Sony STR-DB940 A/V Receivers
Sony STR-DB940 A/V Receivers
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[Aug 16, 2001]
Peter Lewis
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Sheer Power,Sound Quality,incredible Looks,beautiful Feel, Build Quality, 2way Remote Control...
Weakness:
Err...They're difficult to get hold of! I brought a Sony STR-DE445 last year for £200 at a place called SuperFi in Birmingham. Similar Products Used: Sony STR-DE445, Mitsubishi Pro-Logic TV, Marrantz PM40-SE, and half the A/V Recievers in Currys :P |
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[Aug 16, 2001]
Peter Lewis
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Sheer Power,Sound Quality,incredible Looks,beautiful Feel, Build Quality, 2way Remote Control...
Weakness:
Err...They're difficult to get hold of! I brought a Sony STR-DE445 last year for £200 at a place called SuperFi in Birmingham. Similar Products Used: Sony STR-DE445, Mitsubishi Pro-Logic TV, Marrantz PM40-SE, and half the A/V Recievers in Currys :P |
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[Aug 16, 2001]
Peter Lewis
Strength:
Sheer Power,Sound Quality,incredible Looks,beautiful Feel, Build Quality, 2way Remote Control...
Weakness:
Err...They're difficult to get hold of! I brought a Sony STR-DE445 last year for £200 at a place called SuperFi in Birmingham. Similar Products Used: Sony STR-DE445, Mitsubishi Pro-Logic TV, Marrantz PM40-SE, and half the A/V Recievers in Currys :P |
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[May 15, 2001]
Sean
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Excellent design, sound, wide range of options and excellent "tweakability"
Weakness:
Yes, the notorious hiss (there's more to it though, not as bad as many people claim) I always wanted to upgrade to DTS and needed a receiver to do so. I bought this receiver based on web and magazine reviews. Hooked it up and was satisfied with the sound output and the various modes (although they are somewhat fake). To make myself feel better about the purchase (since I shelled out over $1000 AUD), I went back on the web again and stumbled upon this site. I read some of the reviews and it seemed that hiss was a major problem. I went back and turned on the reciever (nothing playing) and turned it up, and after level 5 the hiss was very prevalent. I thought that I had bought myself a dud. However, I decided to give it another test and put in a DTS DVD, paused the movie, and cranked it up. There was minor hiss, significantly less than when it was as a standalone with nothing running through it. I did a Dolby Digital comparison as well and had the same result. However I must state that once you go past, say level 8, the hiss gets quite noticeable. I don't turn it up there anyway when i'm watching a movie or listening to music (if I turn it up past level 4 I can hear it clearly from any room in my house, wouldn't dare try anywhere past level 5). However if I knew what I know now I wouldnt buy this product. For the price I paid, I could get a Yamaha equivalent and have much less distortion (or so I was told). I don't regret the purchase though and I still think that it's a fine product. So all those who bought this product and are unsure of it, try what I did and you'll notice that it isn't as bad as other people say it is. Similar Products Used: Sony Str-de425 |
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[Feb 05, 2001]
Matt Johnson
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Gotta love that little blue light....you know the one =)
Weakness:
Not so much a heat dissipation problem, just a burning smell (which went away after a week or so) First, the negatives.....which really aren't....IF YOU READ THE DIRECTIONS....(you know, if all else fails)....the conroller is very intimidating..and a little slow to react to your commands, a small sacrifice if you use other sony equipment. You can keep you friends entertained for hours just by showing them how all of your CD names are displayed on your remote....sweeet =)...either way..I don't use any other sony equipment...or the remote for that matter. SO..the other negative, a burning smell that almost made me cry (from dissapointment)....but I think it was just breaking in, burning off the excess oil, coolant, windshield wiper fluid, you get the point. It went away within a week. If it bothers you...then just don't sniff your reciever. To calm your fears of the notorious "hiss", my unit sounds quiet, even at loud volume with no source input. I think it has to do with external hookup wire selection. I use my JVC DVD player as my CD player...and went the extra mile and bought the 6 foot $99 digital coax cable from monster (try explaining to your wife spending $100 on a 6 foot piece of wire) and I have no complaints at all. Plus I get giddy every time I look at the back of my AV setup. Similar Products Used: Harman Kardon AVR 40, tested just about every other AV reciever on the market in 2000 at a smorgasborg of stores before realizing that Sony is charging way too little for this beauty (psst...lets keep that under wraps) |
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[Feb 12, 2001]
Marko
Casual Listener
Strength:
Enough power to wake up the neighbours, great sound quality.
