Price and Performance

Fine-tuning bass and treble

This is a great Home Theater receiver. I have it hooked up to Paradigm front, center and subwoofers and Niles Audio rear channel and it is simply amazing. Dolby 5.1 is the bomb. Everyone loves the Sony. Lots of power, no fade. Neat features. Easy to figure out. I never read manuals and you don't need one for this - except for trying to do your own adjustments and presets for bass and treble.

Cost, features, inputs, sound fields, tuner strength, dual zone mode

User Manuals, controls, no 5 channel stereo mode, lack of remote programmability

Ok, after owning this unit since December, it's time to give my review. First my rig specs:

Toshiba 50" TN50V71
RCA/Hughes DishNetwork Receiver
Sony STR-DB930
Toshiba SD2109 DVD
Infinity HTS20 Speakers
Sony CD Carousel(from my last rig)
Sony Dual Cassette Deck(from my last rig)
Sony SLV-640HF Hi-Fi VCR


First I have to say I really like this unit. For the price that I paid($406 shipped), there was no better alternative. I have this unit hooked up to the Infinity HTS 20 speaker set, which consists of 4 Single cone, 1 tweeter satellites, a dual cone 1 tweeter center and a 12" 150w powered sub. I run the sub on the preout giving the Sony a bit of a rest from powering it which is ideal. First, I have not noticed any problems with this unit, no hum, no hiss. Perhaps there is some at higher volume levels but this unit puts out enough DB that a movie is theater loud on a volume setting of 4. I have not TRIED to find any hum, maybe it is there but I have not noticed it in normal listening so it works for me. AND, how many receivers have any of you heard that have absolutely no hiss at high volume levels with no input being put through them? Especially at this price range. It may be a quality control problem, I think it in no way reflects the overall quality of this unit.

The sound in DD is absolutely stunning. I used to think that Pro-Logic was good enough. I couldn't believe how much better DD is than DPL. I watched The Matrix for the third time after only watching it with standard TV speakers before. I was blown away. Every other movie with full 5.1 offers no less than a theater experience. The built in sound fields offer several modes which really fill out the sound of a theater, in particular the Cinema modes. They use the DSP technology to create virtual speakers, adding a fuller sound field as if there were more speakers than you actually have. A very cool convincing feature. As far as music goes, the 2 channel stereo mode is adequate, I do however wish that they had included a 5 channel stereo mode to get full sound from all of my speakers. The sound fields just don't sound that great with music CD's.

This unit has more inputs than I think I'll ever use. All of the inputs are clearly labeled and well organized on the back of the unit. It was quite easy to hook up all of the components that I have to the appropriate inputs. Additionally, this unit offers a second room mode so that you can have two different sources going to two different speaker sets at the same time. I am not using this feature yet but will be once the weather gets nice.

The user manuals on this unit are horrible, I would expect a thickly bound book to elaborate on all of the nuances of this unit. They do not explain the EQ at all. In addition there are multiple DB levels settings for the speakers, one for the frequency level and one for the speakers themselves. This to me is somewhat confusing and should be explained. Navigating under the hood of the remote is also somewhat of a chore, I have figured it out but changing EQ and speaker levels/configurations is somewhat cumbersome. I personally like the two way remote and have not experienced the delays that some speak of here and on the techtalk forums. Also the fact that you can't program the remote kinda sucks. It controls all of my equipment except my Dish Network receiver. I am still bound to using two remotes. At least my televsion remote was programmable to run the satellite receiver. The tuner in this unit great, it picks up stations better than the tuner in my car, and all I am using is the provided antennas that came out of the box. My old Sony receiver couldn't pick up any radios stations, antenna or no, I am quite pleased with the tuner.

Not much more I have to say about this unit, I am very happy with it. Some say that of course we are all going to say it's a great unit because we wouldn't admit we bought crap. This forum is for good reviews as well as bad ones. IMO the rating this unit has in this forum is accurate.

Peter, please do set up a users forum for this receiver. I still am a bit perplexed on how to properly set the EQ for this unit, I have it set to how I think it sounds good, but to have someone who understands exactly how it works fully explain it would be beneficial to not only me but others as well. An organized forum to post questions would be better than wading through the tech talk board here. I think that all of us DB930 owners would flock to the site to post our discoveries in using this great unit.

Similar Products Used:

Sony Pro-Logic Preamp/Receiver

plenty of inputs, full bandwidth power

none so far...

After a ton of research, I picked this receiver up at Onecall.com; they matched the lowest price that I found at Pricescan.com, even S&H. It is a great recevier for the price, the sound is unbelievable, I have it hooked up to Infinity RS-5's, CC3, QPS-1's, and the BU120 sub. The remote is hard to figure out at first, but once you do, it is all good. The backlit screen works great when the lights are turned down. You can also tweak the sound with the built in EQ.

One question though, does the blue light on the front only work when using DVD digital decoding?
(Haven't got a DVD player yet and when using my HiFi VCR the light doesn't come on.) Thanks.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo receivers

near limit-less attachments including digital & s-video

Heavy and Hot

This is a wicked receiver. Yes man it is awesome. I havent received any of the 'hiss/hum' I hear others complaining about. I went ahead and bought monster cables which takes care of all extraneous 'noise' that may try to interfere. Even the video 'monitor' with the monstr cables gives a better picture. The amart optical connection eliminates the need for additional rca cable as it will automatically sellect the best input available from the source. I am stiil learing about the remote. It can do so much. It downloads other manuf. codes from the receiver and store keys that may not be on the remote in a menu on the remote's screen. I think for the money this is a truly awesome must have receiver. Nothing is better than it in this price range (max 599)
I use my STR-DE615 as the second room receiver to it.

Yes. I can listen to my CD hooked up to the DB930 on the STR-DE615 connected to the STR-DB930 (Second room audio) while she watches FRIENDS listening the JBL Speakers in the main room. (FRIENDS/Who wants to be a millionaire on HIFI. What is this world coming to.) etc in the bedfroom

I love it. My wife didn't throw me out of the house because of it. She didn't even say 'But baby we already have a RADIO' hahahah I am impressed.
now go get yours.

Similar Products Used:

STR-DE615, AIWA AXR-005

POWER ! The best SOUND from any RECEIVER in this price range that I have ever owned !!

The remote does take getting use to it but it is not
as bad like other reviewers have written. Hey other companies makehave crap for remotes also !!

I have looked at other SONY receivers in the past and did
not like what I saw or heard from them. The STR-SB930
is by far the BEST EVER Sony has made in this Mid-price
range. I sold my Kenwood VR1080 and upgraded to this new SONY receiver and I am GLAD I did.

If you have wriiten a BAD review about this receiver
you DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

THE BEST SOUND, FEATURES and LOOKS by far of any RECEIVER now on the market. The WENT to my local GOODGUYS who had
it on sale for $ 599 plus tax. I purchased it for
$ 399 plus shipping from ONECALL.COM. **

My advise if you are looking for a receiver GET IT NOW
while they LAST !! You will not be disapointed.

Similar Products Used:

Demon, Kenwood, other Sony receivers

Number of analog audio/video in/outs
3 optical in/1 optical out
1 digital (coax) in
Powerfull amp.

Hiss and 'sound leakage'

I've now ownder STR-DB930 for a week and I'm happy with it. I had few sleepless nights thinking wether or not buy a new A/V-receiver and I made the right decision.

Hiss ? Yup, there's some at volume level set to 10 or so, but it gets quite imbareable to listen anything at higher volume than 3 (once showed off to my gf...and my cats who ran to other room) how the THX intro sounded in the begining of Star Wars :-D.

Then this 'sound leakage'. I don't know what is the proper word for it but lets say you have something in your CD player and you leave it to play and switch it to some other program source and turn the volume up to 5 you will hear the music from the CD. Normally this doesn't matter since I usually don't leave the CD playing and watch TV sounds turned off, but sometimes I do record from CD to MD and there it would matter if sound from Terminator 2 movie gets into a silent part of Beethovens piano concerto =). That problem can be easily solved by using only the optical input/outputs (have CD directly connected to MD with TOSLink).

I haven't played much with the different DTS Cinema sound stuff and personally I doubt they matter too much. You still got the 5 speakers no matter what.

I'm not an audiophile nor I have 'golden ear' but that sound leakage and hissing are reasons that makes me drop out a star. I don't drop more stars since when I really listen to music (classical) I hook my HD-600's to X-Cans and leave the STR-DB930 off.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood KR-V7040

Excellent home-cinema performer! very clear sound, has a lot of punch. DD sounds terrific. Lots of features, lots of inputs (should take care of all your other stuff) and it's been said before but the looks are great.

