Sony STR-DH700 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver (Black)

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 16.9 x 12.6 x 6.2 inches ; 17.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 23 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001TCML9Q
• Item model number: STR-DH700
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #9,642 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

  #77 in

  Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Receivers & Amplifiers > Component Receivers

• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 23, 2009

Product Description

Product Description

The STR-DH700 7.1-channel A/V receiver delivers the full HD 1080 experience to a home theater system. This newly designed 1080p A/V receiver features 6 HD inputs including 3 HDMI inputs with active intelligence that allow the desire for more HD content to grow. In addition, the STR-DH700 is compatible with 24p true cinema video signals and decodes uncompressed audio (LPCM via HDMI) making it compatible with Blu-ray Disc, the PlayStation 3 and other HD sources. Share your favorite songs wirelessly throughout your home with the optional S-Air transmitter and turn on the AirStation client (sold separately); you can instantly listen to your favorite music in another room or in multiple rooms. BRAVIA Sync provides a one button operation (via HDMI) of your entire A/V experience with a select number of BRAVIA televisions.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another great receiver!, April 19, 2009

By	alaskanseminole "alaskanseminole" (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony STR-DH700 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver (Black) (Electronics)

This is my second Sony Receiver in a row. In fact, the only reason I even upgraded my STR DE697 7.1 receiver was because it didn't have HDMI inputs--aside from that deficiency I was completely satisfied. So after researching the Yamaha (RX-V464BL), Onkio (RX-V463BL), and Sony (STR-DH700) I stuck with Sony and purchased the STR-DH700 7.1-channel A/V receiver. Now, most will say I'm crazy for not going with the Onkio, but I've always been pleased with Sony and I wanted to 1) save some $$$ and 2) avoid a steep learning curve (I'm very used to Sony's products).

PROS: My favorite feature has to be the quick set up for the speakers. With the push of a button in just 30 seconds my speakers were auto calibrated via the calibration mic. GREAT FEATURE!

CONS: The music settings i.e. Jazz, Stadium, Hall, etc. are useless to me due to the fact the subwoofer is excluded from all the settings in this mode except Portable (setting for MP3 players). I'm not sure why Sony did this, but it really stinks since my Polk front channels are rather small and depend on my 8" sub for quality sound. Again, this is my only complaint and because 99% of what this receiver is used for is cinema I'll survive!

Overall I'm very pleased with this entry level receiver. For an extra $100 I could have gone with the STR-DH800 which includes Dolby® TrueHD Decoding, but since I'm only running a 3.1 set-up I figured I'd be okay. I would; however, suggest paying the additional $100 between the STR-DH500 and DH700 because the HDMI connections in the DH500 only carry video, so you'd have to run separate cables for audio.

My Set-up:

TV: Vizio XVT series 42"
RECEIVER: Sony STR-DH700
BLUE RAY: Sony BDP-S360
SPEAKERS: Polk Audio surround RM10 set w/ PSW111 Subwoofer

UPDATE: 2 May 2009 - I'm attempting to edit this post again. Basically, the issue with the music sound fields was due to my assumtion that the auto-calibration would set the speaker size. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Once I changed the speaker settings from LARGE to SMALL everything worked like a champ!

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Set up Instructions not good, July 30, 2009

By	F. Baker "Fred" (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sony STR-DH700 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver (Black) (Electronics)

Sony STR-DH700 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver (Black)
This a very good unit but Sony instructions for setup are very bad.It walks you through the first step by having you clear the memory.Well when you do that it will not set up the speakers automaticly.It will default to (NO). So after racking my brain why the back speakers would not work and wondering why the Auto set up for the speakers would not work and ready to send it back I finally read the last 40 pages of the setup and finally noticed that when you reset the unit it faults to NO on the automatic speaker setup.After changing that manually everything worked like magic.Not for the faint uf heart!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Plug & Play with HDMI and Harmony One, April 26, 2009

By	W. Mackain-Bremner "wbremner" (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sony STR-DH700 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver (Black) (Electronics)

I'll be the first to admit that I have not used all of the features of this device (7 speakers, wireless, ipod connection), but based on my experiences to date, I am VERY happy with this unit.

My configuration:
Westinghouse 37" LCD - connects via HDMI
Comcast DVR - connects via HDMI
Oppo DVD - connects via HDMI
Roku Netflix box - connects via HDMI
Harmony One remote control - manages all of the above

Setting up all of the above was a breeze - took about an hour, most of which was adding the receiver to my existing hardware on the Harmony One (which I also love, by the way). All the HDMI connections worked first time and there have been no issues.

I'm using an older Bose 3-speaker setup for now but will ultimately add a 5 or 7 speaker system, maybe utilizing the S-AIR link. Part of the reason I bought this unit is because I want some future expansion flexibility.

Just one very minor gripe - the remote sensor is a bit picky, even with the Harmony One, so I have had to reposition the unit accordingly.

For ~$250, this was an easy purchase and an easy setup.