Tag : 1 channel, surround sound, receiver, am fm, sony str, audio video

Company : Sony List Price : Amazon Price : Used Price : Average customer review :

Features

• 7.1-channel audio/video surround receiver with 30 radio presets and 90 full-range watts per channel x 6
• Dolby Digital EX, DTS ES/Neo:6/96:24, and Dolby Pro Logic II/IIx 6.1-channel surround processing for lifelike, exciting audio from any source
• Features Sony’s Digital Cinema Sound System with Cinema Studio EX for full, cinema-like sound
• Three composite-video, 2 assignable HD capable component video inputs and 1 output
• Measures 16.9 x 6.25 x 14.5 inches (W x H x D)

Product Description

SONY STR-DE698 / B is an affordable heart and brain of a home-theater surround sound system that, when connecting the audio from a DVD, VCR, or TV, delivers superb stereo and surround audio performance. Analog Audio Input x 3, Analog Audio Output x 1, Digital Audio Input x 4 - (3 Optical, 1 Coaxial), Optical Audio Output x 1, Pre-Out x 1 (Subwoofer), Composite Video Input x 4, Composite Video Output x 1, S-Video Input x 3, S-Video Output x 1, Component Video Input x 2 (HD Pass 80 MHz) and Component Video Output x 1 (HD Pass 80 MHz) 32-bit Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic and dts decoder 32-bit DSP with 11 Acoustic Environments Includes - Instruction Manual, Remote Speakers and Speaker Wire optional Black Finish

Customer reviews

Great Reciever!!!
This is an awsome reciever!!! It replace my 10 year old Sony Reciever, which I used atleast eight hours a day. Wow, how things have changed with recievers, but for the better. One of the great thing about this reciever is th Auto Calibration, which automatically sets up the surround sound (like distance of each speaker from reciever for instance? Even with all the plugs on the back it was easy setting/hooking up the reciever and every plug is well marker. Another great thing is the ability to hook everything directly to the reciever with HDMI cables. I could go on and on, but I won’t. If you are looking to buy a HIGH quality reciever, this is the one. Sony is the best!

RD

Very good receiver for the bucks
Why spend more? This has it all, enough power for a living room, nice appearance, and plenty of inputs. Leaves money to spend on dvd players, recorders, and speakers.

Value, convenience, performance
This was purchased to replace a much more costly Harman Kardon 5.1 receiver, which I found had a weak FM tuner and difficult to configure surround settings. The Sony has been a pleasant surprise; good FM, more than adequate power and the 7.1 surround is quite and improvement over the 5.1. The remote is even user friendly (though I use a Sony touch screen universal). I think it may have a slightly edgy sound (compared to the H-K); but I’m always looking for flaws because of the low price!

For years I used Sony products until their reliability became very poor. But recently that seems to have changed, happily enough.

Sony Slips
The price looked right, but as others have mentioned this receiver has:

*a poor layout for inputs,

*a terrible manual,

*a difficult remote,

Sony is coasting on their name with this one.

In addition, after a period of full, normal operation the unit began to go into “Protect” mode… there was little information available (not in the manual), so I began troubleshooting, as recommended in some online forums, by removing all connections - and found that the unit still entered “Protect” mode with nothing else (components, speakers, etc.) connected… power on… protect mode. Very frustrating to have no information from Sony.

This “Protect” issue taken with the other afforementioned and unrelated design and documentation faults led me to return the unit and go in a different direction.

I spent a little more and purchased a Pioneer VSX-1015TXK; I have been much happier with the Pioneer unit. I also considered the Harman Kardon AVR 240, but this Pioneer has proved to be a winner. I recommend you stay away from Sony until they get it right.

Gets the job done nicely
If you need to drive your 7.1 surround speakers, this SONY does a nice job. It is not the best out there, but it may very well be the best one for the money. All video sources are “upconverted” to S-VIDEO to send them all to your TV with one cable. It took a little while to figure out which surround modes sounded best and how to seperatly adjust the volume on the surrounds, but it does great when properly tweeked. The ProLogic-II modes do great on movies and games. This is a great value, but the universal remote dose not work all my gear.