I picked one of the Sony STR-V555ES receivers up yesterday and so far am pretty pleased with it. I've had other ES series receivers here, but moved them all one as I was pretty firmly set in with tubes, but recently decided I should have something with some solid state muscle for some of the less efficient speakers that pass through here. I have an Altec 9442A pro amp, but it's not quite what I had hoped for and was looking for something else. BTW, i only used 2 channel, so many of the HT extras are just that, extra.
I picked up the V555ES thinking it was a power amp at first, but the dozens of RCAs on the back made it clear it wasn't. It sounded fine out in the garage, but I wanted to hear it on the Bozaks in the basement and it's been a pleasant surprise so far. The only real concern i have with it is that the Volume pot seems muted to some extent in that I have to get it up to about 12 o'clock high to get 80+ dB out of it, which is about the same as my 12 watt tube amp, and that just seems odd for a 120 wpc receiver.. I didn't get the remote with it, so perhaps there's some setting I need to massage to get it right??
At any rate, with all the bells and whistles this one has, it's probably going to be a keeper and some other pieces will move on down the road. Back in 2000 or so this was a $1300 receiver and a value compared to other Sony's of the time, punching well above it's weight. It's reviewed quite well, but one can never tell what the expertise of the reviewers are. Still, most of them rave about the 2 channel sound, and it does seem to sound the smoothest out of the handful of SS power sources I've fed the Bozaks.
Anybody else have one of these or a similar model? What are your impressions of the sound? I don't know if it can get the starting job, but so far, it's a very solid backup.
I picked up the V555ES thinking it was a power amp at first, but the dozens of RCAs on the back made it clear it wasn't. It sounded fine out in the garage, but I wanted to hear it on the Bozaks in the basement and it's been a pleasant surprise so far. The only real concern i have with it is that the Volume pot seems muted to some extent in that I have to get it up to about 12 o'clock high to get 80+ dB out of it, which is about the same as my 12 watt tube amp, and that just seems odd for a 120 wpc receiver.. I didn't get the remote with it, so perhaps there's some setting I need to massage to get it right??
At any rate, with all the bells and whistles this one has, it's probably going to be a keeper and some other pieces will move on down the road. Back in 2000 or so this was a $1300 receiver and a value compared to other Sony's of the time, punching well above it's weight. It's reviewed quite well, but one can never tell what the expertise of the reviewers are. Still, most of them rave about the 2 channel sound, and it does seem to sound the smoothest out of the handful of SS power sources I've fed the Bozaks.
Anybody else have one of these or a similar model? What are your impressions of the sound? I don't know if it can get the starting job, but so far, it's a very solid backup.