See my 9/26/00 review

Ditto

Please disregard Rick Sanders' 10/23/00 review below. He either received a defective unit (possible, but unlikely) or he is a complete moron (the number of spelling errors would indicate this is more likely - "peice," "poped," "disapointed," "reciever", etc. Remember Rick - "I before E except after C." You have the rule backwards).

This unit has power that seems limitless. I've had mine for about 4 months now and I love it. I reviewed it on 9/26/00 after owning it a few weeks, see that review for an accurate depiction of this fabulous receiver. I like listening to movies and concerts loud, and this baby just cruises through them effortlessly. Try "Peter Frampton - Live in Detroit" cranked up. Awesome. No distortion at all, just clean pure fun like being there. My friends who all have home theaters love coming over to listen to my setup. Or "Saving Private Ryan," the DTS version... it is like being there. Rick claims the receiver fizzles and pops during this movie? Hardly. Mine actually vibrates pictures off of the tables. Lack of power? Not!

I am absolutely baffled by some of the reviewers that can't program the remote. All makes and models are already in the thing, you just select the brand you have! Now why / how is that difficult? No pointing it at another remote to do the old "learning" method is needed (like one reviewer complained about). Just select your VCR, TV, DVD player brand, and you are off and running in about 5 minutes. I stick by my one complaint that the glow-in-the-dark buttons aren't bright enough, but once you get use to the layout, that isn't even much of a problem (keep a mini-flashlight handy until you learn the layout). And it doesn't take 4 seconds to respond, it take about 2 seconds and that is because it is a 2 way remote that actually communicates with the receiver to know that the receiver is in video mode and therefore it should switch to VCR mode, or that the receiver is now in DVD mode so it has to switch to that mode. Very slick and easy.


And regarding the heat / extra fan - this is also not true. I previously owned a Sony Dolby Pro-Logic receiver and it got hotter than this unit. Yes it gets fairly warm, but why is that a problem? I even have mine built into my bookshelf wall unit so it doesn't have much circulation clearance, and heat has never been a problem. No extra fan is needed.

For the price, I don't think you'll find a better receiver.

Numerous inputs; ample power; fast initial setup

Lag time with the two-way remote

This is my first dts/DD capable receiver. I was able to perform the initial setup in about 15 minutes, but took much longer to wade through the features. I am using this receiver in conjuction with Paradigm Ttians, Sony DVP-C650, Sony KV-20M42, and various game consoles.

I really haven't stretched its legs yet as I am waiting to purchase some Paradigm Monitor 9s in the future. When listening to DVDs with dts soundtracks I am very impressed with the clarity.

My main concern is the amount of time the remote takes to function when not in direct line of sight with the receiver. Other than that I've been very happy with my purchase.

Just about every input and output you could imagine. Great sound on even so so speakers.

Manual assumes that you are familiar with a lot of audio jargon; meaning it may take some research to understand all of the inputs/outputs and feature rich remote. Since I only have 2 speakers and am currently shopping for 5.1 supporting speaker system, I could have used some more explanation on speaker config and EQ settings. No preset remote setting for Dish Network satelite receiver.

I had a fairly decent Yamaha receiver and Polk Audio speakers. These are about 10 years old. The problem was lack of inputs. I got a DVD for Christmas, and my Dish network and TV also support S Video. That with all of the other audio equipment and a Dreamcast was getting to be a pain. With the new receiver, everything goes to one place. The TV is simply acting as a monitor.

I still need to get new speakers. I may keep the Polk Audios as the front speakers and just buy a center and two rears (any suggestions?).

Issues:

No Dish Network satelite receiver pre-loaded remote settings (a real pain to program as many settings as the Dish remote has)

Because my VCR and Dreamcast do not pass S-video, I had to double-wire everything to the reciever. Meaning, the Dish network receiver is sending S-video on one channel and composite on another so that I can watch it on the TV in S video and tape on the VCR on composite (no S-video) through the receiver. There are lots of different ways I could configure this, and any suggestions would be great.

More documentation on the best ways to inter-connect equipment would have helped me a lot. I mean, with a receiver, DVD, VCR, CD Changer, Dreamcast, Dish receiver, tape deck and TV, it was confusing coming up with a layout.

However, it sounds great.

Pack of power

hard to use remote but it fun to use

I got bargain on this one. The box is open but everything inside is factory seal. This is my first A/V. I hook it up with my sony tv and dvd . The sound is beautiful. I love it.

Tons of options, versatile remote, a billion inputs.

