Customer Reviews
The sony is a very good home 7.1 home theater receiver.
The sony is a very good surround sound receiver...It is rated at 100 watts x 7,but dont believe these ratings...Like many receivers,their power rating are based on one or two channels driven...If you were to do a full power test driving all 7 channels,at once you would get about 60 watts per channel...If you try for more power the unit would shut down,overheat,or go into current limiting...Most mid level receivers wimp out this way...This is why some people will complain that their unit is less powerful than expected...You need high current capibility,and low impedence drive,For great sound...Enough said...The sony has very good sound and puts out about 60 real watts x 7...The am-fm tuner is good..The sony has a phono input for your record collection,and a good mix of connectivity options.The audio is clean and open,but for 249.99,dont expect top notch performance...I found the remote to be more difficult,than it should be...I dropped my rating one star beause of the remote...A good deal...Please make sure you purchase from a retailer with a good refund/exchange policy,of at least 30 days...4 star rated thank you stewart L.
Fantastic
For the money, this reciever really packs a lot of features into one unit.
The Tuner is very clear, and very good. The array of assignable inputs are great, and it is really only missing a 1/8" input for a computer of ipod (but, you can get an adapter to plug it into the phono hookup). This really is a fantastic unit, and compared to other similar units for the same price (Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon, Harmon) this one stands out for me. (and sounds fantastic).
A few issues:
The remote control wont allow you to scan through the tuner's available stations (only does through presets, so you have to program first.. and there is no memory button on the remote so you have to program right AT the unit).
no HDMI, so, it is sadly already outdated... (but I don't have a tv anyway)
Comments on other reviewer's posts:
The remote is VERY easy to program, and has 2 macro buttons that you can have the remote 'watch' and 'learn' another remote do up to 10 commands. I have one of my macros programmed to advance my dvd player's current disc, and another to go into the next folder of an mp3 cd/dvd. a 3 button procedure, sped up by programming into one button.
The instructions are very straight-forward, and it isn't as broad as you would think, well, because this unit doesn't expose much of it's features to the user.. you can't adjust and fiddle with EVERYTHING. but, yeah, a lot of time is spent presenting the wiring layout.
I am VERY pleased; this is my family's third sony reciever, and my first personal unit.
The digital processing features alone are amazing, and really, plugging anything into it besides a digital source is a shame.
Excellent, especially considering the price.
I wanted a receiver that let me aggregate all input, have only one output to TV, and provided decent sound for my living room - and STR-DE898 fit the bill. Its ability to upconvert composite and S-video to component will come in handy once I upgrade to HDTV.
Unlike other reviewers, I found directions very legible, and the remote is also very easy to program and get used to. Though I can see how it might frustrate people with oversize hands. I had no problem getting the remote to drive my DVD player, cable box, and 2 VCRs. Any functionality that is not covered by entering a manufacturer code can be learned via by-the-button programming. One caveat: you need to switch to needed source via remote. If you switch to say, DVD using dial on the receiver, remote will not know you are in 'DVD mode'. You'll need to press 'DVD' on remote in order for it to control DVD - and so on.
A couple gripes: first, seeing how it has only two coax digital inputs, it is frustrating that you cannot assign a coax to an input that's covered by optical. I.E. my cable box has only coax digital out, but receiver has only optical digital in for TV/SAT, and you cannot assign the CD coax in over to TV/SAT. I ended up getting a coax-to-optical converter. Another: would love a bit more extensive equalizer. But seeing how I got this for just $265, I hardly have reasons to complain.
