Whoever says this receiver stinks has obviously been stuck in a very dark and secluded room for a very very long time. If 51 ppl says the receiver rocks and 1 says is sux, then the problem lies with the person.
This receiver is by far the best I've ever seen and I have seen a lot

The only ones that I know of the surpass it for the money is the Pioneer Elite series with THX

Great value. Well made. Lots of features

poor remote does not support very common features on other devices ie no volume control on my tv.

Do the homework and you will find that nothing will touch it for the price and features it has. I picked mine up for $400! But be prepared to spend some of the money you saved on a better remote!

I got my STRDB930 from Onecall. I received it by two day fed ex for $500. One Call through in a 1 meter Toslink cable. Anyway, after hooking up the receiver everything functioned well for about two days. I forgot to hook up an FM antennae during the initial installation, so I pulled the receiver out, installed the antennae and pushed it back into my entertainment center. I'm not sure what happened, but I believe I got a short somewhere. I lost all audio and video output. The display seemed to work correctly, but I couldn't get the unit to reset. I tried everything including disconnecting everything and unplugging the power cord. Then reconnecting just one speaker for testing. Still nothing. Anyway I sent the unit back to Onecall yesterday. They are replacing it with a new one. But I had to pay to ship it back and that cost me $46 for UPS ground.
During the two days I had it I can say the sound was strong and clean. I replaced about a six year old Pro Logic Pioneer unit that didn't even have a line level out form my sub. The amp section in the Sony is far superior and I'm sure the surround decoding chips have gotten better in the last six years.

One area that I found could use improvement was the remote. Granted I didn't have time to get familiar with the remote, but my old learning remote that came with my Pioneer 4900SX is a lot more intuitive and simpler to use. Part of the problem may be the Sony manual for the remote. Anyway, I hope to get my new Sony STRDB930 soon. My advice, triple check your speaker connections before plugging this unit in. The protective circuit may not reset automatically.

I was looking at the 930 from various places. Onecall had it for $599. J&R had it for $499 but not in stock. Sound City Inc. (not the real sound city) has it for $399 but they are not authorized. They don't even have an 800 or 888 number. So I thought "what the hell" and just got it local from Vanns for $599. What's $100 anyway? One days of work? I'd work one day to not have to wait to get an STRDB-930. Plus, if it breaks, I can take it right in to Vanns and not have to pay more shipping. Anyway, I'm not cheap so I got it for $600. It's a heck of a machine. I was worried about the remote, but it's fine. Although you can only control PiP for Sony TVs...

My Sony STR-DB930 Review 10-3-99
Late last year, 1998, I bought the JVC 884, which was an entry level Dolby Digital 5.1 receiver that provided s-video switching at a really affordable price at the time. For the past 10 months, it served me well, but I wanted a little more punch in the amp section (the JVC had a trumped up 5-channel power spec - 110W/ch at 1KHz, and being the novice at the time, I went ahead and bought it, plus I still wasn't sold on 5-channel sound [DD,dts] just yet, so I didn't want to sink a lot of money into my first DD receiver), and I wanted to give dts a try as well. Well, my officemate was wanting to get into DVD and DD sound, so he bought my JVC 884 from me at the prevailing Ebay price (i.e. I took a bath on it. Heh.) So with some extra bucks in my pocket, and after rummaging through a few sites, www.audioreview.com, www.hometheaterforum, etc., I found what I thought was the best bang for my buck.

My personal wants in an A/V receiver include:

1. Full Spectrum (20-20KHz) power for all 5 channels - 65-100W/ch at 8 ohms (with THD under 0.10%, lower the better, of course) 2. 4-5 A/V inputs with s-video (Component switching is still really a problem for me).
3. Independent A/V switching
4. 3 digital audio input (at least 1 coax, 1 fiber optic/TOSLink)
5. Decodes Dolby Digital and dts digital bitstreams.
6. 5.1 channel preamp outputs/inputs
7. A few DSP Soundfields wouldn't hurt.
8. 2 analog inputs (Tape and TV) and 1 phono input.
9. Front/rear/center channel output adjustibility.
10. Separate DACs on each channel was not a priority for me since that would push up the price in the $800-$1000 range.

I had been looking at the following receivers:

Denon 2800/3300
Pioneer VSX-TX21/24
Sony ES333
Onkyo 575
Yamaha RX-V595A/RX-V995

They all had pluses and minues. All the ones that I wanted were priced in the $600-$1000 range. I knew with all the receiver manufacturers ramping up on DD/dts receivers, the price had to come down if I waited. Well, my wait is over. I finally found a receiver that offered almost all the features that I wanted:

The Sony STR-DB930.

