performance, value, styling, overall sounds fantastic in what ever I ask it to do!

size, complicated owners manuel, remote

Great product and an exceptional value. Drives my surround system with ease, DVD and Cd's sound fantastic, as well as radio channels. I enjoy the Auto Format feature with CD's almost as much as cinimatic and virtual 6.1 modes when watching DVD's. I am extremely pleased with this product after a year and I am still learning little tweaks to maximaize the potential of this unit.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, and Techniques pro-logic receivers (don't remember the model #'s although they where both in the $500 range

Looks,weight(good quality internals),easy to use remote,and versitility

Heat....I guess

There are better preamp/amp combos out in the audiophile world,but for the price of this 100x5 watt powerhouse I doubt if there is a better value.This unit is HEAVY,and cranks out a lot of sound.I agree with previous reviews that the receiver seem to put-out quite a lot of heat,but if you look at the build sheet you can see that most of the heat is generated near the power supplies (transformer)and the fact that you can feel heat ventilating is probably a good thing (heat is not being trapped in the case near heat sensitive electronics).After using this receiver for a while it has become easy to use with straigh-forward engineering making it a very versitle music AND video machine.

Similar Products Used:

H/K , Nakamichi

Sound, Styling, Features, Build Quality

None so far

I decided it was time to replace my 15 year old Nikko NR-850 60 watt per channel receiver with something a little more update and upscale. This unit was going into my home office system, so I wasn't tooooo picky about sound quality.
I also wanted all the components in my home office system to be the same brand so they would match aesthetically.

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality coming out of this box! Thank you Sony.

I purchased a three month old store demo unit by mail order from Q Audio in Cambridge, MA for $524 ($499 + 25 shipping)
I could have gotten a brand new unit for $39 more, but with all the problems others have had, I figured I'd probably be safer getting a unit that had been "test driven" by the dealer. The unit I received was in flawless cosmetic and operating condition.

I have not had any problems with heat or hiss. In fact, my V333 only gets a little warm. I can only hear hiss if I turn the volume control way up to the 3 o'clock position. I normally listen with the volume control in the 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock range. The 12 o'clock position is loud enough to hurt my ears. The only thing I don't like about the remote is that it does not match the styling of my other Sony components (I have all my component remotes aligned in a row along the front edge of my office desk). I really didn't get this receiver to be the control center for a home theater set-up, I was basically looking for something with updated features-like optical inputs. See my review of the Adcom GFA-5503 power amplifier for a description of my HT rig.

System equipment list:

Sony KV-27V42 27" TV
Sony SLV-M11HF VCR
Sony DVP-S360 DVD Player (S-Video out to TV, optical audio out to receiver)
Sony STR-V333 ES Receiver
Sony CDP-CE505 CD player (optical audio out to receiver)
Fanfare Acoustics "Prelude" speakers

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha HTR-5250

Power, Sound Quality, Features

Heat

I started my entree into home theater by winning an award at work, and using the points won to select a Sony Home Theater combined pkg, including lousy speakers, the Str-de445 receiver, and a decent 660 Sony DVD player. I also bought the Sony SAWM40 sub. The speakers were the first things to go, replaced by the Klipsch Synergy series. Next, after listening to other, more expensive receivers, I determined that the Sony STR-DE series is really the bottom of the barrel, sufficient for dabbling or learning about home theater, but clearly not up the job of playing quality sound. I did like the way Sony programs their receivers though, so I wanted to stay within the Sony line.

I listen to alot of broadcast TV, and Classical CDs. And, an occasional DVD. But most important to me was sound quality. Well, this 333ES has it in Spades! It produces a warm, rich, full sound. When a symphony plays, the double basses and cellos provide a warm full bottom (no, I'm not referring to your girlfriend!) and this receiver captures it in tons of detail. And whereas on cheaper receivers, the strings will kind of whine like tin, here, they blend but dont lose their detail.

I also like the many DSP settings...For instance, if I move to a Dance or Trance type track, and choose the Disco soundfield, without touching any other parameters, all of a sudden the Sub will be pumping out the bass, whereas when choosing the Digital Concert Hall setting for classical (or for anything else) the sub is largely quiet, unless you set front speakers to small. I dont know exactly what this Disco setting is doing but clearly, its rolling more of the bass over to the sub. But not at the expense of the fronts, which also provide excellent bass.

As for the infamous hiss which we've heard about, well, just let me say that even with volume turned all the way down, if I put my ear within 6 inches of the center channel tweeter, I will hear a soft hiss. Move beyond 12" and its quiet. How this can bother anyone is beyond me..This is a 110W legitimate producer, and all amps have a noise floor. Other than that, if I turn the volume up to over 0, with nothing playing, I will hear a hum. But again, you will never use it this way. I never listen with volume over -35 (still well less than half way) and with music playing, the hum is totally inaudible. I think its the kind of thing people pick on when they cant find anything else wrong, and are looking for faults. Cause in real world use, it'll never be noticed...And, its no worse than other makes.

I also dont mind the remote. I like the fact, for instance, that not only can I use it to power on/off my Sony DVD player, but if there's a function, like Open the DVD/CD drawer which there isnt a button for, I can still assign the function to any button I like, by using its 'Learning' feature, where it scans codes right from the DVD remote. You press the button on the native remote that you want your new remote to learn, and it does it, by beaming...Kind of like Star Trek. Beam it across, Scotty!

Finally, not only is the sound quality the equal of the Denons and the Onkyos, etc, out there, but for the money, I believe it tops them in features...And, its the only one I've found that rates its power at a low .05% THD. It gives 120 full range wrms at .05% THD both for stereo, and for all 5 channels...Again, combining this power rating, with the sound quality, with the features, all for a sale price of $600 ($800 list), I think it cant be beat.

Similar Products Used:

Sony E series receivers.

solid unit, good sound quality, versatile

I bought the V333 online at YourInsider.com. I wanted a unit that would handle digital audio, DTS, provide a digital optical output and have enough inputs to anticipate future expansion.

My current setup is rather simple: DVD player, VCR, Playstation 2, analog and digital audio from a computer sound system, and MDR-DS5000 headphones; it's driving a set of B&W Matrix speakers. My TV supports progressive video, and fortunately the TV has two component inputs (PS2 and DVD player) so I don't have to actually switch any video sources with the receiver. (A few receivers support component video, but they tend to be rather expensive and the ones I looked at didn't provide enough component inputs to justify the extra expense.)

The physical layout of the receiver is very nice. The controls on the front panel are easy to use, and the rarely-used ones are covered with a door. The front display is the standard Sony fluorescent, and is very bright and readable. The receiver has one set of inputs on the front, which is a super feature if you need to temporarily connect something.

Hooking it up was straightforward enough; using digital audio simplfies things since there's just one cable to be connected. One nice feature is that the device names can be changed, so that the display says "PS2" or "VCR" instead of something generic like "VIDEO 1". (I hate trying to remember if "video 3" is the DVD or computer...)

I'll classify the sound quality of the receiver as "very good" and leave it at that. I don't hear any difference between it and the NAD when playing stereo or Dolby 5.1 audio. I can hear a slight difference between DTS and Dolby 5.1 material--it's not major, but it's definitely there.

The receiver supports a ton of adjustments, both for equalization and DSP features to simulate various types of listening venues. It'd be easy to spend a month fiddling with this stuff...It also provides a convenient way to get the front/back speaker delays into the right ballpark--you can input the speaker distances and it will set the delays based on that information. Other features include simulating multiple speakers (a la Qsound) and direct analog output (bypassing the internal digital processing entirely). I do wish it had an output for a rear center speaker, but I can live without it; also, it will optionally simulate the rear center speaker.

I use the optical out to drive the DS5000. This works fairly well, but not perfectly; in particular, no conversion appears to be done from analog inputs to digital outputs (tho I would've sworn this worked at some point...), and switching digital stream types (the PS2 outputs 48Khz PCM, DVD outputs 96Khz/24bit Dolby Digital/DTS) seems to confuse either the receiver or the DS5000. I often have to power-cycle the DS5000 to get it to start working again. I haven't looked into this enough to identify the specific problem, but I can live with it.

I haven't tried the video display from the receiver (it has a video output to drive a TV for making receiver setup easier). I also haven't tried running video through the reciever, so I can't say how well it works.

The remote control...gaaah. The basic idea is fine (it has a decent 4-line alphanumeric LCD with a set of hard buttons), but the implementation is horrible. Anytime I *have* to read the manual in order to do anything at all with the remote, there's a serious problem. The remote is 2-way which is neat (it'll upload configuration data from the receiver), and while it may be remotely (ok, bad pun) useful if you have some horribly complex setup, I only used it long enough to program a learning remote with the codes I needed. Everything else is easier to do from the front panel on the receiver, and I'd hate the thought of trying to use that remote to control the other components in my system.

