Sony STR-DA4300ES

• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 3 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Very Nice Receiver

  by jim6081 on March 31, 2008

  Pros: Detects and Sets Up Best Sound Possible

  Cons: Automatic Set Up does not Work as Advertised

  Summary: Sony STR-DA4300ES has come down in price to make it comparable to the Onkyo 705 model. It is heavy at 34 pounds and if you have short stubby fingers hooking ...

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  Summary: Sony STR-DA4300ES has come down in price to make it comparable to the Onkyo 705 model. It is heavy at 34 pounds and if you have short stubby fingers hooking up the speaker system can be hard to do as there are many connections on the back panel. It comes with a manual of about 130 pages and unless you have had experience getting into a similar GUI it would be good to read. Once in the GUI it is very easy to set up your system. The auto calibration did not work with my Bose Acoustimass 16 system as it kept giving me an error code 33 saying there was an error in measuring distance. After checking speaker connections and trying to do what the manual said in clearing the error code I gave up and did it manually like I have always done on all my other receivers. This was also very easy to do in the GUI mode. Note, the manual says you have to set the speaker height manually but it is not in the on-screen menu to set it up. My receiver had a yellow dot on the back of it indicating it had a certain software load and it makes me think setting the speaker height was removed with the upgrade of the receiver sofware. If anyone is serious thinking of buying this receiver check the Sony web site and look up this model as it does have some software issues, mainly with Sony HDTVs as having a pink picture and a dark picture from a component cable hookup. Sony says it has software fixes for both but you have to ship it back to Sony.
  Up-conversion of a VCR tape was very good and my receiver had no dark picture on my Mitsubishi 57831. The Panasonic BD30 had both an excellant picture and excellant sound playing through an HDMI cable to the receiver and the AFD function selected the best sound you can get from the disc on both movies I played. The FM and AM tuner played flaweouly and sounded very good. While I have A HDDVR receiver from directv I decided not to hook it up through the receiver as directv has issues of its own (like the receiver not responding to the remote to where you do a reset). I mainly watch a lot of movies so wanted a good surround receiver to be able to play the sound modes already out there and the new sound modes that will come along later. If you are buying check the inernet as the prices change constantly as do the shipping charges (anywhere from free to $55) When I bought mind it was $783 with free shipping. Also, check the Sony web site for software issues keeping in mind what you are hooking up too.

  Updated
  Wattage for the 4300ES is 350W; CNET review is showing the Canadian rating of 480W so this reciever has the same power consumption as my old 6 year receiver. It is not THX cerified as some ratings have indicated; I really do not believe this to be a big deal as this receiver seems to have plenty of good clean for playing movies.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  Problem decoding DTS HD and Dolby True HD

  by Splashman24 on July 29, 2008

  Pros: GUI is nice, 1080p throughput was clean

  Cons: set-up program lacking compared to Audyessy, Sony support is poor

  Summary: I returned this receiver after a few weeks and replaced with a Denon 3808CI. The Sony suffered from a defect that introduced a high level of hiss when decoding any ...

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  Summary: I returned this receiver after a few weeks and replaced with a Denon 3808CI. The Sony suffered from a defect that introduced a high level of hiss when decoding any thing other than legacy DTS and DD. Sony tried to convince me it was the speakers, yet there was no hiss when playing regular dvds. Only Dolby Digitl+ or above on high def discs. I had no problem with HDMI switching or black crush issues as reported elsewhere. Another problem I had were bass problems due to room anomolies. The Sony set-up program could do nothing to help this. Replacing with the Denon , and performing the set-up with Audyessy was almost life altering. It is the first feature in a receiver that I have used that actually can have a major difference in the sound. It managed to compensate for the room anomolies and unveiled the bass my SVS Ultra was putting out.

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• 9 stars

  Very solid product

  by alex.shalashov on July 17, 2008

  Pros: Multiples features, easy interface.

  Cons: Difficult speaker wires connection, complicated remote.

  Summary: Sony STR-DA4300ES is second in "luxury" line only after the STR-5300ES. I needed a new AV-receiver for my home theater which include regular set of home electronics: HDTV, DVR, Blu-ray ...

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  Summary: Sony STR-DA4300ES is second in "luxury" line only after the STR-5300ES. I needed a new AV-receiver for my home theater which include regular set of home electronics: HDTV, DVR, Blu-ray DVD, old DVD, VCR, audio, no video games (I am too old, my kids too young). The question is how many connections do you need for your system because this two receivers are the only different in variety of them. All other features are the same including excellent on TV screen GUI interface which is not available for next down model STR-DA3200ES. System comes with manual which is very helpful and extensive. I am experience home theater user so all connection took me less than 30 min. System comes with microphone for auto calibration which worked with my Cambridge Soundwork speakers well. However, I have done final adjustment for my small-medium size living room manually. All components of my theater works well and sound is fantastic. GUI is a little complicated but very helpful when you get use to it. I throw out all my old audio and got digital media port for my iPAD (not included) which connected directly to receiver and produce excellent sound with different installed sound options (like hall or sporting event). There are some other extras available such as satellite or Sirius radio, computer interface for only video file transfer. The negatives are not very important but I have to mention that speaker wire connection is uncomfortable and remote control is very busy. System comes with simple small remote which is impossible to use because it too "simple". Bottom line STR-DA4300ES is very solid system, very good for small home set up but if you need more connection STR-DA5300ES should be your choice.

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