Weakness:
Remote is a bit slow. Some of the soundfields sound phony. Reading the reviews posted here I tested my unit whether it had the notorios hiss. It didn't. After reading a review by a fellow scanadinavian it appears to me that this problem is only relevant in North America. Sorry boys and girls. There's absolutely no flaw with a hiss or any other problem with the sound quality. Of course you if you set level extremely high you get some noise but what the hell you get that from any amplifier (at least in this price range) and besides the volume at this point is so high that it'll make you deaf! This receiver sounds really great. Watching some action movies even with a quite moderate volume is absolutely breathtaking. Even normal stereo music sounds great. Some of the soundfields do sound quite phony when listening music but then again I don't think they should be used at all in two channel music. They just mess up the sound. The movie soundfields do sound great. I really have only used the three cinema sound fields, but they sound great. The remote is a bit slow but the fact that you can control just about every component with it makes it up. Similar Products Used: Pioneer A-676. |
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[Feb 12, 2001]
Steef
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Sound quality, programmable remote control, Power!, on screen display.
Weakness:
Normal stereo option for rear speakers is not available Before I bought this one a had the STR-445 "with the hiss". Similar Products Used: Sony STR-445 |
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[Feb 10, 2001]
C.R. Sheppard
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Features, Inputs/Outputs, Remote, Style, Performance.
Weakness:
Haven't really found any except that you can't tune stations from the remote aside from ones you preset in memory. I love this unit! I had a STR-DE945 for about a week and took it back for this one. This one sounds great out of the box but actually I bought it so I could use the preouts to hook up my Marantz power amp on the front chanels as I like the sound from that amp better. The Dolby Digital/DTS section is outstanding, the first thing I did was pop in Independence Day and WoW! I was blown away, it sounded awsome. As far as some of the other issues I have read in these reviews I can't seem to duplicate them. There is a tiny hiss from the speakers with the DVD on pause but only if I turn the volume up to around 1-2 O'clock and I don't know why anyone would turn the volume up that high if they weren't listening to anything anyway, dosen't seem logical to me. As far as the burning smell goes, mine dosen't, at least not yet. In short, I love this unit and would recommend it to anyone looking in the $500-700 range it's well worth the money and appears to be very well built. Similar Products Used: Sony STR-DE945 |
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[Jan 29, 2001]
Nicholas
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Good looks, sounds good, dd/dts sound is great
Weakness:
Gets rather warm Overall the db940 is a very well built and well sounding sony product. I have no hiss, and the sound in stero is good. One thing that concerns me is the heat, mine gets hot but i have had no problems with it. Other than that I love this reciever and would not trade it in on anything. I think if you are just starting out this is a good buy and you wont regret getting it. Similar Products Used: str-de845, older sony recievers |
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[Jan 29, 2001]
bruce lamb
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Cheap for what it does. DTS,Dolby Digital, and a rediculouse array of sound stages
Weakness:
I have not used the amp out-put yet so I do not know if it hisses. I brought this because it supplied everything I needed in a home theater prosessor; except two digital inputs.(And it did not cost as much as a Lexicon.)I have a two channel system using Martin Login electrostatics and Carver power amps. The home theater system has another Carver three channel amp(250W) plus a two channel (250W) driving Vaf DCX,DC6,DC2.The ML's powerd by Carver 360W act as a referance.The step up from Pro-Logic to DD was huge!The Vaf DC-X sub was working overtime in perfect balance with the mains and rears. I brought the Sony DB940 from Harvey Norman in Sydney OZ for A$1200.With 12 months interest free after negotiating from $1360.(It was down the road for the same price) I like the bass level adj;60HZ,90HZ and 120HZ. A big step up from the STR930.(120HZ only)The remote is a breaze to use and can act as a macro.The only ommision is HDCD decoding,but the 24/96HZ sounds ok. Similar Products Used: sony pro-logic pre-amp; 40 watt center, 25 watt rear with seperate 2-channel side; Arcam Alha 8,(50 W ), Then Krell 300i(150 W). |