A Little Background


This receiver was part of an install that I performed for a friend in his new home. It acts as the media hub for CDX-455 400 disc changer, TC-KA9ES tape deck, KV-40XBR800 television, an SLV-N99, a DVP-NS755V DVD player, and his cable box. All speaker cables are, much to my chagrin, 18g and the interconnects are those right out of the various component boxes or those he has had for years anyway, nothing high end at all. Considering the rest of his system, I feel that he really skimped on the most important unit, i.e. the receiver, but it wasn’t my call. I have a feeling he’ll upgrade soon though, many of the little niggling points I will make in this review are becoming more apparent, and occasionally annoying, to him and his wife.

Although his cassette deck has been around for a while as has his Mini DV that he occasionally uses the front panel input for, the CD, TV, DVD, and VCR are new. With this in mind, and all things being almost equal, it gives us the opportunity to fairly assess the receiver’s ability and overall quality using a number of different sources. Also, we can judge its ability to pass on said signals to other devices, like the television or back to the VCR. As my friend is a rather serious gamer, he has a XBOX running through his system as well, and surprisingly the 685 is set up quite well for this, but more on that later. The bottom line though is that this little unit is able to take on quite a variety of inputs, though what I have described so far puts it at its max.



More History


The DE is Sony’s low-end consumer line receiver, whether the 485 or the 985. Moving up from that we find the DB class in the middle and the DA’s at the top also bearing the ES moniker. The 685 is the second generation we have seen of the new overall style change in Sony receivers. Most notably, they now feature smaller a chassis, no longer measuring the standard 17” we had seen for the almost ten years, previous to the introduction of the 75 series, a girth the ES series still maintains. Also, the front panel’s, though relatively useful, have become cluttered and are now made of light plastic “caps”, if you will, as opposed to extruded aluminum or firmer, heavier polycarbonate or ABS pieces. Another change we have seen, that the 685 stays true to, is the center mounted jog dial, which first appeared on the 35s slightly off center then fully so with the 75s, now featuring the volume knob back on the right again.

Having been an owner of a DE-805G, DE-905G, DB-940, DA-90ES, and presently a DA-555ES, but still closely following the DE models as they have come out, I have seen these changes manifest themselves at shocking speed. Where Sony used to introduce a new model upgrade about every twelve months, usually in October, we have seen some units out for sometimes as little as 8 months before a new one is brought to market. It can certainly be said that much of this has to do with so many of the new media processing methods coming down the pike at an alarming rate, whether Pro-Logic II, or some of the newer X.1 (6.1, 7.1, etc) formats, whether matrixed or discrete. Sony wants to keep up, but unfortunately, it seems, at the expense of the once remarkable low-end quality many of us went to them for.



Fit, Finish, and First Impressions


This receiver is packed relatively well, but nothing out of the ordinary. With the exception of the netflix promo, the manuals, warranty, remote, and receiver itself are wrapped thoroughly and securely. The box itself is about half the thickness of an ES or DB offering, but it is appropriate for the price paid I suppose. The unit itself is surprisingly lightweight, but from the sound levels it can produce one might never notice or care.

Upon plugging it in and turning it on the sound of the circuits switching on was reassuring, but there was pronounced speaker thump, so beware and be sure the volume is all the way down. The way the front plate (plastic) is mounted onto the body of the receiver tightly, but doesn’t look like a perfect fit. The rear panel seems firm as well, but flexed quite a bit as we hooked up the various components.

Just from looking through the vents on the top one can see there is plenty extra room inside. Also, it seems the internal capacitors are tiny at best as is the transformer. I have to qualify this a little, we are talking about a $300 receiver, not a $1500 ES offering. With that in mind, I can say comfortably that it is equivalent as far as circuit topology with other receivers that share this price point. Ultimately, on your shelf or in your audio cabinet, it does look good despite what I feel is a slightly cluttered front panel.



Connections and Functionality


Connectivity is quite good for a receiver of this price and should be more than adequate for the majority of buyers, even if not set up the way I did this one. Presently connected to this receiver are 4 permanent video sources and occasionally a fifth through the front panel as well as 2 external audio sources, not including the internal audio source, i.e., the tuner. The unit itself is not really set up for this quantity of devices, but doubling up on some of the inputs by using component input and the standard connections allows this.

