5.1 Quality, Power, Features vs. Price

Manual sucks, no CD digital in.

Just some additional comments:

1) For those complaining about the heat... all receivers get warm. Mine is on almost all day and it is definitely not hot. Warm yes.
2) CD - Digital Personally I think this is a silly omission.
3) The manual sucks, but then again, this isn't really an entry level receiver.
4) Remote is slow, but as someone said, it is 2-way and reads from the receiver first.
5) Remote complicated?? All the basic features are simple. Advanced features are rarely used/changed anyway. All-in-one remotes are always overdone anyway.
6) I agree, that cool blue light...
7) Speaker A, B, A+B, OFF switch should be on the remote also. (If it is, I haven't found it yet).
8) Downloading CD titles (from the 300 & 400 CD jukeboxes) is limited to 200 titles only, despite what Sony and the manuals say. Try it. I did. Prove me wrong.
9) Can't see the volume indicator in the dark?? Umm... you can't hear the volume!?
10) On screen display from Monitor Out is cool... set up 5.1 setting on your tv screen. Very convenient.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 335 CD MegaChanger, Sony 360 DVD Player

Great power and flexibility. Lots of gadgetry to experiment with. Plenty of input/output jacks

Instruction manual not very helpful.

I am not an audiophile but after audtioning similar pioneer, onkyo etc. receivers, I felt the Sony was the best value for the money. My system: Sony de-945, onkyo DV-s501 DVD player. Speakers: Center Infinity CC-2, Front Infinity RS-2, Rear Paradigm Performance Series, Subwoofer MTX PSW101B.

The Sony made my old Pioneer Prologic receiver sound like my Grandma's AM radio! It is truly a world of difference to move up to the Dolby Digital. I am very happy with this receiver's performance. Plenty of POWER and lots of sound fields and gimmicks to play with. Once I got the new receiver hooked up (no small feat for a non-audiophile since the owners manual is virtually useless), I put the receiver to the test by popping Saving Private Ryan into the player and turning up the volume. It really sounded great and I have been pleased ever since with each new movie. Music sounds really great as well and really pushes my speakers with a nice clean sound. My Sennheiser 580's sound even better now that I have this great receiver! It even has a cool "headphone" sound field!

As I have said the owners manual is horrible so be prepared to spend some time setting this unit up if you are new to the game. I have read a lot of reviews on this site that say the remote is hard to set up and use. In a way it is but once you catch on to the method, it becomes a snap. Also, I have read reviews that claim it runs really hot. I have not seen this even after hours of constant use. Maybe I just lucked out? Overall, I feel that if you spend this much on a piece of equipment, you should be willing to put the time into figuring it all out and setting it up right. After all, that is part of the fun and excitement of being an audio enthusiast! If you don't want to spend the time or are not adept at this sort of thing, buy a ready made system like Bose etc. but do not expect the same performance out of the system as you will this unit. I love this Reciever!

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Pioneer ProLogic receiver

Good Home Theater Audio, Nice Remote

Sub-par sound quality in stereo mode, no Digital I/P for CD player, FM reception is poor, can't figure out how to delete Tuner presets.

My intent was to upgrade my audio only system to Home Theater capability, while maintaining the good audio capabilities I have with the existing receiver.
Existing system:
YAMAHA CR-2040 Receiver
JBL L65 speakers
SONY CA80ES CD player

With the STR-DE945... JBL's: front speakers, Def Tech BP2X's: rears, ProCenter C2: Center channel, ProSub 100TL: SUBWOOF, a SONY DVD player. The Home Theater sound with a DVD was excellent. I realize that the SUB Woofer makes all the difference. However the stereo sound quality from my CD or FM sources is dissapointing. The sound is very flat and appears to be missing mid-range to lower frequencies. The highs are fine but again even they seem lacking. There was a fullness or warmth of sound I have with the Yamaha CR-2040 that is really missing here. I've tried all the EQ settings to no avail. I also can't figure out how to get the receiver to detect that my CD is a Digital (optical) input, it indicates (Analog Only) which is dissapointing. I think the salesman didn't know what he was talking about. I think the build quality is average. I don't like the cheap feel of the plastic knobs. It's also rather light for a 110W x 5. I will take it back and try the ES series in hopes of better stereo audio quality. The audio specifications of this unit when compared to the cheaper DE-XXX units is virtually the same. The major difference's are in the power and features (#of inputs/outputs, etc..) area.

