Sony str-de715

Not a review...but couldn't bare the insults to Sony any longer.
I have Sony ES products and have had NO problems with them.
Quality A+
Sound A+
Ease of Use A+
Get a life

Anything bearing a Sony label is shear garbage. How can you so called Udio Enthusiast/Audiopiles praise any product from this company. My dog eve knows Sony is carp, I think thats what it means in Japanese. Sony products are overpriced restyled RCA or some other 2-bit company's shit. The bottom line dont listen to these assholes, SONY SUCKS !

I just wanted to thank everyone that typed a review here, I havent laughed so hard in a long time. Personally I believe most Sony product really blow, and there are plenty of other brands for the money that will do a much better job. I have a friend that bought one of these and it does sound like crap, but it was pretty cheap I'd give it an average rating for that, it does exactly what one would expect...but what the hell is going on with so called "audiophiles" even feeling the need to mention Sony and getting so irate about it. If the person is happy with it why burst their little bubble, one day they will hear something better and finally believe (or deny) the truth but who cares, i didnt feel the need to belittle my friend because he bought something with a name brand he recognizes. Oh yeah and the guy that says its powerful because he can only turn it up halfway....dude you need to do some research, I cna only turn my clock radio up halfway but I would by no means call it powerful

There goes the Sony haters.. Well guess what guys. This reciever is NOT for audiophiles. Its for a average guy looking for a cheap good stereo. There is no reason to bash it this much. I love it, you Sony haters think you know so much so you just rate it. The only ratings that are qualified are ones from people who own the 725. Just because you know how to go to the store or read does not qualify a bad reading. I will give it a five star to bringup the rating a little.

harman/kardon avr10-40watts per front channelVS
sony (dont remember the model, my friend's) 100 watts per front channel

i turned up his receiver and h/k to 50% power. I couldnt hear the speaker powered by his "100" watt receiver over the h/k powered one.

Bullshit quality, sounded muddy, distorted, scratchy and boomy. I laughed at my friend very hard, although i tried not to.

A lot of slams on this nice little receiver! The price is right,the performance is good and will get better with the right goodies to support it,(speakers,cables,interconnects,etc).Having owned a big buck harmon receiver in the past,and having lost it to constant technical problems.I found myself not being able to afford another "high end" unit.Shopping around I test drove a lot of stuff.Always turning away from the stuff I could afford and checking out the Carvers,Harmons,Onkyos,etc.Leaving the stores dicouraged I put my wife to the task of finding a receiver within our budget,and laid a few ground rules for buying.A few days past I come home to find a Sony product taking the space my old Harmon once occupied.She had lost her mind I thought! I asked her why she bought it calmly.Her answer;"they all sounded the same and this one was one of the cheapest.And it has all that weird stuff you like."Weird stuff and cheap,that about sums up a Sony,I thought.She somehow convinced me to hook the thing up;I hadn't listened to any Sonys on my quest for a receiver,and didn't want to.Especially now in my home!Hooking the thing up wasn't bad,I had to change speaker cable,no plugins here just those spring things. Rooting thru my box of misc.audio cables I came across some MIT speaker interfaces I had bought some time back and had never used.I pulled them out along with some old Monster cable and went back in the house.Oh great!This thing won't work with pin connecters either,so much for the MIT's!Hey wait a minute this Monster cable is to thick to fit.Frustrated I trimed the cable to fit.I hope it shorts out so I can take this thing back,I thought.Hookup complete,now for the dissapointment;turning the thing on.At first listen,it was a little bit more than I expected.The sound was good but a little bright,and where was the bass? Turn the soundfields on,and hit the bass boost-Better.Find the tonal adjustments tweek them alittle-even better!There semmed to be some noticable dicolor in the upper mids and highs.Had the same problem before with this Monster cable,I will make the MIT's work!Success,what will it sound like now? WOW!! This thing sounds great!Still alittle bright but my JBL MR's tend to be that way at low volume.Having ajusted the soundfields to my pleasure I decided to test this thing right.Plop in some gothic classical all the way down to some serious bass and guitar ladden Prong.Turn the volume up alittle,sounds damn good.More volume,damn!Extreme volume-how many watts does this thing have any way!Those JBL's were screaming loud and clear-no clipping here.My neighbor ,the full blown audiophile,heard the music and decided to check out the long awaited new receiver.At first glance his only reply was you're sick if you keep it.You've got to hear it to believe it,I said.Ok,Ok he says just play something besides that headbang stuff.Putting a never listened to jazz cd into the player his eyes brightend a little.Check it out I said,giving him the remote.After some time of listening at various volumes, various soundfield settings the occasional mmmmm... ,and various stares,he decided it wasn't bad ,and even better at the price.Sony was ok after all but still lacking alittle of the detail you get with separates,and clarity of a high current amp.But it is enjoyable to listen to.Some of the dsp soundfields I have no use for over done there.Hooking up a borrowed digital decoder made a big difference over the plain pro logic,but who doesn't know that?The differences between the Sony and my old receiver are very slight movie listening wise,musicaly the gap is a little bigger but one I can live with,noone else can tell anyway except for my neighbor,and it doesn't bother him.With the right speakers and interconnects these Sony receivers can perform quite well,surprizingly well.But I still miss my Harmon now and then.

