Bullet Proof 4/8 ohm switch

only one coax digital in

I have this reciever for about 2years. It has performed well for the entire time I have owned it. Never a problem. Still sounds great powering my 4ohm Bose front speakers and Infinity rears. I have a 12" sub and Bose center. It has great seperation and music qualities. The only thing I miss is in the movie area not having true DTS decoding. It does have what Sony calls direct pass, which does seperate the rears while playing a DVD in DTS mode. I have thought of upgrading lately because of the purchase of my new HDTV but I haven't seen the logic in it yet. I don't know how much better the sound could get. My friends and even my audio file kids say my sound is great. If you are thinking of a prchase for under $300 try to find one of these left somewhere.

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Yamaha, Kenwood

Great sound

Like everyone else-rear channels blew, poor manual

Purchased in Dec. 1998. No problems until Dec. 2001 when rear channels blew. After a month repair center said parts no longer available. I also own Sony VCR, DVD, 53" TV, digital camcorder-no problems so far. Very disappointed this receiver quit after only 3 years and Sony no longer supports repairs. Rated average only because it quit after only 3 years, but during that 3 years had a great sound.

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None

REAR CHANNELS BLEW!!!!!

This product is a piece of junk. I have spent the last couple of days (in my free time anyway) trying to figure out why my rear speakers would not work. AFter reading all of these posts I know exactly why they don't work. The receiver is garbage and I would never recommend it to anyone.

Good price at the time

Too hard to get the right sound

I'm glad I didn't have many of the problems other people have had. Maybe it's because it was a refurbished unit. I did have a problem with it getting hot. I had to leave the door on the entertainment center open for air. The rear speakers didn't seem to have enough power. The volume had to be set at a higher level to be heard. There was something about the sound that I couldn't get right no matter which soundfield I used or how much tweaked it. I thought it was my speakers at first. At higher volumes, the sound would get distorted. The thought had crossed my mind to replace them. I had the receiver for 3 years and I didn't get fed up with it until I got an HDTV and a progressive scan dvd player. I wanted the sound to be as good as the picture. I recently dumped this on a co-worker. Hopefully, nothing goes wrong with it any time soon. I replaced it with a Denon 982 and couldn't be happier. I didn't think there would be that big of a difference, but there is. My advice would be is to shop around and spend the extra money. Save longer if you have to. You get what you pay for. And boy didI get it.

Excellent surround sound with a DVD.

Warranty expiration detection circuitry

At 2 years the rear channels blew out. The warranty had expired so Circuit City was out of the loop. I should have gotten the extended warranty, but I was buying a Sony right? I was confident I wouldn't have to worry about it failing me! So I brought it to Sony and had it repaired for 100 bucks. They replaced 2 little transistors. I am lucky to live near a real Sony repair shop, I had it back in under 2 weeks. It worked for about 9 months more and today my center channel went out. I did not abuse this tuner at all. I don't think I have ever had the volume knob past 5. Plenty of ventilation was provided. My Mirage AVS500 surround speakers were 8 Ohm and the rear switch was set accordingly. No B speakers were attached. I don't ask much of the stuff I buy, but I do expect it to work. I have stuck with Sony because of the quality of their products in the past. This tuner is a turning point. I am going to go buy a Yamaha HTR5240 instead of getting this thing repaired...again.

Now that I know I am not alone with these issues, I have come to realize that Sony knowingly manufactured a faulty product. A recall should have been ordered, or at least free repair of the product. Sony is not the honorable company it once was.

Dave B

Similar Products Used:

Sony TV and DVD.

ok for home theater, lots of customization features

hisses, very harsh sound, not good for music; gets REAL hot

This was my first digital receiver, which I bought at circuit city as an open box deal. I was fairly happy with it for a while, but then as I upgraded some other components of my system I realized it really wasn't all that great--background hiss at all times, sounds very harsh. After almost a year after watching a DVD, there was a click and a flash, and the receiver quit working. I got it fixed under warranty, and repositioned it so it wouldn't get so hot. I think it blew because I had it in an entertainment center (which was never a problem with my other receivers). Well, I upgraded to a Yamaha RX-V995, which is light years beyond this receiver. This Sony is now hooked up to my computer and I don't use it very much anymore.

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several pioneer receivers, kenwood, yamaha, onkyo

Good Sound, 4 optical imputs

Reliability

Same problem as everyone else. Rear Channels crapped out. Its amazing to me how many people purchased this open box from Circuit City and others. Almost sounds like they knew it was a piece and dumped them cheap. I'm not going to bother repairing it.

Similar Products Used:

AIWA, JVC

Stereo sound,
Still looks good 4 years later,
Front AV inputs

For some people, the reliability.

Maybe it is a bit premature for me to write a review after only using this for a month, but here is what I think...

After visiting the local FutureShop and listening to all the AV receivers in my price range ( < $300) and not finding a sound I thought was full, I decided I would instead buy a higher-end model a few years old. I stumbeled across the 915 and am very happy with this unit thus far.

I am quite thrilled with the stereo sound this thing puts out, particularly the highs. Even with my less-than-average Fisher speakers, the highs from the music seem to radiate quite nicely - much nicer than my 8 yr old Pioneer unit.

As for surround sound, I have only tested it in Pro Logic, which seemed to sound very good compared to the Pioneer. You can tell by the clarity (even at moderate volumes) that the amplifiers are much more powerful.

So far I am lucky that nothing has gone wrong with it. I am going to make sure that I don't let it overheat, and am considering installing a fan to cool the heatsink.

Aside from the reliability issue (which does not pertain to me, and thefore does not affect my overall rating), I find this to be a great receiver for the price I paid.

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Technics, Pioneer

nice sound, low price

the unavoidable death of the product after a few years, runs very hot, bad parts, bad assembly, etc etc

This reciever is nice as long as it works. It was struck by lightning and completely repaired by sony a few years ago. When I got it back there were a few problems that have caused other bigger prolems. Right now it is hanging on by a thread. This sony product is a timebomb. Reading these reviews can prove my point. Sony should never have even sold these products. Also I would recomend not stacking anything on top of this product even if you have a large gap. The reciever runs warm enough to damage other products and fry itself.

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none, all my other products are good

Power

Gets hot

Bought this receiver a few years back as it was the cheapest 5.1 option around and Crutchfield had just dropped the price. I've been extremely pleased with it all around and am surprised by all the problems people have had with their units. I don't crank it up too loud for long periods of time though and perhaps that is the ultimate test. I have noticed that the unit gets very warm so I can believe the negative reports people have posted on here. I have this amp hooked up to Atlantic Technology home theater speakers and sound on movie playback is excellent for the price I paid~ but again, I don't crank it up too high and after reading what some other readers have experienced here, I think I will keep it a lower volumes.
I agree with another reader who says he's had problems figuring out all the various surround modes/settings etc~ I simply have one for movie playback and one for music playback.
Wasn't too thrilled by music playback quality but I bought it for movies and have absolutely no complaints- it's powerful, can play loud without distortion and sound is crystal clear.
There are probably better choices out there now but at the time when this receiver came out it was a good value~ about $200 heaper than any other 5.1 receiver and I've had no problems at all~ but am a little worried hearing about other peoples experiences.

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None