Sony Name, Value for Dollar, Reputation

Product now discontinued for lower end Sony receivers (ie 975, 1075 etc.)

This is simply put an excellent receiver. It delivers all the qualities a high end receiver should deliver. Sounds wonderful and I would highly recommend it. Handles well at high volumes and I would definately quickly get my hands on one of these.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STRDB545

5.1 Digital, surround fields

Remote

Bought this amp in conjunction with a set of Mirage surround sound speakers and subwoofer. The center channel speaker had a loose binding post but I hooked everything up just the same. The unit played for about 15 minutes and then went into "PROTECTOR" mode. I called the store and they said it was probably a short in the speaker cables somewhere.

I checked and rechecked everything 7 times! Still with the same result. Took back the center channel speaker and the receiver at great time and expense as I had foolishly bought everything in Atlanta - over 200 miles away.

Set everything up again and it has played flawlessly ever since.

I believe now that the binding post was the culprit all along but at the time didn't want to drive back and forth to Atlanta trying to fix one thing at a time.

The manual can be a little disconcerting for the first time user. Diagrams show redundant connections like fiber optic AND coaxal hookups like you're supposed to hook up both and not just one or the other.

The remote is pretty simple to operate but you lose a lot of functions using this remote alone. For example: You set it up to operate your sattelite receiver. Works great! Unless you want to use the guide - then you have to open up the remote (it has a flip cover like a Star Trek communicator) and operate from there. Then there is no way to get rid of the menu or scroll a page at a time.

It would appear as well that you can either operate the Sat. OR the TV - but not both. I won't even go into trying to use the Sony DVD player with the same remote.

So I still have six remotes. I could just be a little green in understanding the full capabilities of the remote, but this is what I've experienced so far.

Four stars for both value and overall rating because nobody's perfect.

Similar Products Used:

STR-DE845

Impressive design

Tuning the radio,bass & treble controls

This is a very impressive sounding amp, alot better than the onko I had, only things I don't like is t not being able to tune in radio stations, I had to go and buy a separate antenna (yes I live in a big city,so receprion is not a problem. Secondly, it would have been easier to add separate bass & treble knobs. Overall, I feel as if this was a good buy, every machine has it's different quirks !!!

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onkyo

Nearly everything

Remote (one must get used to that), could have more digital inputs

This one is great - nothing to complain.

Read previous reviews here and must say that no matter what I do I can hear NO hiss in DSP mode what so ever - and I have good ears for that kind of stuff.

In regard to music performance - compared to my old all-in-one mini system from JVC this one is far better. But I must honestly admit I have no musical ear and the new speakers are far better.

Most useless feature - the different decoding programs. Ok, "Arena", "Church" and all those are fun the first time. But after that .... ? Never used them since.

Clean power, full featured, great sound

Not crazy about the remote

I am very pleased with this machine after shopping for months and auditioning various brands. This model combines the most functions, build quality and claen sound for the money. Set up was easy and programing allows you to customize the sound to your room. Anyone looking for a quality upper middle class system would be very satisfied with this product.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo

Lots of features: Dobly AC-3, DTS, Virtual 3D suround processing, etc. Looks very cool. Sounds pretty good.

none for the price

As I mentioned above I like the digital features this product offers. And I like the blue LED, it's a nice touch, very high-tech looking.

The digital decoders make HT look and sound very good. The virtual settings are nice because I only have two front speakers.

This receiver sounds good for 2 CH Stereo, very clear and accurate sound. Perhaps a bit on the bright side but nothing that the equalizer can't compensate for.

As for the hiss a lot of people seem to hear, I really don't notice it on my Paradigms. If I turn it up and put my ear next to the tweeter I can hear noise, as is the case with almost every amp. (Perhaps those hearing this hiss need better speakers, better cables, or use the digital inputs??)

Also of note is the difference between North American and European models. The N.A. model rates total harmonic at 0.09% from 20 to 20,000 Hz, the European model is rated at 0.7% at 1Khz. So comparing N.A. and European models is not really valid.

Another interesting point this that this receiver is virtually identical to the STR-DB940... I'd be willing to bet that the h/w in both is identical (firmware being the only diffence).

