★★★★★ 3
TERRIBLE Home Theater AVR, Difficult to Use
TERRIBLE Home Theater AVR. I bought this based on the many very high level reviews and recommendations available on multiple sites. What a mistake. This unit is very difficult to use, and that is made even worse by Sony's BS proprietary insistence to not let their remotes work with any other brands of equipment except their own!
After setup, I find there is no default input selection after startup of the AVR, not even the commonly seen default to the last used input. What this means is that EVERY TIME I want to use any audio or video unit with this AVR, I must first use the AVR remote to select the input, THEN put it down and find a different remote to use for whatever unit I want to watch. What a PAIN in the rear!
The next totally unacceptable issue is that every time an input is changed, there are about 5 odd low-frequency thumps from the speakers - this has NEVER happened before with other AVRs and the same equipment, so this problem is very specif to this horrible amplifier.
Other irritants are that the AVR display shows many almost meaningless things that are of no particular value, but they have removed ALL indications of what speakers are currently active for whatever input is being received. In addition to that, this AVR does not properly decode some input types that it is supposed to support (based on using format-specific test files).
Another issue is that the input setting on my smart TV for this AVR does not stay Active while the TV is using a different input, despite the fact that the amplifier is always on, and the TV audio output IS constantly using the AVR for the speakers. This is somewhat related to the first problem I noted - since the TV does not think that the AVR is turned on, I cannot use the TV to select that input; I have to GO BACK to the nasty Sony remote just long enough to change inputs AGAIN, then put down that remote and switch to another. Again, I repeat that this behavior has NOT occurred with other AVRs tested in this Home Theater, only this one, and it makes life miserable. Even when I turn on a different connected device that uses HDMI Control to turn on the AVR, this brain-dead unit will NOT switch to that input after it powers on - I still have to manually make that switch with the Sony remote!
Another issue is the inability to use a normal coax or balanced FM antenna input on this receiver - they give you a little single wire antenna that uses a strange miniature plug that is totally worthless in my area - cannot pick up a single station! And there is no way to connect my outdoor antenna like I have been able to do with every other receiver!!!!!
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Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2025
