Best sounding receiver for under $800 available!!! More features than any other receiver in its class.

Remote takes a while to get used to but is very good once you figure it out.

This has to be the best receiver available for the money, probably the best for under $1,000. This receiver sounds much better than the 333ES and better than the 555ES. Music sound quality is a little more open than the Dennon 3300. Both excellent. Personal preference should dictate but the home theater portion of the Sony blows the doors off of the Dennon. Would give ten stars if possible for both valur and quality.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3300, Onkyo 575, Sony 555ES, Sony 333ES, Sony Str-DE935.

Powerful, Solid Build, Versatile, High Quality Sound

Remote (but its acceptable)

I Must say that this reciever is surprising. How could something under 500$ be so good. Sony finally realized they need to make better quality recievers. Their DE line is not acceptable. I've wanted a new reciever for the past couple years. I wanted a Sony, but I wasn't satisfied with the DE line. The ES line is too expensive. The DB-930 is perfect. Awesome sound, tons of features and inputs. It takes a while to get used to the controls but its worth it. This is the best receiver I have ever come across in the 400-800$ price range. Sony is raising the price of them as I had to buy mine for 455$+S&H from OneCall.com. I suspect the price hike is an effort to slow down sales as many places are out of stock. This a reciever one can buy now and not have to worry about it being outdated a few years later. I suggest if your looking to buy a reciever, buy this one. As you will likely not be dissapointed. A good value.

Clean power, inputs and outputs, switching between signal sources. Remote (if you can believe that).

Those blasted manuals.

This receiver is the best value I have seen for the money. Has loads of inputs and outputs. I have been able to tie together my Sony home theater (don't snicker) - 53" rear projector, CDP-C545 CD changer, TC-WE825S dual well cassette Deck, DVP-S500D DVD, SAT-B2 DSS Unit, SLV-595 VHS VCR, also JVC S-VHS unit HRS-7300U. Remote works them all flawlessly. Unfortunately, it took me three weeks to figure out the remote through trial and error. The manuals were of no help whatsoever. Like many others that have posted a review here, I,too, was skeptical about buying a non-ES "Sony" receiver since they are too "mass market" to be considered high quality. Was considering the 555-ES when I, too saw the 930 in Crutchfied and at a local electronics store. Then I read the reviews here and became totally convinced that I did not need to look any further. The DB-930 is a hit in every way. No need to repeat what everyone else has said. I definitely concur and would recommend this system to anyone looking for high quality at a resonable price. Paid $389 plus $17 S&H from Sound City (Rich) via Buying Edge.com. Someone said that there has been a recent price increase. I am not suprised in the least. Once the word really gets out about this unit, these things will be flying off of the shelves. Great job on the receiver Sony. Just find someone who can write user friendly operational manuals.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV-870

WOW..., Great build quality, great sound, nice features.

I personaly like the remote once you get used to it.

I was unhappy with my STR-DE835. I brought it back and ordered a SRT-DB930 from on-call.com. Totally different piece of equipment than the DE835. Much, Much better. for the money (I paid aprox 450.00) "you cannot beat it". DTS, DOLBY DIGITAL, extra S-Video connections, runs cooler, very good loking, flexible, powerful and built on the ES line chasis. Just a good quality, long lasting reciever that I believe I will remain very happy with for a years to come.

Similar Products Used:

str-de835

Superb Sound, Great Bass, Great Looking

Large Switch for speaker selection. Several controls are only available by the amp which should be on the remote. The blue diital ight can not be dimmed.

I have Eltax Sympathy 8 front speakers and Eltax HT-2 Bipolar Surround Speakers and this amp works great with them.

The level of control over the sound is Excelent and all that purchase this or the 940 (Was going to buy the 940 but I got a great price on the 930) should spend the time getting use to how to use the settings.

The amp is very well made and looks great. If your after a middle of the range amp then take a look at this Sony Amp you will not be dissapointed the surround effects are so clear that many of my movies sould like new mixes.

I am also very pleased with the tuner it works very well even with weak signals and the Radio Text Display is great.


P.S You can buy this from Richard Sounds For £350.00 or less, the main difference between the 930 and 940 appears to be that the 940 has a higher watt output and now has onscreen control and the remote is now a learning remote.

Similar Products Used:

Sherwood & Kenwood.

Great power, with good, reliable speakers!

Slow remote control

Great product, looks even better then the STR-DB940. A lot of inputs, outputs, Surroundpositions.
In combination with a Sony DVP-735 and two JBL XTI80 floorstanding frontspeakers, it gives a great movie experience! '
Pumps up the bass real good!

great value, great features, awsome sound quality

None.

