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I used the auto calibration microphone as well as manually setting up the speakers and sorry to say this just doesn't compare to the sound that came from my Onkyo. I purchased this receiver based on the reviews here because I wanted a HDMI capable receiver to replace my Onkyo HT-R530. Having said all of this, if you have never had a receiver before then you would likely be happy with this receiver, but if you want the crispness and clarity of your surround sound speakers so that you can hear birds chirping in the background then this is not the receiver for you. Thus, this receiver will be going back to the store and the Onkyo will be hooked up again until I find a better receiver that is HDMI capable. I must say that the convenience of less cables is not worth it when you lose quality of surround sound. I kept the same speakers when I replaced the receiver.
trust me, as convenient as a soundbar seems, its worth spending a little more and putting some time into setting up a 5.1 or 7.1 system. I upgraded from a soundbar setup. Because the PS3 processes true hd sound, you don't need a receiver to process the sound for you, making the added bells and whistles of more expensive receivers unnecessary. I have this and klipsch quintet II speakers and a polk psw10 sub running and call of duty sounds awesome.
great unit at 200.00 price. i was very disappointed when i opened the box. 399 mrsp is way over priced for this unit, however i only paid 200.00, if it wasn't for the hdmi inputs and out (not just repeater) i wouldn't have gotten this.consfeels cheap, display is not up to par with other, not enough inputs only 2 optical and i coaxial proshdmi switch works well, ez setup with mic.
Over all i would recommend that if you're on a budget to buy this. I bought myself a logitech harmony remote for Christmas, so hopefully that will fix the problem. Make sure you set all the speaker sizes to small, even if the front are large. You need to point the remote directly at the receiver for it detect it. I have it hooked up as 5.1, 2 speakers in A and 3 in B, which is recommended. Ok so lets start with the good. Also the menu is pretty bad, and the display isn't the best, but i'm not to stuck up on that. There are many good and bad things about this receiver.
It has 3, yes 3 HDMI inputs that do carry sound, unlike the competition in this price range like Onkyo, which i have for my other setup. This might not sound like a big deal, but it gets really annoying when you have something on the coffee table that blocks its line of sight, or you just don't feel like taking your hand out from under the blanket. For some reason, the TV input puts out the picture but no sound. Also, every time i turn on the receiver, it goes to the TV input for some reason, even though my cable box is plugged into SAT. It also has many other inputs, too many to count which i don't use, except 1 video input for sound from my laptop. I've had it about a month now with no major problems. I would like to start by saying that the people who said there is no A+B are pretty stupid. I don't mind, but you might.Now that i'm looking at all the bad written down, it makes me want to lower it to 3 stars, but i will leave it at 4 because it serves its purpose well.
Even though they are not on the same remote, every time i turn off my tv, it auto turns off the receiver for some reason, which could be perceived as good or bad. Another problem is i couldn't program it to my cable remote from comcast. music, movie, video game).Now for the bad. I will also say, i did hear a large improvement over my old receiver, with much higher highs, and lower lows, as well as almost no background static.
It fluctuates a lot, so you will be just as good going with an 80 watts per channel receiver as this. If you have money to spare, i would buy a better receiver from Denon. One last thing to mention is this does not stay at a steady 105 watts per channel. You can't make it come out both by click either A or B, you need to set a soundfield for it to come out both.
Sometimes i would like to listen to music from the tv, without it actually being on and wasting energy, so i always need to turn the receiver back on after i turn off the tv. My biggest problem is with the remote. This will make the sound richer by having the deep sounds come out of the sub. It also has many soundfields to choose from that will let you experience different sounds for your specific application (e.g.
Although I gather that there are switching devices you can buy and that some higher end receivers will do switching. There are also many, many listening settings and adjustments you can make and options you can choose, but I've so far mostly gone with the defaults. I have Polk Audio Monitor 60s, a Polk Audio CS1 center speaker, and a Polk Audio PSW10 subwoofer, which I mostly only power on when I watch movies. But for my needs and the money I had to spend, I'm very happy. Anyway, with this receiver you can run your system as 2 channel, front plus center, 5 channel, or 7. I've had this receiver as part of my home theater for 6 months and it's worked flawlessly; excellent picture and sound.
I was interested in getting a receiver where the HDMI inputs/outputs would handle both sound and picture, since I'd read that on some receivers the HDMI doesn't handle sound. The one thing I don't like about this receiver is that apparently you have to do either HDMI or component connections and you can't switch - i.e., you can't use the optical output for other components not connected through HDMI if you're using HDMI connections. I'm not a HT expert by any means but I did a lot of research before buying my components. It comes with a microphone gizmo where you can have the system calibrate/balance your speakers for you, but I haven't found that necessary. If you're considering buying this, I recommend downloading the user manual from Sony and glancing through it if you have specific questions. My TV is a Samsung 52" LN52A550, and I have a Motorola DCT6412 cable box and PS3 connected, everything with HDMI.
I bought some back speakers but have never hooked them up, mainly because I'm very happy with the sound as is, plus I'd have to run wires all around my living room.
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