This Sony receiver was produced for the European market (also available in Australia), and it incorporates many Sony ES construction ideas/traits and provides a solid receiver for the money. Sony refitted the US version of the DB830/930 with the US power supplies (110VAC, 60Hz), and offered them to their ES resellers at a great price.

The main features that sold me on the Sony STR-DB930:

1. Full Spectrum (20-20KHz) power for all 5 channels - 110W/ch at 8 ohms (with THD under 0.09%, 110W/ch (THD 0.05%) in the 2-channel mode).
I have yet to get past 5 on the volume dial (upper limit is 10). This receiver puts up plenty of power to all channels! You won't feel cheated when you hook up this receiver to your speakers.
2. 5 A/V inputs with s-video (4 on the backside, 1 on the front).
3. Independent A/V switching.
4. 4 digital audio input (1 coax, 3 TOSLink), and 1 TOSLink Output for MD/DAT recordings.
5. Auto-Format-Decoding: Dolby Digital and dts digital bitstreams.
6. 5.1 channel preamp outputs/inputs (if you wanted to use this receiver as a preamp, you can use it to feed 5.1 inputs from another decoder to another 5-channel amp and powered subwoofer).
7. 27 DSP soundfields (though most are just strange, I prefer no DSP)
8. 3 analog inputs (Tape, CD, MD/DAT) and 1 phono input.
9. Nifty 2-way remote commander, takes a while to get used to.
10. Secondary independent analog output for use with another amp in another room with speakers. If you were listening to the radio in the main room, and wanted to pipe the CD input to another room with its own amp and speaker, you could do it).
11. A, B, A/B, A+B front speaker outputs.
12. 2 Subwoofer pre-outs.
13. Separate Equilization for each soundfield.
14. Separate rear and center channel output control +/- 10dB.
15. Front and rear speaker balance. Large and small speaker selection. Also, you are asked to input distance entry for each speaker's location.

For more information on this receiver, you can try these links:

http://www.acsysinc.com/db930.htm
http://www.crutchfield.com - search in the receiver section.

As you can tell, the Sony DB930 is packed with lots of goodies. And I liked it a lot. Now here are my observations on things I don't like, or find idiosyncratic - most have to do with the remote commander, or have developed with the capability of the receiver:

1. While you can choose the input, and have the remote commander act as the remote for the input, i.e. VCR, TV, DVD, (this is really a neat feature), but the remote commander doesn't quite provide full remote functionality for these inputs. I have a Proscan DVD player, and there's no entry for Proscan, so I used the RCA remote entry to control the DVD player, but it's missing 2 important button functionality: Enter (can't make menu selections without this all important button!) and Chapter skip forward or backward. If you have a Sony DVD player, this may not be an issue with you. Also to direct access channels, you have to flip down the lid to get to the number panel - this is annoying and frankly I just don't use it for fear of breaking off the flip lid. I find myself still using my TV's universal remote, and my DVD remote along with the Sony remote commander.

2. I haven't been able to figure how to independently switch A/V sources from the remote commander. What I mean is if I wanted to listen to the VCR's audio input, but watch the DVD's video input, I can't do it from the remote commander, but I can do it from the front panel of the receiver. If someone knows how to do this with the remote commander, please let me know! On the other hand, I can
switch to analog audio sources (like tape, DAT, phono, tuner), while selecting a different video source to display on the TV from the remote commander with some nifty function selecting.

3. I have been able to figure out how to change the secondary audio output with the remote commander. This is done by selecting the Function key and then scrolling down to the Subroom entry and then choosing it, and then you are presented with subroom options/input you can choose from.

4. The equilization for the different soundfields can be daunting because it's not graphical in nature. All you get are the frequency values and then you have to change the dB level at a given frequency and this can get tedious, plus I like seeing the frequency spectrum as the equilization bands go up or down. This is a small price to pay for all the other features.

5. With zero input, and the volume level turned up to over 5, I can hear a little bit of hiss, but it's nothing that's distracting when I play an audio source at that level. Heck, I can barely stay in the room at that level, and my cats get awfully spooked when I play anything that loud. Plus I can't even hear the hiss at 2-3 feet away, so to me it's a non-issue. It's a good sounding amp section for the price.

