I was just about to purchase the DE835 when I found the reviews here for the DB930. Thanks to all those that pointed out the differences in the quality of the DB930 and why it is a better receiver. I am very happy with the sound and build quality.

The reviews found here at Audioreview have opened up a new world to me, and I am enjoying music like never before. I am upgrading my entire system, and the DB930 is an important component in this system.

Great sound, loads of features

sony's help line

I had the jvc rx888 but after reading all these reviews i decided to return it and get the sony. I'm glad I did.It sounds much better and has more features. JVC's help line is much better than sony's though. I love the remote. The only problem I have is the remote will not operate my rca vcr.The vcr is 2 years old and i tried all the codes in the remote. I cant't get a satisfactory answer from sony as to why.other than that i highly recomend this receiver.

Similar Products Used:

jvc rx888

Well after much anticipation since first reading about this receiver from the UK columns, I finally got my hands on one. As my luck would have it I got a defective one. I was first of all impressed by the weight and fit and finish of this baby but was soon disappointed when after an hour of listening to football on satellite, the right rear speaker started to crackle. I obviously tested the speaker output by plugging other speakers into it (which was thankfully easy with banana jacks) and indeed it was the receiver and not the speakers. Good thing I work as a manager at a home theater retailer and so I simply swapped it out for another unit. The second one is pounding out like a trooper. I previously owned a STRD-E925 which impressed me as a home theater receiver with its 32 bit digital engine and Digital Cinema Sound decoding but I was never really impressed with it musically. I found it plentiful for bass but tended to be really shrill and lacking warmth of say a tube amp. The extra current and lower distortion ratings of the super legato power supply in the STR-DB930 seems to have remedied much of this. I can tell right away that the volume knob only has to go to about 11:00 o clock to do what my STR-DE925 did at 1:00 o clock and at that sound pressure level it sounds much cleaner and warmer than the DE925. I still think that over all this is a smokin receiver for the money. I considered a Denon 3300 and possibly a Nakamichi AV-10 but since I don't sell either I got the better deal on the Sony. I think the DB930 would give either of the two aforementioned a run for their money anyway's. Sony has got a great thing going with this model as long as they dont kill their ES sales too much. I love the 6 channel pre outs and ins as well as the plentitude of digital inputs. The styling is beautiful as I never really liked the looks of the STR-DE series for the last 5 years. The drop down door and the quality feel of the knobs and dials and buttons is a refreshing treat. No cheap plastic here. I think this unit is a keeper at least until I get really tempted to buy seperate's in the future. My music sounds much better, my movies have more punch (can hardly wait to try Matrix and the Mummy) and the remote is like an old aquaintence once you're used to it as I was. I see that Crutchfields rates this as a "high current" receiver but does anyone know what kind of amps it draws? I'm guessing 15-20.
Here's what I have connected to this baby.
Polk RT-2000 powered towers
Polk CS-350 center
Polk RT-FX surrounds
Panasonic DVD-A310 DVD player.

My suggestion is that you buy this unit while there's still some to be had. Once word really gets out they'll be hard to find. My rating is 5 for performance and value but 4.5 for giving me a heart attack with the defective first unit.

Solid construction,Beautiful sounding clean power,more than ample configurations

None as of yet

Okay guys...I finally got this unit 3 days ago...
I upgraded from a sony strde825....Man!am I happy...
Nice looks,strong clean power and tons of inputs..it made my(fronts) sony ss-mf515's SING with joy!!...I mainly watch movies,but when playing music in stereo mode(natalie merchant,lyle lovett,annie lennox...)it made these artist come ALIVE!A great improvement over the 825..
For price..the quality and features are unmatched!
Yes...I listened to slighty pricier denon and yamaha products and yes the 930 is in their league as far as sound is concerned.(I used some of the source cd's listed above)...
I can't wait to audition some movies(for reference I like to use blade and armaggedeon)....in closing...so far...Absolutely awesome!!

My modest setup includes
sony str db 930
tosh sd 3107 dvd
sony cdp cx53 50 disc changer
tosh theaterview tp50h60 rptv
sony ss fm 515's fronts...(soon to be replaced by AR 328ps's)
kenwood kvs 50 center...(soon to be replaced by AR ar2c...come on ups!)
infinity qps 1's rear surrounds
(2)infinty bu 120 powered subs
monster and AR wire and interconnects
all in a 25x19 family room

Similar Products Used:

sony str de825

AMPLIFIER HAS PLENT OF PUNCH. GIVES MY PARADIGMS ALL THEY WANT AND MORE

REMOTE CONTROL TAKES TIME TO LEARN. OPS MANUAL MUST HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN JAPANESE ENGLISH

THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BUY A YAMAHA RECEIVER. FOR $25 BUCKS MORE THIS SONY IS EVERY THING THAT JASON AT ONE CALL SAID IT WOULD BE.

