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I have had it for 3 years, and now I am only upgrading the DVD player and keeping the Sony home cinema as the sound part via a optical cable. With my new plasma, now is the time for HIGH DEF. Nothing has ever come close to this for the price. To help you choose the right speakers, we recommend using Crutchfield’s SpeakerCompare Listening Kit. It includes a pair of studio-quality headphones, and a guide to getting the most out of your session, and a few other necessary items. We’ve carefully chosen the components of this kit to ensure a crystal-clear listening experience. It’s available for a nominal rental fee, and includes a $25 Crutchfield merchandise credit.
I bought mine on-line for £369.95 on 8th March 2003. Be warned that the unit has no scart output and you will need to buy a S/video to scart lead in order to conect to your TV. There is a normal video cable supplied, but when you've spent so much, you might as well get the proper cable and make the most of the quality. Yes, you can connect other equipment to the DAV. It has connections for VCR and satellite through a/v in/out connections as well as a digital optical socket.
Remote Control Codes & Programming
I don't know if I was just lucky or not but it has been working fine since. I'm not sure if it will help or not but I left the screws at the back a little loose to allow for the metal to expand when it heats up so this doesn't happen again. When I contacted Sony Canada they said that they did not have any information about others experiencing this problem. Seems like there is some dodgy connection. I expected more from Sony products as they were regarded as the most reliable brand. However, I now find myself questioning why Sony products remain more expensive than equivalent spec products when their reliability is so poor.
I ended up making two from the hardware store for about $3.50 and they work great. If you want to rattle the floor and annoy the neighbors, upgrade to a more powerful sub.
Isi75's Response to nickdavy's Review
The style is better than any old school-black units. This is the way to go if spending under $1000. SACD I only have the sampler that came with it and Im looking forward to bands I like releasing SACDs Easy to set up. Many different sound fields to choose from including Cinema Stuido EX A (C.S. EX) C.S. EX B, C.S. EX C, Game, Live House, Small Hall, Large Hall, and several others.

The volume needs to be cranked on some DVDs but others are fine, especially those with a DTS track . Take the cover off and extract the circuit board that the speakers connect into, trace where the speaker connections are soldered into the board. I now have a unit with sound through all its speakers, but no way to play DVDs or CDs. I am utterly disappointed with Sony's design effort, to say the least. I'll buy something else and it won't be a Sony. I have the Sony DAV-s500 and it was great!
Home & Car Audio Video Retail in Wichita
After some while I thought, I want something else, something what ir more compact and has more soundield programs and is more modern. I sold old system and bought a sony DAV-S550. Terrible sound for music, everything SUCKS except compact size and remote! I strongly recomend always test sound of these small compact sysetm and only then to buy! I will never buy home theater packages again.
I have connected it in accordance with the instructions i.e. digibox into Video 2 input and output to the TV via the yellow 'monitor out' into the TV S-Video socket. The DVD player works with surround sound from the S550 when the TV is selected to Ext 3 but there is no sound from the S550 when selected to the normal TV channel for satellite. The TV has 3 scart inputs and one S-Video input, and also a 'fixed' input for stereo audio to utilize the TV surround sound. The digibox input is there and the TV has sound, but I can't seem to get it through the S550.
It seems like soldering is the answer, so I will give it a try. I just re-melted the solder at each joint of the connector unit to the board and it fixed the problem. I soldered mine last night and all seems to be working ok for the moment. Great minds think alike - I actually left the screws out of the connector block for the same reason. Fingers crossed I'll now get a few more years service out of it. We always like to get two sets of eyes on a car audio installation.
If it ever gets hung in manual mode you're screwed. Also, the dual remote isn't compatible with my 25 inch Sony TV monitor. This will be my last Sony purchase ever. PROTECT or PROTECTOR is flashing in the display of the home audio device.
However if it's definitely the answer then I would rather give it a go than pay someone else to do it. Well that's it, the Sony has been replaced with a Panasonic and not before time. The front left speaker problem eventually drove me mad, Sony did themselves no favours when they made the DAV, it certainly changed my opinion of their brand. Virtual audio technology allows you to compare sonic characteristics between speakers so you can make a more informed shopping decision.

I have just bought one and it is very impressive. I used an S-video - Scart lead, but it was purely for cosmetic reasons as my TV only has an S-video input on a pop-out panel on the side. And i didn't want to see any cables, so it had to go into a Scart input on the back of the set. Either way it's lots better than using the yellow, composite - scart adaptor supplied.