Awesome receiver. Tons of features, crazy power, lots of bass, great clarity, wonderful versatility (must I go on)?

None so far, and especially at at that price

A huge difference between the DB and DE line. Its like a whole other world opens up with the DB line. The improvements are practically in every category, but most pronouced when clarity of sound, and crispness of bass comes in. Wonderful products, I give it 6 stars out of 5.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DE845
Sony STR-DE945

Sound, Build, tweakability

Needs assignable digital inputs

I am using this unit as a pre-amp/processor only.
It replaced my Rotel RC-972 preamp, Rotel RT-940 tuner, Technics SH500 DD/DTS decoder and Rotel 960AX DPL processor.

You would think that going to this unit from my previous setup would have degraded the sound but that is not the case and I am releived. The seperates were getting a little to hard to manage with three volume knobs and all. Calibrating was a pain.

Build quality is very good, gold plated line level inputs/outputs, gold plated s-video connections and gold plated Coax input. The speaker binding posts are not gold plated but since this is my preamp, it does not matter.

The unit is 29LBs and inside is a one piece aluminum heatsink, lots of nice capacitors and the boards are laid out neatly. The front panel is fairly easy to understand once you read the manual.

The remote is not as bad as the others say. In the remote manual which is seperate, there is a page that shows the menu structure. Very useful in understanding on how the software is laid out. I was able to program my other remotes by "learning" no problem. I had the remote figured out in about half an hour.

The sound: Using this as a preamp to my Harman Kardon Signature 2.1 five channel amp is spectacular. I perceive no difference in sound quality compared to my Rotel setup. Two channel stereo either in direct (by-pass all processing)or slightly EQ'd is very, very good. Imaging is center and above the speakers and the soundstage is wide and detailed.
Vocals come from the center and instruments come from either the left or right position depending on the track.
The overall sound is neutral to warm.

There is no hiss or distortion anywhere. No tuner bleedover. Dolby Digital is excellent. The panning and seperation sound great. Applying the Sony soundfields expand the room. All soundfields are adjustable.

The tuner does sound good but the antenna supplied is a joke. A single piece of wire with a plastic coax connector.
When a proper antenna is used, the tuner is able to pull in weak stations and stereo separation is excellent.

Pros: I would recommend this receiver as a preamp for those who cant afford the ludicrous prices for a seperate preamp.
Based on my experience, there is no audiable difference in the preamp section compared to the above Rotel stuff.

I did not evaluate the internal amps of this unit. The unit is very clean and does not get hot when the internal amps are idle.

Fianally, some cons: Non-assignable digital inputs, CD doesnt have digital in. Can't setup the EQ settings from the remote, the FM antenna supplied is a joke (single wire).

Some of the input problems can be overcome by using different inputs eg. use DAT input for CD for digital.
Another way is quite nice. The Sony allows you to watch one thing and listen to another or vise versa.

Example, Select TV, press mode, select tuner. You are now watching TV listening to the Tuner. Select DVD, press mode, select TV. You are now watching TV with DVD audio. Very Nice.

My stuff:

Sony DB940
H/K Signature 2.1 5x100
Hitachi DVP505 DVD
Rotel RCD 971 CD Player
Panamax 1000 Surge Supressor
B&W 602 S2 fronts
MIT Terminator 2 wire fronts
B&W CC6 Center
MIT Terminator 5 double run for center
Tannoy Mercury M1 rear
AudioQuest Type 4 for rear
MIT Terminator 5 interconnects everywhere.

- Sound
- Looks

- No stereo over 4 speakers
- Remote

Very Cool System, great sound, great power. Everything I needed and more. I don't have any problem with hiss, even at high volumes, so it people who have this problem, not all systems have it... But then, i've the European model (Radio with RDS, no S-cable output.)

All and all, i'm extremely happy with it.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer (I forgot the model)