Nothing compares under $1,000, 2nd Room feature, Plays nice with others (components)

Remote is very hard to learn to use.

There is nothing that compares to it for hundreds more.

I love how it works with other Sony components. With a Sony DVD player (S360) it automatically knows what sound mode to play in. The remote also shows the name of the artist of the CD I am playing on my disk changer (Sony CDX 300). I can scroll up and down alphabetically and select what artist I want to listen too.

My favorite feature is that I can use the reciever to send a different source (CD/Tunner/etc.) to the rest of the house or outside while using it for home theatre inside my living room. Note that an additional amp is needed to do this.

The only drawback is that the remote takes some work to learn to use. A guest in your house attempting to use this remote will struggle with anything outside of adjusting the volume. This is why I put a Sony touch screen Remote (RM-AV2100) on my Christmas list.

Similar Products Used:

Various Kenwood, Pioneer & Denon Products

Great construction, DD/DTS Sound, plenty of inputs

no optical cd input

I received this unit as a replacement from Sony for my defective 930.

I have no complaints about this receiver. It looks great and sounds better. I use it mostly for watching dvds. It has plenty of inputs and soundfields. I have not experienced any hissing noise from my speakers like I did with the 930. I would definitely recommend this receiver to anyone who is starting out or is looking for a new receiver.

My stuff:
STR-DB940
Panasonic DVD player & vcr
Sony 300 disc changer
Polk Audio Speakers
-RT800s
-CS400
-f/x500

Similar Products Used:

str-db930

good built quality, overall sound excellent, can configure speaker output/size/distance for all DSP, plenty of power

remote slow, and difficult to use at times.. ,

my first AV amp, and I think I made the right choice, plenty of power... my speakers actually a bit to small for this amp. will probably be better off with 120W+ speakers for all 5. can only put volume up to 3 before my neighbours started complaining.
current conf.
Mission Cinema 70
Mission 70ASE sub
Pioneer 525 DVD
AR PRO wiring throughout
QED QD Coax.
Ixos Gold SVHS to scart
Sony Wega 28"

This receiver is an all around great performer. The sound is clean and clear in all functions including "Tape" if you use high quality (dolby C and S). The surround sound features are numerous, but very functional. Once I properly set up the remote and got used to using it with all of my equipment, it was a breeze and even likable. This is a "Top" quality receiver. I spent alot of time comparing features with other equipment in similar and greater prices and couldn't find any weaknesses aside from not having the new "EX" surround modes. I can't mount another speaker in my room anyway. As far as I can tell all of the component parts are of excellent quality and very similar to the "ES" models. Besides spending a lot more for quality differences that may not be justifiable in "real time use," I's say you couldn't go wrong with this unit. I do recommend that you RTFM. Set up was easy and generally smooth. I really like being able to create my own "sound fields" to suit my own listening room and tastes. Sony has limited your capabiities with all of their new models, but you still have good control. The unit and remote works flawlessly with other Sony equipment. It runs very cool even after hours of use and I've never noticed any "hiss" from any of the speakers at normal (#2-3) volume levels without actually putting my ear directly up to the speaker and increasing the volume. Dolby 5.1, Pro-logic and even the Sony Cinema modes were all executed flawlessly and never distracted from the music or video presentation.

The amount of information available from Sony and their website. If I had to depend upon them (Sony)for info I'd never purchase any of their products. I was however, (thanks to this forum) able to collect enough info to make a sound decision. Sony still needs to put the volume into an electronic display instead of just a light on the volume knob. You have difficulty controlling more than one source at a time with the remote as the buttons are assigned to the selected source. You have to switch back and forth between sources (for example from CD to TV and back to CD to change the volume on the TV). Sony has limited your ability to retain the factory preset soundfields and create new ones, but the system is still pretty flexible. The remote responds slower because of the 2-way capability. You'll get used to this function. It however, is great if you have Sony CD changers for viewing information on the remote instead of the receiver display. These few quirks do not detract from the overall value of the unit.

This is a very good to excellent receiver for the money. I haven't been able to hear a "significant" difference between the DB-940 and other more expensive units in terms of sound quality, features or ease of use. I highly recommend it so far and will update after using it for a longer period of time. I could've spent more money for other units from other manufacturers but could not justify the additional expense. I'll give it five stars for value and 4.5 (rounded to 5) for overall rating.

Similar Products Used:

Tested Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon, Yamaha, Kenwood and HK.