6. Here's a nifty setup tip I developed to take advantage of the DB930's Auto-Format-Decoding (AFD). It's possible to share the DVD/LD A/V input with both the DVD and LD players, provided you keep one of the sources powered off. Just connect:

DVD's s-video output to the DVD/LD s-video input.
DVD's TOSLink audio output to the DVD/LD TOSLink digital audio input.
LD's composite video output to the DVD/LD composite input.
LD's digital coax output to the DVD/LD Coax digital audio input.
LD's L/R audio output to the DVD/LD L/R audio input.

When you want to watch DVDs, tune the TV to S-video input, and select the DVD/LD input on the receiver. When you want to watch LDs, tune the TV to the composite input, and select the DVD/LD input on the receiver. To listen to the LD's digital soundtrack, select it on the LD player, to listen to the LD's L/R soundtrack, select it on the LD player. The receiver's AFD does the rest.

7. Comes with a 2 year warranty on parts/labor. The ES line comes with a 5 year warranty. When I called to order, the salesman said that you are basically paying for the warranty on the more expensive ES-333/555, but with most receivers, they either die in the first 30-90 days, or last forever. Here's a note on how hot the receiver gets. If you play it very loud, the receiver's case top can get a bit hot, but I haven't observe any problems playing this unit too loudly. I guess it wouldn't hurt to cool it off with a small little fan if possible. Just make sure not to restrict airflow on the top and sides of the receiver.

8. I would venture that the subwoofer crossover frequency occurs around 100HZ. The manual suggests to set the subwoofer at its highest crossover frequency if possible. You can change the bass volume level from the receiver within +/- 10dB. The receiver will allow you to choose Large speakers or Small speakers. Choose Small speakers if you have a powered subwoofer, otherwise, go Large!

9. You can label the FM/AM station with the nicknames, and you can download the labels to the Remote Commander so you know what the presets are set to. The FM/AM performance could be better, but I don't have any decent FM or AM antennas, and I rarely listen to the radio anyway. Warning: labelling the radio station presets can be tedious, but you only have to do it once. There's 30 presets, and the preset up/down buttons on the remote just cycle through all 30 presets, which can be a pain. What I did was set up 18 presets, and then duplicated the 12 of the 18 radio stations that I usually listen to the most for the last 12 presets so I'm never too far away on the preset list from a desired radio station.

10. The front panel display will fade away after a few seconds after some input/level has been changed. I don't know if this can be overcome. I haven't found a way to have the receiver always display the info on the front panel. Actually this "feature" has grown on me as I watch more DVDs with the light off in the room. I have tried playing with the dimmer button, and maybe I've disabled the display somehow. The only thing that does bug me a little is that when a Dolby Digital or dts audio source is being detected and played, there's this this wide blue light that comes on and stays on for the duration of the playback.

Note: I recommend reading the manuals (one for the receiver, one for the remote commander) to fully utilize the full potential of this receiver.

The financial nitty-gritty:

I paid $461 from www.oade.com (you should get their phone number from their website and call them), normally it's $450 shipped (UPS ground) but I live in the same state as Oade Brothers, so I got charged sales tax. Supposedly www.soundcity.com is offering this unit for $414 through www.buyingedge.com (you have to sign up, and ask for quotes on this model and have the online companies email you back a quote). www.onecall.com is a popular source, but they've been asking around $500+ shipped (2-day FedEx) for this unit becase it flies out of the doors due to its price/performance ratio. www.jandr.com is another source to check. Mostly only Sony ES resellers will offer this unit. A local store, Hi-Fi Buys, also had this unit in stock for $600 plus sales tax.

My final verdict: the Sony STR-DB930 gets a 5-star rating from me. It's a great deal, and performs wonderfully. Anyone that wants good amp performance, plenty of A/V inputs and DD/dts will love this receiver. It delivers the goods for under $500, which is an almost unbeatable deal. If you are comtemplating the Sony STR-DE835/935, I implore you to buy either the Sony STR-DB830/930, you'll thank me for it. I recommend this receiver very highly.

Note: the DB830 is the stripped down version of the DB930 in that it has less A/V inputs, less digital audio inputs, no secondary audio output, 10W/ch less power, and no Remote Commander. If you don't need all the inputs (yeah, right), the DB830 is usually $75-$100 less and a great buy in its own right.

