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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent cinema sound, 25 Sep 2007
There are four words to describe this beast, SOLID, POWERFUL, INVOLVING and UGLY.
It has superb, powerful sound. Totally engulfs you. When hooked up as a 5.1 channel surround sound system, it shakes walls. Its not just noise coming out of the speakers, it is atmosphere. It manages to suck you in into whats happening on screen. This Cinema Receiver was voted Product of the Year 2006 and given 5 stars by What HiFi Sound and Vision, two of the main reasons i bought it, along with many other reviews on the internet written by people who owned it saying that it was excellent.
The sound doesn't deterioate as you turn up the volume, it just gets louder and louder. It is you who'll be first to back off before the amp runs out of puff, as the sound gets to deafening proportions, yet still keeps its clarity. The SOUND IS EXCELLENT.
One of my favourite features is the Auto Calibration feature. Using the supplied microphone, the Receiver automatically measures distance between speakers, volume levels, and so on, and then tweaks everything for optimum performance. Sure, you're only gonna use it when you first set it up, or if you alter your room layout, but it is brilliant.
Normal music even sounds good through this. I tried playing my little portable minidisc recorder through this and it sounded great, Am looking forward to purchasing a decent CD player and hooking it up to this amp.
Be warned, the HDMI sockets are for switching ONLY, not for sending HDMI surround to your amp. This Receivers bigger brothers have the whole HDMI surround thing, not this one. The HDMI sockets allow you to connect the Receiver to the TV, and have two HDMI equipped components run into the receiver and then you switch between those two components and what you want to view. Its good if your tv only has one HDMI socket, but you maybe want to connect both your PC via a DVI to HDMI cable, or your DVD player via HDMI to HDMI cable, to that one TV HDMI socket. This Receiver allows you to do that.
Build wise, the Receiver is a really solid lump. Feels incredibly sturdy, well made and expensive
The only downside of this piece of kit is the looks. They are ugly. And the looks dont grow on you. In fact, they seem to get worse.
I think thats why the black version of this is more expensive, because its in greater demand as it cant be seen, whereas this silver version is very 'in yer face'. However, its got it where it counts, and lots of it. Watching movies in 5.1/6.1/7.1 channel surround is about the listening to these contraptions, and thats where this really excels.
I've only just purchased this and have read owners reviews claiming that after 20 hours or so usage the sound actually gets better.
If thats the case, i cant wait!
For this price, the sound quality, power, clarity and detail produced by this makes it a must have.
FOLLOW-UP to review above
I've had the amp/ receiver for 2 weeks now and can happily say that the looks of this equipment don't seem as bad now as they did when i first took it out of the box. It seems i was a bit harsh calling it ugly, the aesthetics are just of an acquired taste. You do get used them, and i have to say, it does look very smart.
Sound wise, i have discovered a chink in the STR-DA1200's armour. I used the auto calibration for the sound setup. I have watched Fast and the Furious (SuperbBit Edition - higher sound quality), Terminator 3, Wild Hogs, Planet of the Apes, all with no problems, the sound setup was perfect. However, this amp didn't like Underworld. As the films sound seems to be very bassy, so my active sub was throwing out bass like no tomorrow. It was producing far too much bass. You shouldn't hear bass, so much as feel it. I could hear my sub going mad, which is all wrong. I had to adjust the sound settings for the active sub manually, something which i loathed doing as the STR-DA1200 is meant to setup everything for you for optimum sound quality. So it would seem that you may well come across a film at some point that will upset your setup. Its not really a problem, just a pain.
Overall, still VERY PLEASED with the STR-DA1200 and it it does produce EXCELLENT cinema sound.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just The Job, 12 May 2008
Just bought it. Its the badgers nadgers.
Not as HDMI friendly as some newer but does sound excellent and does the the job via coax or optical inputs.
Fantastic for the price.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Not all bad!, 28 Feb 2010
Just a quick response to the above really. Firstly the sound of any surrouns system does rely HEAVILY on the speakers used. If you are in the market for a surround sound amp then you are fairly serious about movies etc, so matching equipment is essential. I use B&W speakers as they are 'bright' . The Sony amp does seem to tame this, if you use bass heavy speakers then you will get bass heavy response. The build quality of the amp is excellent, as for the looks - purposeful rather than ugly. If you're in the market for a good all rounder then you cant ignore this amp. Mines linked to Sky HD, PS3, Wii etc and it copes admirabley with them all. Ideally get a listen to the amp before you buy that way you can decide if its for you
Oh, and the black ones look much better than the silver ! :)
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