In short: I think it was a good value, especially as I got a pretty decent price on it. It had all the features I wanted, the sound quality is solid, and I don't have any serious complaints. It was the best choice for my particular needs, and I'm not going to need to replace it for quite a while.

I'm going to give it a 5 for "ease of use" because once it's set up it just works. Getting it set up can be a bit of a pain, but it's less intimidating than other receivers I've used. It's not as simple as the NAD, but it does a lot more, and the additional complexity is well worth it--the NAD was too simple.

The only difference between the 333 and 444 is the number and types of inputs (and I believe the 444 has some component video support). The 555 is slightly different, and is supposedly a step up in terms of audio quality--it also has several more inputs. Which one to get will depend on your specific needs--the 333 only has one coaxial digital input (and several optical inputs), while the 444 has as many coax inputs as optical.

Sound Quality,flexibilty,looks

none yet

I have used this receiver primarily for dvd playback,and the sound is awsome!I have to agree with most of the other reviews which I've read,and am beginning to get comfortable with using the remote ect.For those of you who complained about the complexity of this receiver to use,I have seen and used much more complicated receivers than this one (H/K AVR-65 for one),and from my experience with this receiver would highly recommend it to someone building a mid-level AV sound system.It really has a ton of power and sound great!

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon AVR 65

Solid looks, great home theater AND music sound, plenty of power, on screen display is a nice touch, enough tweaks to keep you occupied for weeks.

Still some hissing in the ES line, wish the EQ had a graphical frequency curve, slow and ugly remote.

SONY STR-DE545
When I first got this receiver I loved it. However, after visiting this damn site, I discovered they had a hissing problem. Sure enough, after I knew what I was listing for, I could hear the hissing. It didn't bother me at first, but it slowly grated on me when listening to music at low levels. So I took the receiver back to Sears (after owning it for 6 months) and they took it back - the first store hasseled me and wouldn't take it back, but the second store I went to took it back no questions asked.

I then went out and listened to other receivers on the market, particularly the Denon AVR-2801. The Denon sounded good, but it refused to get loud. Maxing out the volume was like level 4 on the STR-DB940, however there was no hissing.

SONY STR-DB940
I purchased a STR-DB940 (I'm sticking with Sony because at the price range you can't beat them and all my other components are Sony). The STR-DB940 was nice, sounded tons better in home theater than the STR-DE545, definitely had more power, but musically it was about the same. The STR-DB940 also hissed when in any DSP mode (not in analog direct or 5.1 inputs that bypass the DSP), with the hissing increasing with the volume level. In a dead silent room, with no music source playing, with the receiver on Cinema Studio A with Bass Boost on (the worst hissing combination on my receiver) the hissing can be barely perceived from the normal listening position at volume level 2. For comparison I listen to most CD's at 1 to 1.5 and DVD's from 2 to 2.5. So the hissing was not a real problem. The two way remote is ugly IMO (not as bad as Denon's… talk about a 1970's looking POS) and was a little slow in changing DSP modes or receiver functions, but worked instantaneously with volume and CD/DVD controls. However, in the end I took this receiver back as because of the deal I got on the STR-V333ES.

SONY STR-V333ES
The STR-V333ES rocks, it does hiss (I now think all current Sony receivers do), but not quite as bad as the STR-DB940 at high levels (which wasn't that bad). Musically things are much brighter and fuller throughout the entire sound range, and the same is true with the home theater sound. The remote is the same as the STR-DB940, so I went onto E-bay and bought a RM-PP404 (the STR-DE545 remote) which runs the receiver just fine. The two additional sound fields are great and all the tweakable parameters rock - its about time I can program the crossover frequencies at 10MHz intervals. The onscreen display is a nice touch, but I wish they included a graphical frequency curve with the EQ instead of just the frequencies and DB levels. I also like the fact the receiver displays two lines of digital text in its display so you can see the function and sound field at the same time. This receiver is unbeatable for the price I bought it for!!!
BTW no heat problems or protection mode problems… and I've been running the receiver nearly non-stop at and average of -45db for the past week. (I only have 15 days to return it if I have problems, so I'm running the receiver all day.)

If you haven't figured it out this review is more of a comparison of the three receivers I owned.

Similar Products Used:

STR-DE545 - sears, STR-DB940 ($499)-goodguys, listened to Denon-AVR-2801

True, flat sound through the power band, very good sound clarity.

runs hot, occasional volume spike (minor), and poorly designed remote.

Waited to write this review until I had owned the unit long enough for any problems to appear. At 9 months, The unit is working well & only one minor problem (more on that in a moment).

