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Sony STR-DE197

Thrift-a-holic

Thrift-a-holic

Hooked for life
So I picked this guy up from the G-Dub on the way home. I know black box Sony's are not to popular in this venue, I am kinda excited about it. My two cents is that, this unit should be decent since it is a two channel amp, and therefore designed for stereo music. I hate the cheap Home Threatre stuff with the crappy multi-Channel amps. If it were a cheap HT Sony I would have left it on the shelf. Is that a defendable position....that even if it is a budget new unit, it can be good as it is a two channel. Sony says that it is 100watss RMS into each channel at 8ohm. So how am I to take that? I mean 100 watt rms vintage receivers are generally highly desirable. Can I even compare this (power wise) to a vintage 100 watt RMS? If not, would it be comparable to a 50watt? I mean, even that is good power for most speakers. I know that RMS is not standardized and that is one problem when comparing brands and eras. Also, I am really just looking for opionions explained in laymans terms. If you start sending me mathatical explanations and graphs, it is just going to boggle my newb mind.
 
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I don't think many people would consider this vintage, to be honest =)

This receiver is pretty new (it can still be bought as new on ebay, a least in Europe, I think its from around 2004-2005). I personally sold a used one I picked up at fleamarket a few weeks back. Soundwise it was nothing special, rather bland and muddled IMO, so was happy to pass it on and make a profit. They are difficult to resell, without the remote (so I hope you got one in case you consider passing it on).

I'm sure someone else can comment on wattage. IMO, wattage doesnt tell anything about the quality of the sound, and thats what you should go after. =)
 
Yes no doubt that it is not vintage. It can be bought new today. I guess the vintage part of my question was related to the watt ratings of today vs. yester-year. Retro-spect my post title should have been related to that, not my receiver model. Thanks for responding!
 
Hi all, Bumping this old post from 2009 which I found this afternoon. Now that's it's 2024 (HAPPY NEW YEAR), I guess we can say this (circa 2004) Sony STR-DE 197 is now considered a (somewhat) vintage Receiver. At any rate (my being a retired Guy with too much time on my Hands) I couldn't help but purchase for fun the aforementioned Sony A/V Receiver today from my local "Thrift Shop". The Sony Receiver was in quite good physical condition having needed only a simple wipe down/cleaning (outside) unit. Once cleaned, I hooked up the Sony to my (two way) English made Mission Tower Speakers and turned the FM to the local Classical Station. Ha! I dare say, this was ten dollars WELL spent! Geeeeeze, I'm pretty shocked by the overall sound/performance (thus far) of this very basic/entry level Sony A/V Receiver. LOL, ten dollars! Color me surprised!

SixCats!
 
Technically speaking, it's not even retro, let alone vintage. In order for something to be antique, it has to be 100 years old, vintage 50 yrs and retro 25 yrs.
 
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