I was never a Sony believer until now. I listened to a few receivers before chosing this one. The JVC RX888 was simply horrible. Noise, hiss, buzz (during surround mode) and even on 2 channel mode, the sound was not very clear. I wasn't that much impressed with the Yamaha either. Anyway, I got the Sony for $420 from J&R a couple of days ago and could not be any happier. This unit rocks and the sound is just superb. I am not quite sure what Sony was thinking about when they built this product since it sounds as good the ES series for hundreds less. I highly recommend it.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Yamaha

Good amp through and through, bought it along with a set of Mission 700 Series speakers. Cost £1,200 in the UK for the amp, front, mid, sub, back... Very very impressed, not been able to get my minidisc to work properly yet though..

You don't realise how good sound quality can be until you start playing some DVDs, load The Matrix in, crank it up and you'll see what I mean, AMAZING!

People keep whinging about the manual, I didnt bother reading it, well - only a tiny bit, took an hour to set up and get fully working without the manuals so its not THAT difficult.

Loads of power. Tons of features and connect options. Highly future-proof?

Some (transformer?) hum.
The usual millions of Japanese twinkling lights etc (hardly what you call minimalist!)

I have recently upgraded to home theatre, buying a Sony STR-DB930 amp and DVP-S725D DVD player, largely on the strength of various reviews, despite the fact that most hi-fi dealers turn their nose up at the amp. Both have turned out to be excellent. Dealers seem to think that I should have have bodged an existing 'proper' hi-fi system, rather than replace it wholesale. My old kit was a Mission Cyrus amp, a Sony CDP500ES CD player, and an 18-year old pair of Wharfedale E30s. These have brilliant detail in the treble but lack something in the bass, which is why I added an AR passive subwoofer over 10 years ago.

I had originally intended retaining my front speakers, but I think connecting them to the 5 x 100w (into 4ohms) of the Sony made them suddenly sound their age, and they had to go. I had borrowed a REL Strata III which sounded magnificent, so I knew that their replacements would end up partnering this. First off though I auditioned and bought a KEF Q95c (compared with Mission 77c1 centre speakers; no contest) and Mission 77ds rears (which came in white, useful if they're mounted up against the ceiling, and which also sounded brilliant). I had been lent a KEF Q30B sub with the centre and rears but this sounded absolutely AWFUL! I had intended auditioning the REL 100E or 200E but when I said that my listening was primarily music, and mostly classical, I was steered towards the Strata III.
I then auditioned KEF Q35s and Q55s, listening primarily for the treble, but then along came the KEF Concerto models one and two. Since, reading between the lines, they were similar except for the bass response, I auditioned the Concerto ones and was blown away.

The Sony has a million connectors to the rear, enabling you to connect EVERYTHING into it, and the TV monitor, in my case for sound only, out of it. The remote leaves a lot to be desired as it requires a special mindset to use it properly; that said, you can control all the amp's most basic functions from the DVD remote.

Since I didn't audition the Sony amp, I can't really make a comparative assessment. What I can say is that my Mission sounded OK, lots of treble detail through the E30s. The Sony sounds at least as detailed, but this may be a characteristic of good quality Japanese a-v receivers. Why? Because I auditioned a pair of Ruark Prologue one's, first through an Arcam amp, which sounded real dull, then through some Denon a-v receiver of another, which was MUCH brighter.

The surround sound capability might be regarded by purists as a gimmick, but if you switch this in for either live music, or off-air films, you can achieve some startlingly good results.

All in all, an excellent buy (it can be had for £450 if you try hard enough), with masses of features.

Set-up:
a-v receiver=Sony STR-DB930
TV=Sony 32" widescreen WEGA Triniton; cable=Ixos S-video on Sony amp to SCART (picture only, no sound)
dvd player=Sony DVP-S725D; cable=Ixos optical (ie using decoder in amp rather than in DVD player)
front speakers=Kef Concerto one; cable=QED Profile bi-wired
centre speaker=Kef Q95C; cable=QED Qudos original
rear speakers=Mission 77ds; cable=QED micro
sub-woofer=REL Strata lII; low level=Bandridge 2 phono-1 phono, high level=bi-wired off front speaker terminals

Similar Products Used:

Upgraded from Mission Cyrus amp+tuner. No previous a-v

best features/quality for the price

remote has high learning curve

This is the best A/V receiver at this price ($380 to $500 depending on mail-order retailer). One will be hard pressed to find a receiver at this price point with so many of its features such as: DD & DTS decoding, 4 S-video inputs, 3 optical inputs, 1 coaxial input, optical digital output, 27 DSP, 5.1 channel input, preamp outputs for all channels, binding posts for all channels, 110 watts x 5 channels (though homecinemachoice.com rates at 93.2 watts at 0.013% THD).

Comparing side by side, the DB930 is far superior to the yamaha 495 (which cost about $60 less at onecall.com) I have not had the opportunity to directly compare this to more expensive receivers (e.g. yamaha 2095, Denon 3300). But think about it. This would be quite silly as those other receivers cost at least twice as much. Yes my audiophile friends may scoff at me. But I along with the other satisfied owners of this best buy A/V receiver can enjoy this great receiver and te money we saved. (And if you really hate the remote that much, use the money you saved with this receiver to buy one of those programmable remotes).

Similar Products Used:

yamaha 495