Looks awesome, sounds awesome, remote, customization

none yet

Great bang for the buck. Not only sounds great at high volume, but also at low volume. The remote is truly universal and relatively easy to figure out.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo

This unit is solidly constructed, stylish, and a pleasure to listen to. For the price, I don't think that the STR-DE945 can be beat.

The remote is a bit intimidating to use initially, but I guess that is to be expected when it is as versitile as it is.

It doesn't get any better than this unless you are able and willing to sink a lot of money into your receiver. The Sony STR-DE 945 is very well made and equally as nice to look at and listen to. When I decided to upgrade my receiver I approached the task with an open mind. About the only limitation that I placed on myself was that I didn't want to go over $600. I never dreamed that I would not have to go over $400 to get the kind of quality and features that this unit has. I went into the electronics store and was immediately drawn this Sony because of its looks, but I soon found myself impressed with its sound and features as well. It has a mulitplicity of inputs and outputs, has every feature except THX-Certification(no reciever in this price range has this), and simply stated, it sounds terrific! I use this receiver for watching movies on DVD and listening to music in just about equal proportions. It serves me extremely well for both. I found the two-way remote to be a little confusing at first, but that is to be expected with all of its features and capabilities. After reading the manual and "playing" with the remote for a few days it soon felt natural in my hand. I had read in some places that this receiver got hot, but this has not been my experience. I don't place any other components directly over this unit and it has never gotten more than warm to the touch. I sometimes have second thoughts after purchasing audio/video components and wonder if I made the right choice, but not here. After taking this receiver out of the box and setting it up I knew that I had made the right choice.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha R-V902

Dolby Digital and DTS decoder. S-Video inputs and outputs. Learning 2-way remote control.

2-way remote can be a little slow at times, however this is not a show-stopper.

If you are looking for a quality receiver at a reasonable price, then look no farther than the Sony STR-DE945. At 110 watts per channel, the sound quality is exactly what you would expect from a Sony product - great.

There isn’t much that you can’t hook up to this receiver. The unit sports 3 video inputs, 2 video outputs, and S-video passthrough. One of the video inputs is on the front of the unit for easy connection to a video camera or Playstation. The STR-DE945 also contains a Dolby Digital and DTS decoder so you can look forward to saving some money on that future DVD player purchase.

At first, I wasn’t crazy about the 2-way remote control. However, after connecting up my 400 CD changer, I was in love when I found out I could download all 400 CD titles directly to the remote control - ALPHABETICALLY!!!! Searching for a CD has never been easier. It is also the king of learning remote controls. Don’t fret if there is a command on your old remote control that this one does not already have programmed. Just point your old remote at the Sony remote and push a button on both of the remote controls. The Sony remote will automatically learn the new command "on the fly". This is the smartest learning remote I have ever seen (or maybe I don’t get out much).

If you do decide on the STR-DE945, my advice is to shop around for the best price. I see this unit priced fairly high in local department stores. However, I bought mine on-line from http://go.to/etronicsonline for $389. I can’t guarantee that you will find the same price, but I can’t argue with buying on-line. Also, not having to pay for sales tax can sometimes warrant the shipping cost. Happy hunting.

Reasonable price for performance and features.

Unable to get "second audio" multi-room integration feature to work correctly...

Has anyone used the "second audio" feature and had it work correctly?

I set "second audio" to "source", patched it to a power-amp, connected speakers. While there was output signal to the second amp, the volume was at full even with the receiver volume muted.

Am I missing something, or does it not work as advertised?

Thanks.

Power; multiple I/O; overall "bang for the buck" ... not to mention it's a tweaker's dream.

Complete lack of ability to attach an external equalizer; that HUGE blue light on the front when in DD mode; 'glowing' buttons on remote way to dim to be of much use.

Originally, it was a toss between the Kenwood VR-409 and the Sony. I went ahead and purchased the VR409 as everything else in my audio cabinet is Kenwood ... big mistake. Terrible sound. Traded it the next day for the Sony.