I do not know what type of people are submitting reviews for this receiver but from what I could see many of them can barely write correctly so for me this is a strong reason to believe that their judgment is crawling at very low,elementary levels.Unfortunately this receiver is discontinued and has been probably replaced by newer models.But I can tell you that you should trust this receiver to deliver what it promises.Used with decent speakers(not garbage cans with home made woofers like some of the reviewers have)it will produce excellent sound for it's class.I’m a professional in music and sound equipment and not trying to sell BS to anybody.That’s why I believe that for it's class it should get a 5 and among all receivers a 3 which will average to a 4.

guy i work with has one of these things,I listened to it it was ok,you get what you pay for.At 200 bucks I guess one can't gripe too much but don't expect alot from this low end receiver.It's way to bright the bass is almost none existant trying to adjust the various settings will lead you to insanity.Tonal settings vary from muddy to over emphisized,never just right.Surround modes other than the standard prologic and enhanced are a stupid addition.They do little to enhance music and movies ,they are just echo ajustable settings that sound more and more like you are in a cave when ajusted for more effect,and more like plain old 2 channel stereo when adjusted the opposite way.One thing that got me was when watching a movie the sound became dead and bass ladden ,just the opposite with music way too much detail in the upper mids and highs and little bass.Sounded like a mid priced car stereo with the cars factory speakers left in.Sony has been an inovator in many areas ,digital technology,medical machines,etc.So why can't they build a consumer electronic that has some quality put in.They have the ES series,sure,for about 900 dollars more.Seems a little stupid;no alot stupid.Other companys such as Technics,Teac,Yamaha,Jvc,Aiwa,and even the Radio shack stuff(YIKES!)make good quality products in the same price range or a little less.Don't be fooled by the Sony name as being great or good quality,they are obviusly cutting costs and passing it on to you.I persuaded my coworker to return the Sony and we picked up a Aiwa prologic receiver for about 90 dollars more,still in her budget,the differance is night and day.It sounds pretty darn good.As for me,I will stick with my Mcintosh seperates.But if in the market for a low cost receiver Sony would not even be an option.They need a no star rating Sony doesn't deserve 1 star.

I purchased the STR-DE725 from Best Buy for about $380 in November and luckily, was able to return it in January. When I bought it, I was new to home theater and putting a surround sound system together piecemeal. I never planned to invest a lot of money. After all, I just wanted to watch some movies in surround sound.
I found a Sony S500D DVD player for $400 and later purchased a set of Paradigm speakers (2 Monitor 9's, CC-350, 2 Mini Monitors and a PW-1000). The STR-DE725 seemed loaded with power and features, although most of the DSP modes were of novelty value only. However, even I, as a previously uninformed casual listener, wasn't satisfied. While I may have been influenced somewhat by all the reviews of this and other, more expensive receivers that I've read, the sound just wasn't that good. I replaced the unit with a Denon AVR3200. I immediately noticed a vast improvement in music, and a smaller improvement with movies.

Alas, as I become more informed, the Denon unit doesn't sound that great, and it's features seem lacking...

Can anyone suggest some good separates?