My Sony STR-DB930 Review 10-3-99
Late last year, 1998, I bought the JVC 884, which was an entry level Dolby Digital 5.1 receiver that provided s-video switching at a really affordable price at the time. For the past 10 months, it served me well, but I wanted a little more punch in the amp section (the JVC had a trumped up 5-channel power spec - 110W/ch at 1KHz, and being the novice at the time, I went ahead and bought it, plus I still wasn't sold on 5-channel sound [DD,dts] just yet, so I didn't want to sink a lot of money into my first DD receiver), and I wanted to give dts a try as well. Well, my officemate was wanting to get into DVD and DD sound, so he bought my JVC 884 from me at the prevailing Ebay price (i.e. I took a bath on it. Heh.) So with some extra bucks in my pocket, and after rummaging through a few sites, www.audioreview.com, www.hometheaterforum, etc., I found what I thought was the best bang for my buck.

My personal wants in an A/V receiver include:

1. Full Spectrum (20-20KHz) power for all 5 channels - 65-100W/ch at 8 ohms (with THD under 0.10%, lower the better, of course) 2. 4-5 A/V inputs with s-video (Component switching is still really a problem for me).
3. Independent A/V switching
4. 3 digital audio input (at least 1 coax, 1 fiber optic/TOSLink)
5. Decodes Dolby Digital and dts digital bitstreams.
6. 5.1 channel preamp outputs/inputs
7. A few DSP Soundfields wouldn't hurt.
8. 2 analog inputs (Tape and TV) and 1 phono input.
9. Front/rear/center channel output adjustibility.
10. Separate DACs on each channel was not a priority for me since that would push up the price in the $800-$1000 range.

I had been looking at the following receivers:

Denon 2800/3300
Pioneer VSX-TX21/24
Sony ES333
Onkyo 575
Yamaha RX-V595A/RX-V995

They all had pluses and minues. All the ones that I wanted were priced in the $600-$1000 range. I knew with all the receiver manufacturers ramping up on DD/dts receivers, the price had to come down if I waited. Well, my wait is over. I finally found a receiver that offered almost all the features that I wanted:

The Sony STR-DB930.

This Sony receiver was produced for the European market (also available in Australia), and it incorporates many Sony ES construction ideas/traits and provides a solid receiver for the money. Sony refitted the US version of the DB830/930 with the US power supplies (110VAC, 60Hz), and offered them to their ES resellers at a great price.

The main features that sold me on the Sony STR-DB930:

1. Full Spectrum (20-20KHz) power for all 5 channels - 110W/ch at 8 ohms (with THD under 0.09%, 110W/ch (THD 0.05%) in the 2-channel mode).
I have yet to get past 5 on the volume dial (upper limit is 10). This receiver puts up plenty of power to all channels! You won't feel cheated when you hook up this receiver to your speakers.
2. 5 A/V inputs with s-video (4 on the backside, 1 on the front).
3. Independent A/V switching.
4. 4 digital audio input (1 coax, 3 TOSLink), and 1 TOSLink Output for MD/DAT recordings.
5. Auto-Format-Decoding: Dolby Digital and dts digital bitstreams.
6. 5.1 channel preamp outputs/inputs (if you wanted to use this receiver as a preamp, you can use it to feed 5.1 inputs from another decoder to another 5-channel amp and powered subwoofer).
7. 27 DSP soundfields (though most are just strange, I prefer no DSP)
8. 3 analog inputs (Tape, CD, MD/DAT) and 1 phono input.
9. Nifty 2-way remote commander, takes a while to get used to.
10. Secondary independent analog output for use with another amp in another room with speakers. If you were listening to the radio in the main room, and wanted to pipe the CD input to another room with its own amp and speaker, you could do it).
11. A, B, A/B, A+B front speaker outputs.
12. 2 Subwoofer pre-outs.
13. Separate Equilization for each soundfield.
14. Separate rear and center channel output control +/- 10dB.
15. Front and rear speaker balance. Large and small speaker selection. Also, you are asked to input distance entry for each speaker's location.

For more information on this receiver, you can try these links:

http://www.acsysinc.com/db930.htm
http://www.crutchfield.com - search in the receiver section.

As you can tell, the Sony DB930 is packed with lots of goodies. And I liked it a lot. Now here are my observations on things I don't like, or find idiosyncratic - most have to do with the remote commander, or have developed with the capability of the receiver:

1. While you can choose the input, and have the remote commander act as the remote for the input, i.e. VCR, TV, DVD, (this is really a neat feature), but the remote commander doesn't quite provide full remote functionality for these inputs. I have a Proscan DVD player, and there's no entry for Proscan, so I used the RCA remote entry to control the DVD player, but it's missing 2 important button functionality: Enter (can't make menu selections without this all important button!) and Chapter skip forward or backward. If you have a Sony DVD player, this may not be an issue with you. Also to direct access channels, you have to flip down the lid to get to the number panel - this is annoying and frankly I just don't use it for fear of breaking off the flip lid. I find myself still using my TV's universal remote, and my DVD remote along with the Sony remote commander.

