GOOD SOUND

PROTECTION POPUP ON DISPLAY OVER HEATED

NEVER LISTENED TO IT LOUD AND DO NOT HAVE IT STACKED AND IT STILL BLEW UP.

lots of function, inexpensive, digital input and output for the MD.

Hard to use remote, can't find the right button in the dark, Remote is the wrost so far

I just bought this unit last nite. So far, i think the sound is good for my two front speakers. my friend is going to loan me a 5.1 speakers later this week. What i hate the most is the remote. Without the mannual, u can't operate it properly. and it doesn't even has a eject button to eject MD, VHS, and DVD. and the operation is kind of complicated in my own opinion. The salesman was trying to stop me buying this one and to try the 830 instead. But since I am short on money now so i give this unit a try. In my next review, i will go on with the sound quality and I am looking for ppl to give me some of their best eq setting for Music, DVD and VHS. oh, and the receiver can't internally covert analog signal to digital signal. So, i need to connect all my MD digital connecters and Analog connecters just incase I want to do some recording from my LD, CD player. and I do think the input and output plugs are not enough. I need another input for my camcoder. And if u are using S-video output to TV from the receiver, ur source device must being connected to the S-video input in the receiver. IF not, u just need to connect the RCA "yellow" cable too to the other video-in in the TV. I haven't tried to record a DVD to my VCR yet (my DVD was bought from HK and is all coded plus it suppose to allow me to copy DVD to VHS!) I will tell u guys next time about the S-video output can or can't record to a normal RCA jack's VCR. Oh..and one more thing, How can we record MD digitally from CD player? I only can make the DVD player to MD is digitally. beside that, it will all be analog. so far for the function part.
Alex

It's price can't be beatten for a DD/DTS receiver with 100W RMS per channel

Its component's quality

The receiver could be agreat option in its range, in spite of its processor doesn't reproduce DD and DTS tracks with the same clarity and acuracy than the Yamaha does.
But its worst problem is the quality of the components used in its building. Maybe, I had a bad luck, but I think that Sony couldn't let this kind of thing happen. I bought the receiver 6 months ago and after less than 1 month, I didn't have any sound in the receiver. I discovered that I had some transistors with problems. All my conections were OK (impedance, amp x speakers power, etc). To be short, I can tell that I still don't have my receiver working properly, after lots of transistors and ICs replaced.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V795

This unit has a lot to offer for the price.

Has no preamp out; this should be offered on all, buit bottom line receivewrs.

I purchased this unit mainly because I wanted a second system in my bedroom. I couldn't see why not trying the new home theater technology. I must admit I'm a bit dated.
I found the receiver to be quite enjoyable; I like the mulitude of listening formats. As for music, my main form of entertainment,I can't compair it to my big costom system. At the same time it does perform well listening to standard CDs at moderate voulme.
At first, I used a pair of Infinity Kappa 6.2i as frount chanels and a custom Kappa center speaker. I used a pair of Infinity CS3006 as rear speakers. This proved to be too much draw on the little receiver. I found it only gets hot when used at loud volume. Later I changed the system to setting the CS3006 in front and using small two way speakers for the rear.
It is important to bear in mind the this Sony only allows for the main speakers to be set at 4 ohm. My Infinities are rated at less than 8 ohm. So it seems advisable to use matching speakers rated at 8 ohm.
A problem with this receiver is that it's power optimizes at 8 ohm. Also the circitry uses a comlementary format that shares the actual true power it can make available. The receiver's total power consumption is 280 watts; it can never create more power that it consumes. Therefore, in stereo mode, it puts out 100 watts (I don't know if that is root means squared)when used in surround mode, it must share this power from that which is available to the main channels in stereo mode. The result is a receiver that actually puts out about 40 watts continous program.
Despite this, the Sony 835 is a good unit especially for home theater. If you require loud sound, buy efficient speakers, or a more powerful receiver.
Some receivers, like Sony's es series and Yahama's mid to high end offer a preamp out; this would allow one to add a seprate power amp to run the main speakers without distorting the internal prosessing, somethind the 935 can't do as it's second audio out is only compatable in stereo mode.
The best method would be to use a seprate preamplifer like the Sony 9000ES, short of this, a good quality receiver that allows the use of a second power amp is best.
Overall, this Sony is a good buy if you can pick it up for under $400 out the door.

Similar Products Used:

High end stereo products and professional bi, tri and quad-amp systems.

TBD

TBD

Just got a 835, Sears $399 less 10%. Because of what I have learned here, bought 3 yr ext warranty ( something I usually never buy ).

Some questions, which may not be appropriate in this forum ( if not, any suggestions as to where I can go for answers is greatly appreciated, I feel vulnerable saying that, but we are all adults, aren't we?)

What do you recommend for speaker cabling? gauge wise, I went to Home Depot and got the biggest they have ( very big, maybe too much?)

The subwoofer jack has 1 lead? My Yamaha powered has 2 inputs, L & R. Is a special cable needed?

