Anyone used the Sony DAVS500? (1 Viewer)

[David Ely]

I've been looking for a new music system for my bedroom. So far, I've been looking at the following hardware.
Kenwood VR-507 Receiver
Polk Audio RT25i
Sony SCDCE775 SACD Player
I have an old Sony center and rears that I'd use for multi-channel listening.
While I was looking around the net, I came across the Sony DAVS500. This is basically a home-theater-in-a-box. It comes with 5 small cube speakers, powered sub and a DVD player. This system has support for DTS and multi-channel SACD.
I haven't found any place to demo this system. What concerns me is the small cube speakers. From previous experience, I'd think that they'd sound pretty lousy.
Has anyone here tried this system? Or maybe just heard good/bad things about it?

 

[Trevor Schell]

Hi David!,
I had this system for the bedroom but took it back for a refund.
Overall, I was attracted to it for the reason of its compactness and the features of DTS,DD and SACD.
However, no matter how much I tried to like it, I could not convince myself to keep it.
Watching a movie was Ok, but listening to music was where this system lacked. Music CD playback was terrible. At first I blamed the small cube speaker and picked up a more expensive higher range set. This made no difference at all. Bottom line was the amp section or CD drive was the reason for the poor muddy sound quality.
After returning it, I picked up the Panasonic SC-HT290 which is a much better system for a few dollars more.
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Trevor..

Link Removed Sonically Enhanced
*Outdated pictures due to recent upgrades!

 

[KeithH]

Trevor, your experience with the DAV-S500 is most disappointing. Although I would never expect all-world performance from a home theater-in-a-box system, I would have expected better from Sony given that they incorporated SACD playback into the 'S500. In fact, I would have thought the cube speakers would be the weak link, but your experience after changing speakers is disconcerting. A lot of shelf systems and home theater-in-a-box systems provide nothing more than looks. The 'S500 certainly looks nice. I wonder if the DAV-C700 is any better. It has a five-disc DVD/CD/SACD changer, but I wonder if there are other differences between it and the 'S500. I haven't researched these systems too much.
Does you Panasonic system offer DVD-Audio?
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My:
HT Pics ; Equipment List ; DVD Collection ; LD Collection
KeithH: Saving the Home Theater World Before Bedtime

 

[Mark F Hall]

I purchased one for my office combined with a 13" Wega and a Sony DVP-NC600 changer and have had none of the problems mentioned. Music CDs (regular and DTS) sound good to me and with the SACD capability it really sounds great for such a small system. I would not recommend it for a big room.
For the money ($499) it is great. Sony's DVD/SACD player is $299 List.
Mark

 

[David Ely]

I think I'm going to spend the extra cash and go with the hardware I was originally looking at. I think that it'll be worth it for the added performance.