2. I haven't been able to figure how to independently switch A/V sources from the remote commander. What I mean is if I wanted to listen to the VCR's audio input, but watch the DVD's video input, I can't do it from the remote commander, but I can do it from the front panel of the receiver. If someone knows how to do this with the remote commander, please let me know! On the other hand, I can
switch to analog audio sources (like tape, DAT, phono, tuner), while selecting a different video source to display on the TV from the remote commander with some nifty function selecting.

3. I have been able to figure out how to change the secondary audio output with the remote commander. This is done by selecting the Function key and then scrolling down to the Subroom entry and then choosing it, and then you are presented with subroom options/input you can choose from.

4. The equilization for the different soundfields can be daunting because it's not graphical in nature. All you get are the frequency values and then you have to change the dB level at a given frequency and this can get tedious, plus I like seeing the frequency spectrum as the equilization bands go up or down. This is a small price to pay for all the other features.

5. With zero input, and the volume level turned up to over 5, I can hear a little bit of hiss, but it's nothing that's distracting when I play an audio source at that level. Heck, I can barely stay in the room at that level, and my cats get awfully spooked when I play anything that loud. Plus I can't even hear the hiss at 2-3 feet away, so to me it's a non-issue. It's a good sounding amp section for the price.

6. Here's a nifty setup tip I developed to take advantage of the DB930's Auto-Format-Decoding (AFD). It's possible to share the DVD/LD A/V input with both the DVD and LD players, provided you keep one of the sources powered off. Just connect:

DVD's s-video output to the DVD/LD s-video input.
DVD's TOSLink audio output to the DVD/LD TOSLink digital audio input.
LD's composite video output to the DVD/LD composite input.
LD's digital coax output to the DVD/LD Coax digital audio input.
LD's L/R audio output to the DVD/LD L/R audio input.

When you want to watch DVDs, tune the TV to S-video input, and select the DVD/LD input on the receiver. When you want to watch LDs, tune the TV to the composite input, and select the DVD/LD input on the receiver. To listen to the LD's digital soundtrack, select it on the LD player, to listen to the LD's L/R soundtrack, select it on the LD player. The receiver's AFD does the rest.

7. Comes with a 2 year warranty on parts/labor. The ES line comes with a 5 year warranty. When I called to order, the salesman said that you are basically paying for the warranty on the more expensive ES-333/555, but with most receivers, they either die in the first 30-90 days, or last forever. Here's a note on how hot the receiver gets. If you play it very loud, the receiver's case top can get a bit hot, but I haven't observe any problems playing this unit too loudly. I guess it wouldn't hurt to cool it off with a small little fan if possible. Just make sure not to restrict airflow on the top and sides of the receiver.

8. I would venture that the subwoofer crossover frequency occurs around 100HZ. The manual suggests to set the subwoofer at its highest crossover frequency if possible. You can change the bass volume level from the receiver within +/- 10dB. The receiver will allow you to choose Large speakers or Small speakers. Choose Small speakers if you have a powered subwoofer, otherwise, go Large!

9. You can label the FM/AM station with the nicknames, and you can download the labels to the Remote Commander so you know what the presets are set to. The FM/AM performance could be better, but I don't have any decent FM or AM antennas, and I rarely listen to the radio anyway. Warning: labelling the radio station presets can be tedious, but you only have to do it once. There's 30 presets, and the preset up/down buttons on the remote just cycle through all 30 presets, which can be a pain. What I did was set up 18 presets, and then duplicated the 12 of the 18 radio stations that I usually listen to the most for the last 12 presets so I'm never too far away on the preset list from a desired radio station.

10. The front panel display will fade away after a few seconds after some input/level has been changed. I don't know if this can be overcome. I haven't found a way to have the receiver always display the info on the front panel. Actually this "feature" has grown on me as I watch more DVDs with the light off in the room. I have tried playing with the dimmer button, and maybe I've disabled the display somehow. The only thing that does bug me a little is that when a Dolby Digital or dts audio source is being detected and played, there's this this wide blue light that comes on and stays on for the duration of the playback.

Note: I recommend reading the manuals (one for the receiver, one for the remote commander) to fully utilize the full potential of this receiver.