While I may not be an audiophile, spending every dollar & hour on high end gear, I know good audio when I hear it, & understand ease of use. Tend to stick with Sony, mostly from experience working at a TV station. At that level, IMHO, Sony blows the others out of the water in the quality of the image created (sound or visual), for the dollar spent.

Overall sound quality is good to excellent throughout the entire power band; clear, high clarity, flat response with little to no hiss. A very small amount of distortion is apparent at very high volume, but I am talking wall shaking, glass rattling loud.

This unit runs hot, as many Sonys do, so recommended that it be given space on top for venting. Doesn't appear to affect performance. The layout is typical and nothing out of the ordinary, the connections are easy and straightforward.

The remote could certainly use some improvement and is a disappointment. Sony developers just don't seem to get it with remotes. I have never had a Sony with a decent one. Layout is poor, slow, and overall a pain to use. My SA cable box has a better remote.

Only real problem is a spike in the volume when using the remote. When adjusting up or down, the volume would spike up and then adjust as you direct. Found that manually running the volume knob up & down a few times would solve the problem (best to turn it off), so it indicates it's a servo problem. Once tweaked, the problem will not come back for a couple of weeks.

I would recommend this unit for what it provides for the price. Sound quality is very good and if you can stand the remoe, then it's a good buy at 800 or less.

Sony's flaws--many lemon. Terrible hiss and cracking noises. This is a response to a previous entry.

When I decided to upgrade my receiver, I began looking at the Sony DB line. My first receiver was a Sony and I was a little bias to the Sony name. At the store, I decided to purchase the first model in Sony’s ES line: STR-V333ES. When I first got it, I was amazed at the quality of sound…after all, I upgraded to from a pro-logic entry-level receiver.

Than the problems started, the subwoofer hookup shorted out. I returned the unit to Tweeter (F.Y.I. Tweeter is a great store to shop at. The sales associates and managers are extremely knowledgeable and their customer service policies are the best I have seen. SHOP AT TWEETER!!!) They swapped it with another unit.

After about a week, I noticed that it would distort my music at mid to high range volume. I again returned the unit to Tweeter and was given a new 333 receiver. This unit operated fine. I began to listen to the quality of music very carefully and I was extremely disappointed with this $800 unit. Using an optical hookup on my CD player, I began to hear cracking noises at higher volume. There was also a hiss that was very noticeable and extremely annoying.

I decided to upgrade to the STR-V444ES for $200 more. (AGAIN: Tweeter’s 120 day audio upgrade policy made this possible.) Again the cracking and hiss was still there. With the extra power the hiss was louder. I am using Klipsch Reference speakers. Also, the volume control was very temperamental. When I press the down button on the remote, the volume would spike up first, than it would turn down. There was also a lack of consistency in the dB reading when I turned it up or down.

Again, I decided to upgrade. This time, I switched to Yamaha. The unit I purchased is the RX-V1000. For the same price as the Sony STR-V444ES I received a remarkable produce. The power and clarity is this receiver is outstanding. There is absolutely no hiss and cracking noises. I highly recommend purchasing Yamaha over Sony and remember, before this experience, I was bias towards Sony. Sony does, however, produce an awesome TV.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-V333ES; Sony STR-V444ES; Yamaha RX-V1000

Slow, nonintuitive remote, useless product manual

In my previous review below I forgot to mention that the infamous "hum" or "hiss" reported by other reviewers was also experienced by me until I hooked up to the top end Monster Power Center and improved the quality of both my interconnects and speaker cable. Then all was quiet.

This Sony seems somewhat like my NHT speakers-just good enough to near perfectly and ruthlessly expose any flaw in your system, including interference from a jumble of maybe not so good connects and no filtering mechanism. The old cliches about higher end stuff are true here-you'll bring out the best and worst of whatever else is in your system. Please don't blame your Sony for faithfully reproducing what you're giving it, which is sometimes not all good. A high current amplifier section like this one will reproduce your interference and ambient noise better than you've ever heard it. Try a central power filtering device and maybe improve your connecting system and all will be quiet.

This is good sound for the price if you can forgive the funky remote and Sony's horrendous technical writers. The paradox for me is that my Sony XBR400 HDTV monitor user's manual is terrific, so I know Sony has people who can enhance your ability to use this equipment hidden somewhere-we just need to tell them that an "ES" system deserves an "ES" manual for those of us who aspire greatly, but maybe aren't completely schooled and adept audiophiles on our own. I just hope everyone gets as much fun setting up really punchy, high quality sound as I have.