Provided documentation should supply a breif explanation of optimum settings for EQ.

The Sony Str-De945 is a great receiver! It was easy to set up, and sounds fantastic paired with a set of Bose AM 10 Series II speakers and the Sony SA WM40 Subwoofer.

There's a fancy blue light that comes on when you're listening to Dolby Digital encoding. It's pretty cook, especially if you have the Sony DVD player with the same indicator light.

There are tons of options, all of which are easily accessible by the remote or the face of the unit.

Don't let other reviewers scare you off by badmouthing the remote. It's very easy to use, you just have to flip through it's instruction manual. I mean, after about four minutes, I figured out you pick, "TV-Sharp" and suddenly the thing is a Sharp TV remote. It was preconfigured to control my Sony components.

The receiver has many cool preset sound processors too, like "Night theater" for even sound to prevent bothering the sleeping folks in the next room. "Game" for your video game sound. "Hall", "Arena" and lots of other that I probably would never use unless I'm showing off.

Great receiver, greater price. I'm very happy, and would recommend it to anyone.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood Pro-Logic Receiver

Plenty of optical and s video inputs

Remote Control

I was extremely pleased with the Yamaha receiver but it did not have optical inputs for my new DVD and DirecTV. I looked at several units, but the ease of operation caught my eye. Just give the unit an input and it determines whether it is prologic, DTS, Dolby Digital or PCM automatically. The video and audio inputs can be programmed to display the name of the equipment being used. With up to six different people using the unit, I did not have to worry about training the family to use it. This unit is placed in a living room, not a home theatre room. Hence, sound quality was important but not a show stopper. The sound rivals the Yahama and out-classes the aged Kenwood.
It has plenty of power to drive my 15" woofers in my front speakers.

My main complaint is the remote. It has an LCD display that takes two to four seconds to become operational once invoked. These seconds feel like an eternity when surfing between DirecTV and the VCR, especially when watching football.

I have not witnessed any amp problems, but it does get warm. Warm enough that I felt it necessary to increase natural ventilation. Overall, I am very pleased with the unit.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha R-V503, Kenwood

You've got to love all the features that come with this product, it will keep you busy playing around for quite some time. Love the 3 band equalizer for each speaker, very customizable. Nice power (110 watts per channel). Tons of surround modes. Overall, a great receiver for the money.

The damn remote control. I still can't hook up my Sony CD player to the remote. Too complicated, I don't have the time to be learning a lesson in programing.

I great receiver for the money, lots of features, nice power, and very tweakable. I'm running cerwin vega E-715s (400 watts) off my receiver, and the sound is great. Enough bass to rattle my house. Comparable to some small clubs. However, I would like to get some more power from the receiver, cause too much power is never enough. Maybe my next receiver will be a Sony STR-DA777ES (with 200 watts of power in stero mode). Maybe its just the 400 watt RMS limit of the E-715 that drives me towards more power. But, for the money I truly belive you can't get better power and sound than what the STR-945 delivers. The clearity is also very nice. Audioable distorsion does not come into play until the know is nearly half way, and that's in the club/disco mode which in its self is more prone to distortion. Love all the inputs and outputs, lots of room for expansion in the future. Overall, a great buy!!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer-509

Powerful, LOTS of I/O, remembers settings, EQ for each speaker, VERY customizable, Learning remote...

Lack of S-video across all video inputs, some noises or "pops" in rears when using remote to go through menu

