Sony DAV-FC7 Theater System

It's a nice system for the money. It's sound quality is better than acceptable, the auto-calibration microphone included is a nice touch. Output to it's 5.1 speakers are color coded with a decent quality speaker cables included but the input is where this unit falls very, very short. It only has one stereo channel of RCA input. It would have been very nice for this unit to have a digital input to accept digital audio signals from DVRs or Media Centers or something more current than a VCR player. I think that pretty much sums up the Input limitation of this device. It has one audio input as stated above and no passthrough video. The video related output is limited to component and s-video only. What all this means is that you're going to be limited to pairing this up with a TV and maybe one more device, like a DVR or something. But not DVR, TV AND the VCR. There just isn't enough passthrough connections unless your TV is modern enough. that's just the video. If you're going to have more than one external audio source, to be amplified by this device, you're out of luck. again, because it's only got one additional stereo ANALOG, RCA input.

With that said, the speaker formation and calibration process is pretty easy.. I could've used a bit more control however. the extent of "shaping" my listening experience was to put the unit through the auto calibration and be happy with the result.

The remote is a standard, Sony style remote. It feels flimsy in my hands - maybe because it's too light?? - but the control took me a little getting used to.

It will not pass the wife-usability test on its own. Now i have to go and get a univeral learning remote with macro capability. Switching from one video source is one task separate from switching to the appropriate audio source.

For $300, it's not bad. the usability stinks, input capability stinks even worse, but the sound quality isn't bad at all.

I wouldn't buy this again.