Good bass and FM-radio

hisssssss

Why do you all keep talking abut hiss and hiss? Take your amplifier to place where you bought it and thei'll should repair that for free! Or they will send it to nearest Sony repair place and you'll get your amplifier back without hissing in couble of weeks. I just did it and my amplifier doesn't hiss any more.

Sorry about my bad english...

NONE

HISSING SOUND, CHEAP BUILD QUALITY.

FOOLISHLY WENT OUT AND BOUGHT THIS UNIT AFTER READING THE REVIEWS ON THE SITE SIMPLY BECAUSE IT SEEMED TO BE GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY, ADD TO THAT THE UNIT IS MORE COMPACT IN SIZE COMPARED TO OTHER DOLBY DIGITAL RECEIVERS,(IE YAMAHA)i WAS UPGRADING FROM AN OLD PIONEER PRO LOGIC RECEIVER (VSX 452)...THINK I'LL STICK WITH THE PIONEER...

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YAMAHA RXV795A

Power, Features, Aesthetics

Unfortunately, the hiss is real. Rear channels are weak. Wimpy internals also.

I got an open box deal on this receiver for $209.99 at Circuit City. It appeared to be an awesome deal. After hooking it up I noticed the hiss everyone is talking about. I also noticed that I could not get the rear channels to have any volume compared to the fronts. The fronts were not adjustable. The receiver also had too much reverb. I set it all the way down and it still made Gran Turismo 2 on my Playstation sound like it was coming from a bucket.
As usual, I did things backwards and went to read reviews of my receiver after I bought it. This is where I learned that the flaws were not my imagination, or me being picky...they were real. It was not really the sound I could not live with. I could not live with knowing that I bought a product that most everyone considers inferior. So I took it back to Circuit City and got another open box deal on an Onkyo DS484. My advice....go with the Onkyo.

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Onkyo TX-DS484

DTS and DD Decoding, automatically detects the audio stream and applies the appropriate decoding.

None

What is the deal with all the whining about hiss. Are you all a bunch of parrots, one of you complains about hiss so the rewt decide theirs must hiss as well? Give me a break. I have listened to many units that hiss much worse then the Sony. I use mine constantly, have never heard any hiss at all. I know several others who have the same receiver, none of them complain about hiss. You people make me want to hiss. This sounds like one or two people have a conspiracy against Sony.

This is a great receiver, it blows many higher priced receivers right out of the water.

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Techniques; Pioneer; Yamaha

Value

Hard-to-read remote

What a shocker! I bought this receiver about three months ago and thought I would read these reviews for chuckles. I have enjoyed this receiver immensely, and noticed no hiss to speak of in all modes. I think I have a pretty good ear and have enjoyed quality audio gear my entire life. Maybe they worked the hiss out on the newer models. What does everyone think it could be? The first thing I do when I arrive home tonight is to try to find this alleged hiss everyone is commenting about. I hope it’s not like getting so used to a noise and someone points it out to you and it drives you crazy for the rest of you life.

I have a Sony DVD player, Technics multi-CD player, and four Norman Lab AR-1 speakers (out of business, but great-sounding), a Norman Lab center, and Sound Dynamics sub that all sound great with the STR-DE545.

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JVC

Features

HISS, Bad remote

Features were nice. I ended up returning it for another one because of the HISS. The new one did the same thing, and the salesperson said he had never heard of such a thing, but told me to stay away from Sony anyway. Luckly I was able to exchange it for the Onkyo 575X (with the additiona of a few more bucks). That was the best move I could have made, incredible system. The sony looked nice, had nice features, but the hiss was enough to drive me crazy. Interestingly, I only heard itthrough my digital connections (optic and coax).Hmmm.

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Kenwood, Onkyo

Tremendous sound, tremendous value. I got this unit for $228 at BestBuy, DO NOT pay more than $275 anywhere!

Remote Control. The engineer at Sony who came up with fluorescent green letters on white buttons should be fed to Mt. Fuji. Day or night, dark or bright, I cannot see what these buttons function until I press it then look at the LED on the interface. Also, I am getting some hiss in my satellites. Blue Light indicating DD way too bright.

I really like this unit. For the $, you can't beat it. A 500 watt DD reciever for under $250 is a tremendous deal. Take it out of the box, hook it up, and it asks you how far away are your front speakers? Center speaker? Rears? Are the rears placed on the side or behind? Are they high or lower to the floor? Are your walls hard, medium or soft? It then takes this information and processes it into a phenomenally sounding viewing/listening experience.

However, for as much as I like the STRDE-545, I am taking it back. For $70 more I can upgrade to the STRDE-845. It is nearly identical to the 545, but has a few more bells and whistles than the 545. The 845 offers a few more S-vids and another optical connection, and has a stellar remote control. I will be saying bye to the light green on white buttons and hello to an LCD screen. Is this worth the extra $70? Probably not, but what the heck!

In conclusion, the 545 is a great unit. Sounds super in Cinema B mode with a DVD, and also in 2 channel stereo for those of you who venture out of the Dolby realm.

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JVC

Great Sound, easy control interface, DTS decoder, comes with an FM antenna!

Difficult to read remote, Hard to pump the volume on the rear speakers over the front (but still sound great!)

For the price, you can't get a better receiver. It has great sound, comes with a dts decoder forall you dvd buffs, is easy to work with, overall a great value. The only problem is the green text on the glow in the dark remote keys are hard to read during the day. I mention it comes with an fm antenna because I have yet to see a receiver/stereo that does! Granted its a cheap antenna (piece of wire), but its the first I've ever seen included!

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McIntosh (20 year old model), and non component systems

HEY PEOPLE, I JUST DISCOVERED SOMETHING REGARDING THE DAMN HISS:

MAKE SURE THAT YOU CONFIGURE THE INITIAL SETUP PROCESS PROPERLY (AVOID SETTING IT TO MICRO SPEAKERS, SET IT TO NORMAL AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE). ALSO, USE REAL SPEAKERS WITH MATCHING IMPEDANCE: 8 OHMS!!!!!

For those who might be interested i am using Sony SAV-E505 speakers. The amp used to be a little annoying at first (REMEMBER: I HAVE A VERY SMALL ROOM, THEREFORE IT WAS A BIT OBVIOUS), especially late at night.

Lately, i just connected the front stereo speakers with the sub and turned the setup to "Normal Speakers". Although they still emit little hiss (negligible: normal)when in Home theater, i don't believe that it will be noticeable in your large, Hall rooms... When listening to music it's perfect.

I may have been fortunate, however, to all those that are stuck up with this thing: configure the system properly and use real speakers/cabling (my SAV-E505 are just p nuts compared to B&W, etc. I just haven't enough funds and space to buy real floorstanding speakers)

DTS, DD 5.1, good pro logic decoder. very strong bass response, great looks

Slight hiss, crappy remote

Well yes I have heard the hiss but it is not as bad as everyone ,makes it out to be. You can only hear it when your ear is right next to the speaker. Don't be scared by all of these reviews. I bought and then read these and feared the worst. Besides if you are watching a movie with any kind of volume you will hear no hiss. Even in the silebnt scenes I didn't hear anything. I think people look too hard for imperfections esspecially with Sony. I LOVE sony I have everything sony and am happy with all of it.

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sony 345