Remote has a poor response-time, keeps turning itself off after 4 seconds. 2ch audio is a not very detailed (but it's ok), it's not exactly to breeze to configure (the lack of an On Screen Display irritates me but the new 940 has it)

An excellent piece of equipment, good build quality. This baby will perform best with action-packed movies.
Although i'm just a casual listener i am starting to notice some subtle shortcomings on my 930 (accuracy etc) but that's inevitable in this price range. It's impossible to get a better buy. Overall i'm very satisfied. I'd highly recommend it and it's follow-up, the 940 (which is essentially the same receiver with slightly higher power-handling, an improved remote and an OSD.)

Just a note for all those 'audiophiles' who keep posting messages about howmany grand they spend on their Krells, Tag McLarens and Martin Logan speakers: nobody cares what you paid for your stuff! And another thing: if all of those guys have 10.000$ installations why do they bother with a 600$ receiver? That's like comparing any sports-car to a McLaren F1 and complaining about the difference!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha receiver RX-7 something (same price range)

Inputs match my needs, very configurable, sound and video are to my liking

documentation was lacking in many ways

I picked this up to replace my Kenwood 1090VR in anticipation of needing two optical inputs. Overall, I find the experience of the two to be similar, except the bass is somewhat fuller on the Sony.

Anyway, on to my main point. I want to address the two main complaints that I saw of this receiver before buying it, neither of which seemed to be a big turnoff. As for hissing or noise or whatnot, I haven't heard any. People seem to be attributing that for when their receiver is turned above 7. I personally can't turn mine above 3 without making my windows rattle in their frames so it's not a problem for me at all.

The other complaint I've heard is that there is no '4 speaker stereo' mode supported out of the box. This is the case, and I didn't know how much of a difference that makes until I rigged it up myself. That's right, a simple (under $50) modification can turn your DB-930 into a 4-speaker stereo machine, and it sounds great. I picked up a Speco SSB-5 speaker switch at a local electronics store, then wired it backwards so that the 'AMP' plug on it went to my rear channel speakers, the 'SPEAKER1' jack went to my rear channel outputs on the DB-930, and my 'SPEAKER2' jack went to the alternate front channel outputs on the DB-930. Now, when I want to use 4-speaker mode, I switch the amp's speaker select to A + B, and the speaker switch to 2. The difference is phenomenal. I leave my CD input (through the digital optical jack, Sony CDP-CX270 changer) set to A.F.D. and the results have been night and day better than out of the box. Thought all you 930 owners or prospective owners would be interested in knowing this.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood 1090VR for 2 years previous

Plenty of inputs, ES-quality power section, plenty of soundfields (if that is your thing)aesthetically appealing

Remote is somewhat difficult to get used to (just give it a chance, though-you'll get used to it)no other weaknesses found yet.

I purchased the DB-930 a couple months ago to replace my Pioneer. Initially, when I began shopping for a new receiver, I wanted just something that had good sound with Dolby Digital and DTS decoding. I wasn't looking for something necessarily spectacular, since the pioneer is nothing short of worthless. I came across the DB-930 after reading the reviews posted, and because I could get a good deal through One Call. By the way, if you are hesitant about shopping online for a receiver, let my HIGHLY recommend One Call-great service, great price, quick delivery, no complaints whatsoever. Anyway, I hooked up the Sony through my MIT 6 cable, and fell in love immediately. Robust power, very low noise floor (no audible hum or his-I don't know what the some of the other reviewers are talking about). Bottom line, this is an outstanding receiver at a great price. I highly recommend it. I would give it 5 stars across the board if I hadn't auditioned the Marantz SR-18, but also remember the SR-18 costs about 4 times the Sony.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite VSX-59

# of inputs/outputs, power, no hiss

none yet

I just got the system from OneCall. Setup does take some time and the manual helps but is much to thin for this piece of equipment.
I ran into some problems that weren't my 930's fault. ex. The decoding blue light wasn't coming on. I didn't have my DVD outputs set correctly. Stuff like that can be frustrating. Once setup, the sound quality and all of the available modes make this a great home theater or music receiver.
I've yet to tackle the remote....maybe next weekend.

Similar Products Used:

none