Sony STR-DE935

Ratings:Top:Audio/Video:Receivers:Sony STR-DE935

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Sony STR-DE935
I have had this unit for about two years and think I use every feature built into it. Picked it up at Best Buy (open box) for $399. Store clerk told me a guy had just returned it because his wife said "no way" when she saw the price! Bought mine before I got married! I bought it primarily for the dual S-Video inputs and monitor S-Video out feature. I also use the sub out, the 2nd audio out, fiber DVD and CD connections and all of the RCA inputs and outputs. Spend the money for the fiber feature on a DVD player. I strongly recommend adding a sub if you don't have one. I picked up a JBL 12" self powered for $275 at Best Buy. Don't skimp on subs with amps less than 150 watts!

ACOUSTIC CONTROLS
The preconfigured surround settings are well configured but lack the ability to create your own custom configuration. You can modify the preconfigured settings but I often find myself resetting the receiver to return everything to default and start over. This is done by holding the power button for five seconds. Unfortunately, you lose all your station presets when you do this. The memory on the 935 is so big it remembers all your surround settings for each individual device. Example, it will remember you want "automatic format decode" for the DVD and 2 channel stereo for the CD. It also remembers custom equalization settings for each input device. The room setup features work great. You can configure the height of your surround speakers, distance to the audience and size of speakers for power settings. I do miss the old standard bass and treble controls. When adjusting your acoustic settings, selecting what you want from the menu and skipping to what you want to adjust can be cumbersome but I guess there is no other easy way to get individual control over bass, mid and treble for each set of speakers.

A blue light turns on when the receiver detects 5.1 and DTS movie encoding which is very helpful, especially in a dark room.

REMOTE
I have mostly Sony peripherals. The remote controls my sat rcvr, 5-disc cd changer, DVD and VCR. I use the Sony sat remote to control my Toshiba big screen TV. One aggravating thing with the remote is the navigation through DVD menus. To navigate you have to select the device (DVD) on the remote, open the lid, press the down arrow, select down with the thumb control to select DVD again instead of receiver then use the arrows to navigate. By the time you finish reading the DVD menu, the remote has already reset back to receiver and you have to thumb down again. I know this sounds trivial but it is a pain!

The backlit remote feature is nice and the two AA batteries last at least six months. The 2-way remote downloading feature is cool. Program your settings into the receiver such as custom device names and radio stations and the remote will download them into the display. Seems like remote has a lot of 3rd party device selections but I haven't really used this feature with all Sony components.

AMP
Yes, the amp gets hot! To preserve the life of the receiver I would not cover the vents. I have even added a small 12volt fan externally to keep it cool. With the sub addition this receiver rocks! While watching Eyes Wide Shut, the mirror in my bathroom was vibrating on the wall. I have a pair of Cerwin Vega front speakers with a 93 SPL rating and I can't turn the volume on the 935 over 50% without hurting my ears. Distortion kicks in around 75% volume but don't know if that's due to my speakers capability or the receiver. Doubt you would want it that high anyway. Speakers with an SPL rating of 92 or higher will help you get the most out of this unit! SPL ratings lower than 92 will eat up all the current in the amp and produce less volume.

CONS
I really wish this receiver had the option to add an equalizer. There aren't any preamp in/out jacks. I suspect this is because any deviation between left and right equalizer settings would really mess with the accuracy of the surround sound since a lot of the surround ambience is based on differences between left and right channels.

I have only had the 935 NOT decode a DTS encoded movie once. I select DTS on the DVD menu but the receiver defaulted to Prologic. No biggy, this only happened once.

REVIEW
I would definitely buy this receiver again. The 935 is the center of my home audio system and will stay in place until the next major movie audio encoding feature comes out. No idea what that will be because the 935 sounds great now. I have done surround sound demos for friends and they are always impressed. They suggest there isn't any reason to go to the movies when you have all this at home!

9 rating is because of lack of cooling fan and DVD menu remote issue. Otherwise buy a 935!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=27644

Sony STR-DE935
the sound quality is good for music, not so good with music. I prefer darker sound compared to bright sound- I should have gotten a HK or a Marantz. I have polk audio speakers just for this reason. i can't stand infinity or klipsh- way too bright they sound like they're in a tin can. True sound is not the same as turning your treble up +10. the sony is good i've had it for 5years plus w/no problems, but for music it just sounds brittle. doesn't have the refinement of a marantz, denon or HK.

Overall Rating: 8
Sound Quality:6 Features:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=406145

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