Sony STR-DH800 7.1-Channel Audio Video Receiver (Black) Review

I am a long time Sony fan! I purchased my first Sony receiver approx 15 years ago (can't remember the model off the top of my head, but it was their top of the line one at the time - it was before 5.1/7.1 was introduced and had the old 3 speaker surround sound setup). Approx a 18 months ago I purchased the Sony STR-DG910 because I wanted 7.1 at my new house. The DG910 died last week (after only 18 months...) and I needed a replacement ASAP.

I wanted to go with Sony again because I really like their products and I am a long time fan. So I did my research and considered this model (the DH-800) and the STRDG-1200. The 1200 appears to be one of Sony's premier line receivers and you definitely have to pay the extra dough to get one. It is currently on sale for $600 (verses it's normal retail price of $900), but after doing a feature comparison of the two, I went with the cheaper 800 and am more than happy that I did!!

Sony makes it easy to compare their receivers.Go to sony[dot]com and browse down Electronics, TV & Home Entertainment, Home Audio Components, followed by Shop and Browse. You can then put a check in the boxes of the receivers you want to compare and it will display a side-by-side comparison.

The DH800 is one of Sony's newest receivers and so far I think it is amazing!! As I said above I replaced my DG910 with it and it fixed a few things that bugged me about the 910, including: The amp seems to be much better - I get much higher volumes at a lower level and it seems to be a cleaner sound. It decodes Linear PCM from my PS3 and Samsung blu-ray player better. When I make adjustments to my surround sound speakers (volume and tone) and it actually stores them properly. It also have 4 HDMI inputs (v1.3), which was key for me to have with a new receiver (the DG910 had only 3 HDMI v1.2).

The ONLY thing about it so far I am disappointed about is the fact that it only has speaker outs for one set of front speakers. My two prior Sony receivers allowed an A and B speaker set, so I have two sets of fronts (which is great when listening to music). The receiver allows a B set, but that only works with you are using 5.1, not 7.1. The 7.1 uses the "additional" speaker options. I guess most people just use one set of fronts, so this may not be a big deal to you.

One other thing... The manual is a joke though, which Sony has always had a probably with. They should invest a little money in hiring an outsourced company to write their manuals so they make sense and allow their customer to have a pain-free setup. I'm thankful that I am good with audio/video equipment and was able to figure everything out without having to open the manual.

Overall I think this is a great receiver with a ton of fabulous features and for the price (approx 290 dollars here at amazon) you can't go wrong! It doesn't matter if you're putting together an entry level home theatre or have a nice setup and want to replace your current system, you'll be happy with the sound/video and the loud volumes you can get.

Buy it here now!