Sony STR-DE695 Surround Sounds Receiver
Written: Jul 25 '04
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Pros: Great sound, lots of digital inputs, easy to use, packed with features
Cons: remote not truly universal, small buttons and it broke after 3 months
The Bottom Line: Overall: full of features, very easy to use, great sound. I definitely recommend!
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| dysan's Full Review: Sony STR-DE695 6.1 Channels Receiver |
I really love buying Sony products. I've never really been let down with anything of theirs that I've purchased. This receiver has definitely lived up to that. I purchased this receiver about 6-9 months ago and I use it every day. I have my satellite, DVD, VCR, and Xbox hooked up to it. I absolutely LOVE IT!! The sound is awesome, especially if you've got a true digital surround source (like a DVD). This model is capable of 6.1 Surround as well as the standard 5.1. I don't have mine hooked up this way because I don't have a sixth speaker to match the other, but 6.1 capability is nice to have for future expansion and compatibility. More movies will start coming out on DVD with 6.1, so someday this might be the standard, and it's nice to have something you can keep instead of having to upgrade when that happens.
The multiple component inputs are great to have. I use this for the DVD and the Xbox, and it really does help the picture. Unfortunately, two component inputs is the limit, but I can't imagine having anything else that would require one. From what I found, two component inputs is the most that manufacturers generally put on their receivers, but most models only have one. As far as the rest of the inputs go, I was disappointed that the DVD input only had a "spdif" coaxial digital input, rather than an optical input as well. While optical is not necessary, and "spdif" works just as well, if not better, but it would be a nice thing to have just in case you needed it. At the same time, I was surprised to see that there is a digital optical input on the "MD/Tape" input, so you can use this for anything else you would like to hook up, like your digital satellite, Tivo, etc. The only one major disappointment I had with this unit is that if you use the component outputs to your TV/Monitor, you can't use the regular composite video for anything else (so basically, my satellite receiver doesn't have component video outputs, so I have to hook the video up to my TV directly, and the audio to the Sony Surround Sound receiver) This would also hold true for anything else I wanted to hook up, like any other video game systems, or a camcorder. And speaker of hooking something else up, I did find it annoying that the third set of inputs was on the front of the unit, nice for quickly hooking up a camcorder or what have you, but a pain if you have a lot of things you want to have permanently attached, and don't want cords going from the front to the back.
There are a lot of features on this model, like digital sound compression, which is nice if you don't want to bother the neighbors, or anyone actually in your house, when a movie gets real loud. There is a manual EQ mode for the speakers, but only for the front surrounds, not the rear. You can also adjust the volume of the individual speakers, which is very handy. Most of the menu functions and one touch features are only available on the remote. Sony claims that this is a universal remote. The interesting thing about this is that I can't even get my Sony TV to work with this remote. I ended up buying a One for All brand (truly) universal remote to control EVERYTHING I own. It's really nice to finally only need one remote. Besides the remote not controlling my other components, the buttons were a little small, and believe it or not, about 2-3 months after owning it, some of the buttons on the remote stopped working! (The other reason I bought a universal remote) Sony wanted something like $115 for a new remote; apparently it's not covered under warranty
The fact that this remote is Energy Star compliant is nice. It uses very little energy when in standby. One thing I'm impressed to see that Sony includes in the design is the switched AC output on the back of the unit. I have this one hooked up to my powered sub-woofer so it doesn't stay on unless the receiver is on.
All in all, a few minor things, I would have designed differently, but this is definitely an excellent receiver, especially for the price (I got mine for less than $300) Very highly recommend! Hope my review helped.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 280
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Epinions.com ID:
dysan
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Reviews written: 4
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