Qualty of costruction, Flexabilty, The remote, Looks, so much for 500-600 dollars

None

It's a 500-600 dollar product, guys. The obsession with my pursuit of audio clarity took me to a realm I was not comfortable with. Entering into a world where people are given degrees in marketing psychology, I soon realized that the game is rigged to create dissatisfaction and longing. I love the 940 and because I accept it for what it is I can enjoy it. It's a fun quality toy. You can't win you know. Not until you decide you've had enough of being seduced, jerked around, and yanked by master marketers. At this price range you nor I can have it all. By the way, I own many Sony products old and new and I have never had a problem with any of them. The 940 probally doesn't do anything great, but it does so many things really well for the money I think it's great. A man is rich when his wants are few and when his expectations are realistic.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba, Kenwood, Yamaha

Value @£375. Good range of features.

Stereo appears on the weak side. Unable to adjust SubWoofer level in stereo independent to 5.1.

I am no expert at the A/V level as this is my first reciever. However, slightly dissapointed by the stereo mode, I was made up with the DD/DTS output.
Generally sound is brighter than my previous two amps, which can become tiring. You need smooth speakers with a rich mid tone to counterbalance this.
Why can't we have adjustable independent Sub Woofer levels for Stereo(Music) and 5.1(surround).
Test tone is a pain as it cycles through each speaker automatically for a period of approx. 1sec per output. Makes setting volumes difficult.

Sort out the above Sony and you have a GEM!!!

Hence 4 & 4 for the scores.

Similar Products Used:

None - my first A/V amp.

looks beautiful, well built, i like the remote.. i like the on screen display.. sounds awesome.. gold plated terminals, and lots of em, deffinatley enough inputs to keep me satasified for a long time.. i like just about everything about it..

sound modes seem crappy out of the box, little hiss

first, im pretty new to all this stuff. im no expert or audiophile, so i probably dont know all the right terms for everything, heh.. and maybe i dont even have any idea what im talking about either.. who knows..

i've used various different mini systems before, but this is my first home theater setup and it seemed like a good reciever to start with from these reviews... i never actually heard this thing before.. cause no stores around here seem to sell it.. and if they do it's crazy overpriced, the listening conditions are horrible, and the sales people basically molest me to make a sale.. but these reviews on this site made it sound pretty damn good!! especially compared to everything else in this pricerange..

i love the sound quality of this thing.. at first when i pluged it in it it sounded really flat and plain, and just boring.. but now that i think about it i guess every stereo i've ever used has sounded like crap right out of the box with the defualt settings.. i dont know why they do that.. but.. yeah, after some tweaking with the Eq and levels it sounds awesome.. it's loud and clear.. i love it.. music sounds really really good on it! and dolby 5.1 / dts movies sound awesome!!! but i guess i really cant compare it to anything else in it's class..

there is a hiss when you put something on pause and crank it up like a lot of people seem to be upset over... but i dont see what these people are trippin about!! at first i didnt even notice it, ok, i dont even really have a real dvd player right now.. i've got it hooked up using a ghetto ass rca cable from the coxial out connection on my sound blaster live soundcard.. and i play my dvds on my computer.. so it might be different.. i might get more or less hiss then you... probably a lot more.. but i put it on pause and turned it up to about 7 or 8.. before i messed with anything it seemed more like a slight humming noise then a hiss at this level, but now that i've tweaked around with some of the settings theres noticible hiss at around 5 or 6 when it's on pause... but anything lower then that is pretty much dead silent on my setup... and sure when you turn it up to 10 theres a lot of hiss..

but this thing is crazy ass loud!! with the volume knob only at 1 it seems like a good normal listening level for me.. at 2 its pretty damn loud!! and at 3 its almost making my ears bleed... i guess im using it in a pretty small room, but i cant imagine why you'd really even need to listen to this thing beyond 5 or 6.. unless maybe you were having a party and you needed to hear your music from 2 blocks away.. but from that distance i dont think you'd really even notice the hiss..

i guess maybe if you like to watch or listen to your dvd movies on pause, with the volume turned up full blast.. then maybe this reciever isnt for you.. :)

the remote is cool, but i wish it had more buttons on the outside.. a number pad would be nice to have access to without poping it open... but i guess they just wanted to keep it small or something... it doesnt seem slow or non responsive to me like some of the other people have said.. it seems just as fast as any other remote i've ever used.. but i guess you just have to navigate the on screen display to do certan things.. which might be what they mean.. i dont know..

it seems like you can do everything with this remote too! i went to add my tv into it.. and theres gotta be at least 100 different brands of tv's pre programed into this thing.. i think the only thing in my house this thing cant operate is my toaster..

the remote is a bit confusing at first though.. and im still learning how to do everything with it.. and program in functions... oh yeah! and the outside buttons glow in the dark! i thought that was cool... and i like how the lcd display is backlit.. i thought that was pretty neat too..

oh yeah.. i really like the onscreen display! i think thats a great idea being able to see everything you can adjust on the tv instead of reading one thing at a time off the front of the reciever or remote lcd..

but there are some things i dont like about it.. the sound modes seem totally useless to me right now.. most of them have way too much reverb, and sound like your in a bathroom, and then someone took away all the bass.. it just sounds all hollow.. i guess you can tweak these quite a bit though.. so thats good.. i really love how you can adjust almost every aspect of the sound on this reciever.. in just about any mode.. except for the 5.1 input.. so maybe after some adjustment with the eq they wont be half bad..

i really wish i could tweak the settings on the 5.1 inputs more.. right now i want to hook it up to my standard sound blaster live card thats only got a front right and left speaker output.. and back right and back left output.. theres no subwoofer output, and theres no center channel output.. so when im using it like this in 5.1 ch input mode the subwoofer isnt used at all.. neither is the center but i dont really care about that.. it sounds flat without my subwoofer.. does anybody out there know of any way of getting around this? i wish i could just disable the subwoofer and center channel input as easily as it is to disable a speaker output on this thing.. maybe you can do this somehow but i havent figured it out yet.. i guess most people wont have a problem with this though as they'll use it with a real 5.1 channel input device.. im probably just gonna have to split all 4 of the inputs and have them all go into the subwoofer input.. or something.. i dont know..

i dont think i can really give it a value rating since i cant comapre it to anything else i've used.. but as happy with it as i am, and it didnt cost me an arm and a leg.. im gonna give it a 5.. and overall i give it a 4.8 out of 5.. im extremley satasified with this reciever!

Looks, Power, Features, Clarity, Connections, DSPs, and more

The remote rocks but is a little heavy and has a learning curve

I love it. It sounds and looks amazing. It has power to spare and has great flexibilty to fit my existing setup.

This is one helluva cool receiver. If you are in the market for one, I would pick this bad boy up.

Similar Products Used:

Older Sony receiver

Name, build quality

Music sound!, and yess a touch of hiss

Review #2. After having hooked up everything and rewiring my system entirely (and with the help of a fellow reviewer from this site - gave me great advice) I have come to the conclusion that there is a serious problem with this unit. While listening to music, the mids are vacant and harsh. It has an overall cold sound to it and though I've adjusted the eq it still doesn't come close to my old Philips. To verify this I will do an A/B comparison this weekend to confirm the differences. And, the dreaded hiss IS present on my unit. However, only when the volume is cranked way up with a low signal. This may be a red herring as I doubt it's a real problem in the real world. If the unit sounded good this would not be a concern. Finally there is a delay when listening to the TV through the unit that, as a generous reviewer pointed out, is likely due to the dsp. Nonetheless, to beat a dead horse here, my old pro-logic Philips had no such delay. I am very close to junking this unit - maybe it is just a bad one - the outer box was damaged in transit by UPS though the sony box was only slightly marred. I am disappointed in the sound quality. I've only watched one movie in DD and that was, on the other hand pretty amazing. I am in a quandry as to what to do with this receiver. After the A/B test I will decide and confirm the results here. If anyone has suggestions, I am open to them. And thanks to those who have been so kind with their help.

Similar Products Used:

Philips fr-940 pro logic had great sound compared to Sony

Stylish, gold-plated terminal, good RDS tuner,
tweakable DD/DTS sound at fine price

no CDP digital input, slow remote(no big problem), Stereo could be better.

It's my first DD/DTS AMP, after DENON AVR-3000 Pro-logics.
I have been looking around shops for about 2 months till I decided to Sony DB-940. Under $1,000 I could not tell significant difference unbfortunately.
Frankly feature of the AMP front pannel is one of important
factors to buy.
DD/DTS sound very clear and tweakable. It pays for the money. But analogue stero sound without DSP is not so good as my old friend-DENON AVR-3000. Especailly the details of
strings (Hotel California on Hell Freeze Over-DTS).
When watching movie-DVD, listening radio, it works great.
I'd like to recommend it, if you look for something under
$1,000. Don't hesitate anymore GO! Get it and enjoy.

Similar Products Used:

DENON AVR-3000