Sony SCD-CE595 5-Disc CD/Super Audio CD Player Review

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(More customer reviews)Sony hit a home run with this, the best SACD player on the market for the average guy making the switch to super audio. When I changed from stereo to SACD I first bought one of those player that does both SACD and DVD. Nyet!
I don't care much about DVD and music is a large part of my life. I have collected classical recordings for 35 years and wanted to hear what those hybrid SACDs had to offer in SACD. My first experience was a nightmare; then I bought this machine.
Today I've listened to the Bach "St. Matthew Passion" highlights, Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" and, now, Bach's "Two and Three Part Inventions" by Glenn Gould. Each of these SACDs delivers something a little different -- the Bach was made last year and is true surround sound; the Berlioz was recorded in 1959 and is three channel without surround sound; the Bach, recorded in 1964, is SACD in stereo only.
But each of these recordings, when played on this machine, sounds like they were made yesterday. This machine is easy to set up, easy to use, delivers great sound and has five disk trays so you can load it and play it all day long.
This is an excellent machine for people that want to hear SACD disks and doesn't cost much at most places. You'll like it and you'll really like the sound it produces for you.

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Sony STR-DG800 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver with HDMI Passthrough Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a follow up to my previous review on Sony STR-DG800 Receiver with HDMI Passthrough. I mentioned that if a HD DVD is plugged in to the DVD HDMI port on the Sony Receiver, there will be no audio coming from the Sony Receiver audio system as all audio and video signals are passed-thru (hense by-passed) directly to the televison. Consequently, you do not have the quality sound from your home entertainment center.
Well I found a work-a-round for this problem but it still require either an Optical Audio Cable or a Coaxial Audio Cable. It is similiar to the SAT/TV solution using the Optical Audio Cable that I memtioned in the previous review.
Coaxial Cable: You can plug a Coaxial Digital Cable coming from your HD-DVD player into the Coaxial Digital input port on the Sony receiver. This coaxial input port will work with the DVD HDMI input port to give you audio through the Sony receiver. Obvioulsy you will have to have a Coaxial Digital output on you HD-DVD Player.
Optical Cable: If your HD-DVD player only has an "Optical Audio Output", then plug the Optical Audio Cable into the "Optical Digital Video 1" port on the Sony receiver. After that, use the Sony Remote Control and follow the "re-assign" insturctions in the Sony Receiver Manual. You will be able "re-assign" the audio input from "Digital Video 1" to the "HDMI DVD" port. It takes patience, but in this way, you can overcome the drawbacks of the "HDMI Passthrough".
So now I do have audio to my home enterment system from both the Satellite HDMI port and the HDMI DVD Port, dispite the fact that these ports are designed to pass-through the audio to the television only.
Is is odd that the nice people at Sony Technical Support could NOT help me with this or any other solution for the problem. But I DO want to thank the fellows at J&R Electronic for brain storming these solutions with me.
Now that I have this work-a-round setup finished, I am raising my rating to four stars for this receiver. As of now, both the video and the audio from this receiver are everything I had hope for. Happy Birthday to me.


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Sony STR-DA3300ES ES 7.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio/Video Receiver Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an awesome receiver with an exceptional GUI! The reviewer must be mistaken, the receiver will pass all digital audio thru the HDMI out (except Analog, and who uses analog sources on a digital AVR) and a HDMI-DVI cable doesn't carry the audio because DVI is video only! Don't give a product 1 Star if your equipment is outdated and don't understand how it's supposed to be connected. I couldn't be happier with mine.
Ditto!

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Bose 161 Bookshelf Speaker System (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Admittedly I'm a music lover, not a technophile. I'm more interested in Charlie Watts than I am in watts per channel. But my ear is well tuned and I know what sounds good. It would seem that there is some Bose backlash out there; perhaps in response to the Rolls Royce reputation it's carried through the years. I don't know, and frankly I don't care.
I will tell you that I bought my pair not as part of a surround system but as bookshelf speakers for my small home office and I couldn't be happier. They're attractive, have a low profile, and provide total range at all volumes. I tested them in the store with CDs that had lots of challenging highs, sizzling cymbals, that sort of thing. The definition was clear as can be. When you crank them up the sound holds together beautifully, no mud, no distortion. I find that solo piano is another good way to test speaker clarity, I went with The Koln Concert by Keith Jarrett and the results were mesmerizing.
As far as bass response is concerned, good grief, what's the fuss? Even at low volumes I can hear Mingus plucking the strings, when I listen carefully I can even hear him dropping ironic hints. As to the higher register, that's where the clarity of these speakers really shines, Stephanie Mills soars and swoops like an angel.
Then of course there are those irresponsible moments when I simply must blow off a little steam. Out comes the Coltrane, Ayler, Dolphy, Hendrix, Winter, Tower Of Power and up goes the volume. The desk toys start dancing because everything in the room is vibrating. Even then, these unassuming monsters deliver like tomorrow might never come. I've held minority opinions in the past and I'll hold another here, as far as I'm concerned these speakers are fantastic and actually under-priced.

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Enjoy rich, full sound from music or movies with this compact pair of sleek Bose speakers. Whether placed on a desk or bookshelf or mounted on a wall for use as surround speakers, these speakers are designed to deliver balanced, spacious sound with minimal or moderate amplifier power (10 to 100 watts per channel). Automatic protection circuitry keeps the speaker drivers from being overdriven, heightening the speakers' reliability without interfering with your listening.

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