Totally awesome remote.

Sound quality. Speaker terminals. No bass/treble for SACD

While this receiver has many strengths, compared to my old Harman Kardon it sounds like crap! The speaker terminals look like they belong on a $50 receiver. You can not adjust the treble/bass on multi-channel SACD input.

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Klipsch Harman Kardon

great sound looks great.

none.

best product i tested real quality.

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denon-h.k.- kenwood.

-Outstanding build quality, very cool remote, home theater performance is outstanding, 2-channel music is excellent, SACD performance is like "being there", seamless video transfer.

-Speaker connectors are poor quality for a ES product, internal amps lack detail and dynamics (possibly because of lack of break-in)

Bought this unit to replace my Sony separates (TAE-9000ES, TA-P9000ES, TA-N9000ES) system, was considering using the amps on the STR-DA7ES, but I wanted to compare them with the amps on the TA-N9000ES. Build quality on this receiver is top-notch (speaker connectors are not of the normal ES quality). The amps are good, but you would serve yourself well to use an outboard amp. The amps in the receiver produce good clean power, but are lacking dynamics (possibly with break-in this might improve). It takes a while to set up this receiver properly (lots of tweaks), however once done it is well worth the trouble. Home Theater performance blew me away immediately, great detail, outstanding dynamics, crisp clear highs, and tight bass. Two channel music was excellent as well (digital coax), you would be hard pressed to find better perfomance IMHO. SACD two-channel and multi-channel performance were, to put it simply very transparent, "liquid" would best describe it. Video transfer (component HDTV) was outstanding as well. I'm going to keep my five-channel amp for the time being and use the STR-DA7ES as a preamp, the dynamics on the receiver will possibly improve with break-in. The remote for this receiver is outstanding, rechargeable battery, macros enabled, can't say enough about all the cool features. I'm very pleased with this Sony receiver, I won't be upgrading until Sony comes out with their new 7x200 watt receiver with digital I-link connection for multi-channel SACD performance rumored for release next year (smile-this hobby never ends) MY SYSTEM: SONY STR-DA7ES (PREAMP) SONY KP-61HS30 (HI-DEF TV) SONY SAT-HD100 (HI-DEF RECEIVER) SONY DVP-NS999ES DVD/CD/SACD SONY (2) TA-N9000ES AMPS AUDIOQUEST GIBRALTAR SPEAKER CABLE B&W NAUTILUS 805'S (MAINS) B&W NAUTILUS HTM-2 (CENTER) B&W 602 SERIES 2 (SURROUNDS) B&W ASW 1000 (SUB) AUDIOQUEST INTERCONNECTS (PYTHON, VIPER) MONSTER POWER 3500 POWER CENTER

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SONY TA-P9000ES, SONY TA-E9000ES, SONY TA-N9000ES, PIONEER VSX-49TX, DENON AVR-5800, ROTEL RSP-1066