Conclusion:

If all you care about is Home Theater then go for it. But if you like to listen to music I think you'll be dissapointed.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha CR-2040

Unbeatable value.

The remote can be a little complicated to use.

The Sony STR-DE945 is, in my opinion, the best VALUE A/V receiver that money can buy. You can go higher or lower on spec's and price for other receivers, but for what you get for your money, this is IT.

On what do I draw my comments from? Well, I have it set up in my media room which is 15'(D) X 28'(W) X 15'(H). It is the audio control point for my $10,000 64" HDTV set (so you can see money is not the object or problem). When I slide in a well made DVD, the sound is incredable, filling the room from the properly rated and positioned 6 speakers (I always use 12 gauge speaker wire). The frequency range of 20-20,000 Hz is great (but if your over 7 years old don't worry about anything above 18kHz as your ears probaley won't hear it anyway). What is important is that it will put out the extremely low frequencies to the sub at line level (be sure you buy a decent powered (200 watts?) subWoofer that reaches down that low (like 20 Hz).

P.S.: I also own another STR-DE945 (it's in my master bedroom) and a STR-DE935 (child's bedroom)

Similar Products Used:

STR-DE935

Power, clarity, inputs/outputs, price

none that I'm aware of....yet

I searched for a long time prior to making this purchase. I am running the system through Cambridge Soundworks Tower II's and 5.1 Surrounds. Also, have a Sony 660C DVD player hooked up. Love the clarity and sound. The DTS decoding is a plus too. I decided to purchase this unit because of its price and the features offered. You can pay alot more for a receiver that does not have as much to offer. I'm absolutely content and happy with this purchase. I often suffer from "buyers remorse", thinking that I should have purchased something other than what I end up with... NOT so with this purchase. I'd do it all over agin in a New York minute.

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none

inputs, remote, power, ease of setup

volume display

This is my first foray into the Home Theatre arena, and I invested considerable time and effort into reviewing and demo's of various a/v amps. Overall I am extremely happy with the performance of this amplifier. I feel that the versatility and quality make this a great value for the money. I also looked at Denon, Onkyo and Yamaha. As an HT 65% / CD 35% listener it demonstrates ample power and versatility for my audio needs.
I would like a visible volume display for dark movie watching rooms. I would also like to wire S-video from my dvd to the receiver, but run rca vid to my Tv. This may sound strange but I have an older tv that only takes rca in.
I think the remote is extremely easy to use and programme. I have it controlling all my components. I have not had any trouble with the amp running hot. I have had it running for eight hours non-stop with out a problem. I am going to wire my cd's digital out into the amps m/dat input and rename it. If anyone has tried this please let me know if it works.
To sum up, a solid performing amp, versatile, powerful and geat value.

ps. love the cool blue light

Power, versatility

Difficult to set up correctly, options are overwhelming, Poor bass output without subwoofer

I bought this as an upgrade to a five year old Technics unit that died. The first thing I noticed after hooking it up was that the bass was almost non existant compared to my old Technics, I eventually bought a 12" JBL sub and that cured the problem. A couple of sales reps told me that this was because Sony expects that you to have a subwoofer for HT. Unfortunately some people like HT and stereo music. Since then I have had the opportunity to listen to Marantz and Yahmaha amplifiers and wished I would have spent the extra dollars. The Sony is ok for DVD movies if you purchase a good sub but for music its only average. Sony offers a lot of modes and options for set up and it takes several hours of adjusting to get the best blend. If you want audiophile sound quality this is not the unit for you. Curently I am using BIC America speakers, Mains V736, CC V52si Plus and V52si rears but have been seriously considering purchasing Paragigms.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Technics,

Sound, Power, Inputs/Outputs, renameable inputs

Wish it had component switching for when I get an x-box, and I would like to have assignable digital inputs (who needs a minidisk optical in/out anyway??)

