Power, value, durability.

hmmm...for the price?

I bought this unit last month on a whim to add a second, small stereo to my den. Our house is getting some renovation done and this poor little thing was sitting in it's box on a table when a ceiling, yes, the ceiling, fell in on top of it. I took the opened box with receiver in stow out onto the back porch to clean it off, and left it there for the afternoon. Then it rained. Poured. I came back to find it swimming in water, plaster and god knows what else. I pulled the receiver from the box and tipped it sidewaws, cascading water from its black innards. I thought it was as good as dead. I plugged it in today just to make sure, dry of course, and it WORKS PERFECTLY.

I don't buy from you often but Good Job, Sony!

As for the sound quality? It's fine for what I'm using it for, as a second, minor stereo - audio only. No complaints. For 130 bucks I will not be demanding nor critical of its sonic nuances.

So far so good - if you're looking for an inexpensive piece to drive a pair of speakers, go for it.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Pioneer

Great Power and sound clarity for the money, Simplicity of design, no bells and whistles

poorly designed remote, lack of preamp outputs

This reciever is a bargain. If you are like me and only want to hear music, not movies, then this is a great reciever for the money. It has a good sound for the price, and a good amount of power. I have only driven it to clipping once, and that was only after I had turned the volume up far beyond comfortable listening levels. I would prefer that it have a preamp output for a sub, or powered speakers, but at this price level, i guess that is expected. Overall, a helluva deal.

Lots of power, clean sound, low price, pretty good tuner

none at this price

You absolutely cannot beat the value for the $$$. Sound is comparable to my Onkyo Integra unit which has 105 W/ch. Sure, there are some compromises, what do you expect for $140? The Onkyo has better FM, handles difficult loads better, has a solider low end, and has better quality connectors. But it cost over 3 times as much and weighs about 3 times as much.

Mine lives in the living room providing stereo sound from FM and CD, and providing enhanced TV sound for movies. CD is a Sony CDP-X500 and the speakers are properly set-up Bose AM-5's (see my review on those). The remote works nicely with the X500.

I probably would not use this unit with 4 ohm speakers, or those which present the amp with a really difficult load. One review noted that the A/B switch gave less volume on the B setting. Probably because of a load resistor in series with the B switch to prevent overloading the amp by low impedence loads. A clue that it can't handle low impedence loads well. So I'd stick to speakers with a 6-8 ohm rating.

Used intelligently it's a hell of a deal.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo TX-870, JVC, Pioneer, Adcom seperates

Low price

Too much hiss

I bought this to use in my secondary audio system where I just wanted good sound at an economy price. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The level of hiss was unacceptable. With the receiver powered on, but nothing playing, I could hear the hiss from 10 feet away, regardless of the volume setting. Maybe I just got a bad sample. No other reviewer has mentioned a problem like this. Other than the hiss, the sound was OK, but not as good as the Sony STR-DE435, an inexpensive surround receiver. I returned the unit (STR-DE135). Thanks to Best Buy for their good return policy.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DE435

Full bandwith low thd

None for the its use

I picked this receiver up the other day because I felt that I needed some music at work and did not want to spend an arm and a leg. At the bottom of the food chain in Sony's consumer line, the STR-DE135 is a solid preformer. I would compare it to the bottom of the line Sony ES line in terms of price vs. preformance. I have yet to be impressed by such a modestly price piece of equipment such as this, but I was not dissapointed in the least. A great product at a great price.

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Just about every receiver out there

The bass, especially lower bass is lacking. It's hard to listen to the music at low levels w/ adequate bass. Plain looking.

A good basic receiver for an average size room. If you listen to music that doesn't have a lot of bass than this one might be ok for you.

Similar Products Used:

Aiwa, Technics

Simple operation, good value for price

Remote functions only for receiver

We needed a replaement for a 1975 Kenwood receiver that still worked great, but only had manual tuning. Found this unit for a good price and it is simple enough for my non-technical wife to operate. I wish the manufacturers would get together and standardize remote functions, then I could control my Teac Tape deck and my Teac CD player with this remote.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Teac

high power, good quality amplifiers, value

This is an excellent receiver for the price. I am using it with Infinity SM225 speakers. It should be noted that the receiver and amplifier in the STR-DE135 have the same specs (freq response, THD, power) as the more expensive STR-DE845. If you don't need/want surround sound and fancy dsp effects, then this is a great receiver. After having it for about a month, I still don't have any complaints.

Clear, Powerful Sound. Has all the basics.

Remote is too long and too Sony. They could have scratched half of its funtionality, (Mini-Disc, Tape Decks (A & B!!) to reduce the length and it would have been fine.

First of all, I don't understand these reviews talking about, say "turning the volume up to 3". My unit has no
units for mesuring the volume. Just a single mark on the dial!

I purchased this unit to upgrade from the handicapped world
of an integrated unit. Being that I am not at a point where
I can't afford (nor do I have the room for) an entire HomeTheater setup, this unit seemed an ideal choice. I have this powering a pair of PhaseTech 6.5's. It can overpower them when brought up to about 4/5 max output. The sound is solid and clear. It has a 'bass boost' feature, but I never use it as it can create an unwanted 'hiss'. It sounds fine w/o anyway.

In summary, a fine "meat and potatoes" unit for the price. Despite a few minor inconveniences, It behaves quite well :)

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic integrated unit.

simple

a/b operation sucks

Good product thats simple and delivers solid power. For $150 bucks, its not a bad deal. The A/B channel operation is poor. One pair plays louder than the other. Overall its a 4 star product.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood