Home Theatre Audio question/help needed

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » April 16, 2003, 10:46 am

Not sure if this is the right forum, but figured it was closest to the place I should be posting this:

I am in the market for a new home theatre receiver, and I've narrowed it down to the following two for my choices.

Sony STR-DA4ES
and
Harman Kardon AVR-525

I was hoping someone here may have a professional or personal opinion on these two units...or a unit very similar in features to these two. Any and all help is appreciated!

Please forgive the Crutchfield links if you are not a fan...but their site gives a good summary of information on products. No I would never pay their prices.

Post by **Xouqoa** » April 16, 2003, 12:37 pm

I have a Sony (STR-DE945, so not quite as nice as that one) and I absolutely love it. I've had zero problems with it, and it sounds great. Harmon Kardon supposedly makes a nice product as well, but I've never owned anything by them. Both head units I've had have been Sony.

Be sure you get some nice speakers if you get either of those.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?vi ... gory=39800

Found that on eBay, pretty good price. =)

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » April 16, 2003, 12:40 pm

I'd go for the second purely for the comedy spoonerism opportunity.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » April 16, 2003, 12:58 pm

When in doubt, let the remote control decide!

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » April 16, 2003, 1:56 pm

Thanx Xou...those are right at the price I've found them for.

As for the speakers, well, me brother is an electrical engineer, so he is all about crossovers and home speaker building and shit. I'm into building the boxes...so we are making speakers currently. He is all about high end shit like Focal speakers and stuff...so no worries on the speaker end.

Fair...the controllers are kind of an interesting topic. The sony, it has a 4 line screen on it...but people who have reveiwed the product have said the remote is hard as shit to use, and it is NOT learning, as they advertise.
The H/K's remote is rather simple, no display screen...but it lights up

Plus it comes with a second remote for the "second room" option.

Thanks for help so far folks...anyone else?

Post by **Xouqoa** » April 16, 2003, 2:26 pm

That Sony remote probably has the same one mine came with, and I haven't had any problems with it. My TV is about 6 years old (and a Daewoo, wtf) and it works fine on it. Read the directions, and program it right and it works fine. If you just try and use it without knowing how to do anything, then ya.. it sucks. (Not that I did that or anything!)

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » April 16, 2003, 3:42 pm

I was reading that and thinking, "Sounds like Xou knows that from experience..." hehe. Here is the Sony Remote (RM-LP211)

I think the one thing I like best is that both of them weigh 44 lbs. I picked them up at the store...they be some heavy bitches!

Truant · Post by **Truant** » April 16, 2003, 5:19 pm

of course this is the right forum!

and I'd go with the harman/kardon...but that's on personal preferrence...I really like OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of their products I have played with...from stereos to speakers...and sony bugs me in the fact that you need a 300 page manual with a stereo...

Post by **Xouqoa** » April 16, 2003, 6:08 pm

Kluden wrote:I was reading that and thinking, "Sounds like Xou knows that from experience..." hehe. Here is the Sony Remote (RM-LP211)

That's a different remote than I have, then. Probably very similar in functionality, just a couple years newer. (I got my stereo about two years ago.)

here's mine

Manual for my stereo was only like 50 pages, ahole. I'm willing the bet the manual for either of those two is going to be at least that.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » April 16, 2003, 11:36 pm

on a basic comparison judging by the specs...the sony has a tiny bit more power (not that you'd notice), a 5 year vs 2 year warranty (do you really expect you'll break it?)...and a fuckload of OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS more inputs...like to the point of holy fucking overkill batman

the harman has a digital optical output that the sony doesn't...and this isn't very important to most people...other than that...it looks about the same

so for me, the optical output is important, cause i would use it for media transfer...but maybe you have approximately 12billion devices you need input for?

Just go with the best price in other words, unless something stands out.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » April 17, 2003, 2:54 pm

Thanks again...

I just want the one that will make the pron sound better!

Probably gonna end up with the Harman. Too many people suggesting that over the Sony for it to be coincedence.

Pahreyia · Post by **Pahreyia** » April 17, 2003, 3:44 pm

I used to work in home audio sales.. The store I worked at carried OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of sony stuff, which we frequently saw coming back for repairs. It got so bad that we had to work out a program with sony that they would take back and repair all sony products that came in, so that the technicians could actually get around to repairing everything else. I avoid sony whenever possible.

Kargyle · Post by **Kargyle** » April 17, 2003, 4:14 pm

I've never owned any of Sony's home audio equipment, but the Sony in dash CD player I bought a few years ago was the biggest piece of crap I've ever owned. For home audio I'm a fan of Yamaha's receivers.