The video from the DVD and the XBOX are run through the component inputs (DVD/Video Two) and the audios are run through the digitals, optical for the XBOX, coaxial for the DVD. The VCR (audio and video) is run through Video One and the TV signal (audio and video) is run through the standard RCAs intended for the DVD player. When the TV is on, the DVD stays off and there are no worries. Granted this requires a little extra switching, but he feels the extra capability is worth the extra effort. Potentially he could use the standard RCAs of the Video Two for even another video source, but he prefers to use the front panel for his Mini DV cam.

Speaking of the front panel, I mentioned that I felt it was slightly cluttered, but in reality, once again, only about as much as other units in the same price class. I prefer more of the simple functions to be the ones you see up front and the more advanced behind a panel or on the remote, in the case of this receiver this isn’t as much as an issue simply because there really aren’t enough functions to make this kind of design style point necessary. Once familiar with the unit, if you aren’t already a Sony user, most functions one might need to execute for things like DVD/VCR/TV watching or just listening to FM radio are easy to set in motion whether from the remote or the front panel itself. From what I have experienced myself and from what I have seen from other users, including the owner and wife of this unit, is that most people rely primarily on the remote.

Ultimately what it really comes down to is that this unit is almost pushed to its max but still performs flawlessly. Most people will not use it so extensively, in fact I strongly recommended he go for a DB, or even better an ES unit, but at the absolute minimum an STR-DE885 which has a dedicated TV/SAT (and Phonograph) input. For now they are happy with it, though they, as I do, feel the sound quality from the digital sources could be better, let me tell you more.



Sound and Vision


From analog sources, like a tape deck or VCR, the sound is quite good for the price, clear and real. The digital processing of said analog signals can get a little fuzzy in my opinion, but for most folks, especially first time digital receiver buyers, it should be fine. When volume levels are pushed to his speakers maximum, unprocessed sound from either the VCR or tape, is clear enough even at high volumes to reveal flaws in the source, (not bad for a $330 receiver), as opposed to being masked by distortion.

From digital sources the sound could be a lot better. The folks I installed this for seem to like it, but they also really like Bose products, take that as you will. The sound, in my opinion has a subtle whine in the background and an overall fuzziness similar to what I hear when analog signals are processed digitally. Kind of like taking a picture just slightly out of focus, you might have to look closely to see it, but its there, whether you like it or not. At lower listening levels it is not as noticeable, I might say, almost not at all.

This receiver does not produce any video signals, but it does transfer quite a few and does so rather well. It is always best to limit the amount of extra units or extra processing any signal must endure to maintain the optimal quality of that signal. This true in any application, whether home theatre or home computer. Being that the TV used as the monitor, though digital, is a 40” CRT. As such, any imperfection in the video source, or any lack of ability of an in-line processing unit, i.e. the receiver, will stick out like a sore thumb. The upside is that using a single (or in this case two) inputs on the TV limits the amount of switching necessary, so in this case convenience outweighs the picture quality as a priority.



The Remote


Not only has Sony thoroughly updated the look of the DE series, they have been doing the same with their remotes from the shape and size to the color which has made a partial move over to silver. This remote is actually pretty good looking with a matte black section up top and a satin silver on the bottom half. The remote is set up rather well. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is intuitive, but once learned most people should be able to operate it in the dark without looking at it all. There are useful little rubber nubs on some of the buttons to help one feel their way around which is something Sony has been doing for years. If you look at your keyboard, you may see the very same thing on your F and J keys. The remote has 100’s functions you can program for many, many electronics brands, but it is not a learning remote, so if some of you’re A/V equipment is a brand that might be considered a little obscure you may be out of luck, but I doubt it.


Final Thought


Granted I have spent quite some time nitpicking every little thing about this receiver from the audio to the video to the build to the aesthetics it really comes down to this; after all the dissection and breakdown, for the price and for the features this model offers it is a good, inexpensive little unit for the average consumer.


Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 299