Sony STR-DE895.. Any Comments??? (1 Viewer)

[John Doh]

I am thinking about purchasing this receiver to power my budget home theater. It has grabbed my attention for two reasons, features and color. I want the solver option and all the features offered seem staggering. Any thoughts?

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Putting the color aside, how about buying a good used receiver ?? Have you considered that option?

 

[Bill Will]

Myself, If I was looking for a low-priced "NEW" receiver I would probably go with a Pioneer but I don't think they come in silver? If you wanted a really cheap silver receiver I would go with the Technics SA-HE100 This receiver had some pretty good reviews & can be had for under $250 What is the price of the Sony DE you are looking at? You might also want to give us the features you want & how much you can afford to spend. Myself I never was a big fan of Sony "DE" Receivers.

 

[John Doh]

No Wayne, I do not want to buy a used receiver, but it sounds like you may one to sell!!!

The Sony I am looking at has received great reviews that I have seen and it cost about $300. It has buttloads of features and ther color goes with my home theater scheme with my Sony 40XBR800 WEGA HDTV. So color, yes, is a wanted option. I was hoping to get some input from people who have this receiver or have compared it to others in the same category. Thanks!

 

[Steve Adams]

Forget the DE sony line. it's useless. pioneer made the vsx-d811 in silver. very nice rig, not as many bells and wistles as the "sorry", but if you are serious about home theater, you will never use that junk anyways. What the pioneer has is good clean sound, with useful features. The other options are the panasonic he-100, very good for the money, much better sound than the sony. 6.1, dts-es, neo 6, yada yada yada. check these out, you will be much happier....

 

[Andrew Pierce]

I have a Sony ES receiver, but I would never consider a DE line. The features, processing and ergonomics are good but the DE line amps tend to be worst in class, and that's what its all about. The Pioneer 811 is a good suggestion in that price range, and also consider the HK AVR125, the Denon 1603, and maybe the Panasonic SA-HE100, Kenwood VR-7060 or VR-7070 (might be a price stretch).

 

[Skyler]

Stay away from non ES Sony.

Kenwood with THX & a sweet remote.
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=191559

The new sony ES line is silver.
http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...&cc=01&g=10420

 

[Wayne Ernst]

John,

Actually, I don't have one to sell. I see your desire to have a silver piece of equipment, though. Too bad you don't have a need for a black receiver - because, like I said, the used selection offers quite a few to pick from.

Best of luck in your purchase. As the others have stated, you might want to avoid the non "ES" flavors of Sony receivers. The "DE" series will not deliver the power as promised ... and is kind of lacking.

 

[John Doh]

This is the kind of input I need. I am totally new to the "component" HT setups. I currently have a HTIB system I bought 4 years ago that blows booty. For this system, I want a much nicer system, but without sounding too much like a chick, I want it to flow with the room in the looks department (I kinda feel like a chick saying that). Anyways, what Andrew said about the line amps, I have no clue how all that factors in. Let me say this though, I am not an audiophile or claim to have ears of gold to depict certain characteristics of sound from other quality levels. I am however looking to fill up a 12x13 foot room with a solid, but not too fancy HT setup to compliment my new TV from Sony. I don't know if this helps or not but in the speaker forum, I got some help and came up wth this speaker setup..

All JBL ~

S-Center II
S-38 II (Fronts)
S-36 II (Surrounds)
PB12 Subwoofer

Up until now I was looking to buy the STR-DE895 receiver and so I can have a progressive-scan DVD player and a VCR (kids tapes) I was looking to get the Sony SLV-D500P combo unit, also silver (heh). I am going to go back and look and the receivers mentioned above, but would really like to stick with one brand for the AV components (less remotes). Keep in mind that I am looking for a budget to mid-range HT component system and am not necessarily looking to buy the best of each source, keeping it fairly uniform in brand, color and performance/features. Anyone got a total solution? Thanks for all the input!

 

[John Doh]

Skyler,

I just clicked the link on the 7080 Kenwood, and that is an awesome price, and it includes free ground shipping! People, is this Kenwood VR7080 a good piece? $345 shipped seems really low especially being Crutchfield has it for $600.

 

[Bill Will]

At that price I would give the Kenwood a shot. The only drawback to the Kenwood is that the Component Video Inputs Bandwidth is only 10 Mhz which will not pass HDTV signals if that is important to you. But your Sony TV has enough Component Inputs to hook HD signals directly to it anyway which you are better off doing than hooking them through the receiver anyway.