well after many months of researching every reciever, i have come to the conclusion that this is the only reciever to get if you dont wanna spend over 500 and you want the best.... sony rules... one thing i wanna mention is do you notice all the people who gave this a bad review bought it at "BB" whatever that is... must be a nice place. anyways this reciever rules. i wouldnt want more even if i had 1,000's to throw away on so called top of the line ones... buy it and enjoy. i know i am

Similar Products Used:

kenwood VR-414 (which is nice, and really cheap... just its only 50watts and no DTS.. so had to replace)

Neat-o lights, price, SONY name

Power - 100x5? Ha.

This receiver is 100% gimmick - lots of flashy lights and buttons and not much else. The sound is okay but compare the power to a wide-range amplifying receiver like an Onkyo and this thing is at best 40 watts. You're better of spending the same money on an Onkyo 575x. Turn them both up to 3/4 volume and you'll see which one really has more power. Plus the Onkyo has a much better remote (I know - I took back my 845 for one)

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Kenwood (old pro-logic)

NONE

ALL

I HATE U SONY AND UR DAMN OVERPRICED RECIEVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NONE

ALL

I HATE U SONY AND UR DAMN OVERPRICED RECIEVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Features!!! The Blue light is cool, DTS decoder, Remote does everything!!!

No blinking red light on the volume dial, no optical input for CD player, clips instead of binding posts for rears and center. Remote requires a astrophysics Ph.D. but once you get the hang of it, the remote will do everything! Runs realy hot...

I like it... all I wanted was a DTS decoder since the Sony S330 I have has it and Gladiator totally blew my mind! Really cool ice blue light across the top of the reciever when decoding multi-channel audio like 5.1 and DTS. Lots of features... Some I won't even use. Runs really hot though... I made the mistake of putting a CD case on top of it and it didn't quite melt it but I was able to leave a fingerprint in to plastic cause the reciver made it really soft... It sits on it's own shelf now to give it lots of air. I only took a few days to get used to the remote but I'll only use to for programing and stuff... my dvd remote controls all the important stuff like volume and power for the reciever and TV. Thats all i need... I like the reciever alot... I don't think there's anything I don't like except for the heat.

Similar Products Used:

First Digital Reciever

Appearance. Many DSP sound fields. Adequate power.

Lack of tape monitor, lack of cd optical input, only one coaxial digital assigned to DVD only. REMOTE!! Inadequate documentation, not user friendly

The receiver was difficult to setup. The documentation for soundfields, settings, REMOTE (especially), were very poor. 2 Channel stereo was poor. Digital and DTS sound was adequate for the casual listener, but difficult to customize via remote. I am an audio enthusiast but my wife simply likes to push a button and for the device to do what she wants it to do. Since we both use the receiver equally, this one was difficult for her to learn to use. You simply can't push "cd" on the remote and it come on and start playing. You must program the remote (if you can figure out how)push an average of three buttons to simply switch the receiver to CD mode. Too many operations to work the receiver.
The lack of a tape monitor made me EQ worthless, and I really love my EQ! Overall I was dissapointed with the receiver and I took it back to the store and exchanged it for a Technics SA-DX940 for which I am very pleased.

Similar Products Used:

Technics, Denon, Kenwood, Marantz

Nice sound - crisp - love the remote

minor - would be nice to have better binding posts for Surround and Rear speakers

Excellent amp for this class of box. A lot of people complain about no light on the volume, personally I use my ears for that ;^)

Flexibility in Surround control is superb and there is no hiss on Reference monitor speakers at any volume level.

For a home theater that is above average yet not with extra money for "perfection" this is a wonderful system.

System:
Front:MDM - Reference Studio Monitors
Center: PSB (Canadian Custom)
Rear: Yamaha NS-10's
Sub: JBL 10"

Similar Products Used:

none in this class

Great Sound.

Analog decoding.

My own analog Sony receiver works very good however this digital makes me feel bad about Sony. I just bought a unit for 2 weeks and suddently all sources come from analog (video, cd...) just produce to left channel only (Using AFD or other functions). When I try the 2CH, it works without the sub woofer (of course)however if I turn on the EQ, the same problem happens again.
The digital works OK. I have no problem just yet.
I will not buy any Sony products from now on.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, JVC.

Plenty of power.

Remote? When will they invent a component remote that runs the cable box?

This blows JVC away. Both were rated 100w X5, but Sony runs my Klipsch Quintet and 10" subwoofer as loud and clear as I can stand it. Hey J Raw, I have digital cable too, and I think I figured out a way to receive both the digital and analog signals. Try connecting the DVD to the optical jack and the cable box to the coaxial jack (my cable box only has a coaxial output). Also, connect the analog rca cables from the cable box to the TV/SAT input on the receiver. When you're watching a digital channel (e.g. HBO) switch the receiver to DVD/LD and select the coaxial digitial input mode and you will hear dolby digital. I use the cable remote to change channels and the receiver remote to select DVD/LD. When I'm ready to watch a DVD, I switch the input mode to optical and I have digital sound. Try it, it works!

Similar Products Used:

JVC6000VBK

Power, Connectability, Price

Surround connections, no light on volume dial, Remote user friendliness

This is my first digital surround reciever. I am very impressed with the amount of adjustability this reciever has, although I don't think it needs this many surround fields. Sony should have eliminated about 17 of the 27 availible surround fields and added better speaker connections for the center and surround speakers. Once I got the thing set up the way I want I am never going to use any of the sound fields other than the ones that I chose for each input. Some other people complained about no powered sub output in two channel stereo, I dont know, my powered subs work in two channel stereo. The indicator light is not turned on, but my subs are putting out bass. I leave the the soundfield selector on Auto Format Dectect anyways. I also read about some overheating and hissing from surround speaker problems, and again, I have had nothing but crystal clear sound from my reciever. As for the heat, I have mine on an open audio rack and have not noticed an unaccepable amount of heat. Overall, I am very impressed with this reciever, it pairs excellently with the rest of my system.

TV:36" Sony WEGA
Reciever:Sony STRDE-845
DVD plaver:Sony DVP-S360/Sony PS2
CD player:Sony CDPCE-405
VCR:Sony SLV-M11HF
Main Speakers:Klipsch SP-1
Center Speaker:Klipsch SC-1
Surround Speakers:Klipsch SS-1

All of these components work great together for me. I highly recommend this reciever, it's an excellent purchase for the price, certainly if you are looking to get into digital home theater at the lower end of the cost spectrum.