I've had not quality issues so far (touch wood) and overall this is a very good product for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Sansui

It can reveal a lot of sounds that other amplifiers can't show them to you BUT (you have to use some good speakers too),The built quality is good,and you can have many audio formats such as dts , dolby digital and many more.

The sound is pretty harsh and there is some kind of delay (the timing is not correct) even in 2ch (stereo mode) where this shouldn't be hapenning.

I love music, my life without music is almost empty.So when i listen to music i want to be able to enjoy every second of it.I believe that this receiver lacks natural sound because of its digital prossesors.

My system:

Receiver Sony str-db840
Cd-player Sony cdp-xe220
Front Speakers B&W 603 s2
Central Speaker B&W cc6 s2
Surround Speakers Bose 301 iv

I belive that the front and sentral speakers are almost excelent.I am very satified.But the receiver is what deprives good soft and warm sound from my speakers.I am going to buy an integrated amplifier for my front speakers.I 'll be using the 840 as preamplifier and the integrated as the power amplifier.This will be so only for the input from my pc soundcard "Monster sound mx300".Because i use power dvd as software and my asus 8x dvd in order to see movies.EVERY OTHER INPUT , SUCH AS "CD PLAYER" "CASSETE DECK" I WILL CONNECT IT TO MY INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER BECAUSE THE SORTER THE DISTANCE THE BETTER THE SOUND QUALITY COMING OUT OF THE SPEAKERS.

If you didn't understand what i just said i will explain it in simple words. In order to achive 5.1 sound from every speaker but using a stereo integrated amplifier for the front ones i 'll have to use the sony 840 as pre-amplifier (in order to proscess the sound and have 5.1 sound to all the speakers)I beleive that this receiver would be good for movies, especialy if they have a lot of sound effects such as bullets or explosions and other sound coming from outer space.If you watch movies who have a lot of music this is a bad receiver because the voices do not come natural!!Now if you want to buy a receiver and not a stereo aplifier because although you will mostly listen to music you want sometimes to watch some movies too then i suggest that you buy a receiver that is much more excpensive.Or a good A/V pre-receiver and a very good amplifier for each speaker.

If you think that i am trying to sabotage sony you are wrong,because i have countered many problems until i built a good sound system and i want none else to have the same problemms.But also i have many sony products such as t.v and videos and many others.I am not a biased against any company and it's products.

I hope you take serious my review even when you learn that i am only 16 years old.I don't have a big idea for my self i just think that i can review pretty well something i have had personal experience with.

Easy to set up, great variety of adjustments in surround-use. Reasonable power, low THD and lots of input/outputs for amp this cheap.

Remote, but if you need a commander then go ahead and get one.

Cheap DD/DTS-amp with good punch(5*100 W) and adjustments for home theater. Really enough for my 40 m^2 apartment, even for normal stereo use if you´re not hard core about your gear. 4 opt. ins and 1 opt.out are enough for a long time and it´s heavy enough. The QS-case seems to be pretty solid and polished metal looks cool. As a person selling this stuff to people I have to admit that people at Sony have managed to create great stuff with good quality to their QS-series. I really recommend this amp to people who want to enjoy decent home theater-experience in smaller rooms for low cost.

Similar Products Used:

Technics SA-AX7, Sony STR-DB545, Pioneer VSX-808RDS, Pioneer VSX-906RDS

Remote !, front panel digital mode indicator blue light :(

Very good reciever for my home theater, no hiss at high volumes, very good sound, useful surround effects. For stereo music, the reciever can be used without fear with good sound.
My setup with Magnat speakers sounds great for me - str-db 840 is right choice, good value.

Sound, DSP's

Remote

Sounds excellent to me, I haven't had any issues with hissing, except of course on high volumes with no signal playing.
Just a note that people who see it saying UNLOCK may want to make sure they enabled digital output on their dvd player's setup menu.
The remote's alright, but the little flip-up doodad is a little annoying, and not that much fun for when you want to switch to a specific disc, track, station, etc. If you're really annoyed, go buy a good remote.
Other than that, sound is good, the decoding is superb, and the DSP's are good, but I honestly never use them.