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HISS, Remote, Cheesy Design, Gets hot quick

My roomate had this reciever for a few weeks, man it was better than using the Playstation to listen to CDs through the TV, but by how much? Sure, we couldnt crank the TV volume up, but there was never any HISSing coming from the speakers then either. The Surrounds and especially the Center channel had a HUGE problem with hiss at almost all audible levels, especially watching VHS tapes. Also...whos bright friggen idea was it to put green text on the glow-in-the-dark buttons??? You can't even read them in light! As if those problems werent enough, the unit gets very hot after maybe an hour of only 1/4 volume playing. What the hell is that??? If someone has speakers that can take full volume levels, you may get to use it for 10-15mins before you have to crack a window because your SONY reciever has just burnt up all the oxygen in the room. But hey, now you can roast those weenies you got in the fridge without goin outside (or may decide to roast the Japaweenies that make this SONY crap). Anyway, hes took the thing back and when he gets the refund check I'm gonna kick in and we an have a real reciever, like an ONKYO, Yamaha, or H/K. People: Break away from the brainwashing SONY propaganda. Just because they cost more than AIWA, or JVC, and they have TV commercials doesnt mean they have good equipment, the commercials just show you what theyd rather spend their money on than building quality recievers. Oh, and when SONY tells you your reviever puts out 80watts--DO NOT compare that 80watts to any other brands 80watts, unless its AIWA, Kenwood, JVC, or Technics--You Do Not have 80 real watts.

Good all around reciever

No digital inputs (but also take into accound that the fiber cable cost around $15 a foot)

Too many inputs! the back of my reciever is cluttered with cables, but I guess thats also a good thing!

Awsome audio quality, good DSS decoding/ I've used it for both computer and DVD. No hissing, good bass (well I achually have to thank my 100 watt sub for that one). I'm using Sony speakers. The reciever does get warm while playing at high volume levels for a while so just like almost every reciever keep it ventalated. Never achually cranked it upall the way but have gotten pritty close (and with no distortion). This reciever replaces my old RCA piece of junk! Ever I pluged this Sony reciever in a got addicted to it!

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Pioneer, Awia, RCA (RCA sucks!)

low treble

very good reciver.
it has good sound and it's not distorted in high power.

Similar Products Used:

kenwood 7030

Easy to hookup and use.

No built in DTS digital decoder

Was disappointed to discover that is does not have a built in digital decode for use with DTS dvd players/discs. It bills itself as having AC-3 5.1 channel and this works great and sounds great too. But if I ever upgrade my dvd player to a model with DTS, I'll need to upgrade the receiver too in order to use it. My fault thought for not paying closer attention to this detail. Otherwise, no complaints.

Easy to use and good at Dolby.

Lifeless sound when you listen audio CD in stereo mode.

I've used my STR-DE335 for two weeks with my Infinity loudspeakers. It sounds well when I use for home theatre but not so good at legacy stereo mode. Something is missing from its sound so it seems a litlle bit lifeless.

Price and simplicity

Can only record what you are listening to.

Bought this as at supremevideo for $169 as a replacement for a Yamaha that I had for years. It's no frills, just plain good sounding and can handle all the inputs required for DVD, etc. Haven't found any flaws in what it does, just don't expect all the bells and whistle you get by paying 4 times as much.

5.1 Inputs, enough connections for simple setup, A B speaker inputs, you can't get anything else cheaper, looks more expensive than it really is

Lack of power, Bass/treble control could be better, not much bass - needs a sub.

I bought one in a clearance sale and for the price there was nothing that even compared to it, the nearest amp price wise was its bigger brother the 535 for twice the price, I guess you would be disappointed if you bought one thinking that it was Dolby DIgital, but really . . . do some homework, surely the shop assistant would have known. I bought a Sony DVD with built in 5.1 decoder at the same time, so it all fits together well, I have it all crammed into the TV cabinet with the VCR and with no circulation have never had it overheat, so it seems that problem might be model specific.
The sound was better than expected, it's contected to Aegis one, and Aegis compact speakers which I would thoroughly recommend. For most music I quite happily leave the treble and bass set at zero, and crank the sub up till it sounds good.
Although it's got a lot of features, it's let down by it's power and performance, you can forget running both A and B speakers at the same time, with only 70 watts x 2, it just won't cope. For the money it is a definite bargin, and I still feel it was my bargin purchase for the year 2000, if you see one on special and that's all you can afford then grab it (and if you don't like it, sell it to a friend). But if you want loads of volume don't try and kid yourself - look at something bigger.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 535,

Renaming display, excellent entry level dolby pro-logic receiver. Sub woofer outputs and strong sound for medium size room

not enough power to the center channel, volume level almost half way for full impact of power to speakers, not dolby digital. Bass distortion.

I purchased this receiver as replacement to my Kenwood. And for the price I couldn't go wrong! I recently upgraded to a Sony STR-DE575 and I had to get rid of this one. It does get a little warm when playing for a long time but keep it ventilated and the speakers that I used for it were the Cambridge soundworks Tower III's & Cambridge soundwork Center Channel II's. the dynamic range of the speakers didn't sound as good as my Kenwood bookshelfs that I hooked up to it previously, but, it could be the speakers fault. Dolby Surround (pro logic) is excellent and the rear speakers sound great hooked up to this receiver. For the price you do get alot, I recommend it to anyone that would like to have a home theater system within a budget, I recommend the sony's DSP-E800 dolby digital decoder processor and at least 50 watt powered sub to get the full functionality of the receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood

P O W E R F U L ! great power
mulitple inputs
easy to use
great sound in hiph levels

hiss when no source
no AF

i love it! this amplifier is powerful it have the 5.1 kit whit the 5 HP sony at 8 ohms and i plugged a low pass filter on each front columns speakers with a non amplified sub @ 4 ohms 300w RMS on each Hp and just a word: POWERFUL that works so well it's beautiful. The amplifier becomes very hot but i do it since more than 2 years and it works as well as i bought it so its a good made amplifier: buy it you will be as me. ( excuse for the english but i'm french! )

None

Don't buy. I have had nothing but problems with this receiver!