine had a green light, anyone know why ?
The manual is just plain weak and for the price of this thing, WHY ON EARTH did Sony not put a light on the volume dial insted of the stupid silver dot. I have read the reviews here before and I didn't think it would bother me, it does.
Set up and using the receiver and eq/soundfields, can be a bit involved... Now I know how my dad felt trying to put my toys together when I was a kid.
Great sound, great quality, heavy as can be. I'd like to actually see how and if Sony will take advantage of the upgrade jack. I know they need to upgrade the base of other products.
I got mine from J&R for about $1100.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV870

Clean Power,Ergonomics,Inputs/outputs

None at this time

This unit is one great piece of work! Great sound,noise free listening and very warm{compared to others used}Great value below $1500.Bought mine from www.soundpros.com and received it in great condition.I appreciate the talk I had with Scott before I purchased this unit-and I am glad I did.5*'s

Similar Products Used:

AVR-5700,DSP-A1,

Waranty,Clean power,Touch screen remote

The remote cuts off to soon and takes a little time to master it

I been looking for a real good receiver for about 1yr. I wanted clarity,loads of power and option you'll use at a resonable price. The Marantz 18 and Denon 5700 are great receivers but they want to much money for them. The other units like the Onkyo777,3300,555,995 and Sr-8000 were good receivers but out of them Sr-8000 was a little better. The price of 8000 was $1029.00 dollars an I was willing to pay it. Then I seen a artical about Sony's 777es was going to be out soon so I waited for it to come. When a dealer had one I checked it out and was glad I had waited. The Sony-777 has the power and clarity I wanted,also has option that are usefull. I paid 1025.00 out the catalog for what you get the Sony-777 is the best out there.
Overall Rating Should Be
*6*

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha-995,Onkyo-777,Sony-555,Denon avr-3300&5700,Marantz Sr-8000&18

Sound stage, surround sound detail, clarity, bass management, power, built like a Sherman Tank, value at $1,083 street price. Thanks, Jack at Mentor TV!

Instruction manual fails to mention how to configure BLT mode (2x200 Watts) as advertised at website. My back from lifting.

I upgraded my old B&W 603, 601, & CC6 speakers to the new series 2. While I was at it, I switched from 603’s up front to the new 604’s. These new speakers sound awesome “Just Listen”. The power requirements of these new front speakers sucked my old DA30ES receiver dry. Half throttle on the volume shuts down my system. I needed an unanticipated upgrade of my receiver to go with my new speakers.

Enter the STR-DA777ES:

Sound Stage
My Fiancée and I listen to a wide variety of music. The DA777ES doesn’t disappoint when listening to CD recordings. The sound stage is incredible! I had to disconnect my center channel speaker on the top of my TV to prove to a friend that it wasn’t being utilized.

Surround Sound Detail
I’ve always admired the phenomenal sound detail of a friend’s TA-9000 processor while watching movies. In STAR TREK Insurrection, right after Data destroys the hidden observation platform on the planet with his phaser, there are several synthesized tones that roll off and fade one after another. These sounds dominated that point in the movie at my friend’s house, but on my old system, they were barely discernable. No longer! Tim, if you’re out there. Been There! Got That!

Bass Management:
I was blown away with the bass redirection circuitry of this unit. You can set the cutoff range for the fronts, center, surround, and subwoofer independently. The bass you cut from your speakers gets redirected to the subwoofer. Your speakers can be sent the entire range of sound, or you can turn on bass management by selecting “small” as a speaker type. You can tweak the low-pass bass filter in increments of 10 from 200Hz all the way down to 40Hz. The subwoofers bass management has the same range, but is a high-pass filter.

Power AKA GRUNT!
Lets just say that I will be forced to leave the room long before it runs out of power.


Sherman Tank
This thing weighs 56lbs because Sony stuck all of its best goodies inside this thing. Your basically getting an upgraded TA-9000 with a “good” remote control & Sony’s best amplifier in one box for thousands less. Can you say MOMBO amplifiers? There are tons of gold plate connections on the back of this thing to hook everything up. Did I mention the servo motor controlled front access panel? Cool factor of 8.5. Awesome!

Value
The 555Es and 333ES are great units, and I would recommend them to anyone, but they just can’t compare to this unit. If you appreciate really nice toys, and tend to buy yourself the good stuff, then this is the one for you.

PS
If you buy all high-end Sony stuff like a 36” WEGA XBR TV and the DVP-S7700 DVD player, you can actually get down to one remote control. When all of the Sony stuff is hooked together with all of the s-link connections, your wife or girlfriend won’t have to call you to use this stuff.

Similar Products Used:

Own STR-DA30ES, Friend has TA-9000.

Ease of use, sound quality, remote, rs232 port, Multi room/Multi source & looks

Heavy!!! (which is OK)

For all the audio enthusiast that have not replaced their equipment in 15 years plus.......this receiver is the one to buy. I was looking for all the bells in whistle plus multi room; and a systems that can be upgraded via an RS232 port.

This systems has it all, the DTS/Dobly Digital sounds are breathtaking!!!! The FM tunner is great! I also bought the Sony DVD 7700, with these two combinations the sound is better then any movie theater I've been in. I just finished watching the Matrix for the 4th time. The movie is ok but the sound was unbelievable. I'm using the Mirrage HTD speakers......these speakers are well worth the money. When I listen to the the Eagles Live DTS vesrion, you feel as if you were in the room with them.

It will take the avg, person about two weeks to feel comfortable tweaking the receiver to his/her liking.

The setup is easy once you read the manual a half a dozen times. I think Sony could make the manual a little more user friendly.
The remote is great but I wish it would stay on a little longer then 10 seconds.

I'm currently setting up my remote rooms so I'll get back to you on how the Mutliroom setup works.


Any question about the receiver feel free to E-Mail me!

Similar Products Used:

Pionner Elite VSX -29tx