Great receiver for home theater.
Written: Jul 16 '03
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Pros: Awesome sound, great value, high power, and lots of features.
Cons: Unusable remote control. Manual could be more comprehensive.
The Bottom Line: Feature rich, great sound. You'll have to spend considerably more to to get even a little better sound quality.
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| levinro's Full Review: Sony STR-DA4ES 7.1 Channels Receiver |
The STR-DA4ES is part of a new home theater system I installed in my basement which includes the Energy speakers configured with a pair of C-9's in front, a C-C1 in center, a pair of C-R1 on the sides and the S10.2 subwoofer. I have it set up as 5.1 for now even though it can handle 7.1.
The receiver is connected to an HDTV cable box, a progressive scan DVD player, PlayStation2, and an old VHS VCR.
The sound is clear and true. I use this system most by watching DVD movies from Netflix. My first test was to watch the battle scenes from the movie Pearl Harbor. WOW! Lord of the Rings...ScArY!
The next is with a number of CDs. They sound really great. Then comes the shoot 'em ups and car racing games in PlayStation. - Holy cow! That will get the pulse up.
A neat feature is the "Auto Decode" where it detects the best sound mode from the incoming signal - Dolby, Prologic, 2 speaker stereo, THX...whatever. You can also force it into any one of the modes you like. I've found that the auto mode does very well.
I have not tried SACD yet. There are a bunch of sound altering functions such as making it sound like you are in a church or stadium with reverb. These are fun for a few minutes, but I prefer to listen to the sound as it was intended.
The AM/FM quality is only mediocre, but I was told to expect that since the system is located in the basement, I did not run an antenna up the wall, and I am geographically far from the radio station transmitters. I can't blame the receiver for this since it is getting only a weak signal.
The receiver output and displays are all customizable - you tell it the type of speakers, which channels they are on and how far you will sit from each. Pretty cool! It takes a little time to fully understand what all the settings are doing. The manual could be more comprehensive, so there is a bit of trial and error. There is also an On Screen Display (OSD) that makes it a bit more helpful. Note that the will not come through the component output, so be sure you have your TV on the correct (non-component) video input to see the OSD.
The remote is the only truly disappointing thing. First, the remote that came with the receiver failed to function. The store immediately replaced it, but they shouldn't have bothered. It is so clumsy - it takes 3 button presses a roll of the roller and one more press of the roller to change the channel - crazy! It has a backlit LCD screen so it looks impressive at first - but after only a few minutes, I realized it had to be
replaced.
There is a trick to using a replacement remote with the receiver - the receiver has a command mode and the default is AV2. This must be changed to AV1 for you to use a replacement remote. This is done through the receiver setup menu. I bought the Sony RM-V302 for $15 and it controls all of my components in a very simple manner.
I went to the Sony website for some of my setup questions and I found it to be helpful.
When I was shopping, most receivers with the power and sound quality (Onkyo, Pioneer, etc) were in the $1200 area - so when I heard this one at $600 it was a no-brainer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 600
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Epinions.com ID:
levinro
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Reviews written: 4
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