Sony STR-DG500 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver
Sony's worldwide reputation for creating unique, attractive, high-quality, advanced technology products rests on a long line of innovations embraced by people from all walks of life. With a diverse product lineup serving a variety of lifestyles and industries, Sony continuously strives to introduce new products and technologies to meet changing market needs.
When you're ready to step up to 6.1 channel performance for a truly rich home theater experience, the STR-DG500 Home A/V Receiver is ready to take you there. Designed as Sony's entry level surround sound receiver, performance and simplicity are the key. The receiver sports 660 Watts delivered across six channels for an impressive 110 Watts per channel. When you add Sony's Digital Cinema Auto Calibration setup, you've got a system that is simple to set up, but is completely tuned to your unique home theater layout. 
The STR-DG500 features a wealth of connectivity options, including component video input/output. View larger. |
An included remote control lets you stay in control from the couch. View larger. |
Digital Cinema Sound
Sony's original Digital Cinema Sound technology uses exclusive DSP technology to recreate the precise environment of three Hollywood Dubbing Stages where your movies are created. The result is true theater sound in the home from the source. You also get a huge range of other decoding technologies, including Dolby Digital Decoding, Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Pro Logic IIX, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital EX, dts 96/24, dts NEO:6, and dts-ES. All of these options give you great compatibility with the digital sound encodings in the latest DVDs and other media.Digital Cinema Auto Calibration
Now the optimal speaker for your living room is only a press of button away. Simply place the included microphone in your listening position and allow the strength of Sony's Digital Signal Processing to take over. Speaker placement, distance, and delays are all adjusted automatically to ensure a worry free listening experience. Once you have your system optimized you can select from a variety of sound fields to suit the entertainment you're experiencing. Choose from three sound fields designed to optimize cinema, three for music, 11 for automatic format decoding, and one for two-channel stereo listening. A/V Sync
The STR-DG500's special digital signal processing allows for lip sync delay to adjust to match the refresh rates of today's advanced flat panel televisions. Input/Output Options
With an impressive array of I/O options, the STR-DG500 is sure to fit right into your home theater system. In addition to composite video and analog RCA inputs and outputs galore, you get optical and coaxial digital audio inputs. Multichannel inputs are of course provided, as is a subwoofer output. For complete integration with your HD video system, you get two rear component video inputs and one component video output. Other connections are provided for antennae, speaker terminals, and headphones. Tuning and Extras
What receiver would be complete without an AM/FM tuner? The STR-DG500 provides auto tuning, direct tuning, and station name tuning options, and there's a preset memory for 30 FM and 30 AM stations. And last but not least, the unit ships with a handy remote control. What's in the Box
STR-DG500 receiver, FM wire antenna, AM loop antenna, 2 AA batteries, remote control, and instruction manual.
Sony STR-DG500 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver Accessories
 Cables To Go - 40315 - 2M (6.5ft) Velocity HDMI Digital Video Cable (Blue)
HDMI Cable 2M (6 Feet)
Fiber Optical Toslink Digital Audio Optic Interface 6 Foot Cable
Cables Unlimited 6-Foot HDMI Male to Male Cable (PCM-2295-06)
Kingston Data Traveler 1 GB USB Flash Drive ( DTI/1GB )
Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote Control
Sony DVPCX995V 400-Disc DVD Mega Changer/Player
Sony SA-W2500 Performance Line 100 Watt Subwoofer
Philips PH61071 Component-Video Cable (6 Feet)
Monster Cable THX-Certified Fiber Optic Digital Interconnect Cable (4 Feet)
Sony STR-DG500 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver Reviews
This method seems to have worked fine. If you turned it off with the video setting (TV), it turns on with the TV. The other nifty feature is that when you turn on the receiver, it starts with the previous setting. If you turned it off with the FM tuner and turn it on again, you have the FM tuner. Clever. Considering the price, it is a great value.
I decided to do the calibration with the mike mounted on the top of my head. I bought this receiver because it had a microphone for auto-calibration. The mike has a female tripod screw for mounting on a tripod. It has more power than I need.
