Customer Reviews

Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX587WC 5.1-Channel Theater System (Black)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am not an expertise on sound systems, in fact this is my very first home theater, but let me tell you this: The sound quality is just amazing, crisp clear and strong. Definitely a very good investment for a low price, couldn't ask for more.

I bought this system to:

1. Save space! Its footprint is so much smaller than my gargantuan TEAC receiver with KLH speakers and Polk subwoofer.
2. Improve the home theater experience with the update as well - going from a franken-system to a streamlined one-brand approach.

I was so skeptical while taking out all the big components from my old system, and replacing them with these tiny speakers. So skeptical in fact that I left both systems in place to compare. I shouldn't have wasted my time: For the price (under three hundred at dell), this system far exceeded my expectations. Sound was full and rich, the subwoofer handled REALLY well even though it's not powered, and the highs were spectacular. Watched the newest James Bond to hear rattling explosions, whispers, glass shards falling... everything came through really well.

Pros:
- After setup, there's a microphone that you can set where you would listen - then press a button and the stereo will calibrate the sound for the theater setup. I did this right away after reading the suggestion on many reviews, so not sure how well it worked but sounds fantastic.
- The iPod dock will work with newer ipods and iphones - and would even play Pandora off my iphone. Sounds great. Also it charges the ipod/iphone. Bonus!
- Much less clutter for a lot of sound.
- The included s-air speaker works great so long as you are not going through too many walls. Someone could be watching a movie on the main unit while the s-air speaker is connected to radio. Haven't used it too much yet, but will be handy.

Gripes:
- Expect to read through some of the manual during installation and initial setup. There are some great features to the system but they aren't presented very well.
- The s-air speaker that comes with this system seems to fool some buyers into thinking this is a wireless home theater system. It is far from that out of the box - it has only ONE wireless auxiliary speaker that is not home-theater quality. You can of course purchase more wireless technology from Sony.
- The s-air feature seems like it may be interfering with my internet wifi. Need to investigate more. Allegedly, you can change 'channels' for the s-air units, so may not be a problem.
- Biggest gripe: The wires. No one ever seems to get this right... They are not long enough, especially the front L and R speakers and subwoofer. Yes, Sony does use their own 'proprietary' connection from the rear of the unit, but you can splice somewhere in the middle and add a few feet of wire. It's kind of ridiculous design and some setup time I'd really rather have avoided.
- You have VERY limited options of feeding anything else into this system. There is a optical digital audio input, only one RCA audio input, and a 1/8 audio aux plug in the front.
- DVD changer. NOT blu-ray. Not a problem for me, but worth mentioning.

All in all the system sounds incredible and saved a lot of space. The tower speakers in the front look really nice. But - if you happen to have a few components you expected to plug into this system (well, anything more than one component really), you might look somewhere else. Sony seems to want this to be the 'all-inclusive' system and for some reason you don't have the option to plug much else into it.

Hope this helps some potential buyers.

This is an excellent sound system for the price, it features more inputs than Panasonic's or Samsung's similar offerings, it has every decoder you would expect with a DVD based system, and it has a more polished and sleeker look than others at this price range. I bought this to hook up to my computer (optical or coaxial can be used for digital input).

The HDX587WC comes with a wireless stereo that you can put anywhere in your home to allow people in other rooms to listen to whatever is playing on the main system (DVD, Radio, ipod, Aux). The quality of this stereo is consistent to what you could get for around $50, however the stereo only works with Sony equipment and cannot function separately.

This system is extremely bass heavy at default settings, I do like bass but in comparison to my other surround sound systems the bass gives the audio a very "muddy" sound effectively drowning out much of the upper-mid range frequencies. This can be fixed in the menu by adjusting the bass (for me to the minimum) The speakers levels can be adjusted slightly to compensate for your room size and speaker positions but the amount these settings can be tweaked is minimal.

If this is your first experience with a 5.1 audio system the default bass settings may not bother you at all, but if you are a semi-audiophile like me who has experience with other setups you will be surprised how poorly the subwoofer performs in relation to the rest of the system in comparison to other similar systems.

Overall, once the sub is tamed this system is a clear winner for price/performance in the $300-$450 range.

Lots of people rate this receiver highly because of all the features. I suppose if you are a real audiophile, these might be important to you. But I am an ordinary Joe, and all I want to do is to be able to watch TV and listen to an occasional CD or watch a DVD. I thought that buying a Sony system to go along with a new Sony Bravia TV would let me do these things easily. Not so much. The system certainly works and does what is advertised, but forget about a "one remote system". You need both remotes and have to navigate through a series of menus on both systems just to make a simple change from TV to CD, for instance. Oh, the included wireless air speakers work fine if you are within 10 feet of the main unit. Try going 25 into the kitchen and forget it. Technically, this sytem is good, but from a consumer usability standpoint, it lacks a lot. I'm looking for another system already.

This is my first home theater system and I wouldn't have bought any other system. It provides great sound and has very deep bass. This system goes great with a Sony TV and a PS3. I've had mine for about three weeks now and I've used it everyday and it is amazing. Very good looking system and it's incredibly easy to set up. With all the right cords set up shouldn't take more than an hour. Anyone out there looking for a home theater system I would highly recommend this product, for the price you just cant beat it. This is a 5 star product no doubt.

This unit is great for set up. There is a disc that actually walks you through set-up and the system will actually tell you if you set up right or wrong...very cool. Good system; i was a little dissapointed in the fact the rear speakers were not wireless. I bought the system thinking that it was so identification could be improved but otherwise i would recommend this product to anyone.

Great home theater. Very easy to set up. The quality of sound is very good, but my one small complaint would be this home theater would not be the best for a big room... it is better for a smaller room. We would buy it again FOR SURE!

sound is crisp, bass is heavy, night mode does what it's supposed to!

PS3 hdmi to Sony 40" optical to surround system work great, picture from dvd is clear and quality of sony, but after bluray on PS3 it's a hard comparison, now i need a XBR sony lcd to really have it all!