I've used this receiver for about a year and a half and have never had any problems whatsoever even in a small tv stand with 3 other components I've never had an overheating problem as suggested by others. The only reason I'll upgrade is to add component video switching and possibly firewire in the near future (1394/5c). I run all video sources except my DVD player (component out has to go directly to my tv) through the unit and love being able to switch from VCR(tuner) to dish so easily since that's where I do most my surfing. I want to hook up a pair of magnepan IIIa's to this receiver but I've never ran an inexpensive receiver in 4ohm mode so I don't know if it'll handle them; any comments on this possible setup would be good.
My main system (1.5 years old)-
Sony XBR-250 36"
Sony STR-DE945 Receiver
Panasonic DVD-A120
Dish Net JVC TU-7222 (with harddrive)
Toshiba M685 VCR
KLH fronts (cheap ($99 a pair) but soon to be replaced with magnepans)
Acoustic Research Center and Rears
Infinity 250 watt downfiring sub

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various over the years (denon, yamaha, sony, pioneer, etc)

Raw Power, Flexibility, Versatility & Output

Manual & Remote

The Sony STR-DE945 is impressive and I recommend it: It has power enough to fill an auditorium, 110 X 5 in Home Theatre mode and 110 X 2 in stereo mode. If you have a hard time making manual adjustments betwixt frequency levels of a sound field as I do, it has numerous pre-programmed effects (26 total) from Cinema Studio Ex. A thru Games. This receiver is flexible and can take input signals from various devises because it can handle Dolby Digital, Dolby Prologic, and 5.1 sensed automatically with A.F.D. selected. Of course, the receiver is only one part of a system but it is the heart of a compatible one. Take a look at my system to verify this statement. It is an Hybrid system wo/generation gaps and it goes back to the Vietnam era.
Sony Receiver STR-DE945, 5X110W, 20 – 20 kHz
Front Speakers (A), Pioneer HPM-40, 80 watts, 35 – 25kHz
Front Speakers (B), Sansui S-U9000, 90 watts, 40 – 20kHz
Center, JBL S-Center, 150 watts, 80 – 20kHz
Rear L&R, Infinity SM-65, 100 watts, 78 – 25kHz
Sub-woofer, Jensen JS-1000A, 100 Watts, 30 – 150Hz
Sony Trinitron TV KV-27TS36
DVD Video Player, Toshiba SD1600
VCR 1 (VHS), Samsung VT-K76
VCR 2 (Beta), Sony SL-P400R
Turntable, Sansui P-E750
CD Player, Sansui CD-E70
Cassette Tape Deck, Sansui D-E750
I agree with other statements about its remote’s complexity. However, you can program the remote to control all of your components. With numerous component remotes on a table before me, I feel like Pavlov’s dog. About the heat issue, heat from a receiver is normal but you can exacerbate this condition by not following the manual’s directions to select 4 ohms impedance when two sets of 8 ohm speakers are used as Front A & B (p. 27). The speakers are wired in a parallel circuit so 1/R (total) = 1/R (1) + 1/R (2). In conclusion, if you want it all at a moderate price, you will not be disappointed with the Sony STR-DE945. I sit in awe during “The Matrix” selected scene playback. My home experience is better than the movie theatre! I expect its price to go down a little because Sony comes out with its 2001 edition next month.

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Various X 40 years

Great sound, lots of power

Remote!

I use it mainly for music. Once broken in, I was surprised by the quality of sound it produces. More than enough power as well. Runs a little hot, but most of them do. The only real gripe I have is with the remote. Tried the "learning" function on my old Pioneer receiver's remote for use with my Pioneer CD player to no avail. Eventually upgraded to a AMC CD8b player, which was a blessing in disguise! Sweet player for the money. Anyway, the Sony is definitely a keeper. 5 star performer in its price range. It's definitely better than I thought it would be.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Denon