Sony DAV-S550
I won this set in a raffle last Christmas ball. I have had no need for such a system so far, so I have been keeping it in its original packaging all this time. Just opened it a few days ago as I was getting too bored staying home for the last few weeks.
The sound at the first startup was just crap. “Tinny” sounding.
After a few hours, it became a little better. I tried to change the default configuration a bit to match the setup of my living room and the positions of the speakers. After the setup, it sounded much better. However, the mid and hi’s of the tiny satellite speakers do not mix well with the subwoofer. The speakers still sounded small and the subwoofer seems to go on its own. Also, the speakers sound very positional. You can tell which speaker the sound is coming from when you close your eyes even when the sound is moving from one speaker to another - not very coherent. FM reception is poor. I still hate the mono sounding dialogue in any 5.1 systems. Some of the direction of some sounds are illogical. I don’t know if it is the problem of the decoder of this particular model or the soundtrack itself, as I am new to 5.1.
For its functions, and for a beginner to 5.1 setup in a small room, the price ($4XXX) is not bad deal. Setup is relatively easy. Craftmanship for the entire system is good.
For those with a good stereo setup looking for a 5.1 in matching sound quality, I suggest you look for some other better system.
WhaUSay?!