The financial nitty-gritty:

I paid $461 from www.oade.com (you should get their phone number from their website and call them), normally it's $450 shipped (UPS ground) but I live in the same state as Oade Brothers, so I got charged sales tax. Supposedly www.soundcity.com is offering this unit for $414 through www.buyingedge.com (you have to sign up, and ask for quotes on this model and have the online companies email you back a quote). www.onecall.com is a popular source, but they've been asking around $500+ shipped (2-day FedEx) for this unit becase it flies out of the doors due to its price/performance ratio. www.jandr.com is another source to check. Mostly only Sony ES resellers will offer this unit. A local store, Hi-Fi Buys, also had this unit in stock for $600 plus sales tax.

My final verdict: the Sony STR-DB930 gets a 5-star rating from me. It's a great deal, and performs wonderfully. Anyone that wants good amp performance, plenty of A/V inputs and DD/dts will love this receiver. It delivers the goods for under $500, which is an almost unbeatable deal. If you are comtemplating the Sony STR-DE835/935, I implore you to buy either the Sony STR-DB830/930, you'll thank me for it. I recommend this receiver very highly.

Note: the DB830 is the stripped down version of the DB930 in that it has less A/V inputs, less digital audio inputs, no secondary audio output, 10W/ch less power, and no Remote Commander. If you don't need all the inputs (yeah, right), the DB830 is usually $75-$100 less and a great buy in its own right.

I just picked this amp up as a replacement to a lowerer end sony. Deep rich sound. Wonderful power. I do notice hiss when I turn the volume way up on a paused cd, dvd etc, but I'm pretty sure its my cabling.
Fantastic amp for the money, It has most of the components of the es series, almost all of the features and I/O's only found on higher priced amps.

A definite choice for mid price range home theater. I'm running Mirage FX6's and a sony550d dvd. I was told by the sales rep only Sony ES dealers can carry this series, so look hard for this amp, is not available everywhere. It is however, worth the search
Looking at other reviews, "I thinks, I's, paid too much...."

Tweeter: $599

For the money this reciever sounds very good. It kills my 6 year old Pionier Prologic. Sub woofer our if very good. I used digital coax for the DVD audio hook up and the sound is amazing on DVD's and CD's. My old Infinity Speakers and Yamaha Sub never sounded this good. Outstanding value for the money.
I tried to buy from "One CAll" and they jerked me around on the price. J&R had in stock 425.00 with Fed X Next day shipping for 30.00.

Plenty of clean power @ ruler flat frequency response!

The subsequent versions of this Model literally can't measure up.

I have read most of the posts below and was particularly interested in the very early ones from July 1999. Some of which claimed that the DB 930 could outperform the DA 555 in a side by side A/B test.

I think that I may have found proof as to how this could be true. On Ecoustics.com there are bench test results from Home Cinema Choice for both of these models. The test they do is called Fidelity Firewall. They measure the the highest output at low distortion that the amp will produce.

DA 555 ES- 76.7 WPC @ .02% THD



DB 930 - 93.2 WPC @ .013% THD
I still cannot explain how or why this is true but these are HCC's bench test results. They also have the figures on the originally European 930's European father the DB 925! If you want a real chuckle check out the 777 model- it performed worse than the 555!

I realize that numbers do not tell the whole story, I've been running my DB 930 for almost two years now and the stats. I quoted above are merely a numerical confirmation of what I had sensed all along. This is an EXTRAordinary piece of equipment!

Similar Products Used:

STR DE 925

Plenty of clean power @ ruler flat frequency response!

The subsequent versions of this Model literally can't measure up.

I have read most of the posts below and was particularly interested in the very early ones from July 1999. Some of which claimed that the DB 930 could outperform the DA 555 in a side by side A/B test.

I think that I may have found proof as to how this could be true. On Ecoustics.com there are bench test results from Home Cinema Choice for both of these models. The test they do is called Fidelity Firewall. They measure the the highest output at low distortion that the amp will produce.

DA 555 ES- 76.7 WPC @ .02% THD



DB 930 - 93.2 WPC @ .013% THD
I still cannot explain how or why this is true but these are HCC's bench test results. They also have the figures on the originally European 930's European father the DB 925! If you want a real chuckle check out the 777 model- it performed worse than the 555!

I realize that numbers do not tell the whole story, I've been running my DB 930 for almost two years now and the stats. I quoted above are merely a numerical confirmation of what I had sensed all along. This is an EXTRAordinary piece of equipment!

Similar Products Used:

STR DE 925