multiple connectivity.

unknown.

i bought the str-de915 used at sears, only problem i had was blowing 2 fuses. haven't had any problem other than trying to find a instruction manual. cannot find another reciever that can replace it.

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sony davp.

Low price, ok sound

The unavoidable death of the product in a few years, runs very hot, all out crappy.

This reviever is nice as long as it works.When I bought the product it had been repaired by sony after it broke from a power surge.It worked fine at for a while then little problems started happening and they got worse.Now it is hanging on by a thread.This product is a timebomb, reading these reviews should prove my point.Stay away from this reciever at all cost its a killer.Also avoid stacking, it will overheat other components and cause damage.

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None, all my other products are good.

It would work on every other monday.

The list is endless. Beginning with- it just doesn't work! -overheating -turning itself off -muting for no reason -no sound from main speakers (i have to just listen to cd s thru my tv now!) -major delay in watching dvds -sound is too filled with treble even with a subwoofer - etc.,etc.,etc. !!!!!!

I am another Victim!!! I will be going to freelegaladvice.com to find out if there is a lawyer who ca do something about this robbery! I am so glad I found this website and found countless other people who can't even listen to their reciever that they paid so much for! Something HA to be done - and Sony will have to pay! By the way, they hung up on me three times when I called their customer support line and mentioned the str-de915! I can not believe this! I've been ripped off less by sleazy used car dealers! The unit never worked right in the first place, but I made the best of it. But now it is just sitting there collecting dust because my speakers don't make sound unless I want to listen to it thru the center speaker, just like every one else here who thought they were spending all the extra money for a superior product! No more sony! Like the African-Americans, I want my REPARATIONS!!!!

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None and I am glad!!! Sony will never get another penny from me! I will burn all cds from their corporation and return them to the store!

Good sound quality, Cheap for all of the features, remote works with many other brands (if you can figure it out).

Not durable! Factory should have recalled because of all the problems!

In November of 1998 I splurged a little bit on myself and bought the STR-DE915, all the speakers, subs DVD, CD, Laserdisc, and a 27" tv. Everything Sony. Well about one month later, a freak lightning bolt struck my apartments and fried almost all of my electronics. No problem, insurance covered everything but the first $500. The receiver was too far gone so I got a check to buy a new one! Bought the same model and used it on a weekly basis to listen to music, play movies, ect. Last month (7/2002) I turned it on and noticed no sound comming from the rear channels. I was moving soon and just decided to deal with it later. Upon closer examination the rear channels have blown. I've had an estimate for repair ($125.00, but could be higher), but after reviewing this site and seeing all of the troubles everyone has had, I'll just use it for target practice :) !

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STR-DE315

Nice appearance. Decent sound (when it worked properly).

Overheats, unreliable, poor quality, no acknowledgment or acceptance of responsibility from SONY that they produced a lemon.

About 6 months after I bought this receiver, it totally went out....Bam! Nothing at all. I was quite surprised as I've always had great luck with Sony audio products. I sent it back to Sony and they repaired it free of charge, but it was a hassle to box up and return......not to mention the down time of about 3 weeks. Also, from the very beginning, I always had a loud hum coming from my Yamaha subwoofer. For over a year, I thought my subwoofer had gone bad, but I finally discovered that it was actually the Sony receiver that was causing the problem. It seems that the connector is loose or somehow faulty because if I push down on the connector it will stop humming for awhile. Also, I've even had to resort to hitting the top of the receiver to stop the humming....there is obviously a short in the thing somewhere. It is not the subwoofer. And, finally, my rear speakers blew as well. Until I found this website, I just thought I had a lemon, but now I see that the entire production line is nothing but junk. I regret that I paid so much money for junk, but I can assure Sony that I will never purchase another one of their audio products.

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Yamaha

Good sound separation Good features

Reliability stinks It's a Sony

Well, I had the EXACT same problems as everyone else. The rear channels blew, Sony kept sending the repairman wrong parts, and three months later I got the dang thing back. I had a Sony DVD player that went out on me the same time. Turns out the DVD player also had a known design flaw but SOny wouldn't admit it. SONY HAS LOST ME AS A CUSTOMER FOR LIFE.