Very odd in a receiver of this class. I received this unit for Christmas last year and has yet to dissapoint. Accepts virtually any audio input, and the only real trouble I have is the FM Tuner is a bit weak even with a powered antenna, but the unit is in a club room and 3' underground. AM reception with the loop antenna in the block window is absolutely superb. and is hard to go wrong with this choice. Overall, well worth the purchase.
there are 2 500 units so be sure you have the right one. amazon lists the wrong product info for this item. it does not have any hdmi ins or outs hd is done component only.
My parents have had a high-end surround system for years and my dad still swears that the rear speakers don't work. And most importantly, the sound is pristine. I've never cranked this unit up all the way because it gets LOUD (without distorting). Brilliant, I say. The auto-calibration feature is brilliant. I haven't made an adjustment since, and it sounds fantastic. The receiver runs a series of tests, progressively playing pink noise from each speaker and making incremental adjustments to volume and delay. For a unit at this price-point I was not expecting much.
The STR-DG500 takes care of everything for you. After a few minutes, the surround system is perfectly tuned as if a professional installer with a sound meter had done it. Overall, everything you could want in an entry-level tuner, PLUS. You can't go wrong with this receiver. First of all, this tuner has the performance and feature set of devices several times the price.
Simply plug the included microphone in, place it where you would normally sit, hit a button on the remote, and walk away. Further, the connections, menus and controls are all very intuitive and well-thought out. Setting up a surround sound system is not easy, and getting it to sound good is part science, part voodoo. I was very wrong.
Good FM reception. It replaces my Yamaha 5.1 receiver after almost a year( forgot model - bought 4 years back and gifted away to by brother). The setup process kind of killed my excitement at having a new receiver at home again after a gap of 1 year. I was ready to return this and spare myself the effort of setting up the surround speakers in the walls but I decided to try them anyway. I was shopping for a HD ready receiver with a budget of around $300 and ended up picking this up for fraction of that - $125 from fry's 5/5/07. This one can really pump it up.
I am keeping this one unless it bombs on me in the next few weeks ( till the HD ready ones does more than just their pass through trick for $300 ). Good value for money. BTW all speakers of mine are Polk - 2 tower, 1 center and 2 surround rear + powered sub and seem to go well with this unit. The remote also feels flimsy - might fly away if you sneeze on it. Also I guess setting it up in an acoustically 'sound' room will enhance the audio further.
Lacks quick access to bass/treble control. ( The Yamaha, I remember, was very easy to setup relatively ). CAN REDUCE VOLUME WHILE MUTED - this is a great plus - not available in Yamaha. In short here is how I rate the features in this unit. Unsatisfactory remote - cannot control non-Sony devices - at least the manual seems to say so.( I intend to call them about this ). The auto calibration then improved the sound quite a bit - still the THX greeting sample from Lion King sounded dull and unsatisfactory.
The auto calibration did a great job and the sound effect improved by leaps and bounds. It takes around 5 secs for sound to come out after power up. Cable/TV audio sounds are much louder than the DVD/tuner at the same volume. And I am glad I did it. ( right now the front right and rear right share a wall - if you get what I mean ). Very good sound ( at least a 5.1 setup needed ). Auto scanning and storing of FM stations DOES NOT work as claimed in manual ( I intend to call them about this too). The menus are difficult and unintuitive.
No s-video input - I was surprised. Yamaha had them on 2 knobs in front - very useful when listening to old tracks that's scratchy at normal treble setting. Slowly I hope to forget what the Yamaha sounded like. I motivated my just ehough to drag my self to navigating through the menu and manual to customize it further - it still lacks a certain quality that the Yamaha had in the same setup - but its ok now + remember $125.
Pros. The same THX samples were sounding much firmer and was satisfactory ( always remember the price ;). It could very well be the bad acoustics of my living room but I doubt that's the sole factor. You could tone the treble down and enjoy some vintage 60-70s music.
I started with 2 tower speakers and a center channel + a sub and the sound was very disappointing out of the box - lacked a certain punch/edge the Yamaha had with the same setup. Complicated menu system - ( its inevitable - you need to spend more time exploring it ). Cons ( mostly minor to moderate - no show stopper - lots of niggles ). Overall I am satisfied with the sound from this unit and its a special feeling when you walk away with more than $150 of your budget still intact.
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