I had a Sony STR-DE515 and a Sony DVD with 5.1 channel RCA outs on each, so I was in no real hurry to get to a new reciever, but when my work (Sears) closed out their their Home Audio department, I found a glitch in the system that let me order the receiver at the closeout price. Anyway, I ended up getting the reciever and a 3 year maintanence plan for about $320. After using it for awhile I can say that it is a great machine, and it is very customizable, which I love. The initial setup is pretty painless, but it sets up many of the functions used later... speaker size, distance, crossovers, etc.. Then there is the on screen EQ setting for EACH speaker. The one thing that would make this better is if this setting could be set for each input, meaning that you would have a seperate EQ for each source input. The DD and DTS decoding work great, but that's to be expected. The DSP settings (MANY of these) works well, but to my ears it doesn't add much. I guess I just like simple Auto Format Decode with my full speaker set. The remote is easy to use once you get used to it. It is a little slow, but only in certain situations. For example when changing volume, it's instant, but when changing sources, it pauses. Also when you flip up the thingy to get to the lower buttons, the remote doesn't turn on, so you have to hit a button before you can select to use the buttons as TV or Receiver for instance. The best part about the remote, however, is the fact that it is a full fledged learning remote. You can program most every for each source. If a button isn't working for what you want, you can change it. I now have a TRULY universal remote. It works for ALL of my stereo EQ, and even works the elusive menu on my Sony TV. I plan on setting up my computer to recieve infra-red commands, so that I can program the remote to send commands to control Winamp. This should be no problem, but it's another great thing to be able to set up with this unit. Oh, one thing is that on my system when I had the "S-link" hooked up between my components, it had some malfunctions. When I was switching channels on my TV, the Reciever would get some info from one of the S-links that told it to switch to a different source... Very strange, but I unhooked the s-links and it works great now. The feature doesn't add much anyway, it already auto-selects the DVD player when a disc plays and that sort of thing, so I'm happy. Oh, one often overlooked feature is that you can rename every source! Pretty useless, but pretty cool. So I renamed TV/VCR to "BoobTube", and one of them "Computer" so that it makes more sense. Oh, and "Front In", is better. The best part about that is that the remote can learn these names too by downloading the info from the reciever. Very cool to see them on the remote. My BIG plan for the future... I plan on getting a Sony mega disc CD changer or possibly DVD changer. Then I plan on using my CD burner to copy all of my CD's, but this time with CD-text info for each CD and track names. Once this is done I can have the CD player download the names to the Reciever, which would then send them to the little remote! What this all means... I could select a CD by actually finding the CD name on the little LCD screen on the remote and then select the track by name on the remote as well. WAY cool. But that's for later. As for now, I am quite happy, except my unit makes these little pops through the rear speakers and the sub when switching some options, it's just a small annoyance, but it might be nice to fix it up with my maintainance plan.

In summary of my ramblings... It's a great unit, the little remote is nice. It's a lot better than a regular universal remote, it's just you have to give up a few small things to have it be what it is... a two way. Other than that it's a full featured DD/DTS reciever, and I highly recomend it if you have the means. Best reciever I've seen within $1000 range. In that fact, it's a steal.

Rock On!

Paul Baumgaertner

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DE515

Good clean power, very versatile, lots of sound fields, tuner very good

no light on volume knob, runs a little hot

This receiver can get you just about any sound you want from the sound field selection and the other adjustments. Once you get used the remote you can do a lot from your easy chair. It does run a little hot, but I think most of them do. I just would not put another component on top of it. I put a fluorescent strip on the volume knob so i can see it when the lights are low. The tuner is much better than my sherwood, AM and FM. Good bang for your buck.

Very stylish, especially the blue light

Confusing remote.

Having worked in a sales position for home audio products, I have had the chance to gain a lot of experience with many different products such as the Sony STR-DE945.
I myself own this wonderful component (a well thought-out decision, by the way) and find just one drawback to it from what I've read about it. The power output is more variable on this unit than that of it's contemporaries. On the other hand, this unit follows right in line with everything else Sony produces--stylish, cutting edge features, and almost overboard on the "guy-toy" factor.

With reference to the power output:
I've read that the power supplied to the speakers (wattage) fluctuates slightly (unlike it's Yamaha counterpart). This is a drawback really only recognizable on a multimeter, but if you're into knowing about what you can't readily see or hear, this is a disadvantage. The variance is not enough to notice while listening at all. Salespeople will try to convince you that Yamaha is better simply because of its power stability. I know these things. I used to blow such proverbial 'BS'
Don't worry, though...this disadvantage is not noticeable in sound quality whatsoever (I even bought it!), and the speaker impedance will not change at all (adjustable to 4 or 8 ohms).

This Sony receiver receives my rating of a 94% when rated overall on features, ease of use, and functionality.

Finally, the remote.
Sony's remotes are famous for being multi-functional, but the standard issue remote with this unit blows 'em all out of the water. Compatible with the Sony CDP-CX450 400 disc CD changer (to download all CD and track titles), this remote will do everything from control almost any unit using IR to letting you search for your favorite song. The two-way feature on the remote is handy, and you can download all your radio station presets to scroll through on the 1.5" x 1" backlit LCD screen.
The only drawback to this remote is the confusing positioning of buttons inside and outside the flip face, making it difficult to figure out what you're controlling and what you're doing.

Overall, this remote receives an 80% on features, ease-of-use, and functionality.
I've been using it quite a bit since I got the receiver 4 months ago and haven't changed the batteries yet.


Best feature of the receiver:
The bright royal blue LED above the display telling you you're in Dolby Digital mode. -REALLY COOL LOOKING!