My new reciever !!!

I just ordered it, let me know what you guys think
Oh yeah and hey dolby or thx, this has virtual 6.1, and im not exactly sure what that is but i deed see the gladiator supports it. im guessing 3 surround speakers ?


STR-V555ES
120 watts x 5, 20-20,000HZ, 8 OHMS, 0.05%THD in Surround Mode
120 watts x 2, 20-20,000HZ, 8 OHMS, 0.05%THD in Stereo Mode
Dolby DigitalTM/DTSTM/Dolby® Prologic® Decoding
24 Bit + Dual 32 Bit Digital Signal Processing
Virtual Matrix 6.1 Mode
Digital Cinema SoundTM - Cinema Studio EX A/B/C Modes
Concert Hall Modeling for Enhanced Music Reproduction
Multi-Room/Multi-Source Audio and Video Output
Component Video Switching (2 In/ 1 Out)
Analog Direct Switch for Complete DSP bypass and pure Stereo Signal
On Sscreen Graphical User Interface
2-way Touch Panel LCD Remote Control - Pre-programmed + Learning + MACRO
Remote Control for 2nd Zone
ES 5-Year Limited Warranty

Wow... Looks pretty cool. (Don\'t know much about receivers, though)

 How much was that, anyways?

its 1300 msrp, but i got it for 613

That is a nice reciever and all, but if I were spending that much I would probably get the Yamaha HTR-5280.  I\'ve heard a lot of bad things about Sony recievers, they are supposed to break down a lot.

I have never heard anything bad about the sony recievers, but i have heard yamaha makes a great reciever as well.
I\'ll be getting the reciever on payroll deduction approx 6 bucks a week for a year so its a cheap and easy way to get a high end reciever. Well i will probably pay it off in july when i get a newer , better wega. I currently have a 36 xbr.
 I have had a vision touch for nearly 4 years now without a single problem if that means anything though. Although i have come to hate the stupid vision touch air egg controller. A friend of mine had an older model ES reciever and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread and he\'s quite the audiophile so I would have to say thats good enough for me

Yeah, it\'s a nice receiver but personally I don\'t think that the ES line is worth the extra money.  You can get the same stats (THD, S/N etc.) with a cheaper reciever.  As far as Sony stuff not being as reliable as other electronics stuff... well, I just think that\'s anti-Sony rhetoric.  I\'ve never had a problem with any Sony product I\'ve ever owned.

Hey dolby , what about the 6.1 digital ?
And yeah i would get a cheaper reciever if i could by my payroll deduction allows for a minimum of 500 bucks and most of the other recievers fall under that with my discount

It\'s a Sony, but then again you\'re not looking for high-end and that is a sweet discount you got going there.  120wpc @ .05% is definitely better-than-average specs for someone who is not into HT as a hobby.  Make sure you get speakers that can handle those watts.

As for the 6.1 virtual matrix capability, it does require a center rear speaker, but is more or less simulated rather than discrete than say dts-es is.  You can try it out and see if you like it, otherwise I would keep it at 5.1 if the director intended for the film to be in 5.1.

Now if you had a 50% discount at Denon or Marantz, then I would really envy you.

btw- I have had Sony products before (none of which were receivers) and I quickly saw how ****ty they were when I compared them to some higher-end & even mid-grade equipment.  None have totally broke down on me though.  Hopefully their ES line is decent.

Mmmmm, Marantz...  I like their stuff.

Hey jeep, I\'m not saying you didn\'t get a great deal there.  You should be happy with it for quite some time, hell it\'s better than the one I got, but not much and I payed half what you did for the same stats and 100 watts per channel instead of 120.

I\'ve said it before and I\'ll say it again:  It\'s all about what fits your needs and your budget.  I myself am not a huge fan of that all out HI-FI stuff, it just isn\'t worth the investment for me.  I like to think that I can make something worth half as much sound just as good to the human ear.  Honestly, most of the time it\'s what speakers you have that makes the difference, so I\'d rather spend a little less on the other stuff and go for killer speakers instead.... and an EQ of course.

Why do you want an eq?
I hate colored sound, I want it as natural as possible.

If you have high-end speakers, then there is really no need for an eq.