Almost everything about the Sony is better than the Kenwood ... especially the sound. You can tweak the sound until you wear down your fingers ... and the sound is awesome. Even without a separate sub the bass is excellent. It's nice to be able to adjust the 'tone' to all the speakers separately ... not just all as a single unit. I also like being able to attach my DVD player (Sony DVP-C670D) to it via the optical cable instead of the 6 standard RCA cables ... definitely cuts down on the clutter.

The remote itself is quite nice, although it take some getting used to. I really haven't been bothered by the responsiveness when you consider it's bi-directional. Then again, you can turn off the bi-directional control in the system settings if it really bothers you. I only wish the glowing buttons were brighter. Use can use the remote to my Sony DVD player as a flashlight, but this one can barely pass off as a light source. The backlit LCD display is nice and bright ... it's just the buttons are dim.

Another small 'annoyance' to me is when you are using the tuner and have preset stations programmed ... if you use and change the DSP mode for one station, it doesn't keep it for the rest ... you have to set them all individually. I suppose some people would like this feature, but it can become tedious. However, again this is a minor complaint.

I'd have to say that my BIGGEST complaint is the total lack of a way to attach my external equalizer to the Sony. While the built in EQ is really nice, it just doesn't touch the fine adjustments I can make with my external unit. Even Sony's website acknowledges this is a missing feature on all "current Sonys". While I'll live without it, it's very sad to have it just sitting there with nothing to do.

Lastly, I have to agree with other have stated that the unit tends to get rather hot ... especially when it's in an enclosed case as mine is. My old Kenwood had a built in fan ... I think Sony should have done the same with this unit. I'll definitely have to do some creative cooling work on the cabinet.

Overall, I'd recommend this unit to anyone looking for a great feature-packed system at a great price.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood VR-409

Looks Fancy-classic sony deception
flashy outside, nothing inside

110 Watts my A$$, more like 70 (only 50 of which are quality)
Gets hotter than the sun

This is another classic Sony peice of crap! My old Onkys finaly bit the dust when one of my drunk buddies spilt beer all over it. So I decided to got this reciever because of the Sony name, big mistake! When I got home I set it up fairly easily. So I poped in my DTS version of Saving Priviate Ryan and pumped my Polk RT speakers up. I was quite disapointed with the thunderous roar of the D-Day invasion. In fact my old pro-logic reciever sounded better. When a shell would impact, the reciever would pop and fizzle. The label said that it has 110 watts, this is a big lie. It has mabey 70 of that only 50 watts sound decent. In addition to that, the reciever gets hotter than hell. Seriously, this is a big problem if you have your components stacked on each other. The tremendous amount of heat can damage DVD players and other video/sound components. All in all the only people that should but this reciever are:
1.) Idiots who think the outside is more important than the inside
2.) People who like getting riped off
3.) People that dont care about sound

I am taking this peice of junk back to the store!

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo Pro-Logic reciever (Onkyo is much better!!)

Sound quality. All the DSP modes and the 3 band equalizer for each speaker and that's not where the flexibility ends.

Most people would say (going by reviews I've read here on Sony receivers) that the remote is slow a too complicated. My opinion on that is take the time to learn it. You'll find most of the settings that don't change much can be addressed at the reciever end. It's a little slow in responding because it is a bi-directional device. I've had an STR-D915 for quite a while so the remote learning curve was not that steep. It's also a nice universal remote. My only obvious weakness in the receiver is the omission of the numeric keypad from previous models.