Any recommendations connectiong to Sony 530D DVD audio (fiber optic?)& video (S?)?

For your indulgence I offer a tip: Crutchfield has a Sony SAVA-7 speaker system I just got ($300 for $100 plus change, 1 day delivery), I like it!!!, replaces Boston Acoustic Theater Media which is very fine and I was very happy with on my computer. But a true (no BS!) $300. computer speaker system for ~$100?, come on ! ( well dah) , Merry Xmas.

Rating neutral until I see. I expect 5 stars, else I wouldn't have bought.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Pioneer, AKAI & Sony receivers.

Plenty of power for my needs. Lots of tweakable controls

The remote needs help...

Well going from the 315 to this did nothing but simply amaze me. Paired with the Sony DVP-S530D DVD player the dolby digital sound is incredible. Although I did find the setup and manual a little confusing (no problem after feeling like I studyed for a test) I would have to rate this receiver very high and would recommend it for someone with a budget that wants to enjoy DD DTS. As of yet I have had no heat problems but will keep an eye on it.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR DE315

All the basics are there. "Equalizer", actually variable center frequency tone contols.

No tape monitor or pre-out. Too many DSP modes. No componet video in/out put. "Equalizer" not suitable for room eqalization.

This is an update after a year of use. Basically there are no real faults, it is just that it suffers from feature overload. Some of the features do do much really useful.

The "EQ" looks nice at first but it turns out that is useful only to modify each of the DSP modes. Each one can have a unique setting but do not function at all in Dolby 5.1, DTS or 5.1 analog input mode. This you can't really do any room equalization. The best thing to do with it is to disable it and fortunately that is possible.

Although I understand the logic for no tape monitor (it doesn't make sense in multichanel mode, I and I think a lot of others still have a big collection of 2-channel material we want to put on a casset from time to time. Since there is also no pre-outs, there is no way to patch in any kind of outboard processing (in my case my old Carver Sonic Holography unit just gathers dust in the closet).

There are way too many DSP modes. A lot of them mostly sound like each other. I had basicly stopped using them until the other day when I discovered some fine print in the manual. There is a front pannel display that shows which speakers are active in each DSP mode. A nice piece of information, however, the display indicate only front left and right active in "Small Hall" and "Large Hall" modes but in fact the rear speakers are active (the manual mentions this in a somewhat obscure footnote. I had assumed for a year that this was just another mediocre DSP setting utilizing only the from two speakers. (With so many modes, its a lot of work to check them out.) Anyway these two, turn out to work really, realy nice with 2-ch material! Much beterr than "Normal Surround" which I take to be Sony Prologic. The advantage is that first there is no feed to the center speaker which to my ears rally mushes up a 2-CH source and secondly the affect can be boosted or moderated (decay, level and high frequenct adjustments) to suit you or and or your room. Sony could ave left off the other modes and just provided this one and the unit would be just as useful and perhaps easier to get good derived surround sound out.

Dolby Digital and dts built-in
Very Tweakable (usefulness is yet to be determined)
Price point
Automatic Format Decoding for digital sources

Remote
THD is unacceptable at times in anything other than 2 channel mode (.8%, .09% in 2 channel)
Runs hot (see below)
I dislike Sony's method of A/V switching

This is overall a great receiver for the current price point for Dolby Digital receivers. The DD and dts decoding are excellent for an on-board decoder(s). I've used this for everything from TV watching to dts-encoded DVDs, and I've been pleased with the value. However, the .8% THD in surround modes is quite unacceptable, and, if I had known about the STR-DB830 coming out a few months after I bought this receiver, I most likely would have purchased it instead solely because of the improved amplifier section. For the $350 I paid for this receiver, however, I can't be displeased whatsoever. The only real complaint, besides the illegable remote labelling and flimsy flip-top design of the remote, is the heat this unit produced. However, I believe I've solved the problem quite nicely by placing a small (3") fan from a Dollar Store in the rear of the cabinet this unit is in to circulate the air, and connecting it to the switched power outlet of the unit. Also, even though I'm running my equipment on a TrippLite line conditioner, I get occasional pops and distortion, which leads me to believe the amplifier could use a little more internal shielding, which goes along with the fact that Sony overlooked that the subwoofer line outputs are too close to the power cord(s). Overall, a good buy for a low-to-middle end consumer DD receiver.

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Pioneer VSX-D608
Sony DE-STR625

good sound quality,s-video inputs,optical inputs

remote buttons hard to read,especially glow in the dark ones.

not a bad receiver overall for the price,nice looking and quite a few features.

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strde805,strd3070

Digital decoder, lots of inputs

Remote: white-on-white lettering, does not work well with Sony TV and DVD out of the box.

For a casual listener, it has too many features.
It may be fun to click through all surround modes,
but not something I'd use every day.

Remote has clever dual-function design (more buttons under the flap) but is not intuitive to use.

Connectors for front speakers take banana plugs, but not for surround speakers - why?

Good price (via mail order), fair performance.

Similar Products Used:

'95 STR-915, stopped working after 3 years