High-end speakers should have:
-a clear tweeter
-a nice mid-range
-and of course a deep bass (~17 Hz)

If you have this, then there is absolutely no need for an eq. Frankly, it only makes the sound worse.

Get well balansed speakers is my suggestion.

[videoholic]

Yeah, an EQ shouldn\'t be needed if you have a nice speaker setup.  

I have always heard that Sony is great for video, but so so for Audio.  I\'m sure it\'s all crap though and it will sound great anyway.  I went with Yamaha myself and love it.

As far as 6.1 goes, I don\'t know, but the word Matrix makes me think that the Receiver is making up it\'s own center rear channel.  I dunno...

You guys know that you can make any dolby digital receiver a 6.1 receiver by getting a prologic receiver and hooking up the rear outputs of your digital receiver into the inputs of the Pro-Logic receiver.  Then your left, center, and front speakers coming off the pro-logic receiver will be your left rear, center rear, and right rear.  So don\'t worry if you don\'t have 6.1..  You can always upgrade that later when it becomes more widespread.  

Plus, do you really need center rear anyway?

Yeah... damn good this Baby !!!
I do own its little sister !!! STR-DB 830 QS !!!!!!
It has no ES/EX, but I agree with Dolbytone that this is a waste of money... you need a large livingroom to get an advantage out of it !!! LARGE, you know !

This is my receiver:



Btw: The setting "Cinema Studio EX A" is the best for ANY Soundinput !!!

Originally posted by Videoholic
I have always heard that Sony is great for video, but so so for Audio.  I\'m sure it\'s all crap though and it will sound great anyway.  I went with Yamaha myself and love it.

 I agree videoholic, for the most part the average listner won\'t be able to telll the difference between a 500 or 1500 buck reciever. Hell my vision touch sounds great now that i have a dvd player ! Like i said before this is the only reciever that i can get on payroll deduction (there is a minimum price) As far as all the tech stuff goes i don\'t know that much and probably couldn\'t tell the difference between any digital recievers in my place. But I like bells and whistles too and this has a ton of them.
My buddy had track lighting in his place and an es vision touch with macro commands. He had it programed so that when he wanted to watch a dvd the main lights would go out and the track lighting would dim out. Keep in mind this is a sick individual who once claimed he had his coffee pot hooked up to it as well. And he managed to make it work!!
p.s. thats a nice looking reciever THE EYE
he had some other gizmo too that let you control alot of house stuff thru your comp anyone remember whatthat is called ?

Ahhhh I wish I was old enough to get a job (only 14). I want a Home Theater set soooooo badly. I\'m obsessed with music and sound but I can\'t get it. I love going to my friends house and playing with their stuff or even going to best buy or sumthing and playing around there.Maybe i\'ll convince my dad to get it for the new roomhe is making ddownstairs.

Armini and Videoholic, as far as EQs go you guys don\'t know WTF you\'re talking about.

Armini: "Get well balanced speakers is my suggestion."
Videoholic:  "Yeah, an EQ shouldn\'t be needed if you have a nice speaker setup."

The application of an EQ in a system is not to alter the sound of what\'s being played back to your liking, it\'s to calibrate the frequency response of your room and setup.  You can have the best speakers in the world and they\'ll sound totally different from one room to another.  This is because different rooms have different articulation and reflective/absorbtion characteristics.  An EQ will compensate for that.

Armini:  "Why do you want an eq?  I hate colored sound, I want it as natural as possible... If you have high-end speakers, then there is really no need for an eq."

If it is done properly, you\'ll get a more accurate or NATURAL reproduction of the original recording regardless of the playback environment.  This is the foundation of what THX guidelines are, the idea is to follow a specific frequency curve when tuning a system.  Equalizers will enable you to keep the frequency response of the room flat to +/- 3dB.  This is simply NOT POSSIBLE without an EQ regardless of what kind of "nice speaker setup" you\'ve got.

Armini:  "Frankly, it only makes the sound worse."

You obviously don\'t know how to EQ then ya think?  Do you honestly believe that we don\'t EQ the sound systems in state of the art movie theaters?  I\'ll tell you we don\'t use cheap speakers either.  Are you telling me that every concert you\'ve gone to has sounded poor?  You know they use EQs right?  Big ones too.

Take your self-righteous-anti-eq rhetoric and stuff it.  You don\'t know jack.