Sony STR-DH740 7.2 Channel 4K AV Receiver (Black)

For the price, hands down the best audio receiver out there. I use this for my XBOX/PC gaming setup and really enjoy the customizable settings and easy input switching it offers. I paired it with some sub-par speakers and a budget powered-subwoofer from pioneer. The result is nothing short of, “wow, what have I been missing this whole time?” My speakers came from an in-the-box home theater blue ray combo and compared the quality of sound that offers to this receiver, the difference is amazing. PROS: Fairly easy setup, switching inputs is almost instant, sound quality for the price is wonderful, no lack of inputs for people with multiple of devices they want to run through the receiver and the extra channel for 7.1 surround sound or the capability for 4K resolution make this an easy upgrade for anyone considering these options in the future. The receiver offers more than plenty of watts per channel giving good crisp sound which would fill any size room or home theater. It also has a plug and play tune kit which allows you to let the receiver change the settings automatically, I thought this was a great addition for anyone not willing to tinker with hard to find settings. CONS: The user manual is pretty hard to read, I say this as a fairly seasoned tech guy who built my own computer and generally customize (and notice the differences it makes) my audio setup. I didn’t mind reading through the manual I just know for a fact a lot of users will probably just toss it aside and forget it, which could be a mistake as the receiver offers plenty of options to tailor the audio experience to the individual using it. The two extra channels which could be used for 7.1 surround can also be used as a separate room channel – I plan to use this for an out-door patio speaker set up at some point. Another feature I was looking for and found to be extremely expensive to buy was the ability to listen to multiple inputs at the same time, for example I run my gaming PC and Xbox on two different screens directly above and below each other. I would love to be able to watch a YouTube video on my PC screen and listen to the audio while gaming at the same time on my Xbox. And I would love even more for the sound from both devices to be coming through the receiver in true 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, but alas this feature is way out of my price range. Finally the ending: In all if you are in the market for a cheap but effective audio receiver you probably already know this is a good deal. You probably already know how much tinkering and setting up your willing to put forth too and if you fit this bill this is a good buy. I almost purchased it at best buy but then I did a price comparison to amazon prime and knowing I’d get it shipped free to my door didn’t hesitate to purchase it on my phone in store while I was talking to the guy at best buy.

Ok, so This reciver is an excellent choice for a 5.1 or a 7.1 or 5.2/7.2 home theater setup without wanting all the bells and whistles like bluetooth, wifi access and what not. I am running a 5.1 setup with my 5 speakers being all 6homs, so at first i was shy to think the reciver will handle properly but i was wrong, so far i had this reciver for about 3 days now and i play with it every day. Ive seen 4 movies so far and the reciver barely gets warm to the touch. But b4 watching movies there's the setup where your asked to use the auto cal mic and all. Personally i think its a great addition and definitely helps with the set up, but i do recommend after the auto cal to go into the settings manually to check all the adjustments and see if you agree with them. The user interface is not colorful or anything but thats fine you only use it to set the settings and then u dont really see it much. But its all straight fwd the settings and all. If you can read and have common sense then ull be fine no problem. But if you do have questions about the avr such as modes or setting or what dose that light/button do, the user manual dose an exellent job as anwsering all your questions. You shouldn't feel lost at all. But opinion is something else, if your looking for the best settings and want to know what other people have there avr set up then yeah you need google. But back to the reciver, i came from an older sony that wasn't bad but it didn't have hdmi inputs so i couldn't take advantage of HD audio witch kind of bugged me out. So i wanted a decent upgrade, i didn't care for bluetooth or wifi capabilities because i have a separate bluetooth stereo system for music so yeah i just wanted to be able to hear a little bit better sound but mostly more power for my speakers, and let me say this avr dose not disappoint. Its very powerful and i cant even get it past half volume with out me questioning if my speakers are going to blow or not. I do think this reciver is true to its power or atleast very close, but over all it did make my speakers sound better and ive watched movies i had watched with my older avr with the optical cable and man i can hear the difference, its just more clear and the 3d effects are there and there sharp. At times i felt like i had speakers right behind me and above me..but i dont i have a regular 5.1 setup. So yeah i really love the fact when i hit the power button on my ps4 it turns on my avr and tv all on one button and to turn it all of with one button i press the power button on my tv remote. I found out a few things that are good to know if you have a smart tv. When i turnd on my avr for the first time the "up,down,left,right,and enter" buttons didn't work. I thought my controller was broken but it wasn't, because i have a smart tv it some how over rided the avr remote and only let me move around the menus with the actual tv remote so i had to go into my tv settings and fix that. Just thought i should bring that up incase it happens to someone else. Also this avr turns off automatically when there is no audio sent to it after a piriod of time. I believe the people who say this avr turns off alone and what not dident read the manual and find out you can turn of the timer in witch the avr turns off. Ive played games and watch movies and never turned off so far. This avr offers plentiful settings to meet your needs, and definitely souds great. At first if you think things dont sound as good as you would like it to then go into the settings and play with it for a bit, you can always return it the next day or 2 days later. But really just read the manual, or atleast skim thru it. Its very useful it anwsered all my questions, but when it comes to witch setting is best for what then you got to reserch a bit is all. If your looking to upgrade to a simple avr to get all the HD audio codecs and run a 5.1 or 7.1 system with power to spare then this is the way to go!

