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.

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Kenwood

Good Looks, Good power, lots of options

That Damn Hissing!!!!!! Remote

I read all the complaints about this unit, but I was determined to get it anyway--the price was right. Of couse, as soon as I hooked up the speakers--not even with sources playing--it was hissing! The rears seemed to hiss more...so I checked every input, speaker wiring,etc. and still the hiss is there. Although the machine perfoms nicely, albeit at a higher volume to drown out the hiss, it still bothers me that when I listen to an audio cd or DVD movie, at the quieter sections, you can hear the constant hiss. I subsequently took back the model and exchanged it for another and still the same hiss!!

Now, I'm bringing it back once more to exchange it for the better Onkyo TXD 484, for $50 more, but so what...that it worth the non-hissing of that model.

Stay away from this crappy unit, and spend a little more for a better product.
Thanks and good luck!

Great value for money, full DD/DTS, plenty of inputs, multibrand remote that actually works with my diverse components. Clean 5 x 100W power.

Multichannel-decode-active light is very distracting, especially in the dark. Lime-green-on-white component select buttons on remote are really hard to read... but this is trivial stuff on a solid unit. Vinyl lovers are out of luck because it doesn't have a phono input.

This is a solid receiver at a great price. It makes a good companion to that new DVD player when you realize that your existing receiver doesn't do DD/DTS.
The "Auto Decode" ability (where the receiver automagically detects the specifics of the digital audio stream) is handy because you don't have to worry about getting the Dolby settings right - it sets itself automatically.
Power is clean and plentiful.
I think the "live" soundfield is superb for listening to audio cd's with.
Build quality is excellent.
The multibrand remote controls my Mitsubishi VCR, My Toshba DVD, my Sanyo TV and my nine-year-old Sony 705 CD changer with no problems at all, which is much better than any other multibrand remote that I've ever seen. It has a "Tape" button too for those of you lucky enough to have a remote control tape player. It can also control a cable box or satellite receiver but I don't have those.
The remote also has awful lime-text-on-pale-white buttons to select which component you want to control (VCR, DVD, CD, etc). The buttons glow in the dark but they glow the same lime green as the text that is on them! Even in broad daylight it's practically impossible to read them. This is really irritating an an otherwise great product.

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Upgraded from a (non-video-enabled) JVC RX-333 receiver.

All the features and power I needed at a great price. Numerous surround sound modes. Optical input.

There is some noise, but not being a true audiophile, it doesn't bother me. I don't notice it until I turn off the TV and DVD player.

Who can argue with a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver with all the features I could ever need or use for $188!

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none

Accurate reproduction of input source without coloration or audible distortion. Ample power.

No phono input.

I had a space constraint (depth) so I bought this "entry level" unit. I have no regrets. To my ear, it sounds very smooth with all sources. Although its printed specs are not the best, I cannot hear any distortion - and that's all that counts! There is no more hiss than I heard from my old Yamaha, and the sound of the Sony is much crisper (better transient response?). Setup is easy to master and the choices do alter the sound considerably. I wonder if some of the previous negative reviews resulted from improperly configured receivers. Lack of a phono input is easily overcome with a $30 preamp from Recoton.

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Yamaha R-7

Great features

LOUD hiss!

I used this reciever for a few days and I couldn't stand the hiss. I returned it and got another one but it also had the hiss. Now I'll return it and get my money back.

Looks nice and works fine with high volume levels...
then you can´t hear the hiss.

Constant loud hiss in the speakers. Worst crap I´ve ever
bought. Intended it for use in an office demo environment,
but the hiss was to annoying even in such an application.
I can´t even emagine how it would be to use it at home with
a lot less of background sounds.

*** DON´T BUY THIS AMP ***

I returned mine the day after the purchase.

Looks nice. Won't break your back carrying it. Won't break your bank buying it.

Number one weakness... it hisses like a snake! Looks are deceiving. Won't break your back carrying it - there's are reason it's so light. Remote is difficult to use in the dark.

Wow, where to start... Let me start by saying that this site is an excellent source of information. If I had started here, I wouldn’t have bought this receiver.
I thought I was getting a quality piece of equipment, mainly because I thought Sony made quality stuff. It took one movie to convince me otherwise. I should have known better. The Yamaha RX-V1050 that I bought in the early 90’s was a great amplifier (until it blew up last year) and it set me back a lot more than this unit. I got suckered by three things… a good salesman, a “reputable” Sony name, and my own impatience.
To review, the amp hooks up easily with its cheap spring-clamp speaker jacks. The remote control manages every function of my Sony DVD player which was nice. The nice things about this amp have been pretty well covered at this point.
The hissing on this unit is terrible. It’s actually the worst I have ever heard and I’ve heard a lot of cruddy receivers before. The volume control goes from Min to Max with the numbers 1 through 30 in between. At min, there is no sound – peaceful. At 1, the hiss starts and it’s loud. To Sony’s benefit, the hissing doesn’t get much louder as you close in on 30. I thought I had a defective amp so I decided to do some research. Well, I ended up at this website and found that lots of you are having the same problem.
Also noted the clicking as volume was increased or decreased. I considered dealing with the problem for about 5 minutes and then realized that it would drive me mad. I took it back and bought a Denon AVR-1801. That receiver is TONS better. Of course I didn’t buy my Denon for under $250 but I paid more for a much better product.
I wasn’t looking for the cleanest possible sound or the most powerful receiver. I’ll leave that equipment to people who REALLY appreciate it and have the bucks to spend. I thought I could get a decent Sony receiver without spending $500 but I was wrong. The STR-DE545 is not a decent receiver. It’s a poor receiver and it will affect my Sony purchases in the future.
Thanks for all the great reviews out there, keep it up. I'll review the Denon next.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-1801, Yamaha RX-V1050

Very Good powerful all good entry level system

a little bit of his no phono imput

Well i dont know what all of you are whinning about the hissing is not bad if you set up you cables right, that means seperating your power from your audio/video cables, if you also set the amp up right you wont get it to, ive used tons of amplifiers for basses/guitars/cars/homes and this is not bad hiss.

Quite loud

The annoying loud hiss

After a lot of hassels and getting an electrician in I found out through Sony that the hiss is a problem in the system so you can't fix it. My suggestion don't buy it. It seems that it was cheaper in America, Uk etc so maybe that is the reason but I paid near to 1000 New Zealand dollars so I don't think that this hiss is acceptable at all. If your a New Zealander I doubly suggest you don't buy it. At the moment my salesman is looking for a different receiver through a different brand. Maybe the problem is purely that Sony is more interested in quantity rather than quality. eg Playstation 2.