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It makes my house sound like a basement Jazz/Blues nightclub. I connected my computer to use my windows media player along with the attached USB turntable, the VHS player, the DVD player/recorder, and of course 5.1 speaker system.
I took it one step at a time. I bought this product(Sony STR-DG520), it arrived on time, No Damage, Complete, and Easy to set-up, giving that I'm not an electronics technician.
While setting up the firmware, I found new terms and stayed away from things I did not understand, and things moved right along until I finished. The given instructions were simple enough to follow.
Knowing that I have a last of the Sony tube type TV's the back panel was cut and dry. I especially enjoy the Jazz selection Music set-up.
A sweet deal.
I'm only using the receiver for a 5.1 speaker set I have for my computer, so I haven't used anything except the on/off and volume features. the sound quality seems pretty good though, so I have no complaints.
I would have preferred only using one cable per device, but this is what I found at this price point. The rear channels are some little off brand things, that I bought to go in a car, many years ago. I have the HDMI from my high def cable box plugged into the port for "DVD", and my HDMI upconverting DVD player is plugged into the "BD" blue-ray disk port. There are 2 digital audio inputs.
At least this way the speakers are on stands, and not pointed at the floor like most sub-woofers. My solution was to buy a Sony universal remote. It has 2 HDMI inputs, but as others have said, the receiver does not process the audio from the HDMI signal. I was not willing to pay an extra $200 to have the receiver process sound over HDMI.The sound balance was somewhat challenging to configure, for my hodgepodge of speakers. The speaker set-up actually lets you specify (within certain parameters) what kind/size speakers you have in different positions.
I get lots more bass from my side channel towers than my neighbors are likely to enjoy. The digital audio ports are associated with those HDMI ports. The front left/right are some big towers that were all the rage when I was in college. When I press the "TV" button on my remote, the receiver goes into "DVD" mode, which is where my cable box is attached.
The other reviews of this product, were VERY helpful in letting me make an informed decision. The intention seems to be, that if you have a center channel speaker without a big woofer, but your side channels do have a big woofer, you can send the bass to the sides. I'm using 5 speakers, without the +1. So far no complaints from the neighbors, and the sound is awesome.I would have liked the receiver to allow me to choose which device names and cable combinations went together. (.or is that supposed to be days). Unless you are using digital audio from a DVD player and a blue-ray player (and why would you have both if your BD player can upconvert regular DVDs) you'll need to do some similar mis-labeling. One optical, and one using a single RCA plug.
It only has two digital audio inputs, but I'm amazed how much better the sound is, over my 15 year old Sony surround receiver.I'm satisfied at the price point. I can't bear (yet) to part with the speaker war beasts, from my dorm daze. The center channel is a shielded Boston Acoustic bar that was actually intended for this purpose. When I press the button on remote to change to the "DVD" signal, it switches to the audio/video for my DVD player (even though the receiver says it's in "BD" mode, since that's the ports I had to use). The sound is great, and after a bit of fussing, it works how I want it to.
Not much in terms of bells and whistles, but over very good for a 5.1 dolby surround sound setup. This receiver is a good reliable HDMI receiver at a good price. It decodes most formats, and has HDMI pass-thru. I am happy with my purchase. Can't go wrong.
I can't recommend this at all if you have good ears, and I've really been soured on any Sony A/V product after this experience. Amplified, yes, but dead.Opting not to kill my beautiful music, I went with a used higher-end model of a certain other manufacturer with a better current reputation.
So take it for what it is.The sound quality is really astonishingly bad. I mean, I'm picky about sound, but not that picky; the difference was night and day between it and my little T-Amp.
Others have covered the technical limitations/features of the receiver - let me put a word in about audio quality.As a preface, you may not care about this factor much - but for those that do I believe it's very important that they know about this. The sound was essentially dead and lifeless.
The T-Amp was like crystal in comparison - the Sony 520 had absolutely zero imaging, obviously bad stereo crosstalk (how often can you even hear that.)., clearly introduced signal distortion. I could go on.
But then, at a price point this low, any amplifier is probably going to be less than great, and you do get what you pay for - I was just surprised that I could hear it with such clarity (or lack of clarity, as it were). You have been warned.
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