Price, El Cheapo

Sound Quality

I was looking for an inexpensive back up after my Yamaha RXV2090 went down for repairs costing $400 and without a receiver for a few weeks or maybe months(send it off out of state for repair), I needed somthing for my system. This receiver is cheap and has most of the needed inputs and outputs for my system so I took the bait. Surprisingly, I don't hear that hiss(yet?)But the sound quality is poor. It is like listening to FM radio all the time. The controls are very confusing and I went ahead and tossed it. I unhooked this thing and just put it in my room and it is just fine. No way can u use this receiver in ur main system. It is excellent for a small bedroom system. I guess Ill just wait for my old trusty Yamaha.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Marantz, other Sony's

Excellent Features and ease of use

Just one thing but no biggie! Phono INPUTS

I have been installing home theater systems in people's homes for many years and been installing professional systems for business, church, etc. for many years also. I have heard alot of different amps before and this amp is no different. I have read most of the reviews of this receiver and all i hear from everyone is complaints of LOUD HISS! What is this hiss you guys are talking about??? Apparently i don't have any problems with any hiss from any of the audio inputs. Maybe its comming from your components??? There is a slight slight hiss but thats normal with all receivers. Actually this Amp outperforms some of the receivers in the pricerange. I only use HIGH quality cables for my system. You need high quality cabling if you want to keep out RF and electrical interference and gold plated plugs for optimum music transfer. Overall this amp has served me well. It's a great value if you buy it under the normal price of 299.99 at most retail stores. I got it for 209.00 because of employee discount. I would recommened this amp to anyone that is just wanting a nice upgrade to an old system or for someone not wanting to spend too much money. I use this system in a home theater setup in big bedroom and not for my real home theater setup in my house which i use the STR-DE555ES receiver and boy does this amp sound great!

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DA555ES, Yamaha, Pioneer.

Good Looking at this price range (Golden Finishing)

Hissssss and Bad Sony Service

I bought this receiver in Taipei,Taiwan one month ago.
And most of you should know that everything in Taipei
is very expensive. Especially imported goods.
The worse, you cannot return or refund anything once
you paid for it.
I am now trying to sell this crap for $300 . I paid
$400 and use it no more than 10 hours.
Gosh .... you guys are lucky as you can return it to
your vendor.

Please do not buy this receiver, it hisses every second.

The worst, Taiwan's Sony refused to fix it. They told
me that this hissing is normal to every brand every
receiver you can buy in the market.

And their operators in the service department (Taiwan)
treat you like an idiot.

Sony was a good brand a long long long time ago.
Now, they are destroying their reputation by selling
low-cost cheap products with sucked service.

Similar Products Used:

JVC Pro-Logic Receiver

Price,reasonable power and size.

Hissssssssssssssssss

I bought this crap when i bought the Cambridge soundworks
Ensemble IV HT speakers. As i am new to this HT setup i tried all my best to get some reasonable HT effect and ended up with returning it back to dealer. And i ordered STR-DE945 and think it's a good one.

My recommandation is don't bye this crap.

Similar Products Used:

None

Cool blue light when DD/DTS is being decoded, good&clean bass reproduction, Price, sound quality is decent except for the damn...

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS (YES ITS TRUE!!!!!), No Phono Inputs, Confusing layout & controls, Dialog crackles in the center channel during 5.1 mode, bad stereo separation (diaolg from center ends up in right, left), can only hook up 2 fronts (no A+B, just A), wimpy output from rears, runs hot and did I mention the HISS???

This review is also for the 445, its basically the same thing as the 545 with a couple less options. First I was happy with this thing, but returned it for the superior Yamaha. First, the hissing IS there and fairly obvious, especially at low levels. I asked a salesman about this and he told me it was because all of the sound on new sony receivers run through digital processors. But shouldnt that make it better? I guess this is a trademark of the Sony receiver line (also judging from the reviews here), and he said he never recommends Sony receivers to the customers. The thing hisses from all speakers. In 2 channel mode the Center and rears hiss even though theyre not being used. Are you kidding? this is ANNOYING!!! Im listening to DVD's and CD's, and they sound like 8-tracks!!! Yes, it can be that bad...And you also hear a clicking while adjusting the volume as it goes from 8, 9, 10 etc.

The thing really bites for music, you either have 2 channel, or 5 channel. the 4 channel surround is worthless, it just adds this awful digital reverb which cant even be heard from the rears even with volume jacked all the way up. Music sucks in pro logic mode.

And I am NOT giving up my vinyl collection!! To hook up a turntable you have to use a preamplifier. Hell, for that money you spend you're better off getting another unit.

I could go on, but just see weaknesses and you'll get the point. For a 12 year old who cant tell the differece between good and bad receivers its fine, for a person spending hard earned cash for good sound, dont waste your time. And Sony customer service is a joke. I will no longer buy their audio products, after being a lifetime customer. Mass production = Crappy products. Sony seems to be more interested these days with quantity than quality. For a good low price receiver, spend the extra 50-100 bucks and buy a Yamaha, or even an Onkyo. You'll thank me. How Sony's "quality control" team listened to this thing and gave it a thumbs up doesnt put much faith in the type of people they employ. Dont buy this garbage.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-D665, Pioneer VSX-D509S, Yamaha HTR-5150 (my current receiver which is incredible!)

Enough clean power & features for my needs.
Unit is attractive & has a good selection of reasonably easy to learn settings.

Remote buttons hard to read.