Going from a Dolby Pro-logic to Dolby Digital is beyond words. It doesn't even compare considering the STR-D915 is a pro-logic amp with less power going to the rear speakers, an issue that most manufacturers rectified in later models. As an electronic technician by trade, I would say the receiver runs warm not hot. In fact I have it in a relatively enclosed cabinet and have not run into any problems with it, it sounds great. One note I want to add. In a review I read on a different site <---SLAP, stated that these amps are sound tested "Out OF The Box" meaning that the reviewers don't tweak with the bass, treble etc., never mind the EQ capabilities of this amp. It has bass management so you can adjust the receiver to a seemingly unlimited speaker configuration ie: porting bass to larger front speakers in the absence of a sub-woofer. I also opted for Circuit City's 5 year unlimited parts and labor warranty. For $69 I couldn't refuse. I love 5.1 digital sound, now we just have to hope that the artists/mixers will start putting as much work into the soundtracks as they did in "Saving Private Ryan"

Similar Products Used:

STR-D915

Good sound, Dolby 5.1 and DTS, provides the user with enough settings to tweak to his heart's content

Bi-directional remote takes time to learn and eats batteries.

Looking to upgrade to a DTS system, I picked up this receiver and the Sony 560 DVD player. Am I happy? Yep. The 945 has the typical Sony layout for patch cords and connections in the back. Hooking it up was a breeze. Since Sony's have a tendency to get hot, I gave it enough room to breathe in my cabinet. The sound was quite good, and once I enabled the Auto Detect sound field I was in business. Is there anything frustrating me right now? Not really. I do wish that the remote had the test tone button on the top layer (it is built like a flip phone) instead of making me search for the darn thing. Other than that I am very pleased with this system.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-915, Vector Research, Yamaha, Onkyo

The Dolby digital and DTS decoder are FANTASTIC! on this unit, I also like the autodetect mode, if I change to music the receiver will automaticaly change the sound field to the right setting, my Yamaha that I had before, needed some intervention from me to change from Dolby to a sound field appropriate to music listening. The sound of the Sony is sharp, plenty of bass, midrange and high levels

The remote is in my opinion a pain in the ...!

A great Doby Digital / DTS receiver !

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV-840

Lots of inputs, Lots of power to each channel, Dolby Digital & DTS decoding

Remote is slow and takes a while to get used to, tends to get very hot after about 15 mins of use.

Prior to purchasing this receiver, I was shopping for a receiver with DTS decoding and 5.1 inputs. AT first, I was interested in purchasing a Yamaha HTR-5250 receiver. When I went to a local store, they recommended the Sony STR-DE945. I didn't know what to expect, but it had the right specs. It had a learning remote, DTS & Dolby Digital decoding, lots of inputs, and 110 watts x 5 channels. The original price of this receiver at the store was $400. But, I found a website that sold this receiver for $375. So I printed the price list from the website and showed it to the store. They dropped the price down to $375 immediately. When I got home, it took me only 10 minutes to set up because this was my 3rd receiver and I know what to do. I put in a Dolby Digital disc and I was blown away. The Sony cranks out a lot of bass. The sound was more impressive than using my TEAC AG-D9100. I've heard quite a bit about Sony's Digital Cinema Sound, one of the reasons I went with the Sony, and the DSP modes actually creates a better soundstage. The DSP modes on my TEAC were absolutely useless. Then, I tried a DTS disc. Since I never heard a DTS movie before, I didn't know if it would be better than Dolby. I used The Bone Collector DVD to test out my receiver because the dsic had Dolby 5.1 and DTS tracks. In my opinion, DTS sounded better than the DD version of the movie. DTS sounded more spacious. The price I bought this receiver for made it a bargain. I would highly recommend this receiver if you are upgrading to DTS (like me) or if you are new to home theater and want plenty of room for future expansion. I've never regretted my purchase after using it for a few hours. Although theis receiver gets very hot after about 15 minutes of use, this minor quarrel can be fixed by getting a small fan from Radio Shack and place it over the center of the receiver(the center is where the receiver gets vey hot). After adding a fan, the receiver never gets hot even after hours of use. Get this receiver, you won't regret it.

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JVC RX554VBK, TEAC AG-D9100