Custumizable Excellent sound for the price

Durability

I was, and I think still am, a Sony fan. However, my opinion of Sony is much less after reading these reviews. I have had several Sony products, CD players, walkmans, and receivers, which have never broke down once. My old, low end, Sony receiver is almost 12 years old, and I've never had a problem with it whatsoever. Then I purchased the STR DE915 receiver 4 years ago. It was the first receiver that I saw (there were others at the time, but I couldn't find any) with a DD decoder built into it. At the time they were selling decoders separately, along with DD "ready" receivers. I thought the built in decoder really made it stand out at the time. I took it home, and I thought that it was an excellent receiver. I thought the sound was excellent, the remote was fine, and I even like the sound fields. (The reason why the most people didn't like the sound fields was because they didn't tweak them enough.) I also liked the equalization control - not only could you change the levels of bass and treble, but you change the level in each speaker set, as well as, the central frequency of each band. If you spent alot of time tweaking this receiver, it sounded amazing playing music or movies - especially if you had optical inputs to both. However, after about three months of use, it blew out. It was still under warranty, so it was fixed at a Sony repair center in about a week. About a year and a half later, it blew out again. So once again I brought it to a service because it was still, just barely, under warranty. I used it for another year and a half and it blew out again, and I had it repaired for $220, because I really liked the receiver. Then about 4 months after that, it blew out again. There was no way I was going to fix it again, so I bought a Denon AVR 1802 - it's an excellent receiver, but is not as customizable as the Sony. I had absolutely no idea of the magnitude of this problem until I read the reviews on this site. I really think that Sony should do something, as I think they are liable to do. Shouldn't the Better Business Bureau or some other watch dog agency be informed of this to put the heat on Sony? I think I might write the BBB on this matter and I encourage others to do the same.

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N/A

Flexible sound modes. Very adjustable.

Extremely unreliable. Runs very hot. Doesn''t switch S-Video.

If you want to repair your Sony STRDE915 yourself or prevent it from going bad on you (from losing channels), please read this review. You probably invested a decent amount of money in this unit like I do and enjoy it a lot. The reviews here would be a lot closer to 5 if the unit was not so unreliable. It''s worth some effort to fix it. *** Synopsis: To prevent failures of the two UPC2581V ICs, put a custom heat sink on each one. This is tricky, but well worth the effort in my opinion. This should make the unit last a very long tim - what one expects form a unit like this. Add a small fan or two on the top of the case (above the heat sink) to help get heat out of the unit. If your unit fails (lose front or rear speakers), replace the parts noted below. *** Background: I had the unit lose the front speakers under the warranty period, and Sony repaired it for free. Service was good and reasonably quick (1-2 weeks, IIRC). Like others have noted on this forum, the parts replaced were: (2) "IC UPC2581V" (2) "TRANSISTOR UN4111" (5) "ENCAPSULATED COMPON" (heat sink compound) *** Analysis: The UPC2581 is a (~)20 pin integrated circuit and most folks have deemed this to be some sort of DSP (digital signal processor). The two in the unit seem to be close (in an electrical sense) to the output transistors. The one on the lower circuit board powers the front speakers, and the one on the daughterboard right next to the heat sink powers the rears. I don''t know where they drive the centers from, but I guess that no corresponding circuit is necessary because the center speaker doesn''t get any delay or other treatment needing a DSP. This IC runs very hot and evidently is the main cause of failure with this unit. It is black plastic, slightly rectangular, about an inch by 3/4 inch and has about 20 pins coming out of the bottom in a staggered layout. Much like a TO-220 transistor, but much wider and no tab on top. It has a large metal base on the back of the device and 2 cutouts in the sides of the device for screw attachment to a heat sink. Sony did not attach a heat sink to these ICs in this model. As a result, they run very hot. VERY BAD design decision. From Sony''s repair practices, it seems like if one of these ICs fails, it often takes the UN4111 transistor with it. (It also fails as a result of the other device failing.) These t

Was a good price for all the features, sounded pretty good, nice remote that works great with other Sony products

Runs hot, has a bad reputation, no DTS, doesn''t keep DSP mode association with component.

I was hoping against hope that I wouldn''t have some of the same problems listed here. I had really good luck with this product. I too purchased it at Circuit City Open box. The salesman gave me their extended warranty for $69.99 almost 4 years ago today. I''m really glad I got the extended warranty now! I think anyway I have to take it back to see what they will do for me. Anyway, the unit always ran pretty hot, I had some problems with the left front speaker, I think there was a slight short in the binder post, and I got static when turning the volume but only on some of the settings. I really loved this unit until a couple of days ago. It always sounded good with my Energy XL series speakers and my Velodyne CT-120 sub. I also really liked the remote which worked great with my other Sony components and TV. The front mains have now just gone out :( My biggest compaints prior to it going out were: when you switch between components (tv, dvd, etc) it didn''t keep the DSP mode. No DTS This thing has a lot of power too. I never turned it over 5. I guess for 4 years of daily use I got really lucky it ran for as long as it did.

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My first digital reciever but I''m going to buy a Denon 3802 now!

Price and features.

It''s a freaking LEMON!

Same problem as everyone here: rear speakers blew for no good reason after about 3 years. I also note that this was my second STR-DE915 because my first one just completely blew up after about 2 weeks. It''s very very disappointing that a company with a reputation like Sony won''t make things right on an obvious lemon. Too bad no one out there is a lawyer or we could threaten them with a class action claim.

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None