>> receiver is a joke
I have to question whether some of the reviews posted about this product are real The functionality of the sony bravia surround system is very poor The only good thing about this receiver is the picture quality it sounded ok for watching movies maybe 3 out of 5 stars but if you ever plan to listen to a cd dont bother A 20 walmart boom box would sound far superior
cons
doesnt use standard speaker connections so you can only use the cheap speaker wire they included
no treble or bass control
no night listening feature
no phono plug
only two rca inputs
poor sound quality
weak bass compared to cheaper units with powered sub woofers
if your listening to music and you want to turn up the sub woofer you have to stop listening and scroll through the functions to find dvd turn on your tv stop the dvd from playing after you wait several seconds for it to load go into menu and scroll to the bottom then scroll through that menu to select sub woofer exit scroll back through functions several functions and if you pass it then you have to start from the beginning of the functions list
very slow cd changing
pros
good picture quality
remembers dvds when you eject
the bottom line is this receiver boasts about features but in actuality the features that are useful are non existent From a company like sony I would expect that they would hire a human factors engineer to help design their products and if they did he/she should be FIRED Its clear that sony made a cheap product in order to make money instead of making the customer happy I dont think this stereo even deserves a star Other stereo systems in this price range are a thousand times better for sound features and usability I paid 350 for my DAV HDX501w everything worked like new but it still was not worth the price
>> Average
Picked one from local Sams club for 477 In my view this is below average home theatre system
1 Not so many connections It should be 1080P/24 and should have HDMI in Then only you can connect any BD / HD player or PS3 for high quality sound
2 Sound is fine but not many controls Not so friendly Remote or on screen display Should have EQ displayed at least
3 Bravia synchronization Wireless speakers and iPOD doc are nice features I fell for Anyway spent 3 hours to unpack install Learn I wish to adjust with this system since I do not have much time to return / exchange
I advise to go for a better BD/HD home theatre system even if you need to wait for Do not care much for Bravia synchronization though the feature is nice
>> Very Nice System
I bought the HDX 501W and Im very happy with the sound and picture quality It is also compatable with a Blu Ray Player It upscales all of my older dvd s to look new again However a few of my older rewrite dvds are not compatable with this player Set up took me about 3 5 hours and is very simple Follow the owners manual step by step Concert dvd s sound amazing You can hear every note with a clarity that is similar to being there live Before buying this system I had purchased a 5 1 Panasonic with wireless speakers and it was horrible I returned it and found the Sony Bravia to be my new favorite addition to my home Great system for the price I love it
