Sony STR-DE997 7.1-Channel Audio/Video Receiver (120 Watts x 7)

Rating:
Summary: Documentation/Remote Flaws
Review: Great receiver, features sound and looks. Price/Performance can't be beat. However, this is a complicated piece of electronics and the supplied manual doesn't do it justice. Receiver setup (if you wish to depart from the default) requires tedious trial and error when good documentation would have stepped you through it. Basics like defining the function of each control on the face of the receiver are missing. I've spent a few hours trying to program the remote -- with out success. It's frustrating to have a great machine with rediculously inadequate documentation.

Rating:
Summary: Packed with Features and Great Sound
Review: I'll admit that I'm a bit of a newcomer when it comes to home theater. But I am a musician and a former professional audio engineer, so I think I have a fairly well-tuned pair of ears. This unit is loaded with handy features, like acting as a switchbox for video sources, with numerous switching options, a wide variety of input and output connections, and a means of labeling your tuner presets. Some of the bells and whistles are really unnecessary, but it's easy to disregard the ones you don't want to use.

The 7.1 surround sounds great if you have any media encoded with it. There's very little out there right now, but the Star Wars trilogy DVDs are encoded with "Dolby Digital 5.1 EX," which is essentially 7.1, and they sound fantastic. 5.1 source material (both Dolby Digital and DTS) sounds great, too. You can use Pro Logic II to simulate a 7.1 soundtrack, but it really doesn't do much other than spreading the sound out a little, which is a nice effect, although subtle.

The unit reproduces other digital sources very well also, such as CDs and the coaxial feed from my digital cable box. Analog sources are reproduced effectively and adequately (including my turntable), although they seem dull in comparison to the digital sources. But that's probably not the fault of the unit so much as it is the source material.

A word of caution: make sure you take the time to set up the unit and your speakers properly. It took me a week or two of trying different settings and different speaker placements before I finally got it all sounding the way I wanted it.

Overall, I'd say that this is a pretty darn good receiver for its price range. If you're looking for something good and versatile in a mid-level range, you could do a lot worse.

Rating:
Summary: simple enough for me to use
Review: unsure why the tech nerd had problems with the manual.
i followed it to setup all my speakers (6.1 config).
i used it to reassign a digital input.
i started programming my remote within 1 minute... just like the manual said. i tought it the codes for my Scientific Atlanta HD recorder and the DISH box, and it already knew about my Philips DVD player. Now its the only remote i have to use.

i'm into HDTV, so the component switching was neccessary for me to accomodate several HD inputs - works fine, PLUS it upconverts my older DISH Network receiver's s-video output and goes out the component plug just fine - just 1 year ago receivers wouldn't do this and this was a shock for me - svideo has never looked so good on my tv.

there is one problem though with the optical input jacks - sony started using a type with a little flap door - and if you use a cheaper optical cable, it can hang when inserted, so when you yank it out, it tears the door off and makes that optical input unusable. I bet Sony will learn and soon abandon this type of connector, but for now, be careful if you plug in a cable and it won't come back out easily... if this happens, you may just want to leave it in there.