HAVE IT HOOKED UP TO A PACKAGE OF PARADIGM 7'S, MINI MONITORS AND CC350. THE AMP PUSHES THESE AROUND WITH EASE.

THE VARIOUS SOUNDFIELDS ARE NEAT FOR A WHILE, BUT THERE SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR THE STRAIGHTFORWARD FORMATS.
I LIKE THE AUTO FORMAT DETECTION. DON'T NEED TO THINK ABOUT THE SOURCE.

DON'T LOSE TRACK OF YOUR OTHER EQUIPMENT REMOTES. THEY ARE PROBABLY THE BEST WAY TO START OUT ONTIL YOU INVEST SOME TIME IN THE SONY REMOTE.

BEST PRODUCT I FOUND IN THE PRICE RANGE.

Sound Quality, features, POWER OUTPUT!!, Excellent 2-way Remote, Binding Posts for all speakers and the Price.

Nothing, its an awesome machine.

Fantastic bit of kit, why people keep putting the remote down I don`t know, A learning remote too which seems to work with everything. Looks great, I couldn`t have wished for a better receiver. Audio CD`s sounds superb too, people are too petty about things, Hiss at 50% well how many of you sit there listening to the amp with no source at that volume?? most ridiculous thing i`ve ever heard to complain about something like that.

I can garantee this amp will not dissapoint.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STB-925, Sherwood 2205, Yammaha A590

price for performance

that remote truly sucks!
I haven't been able to assign the coax dig in to a source other than DVD. must manually select it from the unit itself

have been using the Sony TA-E2000ESD till now. Wanted to make the move to 5.1 but didnt want to part with$1400 with technology changing so fast. (5.1 will probably be replace by 7.3 in a few weeks at this rate) Anyway I decide to give thia cheapy a try ($460 to my door from one call). I am amazed this thig absolutely blows away my old preamp that i spent $2400 on! I am not using the power outs only the pre amp section, no noise hiss heat or any thing negative to report. DD is AMAZING!!!! Talking heads stop making sense on DVD is better than the live show... I could go on for hours. If your thinking about a pre amp and need no more than 4 dig in's try this unit. Its power section may be ok too.
FYI main speakers Polk sda srs 1.2's, center polk 350 something (their best one), surrounds Boson Acoustics two ways, Main channel amp adcom 555 (250 a side I think), adcom 4 channel amp with 2 channels bridged running the center for other speakers, no Sub. Sony 330 dvd

if any one has a great sub in mind e-mail me!

Similar Products Used:

none

Dolby Performance, good value

Lack of 5-channel stereo

I bought both the Denon AVR-2800 and the Sony STR-DB930.
I ended up returning the Denon and keeping the Sony.
I performed extensive side by side tests of these
2 units and could not justify the Denon's much
higher price tag. The Sony just about equalled the
Denon in every single aspect, and even surpassed it
in others.

The Sony's main weakness is a lack of a 5-channel
stereo mode. I have big full range speakers in the
front and rear so 4 or 5 channel stereo is a must.
Sony should eliminate most of the useless DSP modes
and just add 5-channel stereo. Does anyone actually
use the church, jazz club and disco club modes??

I was able to rig up 4-channel stereo on the Sony.
I ran 2 RCA cords off the 2nd Audio out and sent them
to an external graphic EQ. I then split the 2 RCA cords
off the graphic EQ into 4 cords and ran them to the Sony's
5.1 input. I put the Sony in 5.1 input mode and I get
full powered 4 channel stereo. I use the Sony's 2nd
audio out function to control my 4 channel stereo source.
This can be controlled on the receiver or on the remote.
It sounds great and I am able to fine tune the sound with
my external graphic EQ.

The Denon requires the use of its on-screen display
to set a lot of its functions. I do not like that
at all. I have a high quality Wega XBR250 TV with
plenty of inputs and I have no desire to use a
receiver to switch video. Because I do not send video
into the receiver I had to constantly switch my TV's
input mode to the line where I connected the Denon
if I wanted to change receiver settings. This was
especially bad while watching movies. Sometimes I like
to play with tone and fader level settings and I had
to switch the TV's input if I wanted to change settings.
While using the Sony if I wanted to change a tone or
fader level I could use the Sony remote and see the changes
on the Sony's front panel.

The Denon's remote seems archaic when compared to the
Sony remote. I kind of like the Sony remote. You can
do just about everything right from the remote using
the Sony's front display panel.

I think the Sony handles HT better than the Denon.
The Sony allows independant tone adjustments for
front, rear, center, and sub. The Denon cannot do
any independant adjustments. The Sony's front
display panel is much better than the Denon's front
panel. HT performance for both units was great, but
Sony gets the edge.

As far as 2-channel audio goes, the Denon is a little
bit better, but the Sony is VERY close. I am not sure
why some people think the Sony's 2-channel performance is
so bad. My guess is people do not know how to set the
built-in EQ.

Setting up the Sony took 15 minutes. I have no idea why
some people have said that setup takes 2 days. I do not
have a problem with the owners manual.

I have no hiss or hum. Some people are reporting hum
and I would guess that is a result of a poor installation
or a faulty component connected to the Sony.

Someone reported that the Receiver's display panel names
do not match the remote's display names. You have to
download the receiver's information to the remote and then
they will match.

I paid $399 for the Sony.
Value rating gets 5 out of 5 stars!

Overall rating drops to 4 stars due to the lack of a
built-in 5-channel stereo mode. If I was not able to
rig up 5-channel stereo by sending the 2nd-audio to an
EQ and then to the 5.1 input the overall rating would
drop to 2 stars.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-2800

Flexibility, Overall # of inputs, Some of the soundfields are actually useful, Value

When I am listening to the receiver at volume level "10", on the phono input (no turntable hooked up) there is some audible hissing.

I am reviewing MY receiver. I am not going to try and tell all of the dissatified reviewers that they are hearing things, or their associated equipment is to blame. My experience with this great machine (6 months), tells me that the problems can be traced to 1 of 2 things:

1.You have a bad unit--In any high-volume manufacturing process, there are likely to be a small percentage of bad or out of tolerance units produced--Send it back and demand one that works!

2.You are demanding perfection for peanuts--This is a $400-$600 Sony mid-line feature laden surround receiver. Mine has a small amount of audible hiss on most of the inputs above level "5", with NO SOURCE playing. For most sources I listen at level 3 or 4. I just measured the sound levels with an SPL meter. With a Joe Satriani CD playing through my front Paradigm speakers, at volume level "6", it was pumping consistently a 100db spl. I don't think my ears, my speakers, or my neighbors could handle turning it up to 9 or 10.--Send it back and drop $2000+ on a higher end Denon or Marantz.

In the last 10 years I have spent over $10,000 on Audio & Home Theater equipment. I have still not found perfection. I have purchased defective new equipment, as well as some used equipment that is now over 20 years old that still works great! My advice to someone wanting to spend less than $1000 on a great receiver that will give hundreds (or thousands) of hours of enjoyment, is to definitely check out the DB930. Is it the last word in quality? No. Is it worth the $600 I spent on it? Every penny! (I decided to pay full retail from Crutchfield because of their good customer service, and even better return policy--they pay for return shipping[any reason], and no restocking fee)

The remote isn't the worst, it controls most major functions of my all my equipment:JVC TV, Toshiba VCR & DVD, old Magnavox CD player(for CDRs).The biggest improvement Sony could have made would be to have made it learning capable. Therefore, I use my Home Theater Master SL-9000 learning remote, it does everything I need it to, except change the soundfields(which I don't do often)

I am sorry for the few dissatisfied reviewers, my own experience, has been fantastic.

Similar Products Used:

Harman Kardon AVR20 Pro Logic Receiver; Yamaha, Denon, and Marantz stereo receivers

Everything that I can see and hear so far

Nothing in my book

I just returned from a Temporary duty in Japan (Airforce), while I was gone my wife to my surprise decided to fill my livingroom with Sony products. Im not upset believe me. She has never bought electronics before for me so I didnt know much about what she had bought me, nor the cost. I started to sweat a little bit. But to my surprise after a little research I found out that she didnt do bad at all. That is why I am writing this now. The products are great, I would appreciate any feedback on the products I list, I am still searching for knowledge on these products. Let me know if she did well or not. First she bought a DB930 Receiver, DVP-CX850D 200 disc DVD/CD player, SLV-F900 VCR, a KP-61V80 Big screen and even a RM-AV2000T touch screen remote. Im still learning this stuff, feedback would be appreciated. Even if these are poor products I still have a good woman I think. Let me know how she did.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Onkyo