Sony STR-DE885 5.1 Channels Receiver
Out of stock |
Similar in Receivers
- Surround Sound: Dolby Digital® DTS® Dolby Pro Logic II
- THX Certification: No
- Number of Channels: 5.1 Channels
- Type: Receiver
- Surround Mode Power: 100 Watt @ 8 ohm
- Stereo Mode Power: 100 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.09%
- Overview
-
Reviews
-
Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
An economical high-end receiver for the audio geek
Pros
Almost infintely customizable, good controls, excellent remote functions, good quality sound
Cons
Not for the inexperienced user, remote subject to interference, may have been discontinued
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Experienced home theater users with many components of varying requirements will get everything they need and want out of this system.
We went searching for a receiver with a long list of very specific criteria. We needed component video in and out for our DVD and video game systems. We needed optical audio connectors for 5.1 surround, but also had to connect more "legacy" devices that required composite ("RCA jack") video and audio. We needed to be able to tweak, customize and combine the input and output options. In short, if we had asked the installation folks at Circuit City to put our system together, they would have just thrown up their hands and given us our money back. :)
To be honest, this was not our first choice. If you are looking for a highly customizable home theater receiver, the top of the line is the Harman Kardon AVR 525 (although neither it or the Sony STRDE885 are "THX rated", I have heard no problem with either of them playing back in Dolby Digital). Price point, though, sent us in this direction so that we could afford a high quality speaker set at the same time.
The STRDE885 supports a total of 5 video inputs:
TV/SAT - composite, component or s-video with optical digital or composite sound out
Video 1 & 2 - composite or s-video with composite sound out
Video 3 - composite with optical digital or composite sound out
DVD - composite, component or s-video with composite or coaxial digital sound out (this is a negative, discussed later)
It also has audio connectors & modes for tape, phonograph, CD, and a DAT type device, supports AM and FM tuning with included (minimal) antennas, and has inputs for 6-channel Dolby Digital if you have a device that supports the 6-connector setup.
It supports Dolby ProLogic (which converts traditional stereo to a semblance of Surround), Dolby Digital, DTS, THX (as DTS), and Dolby 6.1 if you have a true back speaker and a device with the proper output.
For the curious, we connected the following devices to our receiver:
- Sony 36-inch Vega flat screen tube TV (component, composite and s-video inputs)
- Sony SA-VE335 surround sound speaker package (including subwoofer)
- Series 1 TiVo (S-video, composite audio)
- XBox (component video, optical digital audio)
- Playstation 2 (S-video, composite audio)
- Nintendo GameCube (composite video and audio)
- TEAC 5-disc CD changer (composite audio)
One of the biggest negatives we found when we began to set up our system was that the DVD inputs, although they supported component video, did not have a corresponding optical digital sound connector. The digital sound for the DVD inputs corresponds to a coaxial digital connector. This is now (in mid-2003) a bit behind the times; only our oldest DVD player includes a coaxial digital audio connector, and we don't use it with this receiver. As another reviewer also noted, we had to connect our XBox (which is also our DVD player in this room) to the TV/SAT component video in order to connect the optical digital output to a corresponding audio jack. This left our TiVo on Video 1 (it does not support digital audio), which is fine for us but confusing to anyone who does not know the system intimately. It's a minor inconvenience, but worth noting as a design flaw.
On the other hand, this receiver features the ability to play back two different audio and video devices simultaneously. This might be one way to resolve the DVD audio issue, although having to fiddle with the playback every time we wanted to watch a DVD seemed too involved for us. It's a great feature for video games - it makes games whose soundtracks I find intolerable much more fun to play, since I can listen to a CD on the audio channel instead.
For someone willing to play with the settings, the customization goes on and on. It's not complicated to access (a series of LED menus are easy to navigate and change settings through), but the details may elude a neophyte to home theater and audio. It includes support for defining the size, distance from center, and horizontal and vertical positions of the front and surround speakers, as well as defining the distance from center of the sub woofer. It can be used without a surround speaker set and allows you to configure which speakers you have available, so it can compensate for any that are missing (although I have not listened to it in this mode, since we have the surround speakers). Each speaker also has its own relative volume difference settings.
Component, composite and s-video througput are all excellent. Our TiVo has never looked better than it does now on s-video. One detail I have not been able to determine is the bandwidth of the component video, but I have not seen pixelation or stutter in any of the component video we've watched, so I have to assume it is at least 10Mhz. Owners of HDTV might want to try it out before hooking everything up and making a return inconvenient, since the throughput of component video can create degradation if it's not sufficient.
Audio quality and Dolby 5.1 reproduction are exceptional. Admittedly, we don't crank the volume way up since we live in a townhouse, but we have not reached a point in our testing where it distorted through the speakers (which are rated to 100W). The Sony subwoofer's standby mode is a little too sensitive for the lower volumes we use, and we had to disable it or the subwoofer would cut out. I believe this is an issue with the subwoofer, and not the receiver, but it would be nice to be able to increase the output to the subwoofer through the receiver.
The remote is highly functional, as the previous reviewer noted, and although this receiver does not have an on-screen display (the next model up, the STRDE985, does), we haven't had any problems navigating the setup through the LEDs. It controls our Sony television without any extra setup. We do not have any RCA brand components, although another reviewer noted the remote cannot control them.
Its one drawback is that something in our setup interferes with it, and from time to time repeated button-mashing is necessary. We had to take the original remote back because it did not function at all, so it is possible the remotes in this series have some problems across the board, or we could have gotten 2 gimpy ones in a row.
In closing, this is a very satisfactory system with a great feature set and excellent customization options for people who love to tweak and fiddle endlessly (like us). I think it would work out of the box for a new user, but a lower-priced option with less customization might work just as well. We purchased it on clearance from Circuit City, so if you see it on sale and can get one before they're gone, you will be highly satisfied with your dollar value.
To be honest, this was not our first choice. If you are looking for a highly customizable home theater receiver, the top of the line is the Harman Kardon AVR 525 (although neither it or the Sony STRDE885 are "THX rated", I have heard no problem with either of them playing back in Dolby Digital). Price point, though, sent us in this direction so that we could afford a high quality speaker set at the same time.
The STRDE885 supports a total of 5 video inputs:
TV/SAT - composite, component or s-video with optical digital or composite sound out
Video 1 & 2 - composite or s-video with composite sound out
Video 3 - composite with optical digital or composite sound out
DVD - composite, component or s-video with composite or coaxial digital sound out (this is a negative, discussed later)
It also has audio connectors & modes for tape, phonograph, CD, and a DAT type device, supports AM and FM tuning with included (minimal) antennas, and has inputs for 6-channel Dolby Digital if you have a device that supports the 6-connector setup.
It supports Dolby ProLogic (which converts traditional stereo to a semblance of Surround), Dolby Digital, DTS, THX (as DTS), and Dolby 6.1 if you have a true back speaker and a device with the proper output.
For the curious, we connected the following devices to our receiver:
- Sony 36-inch Vega flat screen tube TV (component, composite and s-video inputs)
- Sony SA-VE335 surround sound speaker package (including subwoofer)
- Series 1 TiVo (S-video, composite audio)
- XBox (component video, optical digital audio)
- Playstation 2 (S-video, composite audio)
- Nintendo GameCube (composite video and audio)
- TEAC 5-disc CD changer (composite audio)
One of the biggest negatives we found when we began to set up our system was that the DVD inputs, although they supported component video, did not have a corresponding optical digital sound connector. The digital sound for the DVD inputs corresponds to a coaxial digital connector. This is now (in mid-2003) a bit behind the times; only our oldest DVD player includes a coaxial digital audio connector, and we don't use it with this receiver. As another reviewer also noted, we had to connect our XBox (which is also our DVD player in this room) to the TV/SAT component video in order to connect the optical digital output to a corresponding audio jack. This left our TiVo on Video 1 (it does not support digital audio), which is fine for us but confusing to anyone who does not know the system intimately. It's a minor inconvenience, but worth noting as a design flaw.
On the other hand, this receiver features the ability to play back two different audio and video devices simultaneously. This might be one way to resolve the DVD audio issue, although having to fiddle with the playback every time we wanted to watch a DVD seemed too involved for us. It's a great feature for video games - it makes games whose soundtracks I find intolerable much more fun to play, since I can listen to a CD on the audio channel instead.
For someone willing to play with the settings, the customization goes on and on. It's not complicated to access (a series of LED menus are easy to navigate and change settings through), but the details may elude a neophyte to home theater and audio. It includes support for defining the size, distance from center, and horizontal and vertical positions of the front and surround speakers, as well as defining the distance from center of the sub woofer. It can be used without a surround speaker set and allows you to configure which speakers you have available, so it can compensate for any that are missing (although I have not listened to it in this mode, since we have the surround speakers). Each speaker also has its own relative volume difference settings.
Component, composite and s-video througput are all excellent. Our TiVo has never looked better than it does now on s-video. One detail I have not been able to determine is the bandwidth of the component video, but I have not seen pixelation or stutter in any of the component video we've watched, so I have to assume it is at least 10Mhz. Owners of HDTV might want to try it out before hooking everything up and making a return inconvenient, since the throughput of component video can create degradation if it's not sufficient.
Audio quality and Dolby 5.1 reproduction are exceptional. Admittedly, we don't crank the volume way up since we live in a townhouse, but we have not reached a point in our testing where it distorted through the speakers (which are rated to 100W). The Sony subwoofer's standby mode is a little too sensitive for the lower volumes we use, and we had to disable it or the subwoofer would cut out. I believe this is an issue with the subwoofer, and not the receiver, but it would be nice to be able to increase the output to the subwoofer through the receiver.
The remote is highly functional, as the previous reviewer noted, and although this receiver does not have an on-screen display (the next model up, the STRDE985, does), we haven't had any problems navigating the setup through the LEDs. It controls our Sony television without any extra setup. We do not have any RCA brand components, although another reviewer noted the remote cannot control them.
Its one drawback is that something in our setup interferes with it, and from time to time repeated button-mashing is necessary. We had to take the original remote back because it did not function at all, so it is possible the remotes in this series have some problems across the board, or we could have gotten 2 gimpy ones in a row.
In closing, this is a very satisfactory system with a great feature set and excellent customization options for people who love to tweak and fiddle endlessly (like us). I think it would work out of the box for a new user, but a lower-priced option with less customization might work just as well. We purchased it on clearance from Circuit City, so if you see it on sale and can get one before they're gone, you will be highly satisfied with your dollar value.