First off, I'm a "Buy American" type person and I obviously buy "American" products whenever I have a choice.... so buying a product from a HUGE international Japan based company was not exactly high on my priority list.

This unit was a floor model I picked up at Bestbuy so I assume it has some hours on it. I dont hear the HISS some of the other reviews talk about (I'll keep you posted Chia). This unit sits directly next to a Windows NT server which houses my DVD/CD Rom drive (the monitor sits on the Sony!!!). The DVD signal is picked up from the PC's Decoder card through a Monster Connections digital cable to the units digital input.

Analog inputs are used by 2 other computers for Online/Lan gaming with monster cables as well. As one might imagine (near a busy computer) the possibilities for RF interference are abundant. If I select an EMPTY analog source I can finally hear a small amount of hiss/clicking at a volume of 27 (near max). I should think this is "Normal" behaviour for almost any amplifier and considering the potential for RF interference I am amazed there is no discernable noise.

Sony was probably last on my list of companies to buy from, but after comparing features/cost/sound quality etc.... I came to the conclusion (much to my surprise) that this was the product that I would buy. I was even further convinced once I got it home and into Dolby Digital mode with a DVD movie playing...... this thing ROCKS!!! Same with Stereo only output, It cranks out loud clear music!!!

If you have only $250-300 to spend on an A/V receiver you should seriously consider this unit as a choice.

(I never in my life thought I would be writing a plug for a Japanese company, but here it is in B/W.........)

Similar Products Used:

Replaced a JVC A-X900 solid state amplifier w/this unit.

Display is entertaining. . .

HISS! and the remote sucks.

DO NOT BUY THIS RECEIVER!

I bought it and after hooking it up there was a god awful hiss coming through all 5 of my speakers (which nearly everyone here has documented). All attempts to fix this failed and the hiss was the same at volume levels 1-27 and then a little worse at 28-30 (max).

I was in total shock becasue I thought sony was reputable (as far as 200-500 equipment goes) but I was DEAD wrong. At sound level 17 the hiss was about the same level as the audio from the receiver (in any mode). I can't stress this enough, these reviews are not a joke--DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT.

If you are a sony employee or a supporter of there products you can personally email me and tell me what "audio spectrum analyzer" they used to fabricate there THD and noise ratio levels.

The remote is also horrible as it has a bunch of tiny little white buttons with light green writing on them. I figured the buttons would backlight so I could see what was sritten on them but no such luck.

So I returned it the nextday and got the kenwood 407 (same price) and it is far superior in every respect (it has gotten some knocks for being weak in bass and i had the same complaint until I switched the front speakers from "large" to "normal" and it ported A TON of bass to my sub and now it is the best sounding thing I have ever heard). Although the remote kinda sucks with the kenwood also but at least I can see it.

Please, take my advice, I have been an avid sony user for years (Car, home, portables) and thought that other brands were second rate but I am learning the hard way that sont is second rate. Please DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood 407

great overall sound, bass boost feature, many soundfield options, most functions controlled by remote, DD & DTS, great value

could use more component inputs, glow in the dark keys on remote are difficult to read, blue multi-channel input indicator light is too bright and distracting when watching movies in dark

I just picked up this unit last week at Best Buy for only $285. This unit packs quite a punch for a system under $300. It has both DD and DTS decoders and the 100x5 wattage is plenty of power for most individuals. Bass is strong and powerful when listening to music or watching movies. I don't have a seperate subwoofer, so bass is supplied by my Cerwin-Vega 3-ways with 12 inch woofers. The 100 watt L&R channels power these nicely. The bass boost function adds the right amount of extra punch. Surround-sound effects are superb with many different soundfield choices including Sony's Digital Cinema sound. My DVD of Saving Private Ryan sounds incredible in Dolby Digital. The remote controls just about every function of the receiver and the buttons are laid out nicely, however the glow in the dark buttons for component selection are VERY dificult to read, day or night. Other minor gripes are the lack of a few more component input jacks, and the blue light that indicates the presence of a multi-channel digital signal is much too bright. This can be extremelly distracting when watching a movie in the dark if your receiver is near the TV (I actually put a piece of electrical tape over the light). A mid-range adjustment to go with the bass and treble controls would have been a nice addition as well. Overall, these negatives are not a major problem, and do not effect the performance of the unit. The unit sounds great in every mode, especially DD or DTS. In conclusion, this receiver is a tremendous value and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a great mid-range home theater system.

Similar Products Used:

sony strD460Z

all the features are great

no weaknesses

great new reciever has alot of features and the remote controls all my componets which include dvd/vcr,tape,cd,tv.now i can through all the other remotes away.the 4-8ohm switch is use full for my 12" 4ohm cerwin-vega RE-30's speakers.i bought this reciever for $254.95 from crutchfield only with there 15% off deal, it was regularly $300 so i got a deal on it.

Similar Products Used:

technics and pioneer

Price, good bass through my big old Pioneer speakers. The unit stays pretty cool.

A little weak in the rear speakers, but I am making adjustments.

When am I going to hear that ever-present HISS? You guys have got me scared.:) I bought this out of the box at Circuit City (the salesman owned one and loves it). Maybe it was fixed when it was returned. Got 3 Sony speakers free with it. The two little bookshelfs are great. I don't much like the center speaker, but then I don't know if I have it adjusted right. I'm only interested in music, and being such a newbie, maybe I'm not supposed to use a center for that purpose? It takes away too much bass from my Pioneers.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood