bpatt

Time to upgrade my father to Digital 5.1 home theater. He has an old Fisher Hi-Fi Stereo, with linked cassette deck, turntable, etc.

Bought him the DVD player last year, and he loves it. Now, for the real deal.

I like Sony, and something that I can plug his JVC VCR into, his Sony DSS receiver into, etc. Any suggestions, or ideas?

Thanks!

clappj

You might be better off asking that question in the Home Theatre Forum.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5

By the way, for the money Sony doen't make very good receivers!
Good luck to you!

FatHead316

Go to CC B&M and look for the Onkyo 494 or 595. I don't know if the new year models have come out yet or not. I own a 494, and I love it. Only problem with it is you HAVE to have a powered sub if you want some lfe. The 494 is the cheapest PLII reciever on the market, and has DD5.1 and DTS decodeing. Svideo jacks and 3 digital audio inputs. 2 are optical. Basically for under $300 you are getting a kick ass reciever. I have yet to hear a bad review on this one. Check AVSfroum too.

Razzak

Check out this one.

http://www.outlawaudio.com//products/1050.html

Buffhusker

I had been looking for a receiver for a couple months and ended up getting a super sweet deal at Circuit City on an open-box Sony. I highly recommend stopping by the big electronics retailers in your area and see if they have any display models for sale.

I still got the warranty, instruction manual, remote, and all that jazz... but for a fraction of the price.

molecularman

During the two weeks after Christmas, they usually have very good deals on open box stuff at Best Buy. I picked up a good sony receiver at a really cheap price.

bpatt

Thanks guys!

broadwayblue

if you really have your heart set on a sony then go with it. but unless you are planning on going with their es line you should really go with a different brand. Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo and others all make better performing models for the same price as the lower end sony models. don't pay extra just for the name. if it's not an es you are wasting your money. see for yourself. go to any decent audio retailer (not best buy or circuit city.) if you have a tweeter or hi-fi buys in your area go there. have them demo the sony rated at 100wpc and then a denon or yamaha rated at 100wpc (or even 80wpc.) don't go by power ratings as much as price. sony is notorious for overrating their power. notice where the volume knob is on the sony. then notice where the volume knob is on the denon. then, most importantly, listen to the music. bring your own disc so you will be listening to something familiar to you. there will be no comparison. the denon will sound cleaner, louder, and less strained. you'll see.

svadas

After having to deal with Sony's lack of customer service I've vowed to never buy another Sony product again. If something goes wrong, they could care less. I'd look at other manufactures.

namja

MOD NOTE: moved from the Hot Deals Forum.

gotapex

If you decide on a sony, please buy something from the ES line. The DE and DB lines are horrid, especially when compared to some of the competition at those prices.

bfrank

He did ask for input on Sony right?

I really am not a good one to recommend but SOny is not that popular in our forum (as you can tell)

But they are fine for many. You could do a seach to read some past threads in here.

gotapex

Well, Sony currently only makes 2 A/V receivers that are of good quality, the STR-DA3ES and the STR-DA5ES.

Update: my bad. Apparently the STR-DA4ES and STR-DA7ES have just come out and are beginning to appear in the distribution channels. I'm guessing those ones will be of fair quality as well.

Galilee77

I'm with FatHead316. I have the Onkyo 595 and love it. Although I went into Circuit City with the intention of buying an Onkyo receiver, I did listen to all the different receivers in the same price range. Many sounded comparable to the Onkyo. The Sony did not. I don't mean to scare you out of the Sony, but I'll tell you I have little faith in the Sony receivers (and yet I own a Sony flatscreen TV). So little faith, in fact, that at the time that I purchased my Onkyo I was a manager at Best Buy. I was so unhappy with the choices of receivers I had to choose from at my store that I passed up the discount and bought the Onkyo from Circuit City. Go take a "test listen". I think you'll agree.