My older Sony receiver started to loose the center channel, a problem all to common with earlier Sony products due to bad soldering on the boards in years past. I though I made it with the older one but it too started to cut in and out so I was forced to upgrade. PROS: - Uses the newer technology to auto set-up your speaker configuration by using the plug-in mic and placing it where you'll be sitting in the room. - Works - Is able to do 7.1 OR 5.1 I bought it to use with my 5.1 set-up and configured it to work as 5.1 instead of 7.1 - Most of the settings are configured by using the on screen (TV screen) configurations through the HDMI connection fed from the receiver. You can't really do the setup using the front display of the receiver as it won't show you all of the options and fields. - Sound is crisp and clear - Price was not a killer CONS: - Not as many optical inputs as my previous unit - Not as customizable for the display to read what you want it too. They have key words and you are basically tied down to their choices. - Auto shuts down when it does not receive an audio signal for about 5 minutes. You'll need to turn it back on or go into the programming and disable the feature. I chose to leave it on in the event that my wife leaves it on by accident as she moves the harmony remote due to impatience thus not allowing the macro to finish. - I wasn't too pleased with the auto programming of the speakers. The volume on the center channel was too low when it was finished setting up. I didn't care for background noises being about as loud as the vocal track on the center channel. Luckily it allowed me to go back in and adjust the center channel while preserving the rest of the settings. While I do like this unit it just isn't as friendly as my previous unit. Hopefully by now though Sony has learned about cheap solder connections and this one will last a long long time.

Okay, so far, so good. Right out of the box, the Sony STR-DH740 is pretty much what the doctor ordered for my home setup. Compatibility------------ I have the following components: PS4 - HDMI XBox 360 - HDMI Apple TV - HDMI (No cable TV, sorry Time Warner, I'm not interested, stop asking...) Wii with an HDMI converter I also have an HDMI switch I could use if I really want to add more components, but with Apple TV and PS4 available, those can cast pretty much everything I want to watch from Netflix to iTunes purchases, to Amazon Prime. Also, they do Hulu, but I never boarded that bus. I've been a Netflix guy forever. I was able to take my old HDMI switch and get rid of it because the STR-DH740 has 4 HDMI inputs, not the pitiful 3 that most systems seemed to have the last time I went looking. I was able to get rid of three cables, too. Two patch HDMI cables needed to make the switch work and one needed to patch audio back from the television to the old receiver (also a Sony, but very old). Wattage---------------------- I also bought a pair of floor speakers from Fluance. They are rated at 200 Watts and their reviewers report that they need at least 80 to start providing convincing sound. I was worried about the STR-DH740 not having enough juice. It says it's a 200 Watt machine, but it does not specify how much goes to each channel on the website. However, the box does: it says it provides 145 Watts per channel. So, I should have plenty of juice to rock the socks off my neighbors. Alas, they have not arrived yet. Sound quality--------------- I will not review the surround sound -- I'm going back to simple two speaker stereo, but with the large floor standing speakers I mentioned. I never wired my room for sound cabling, and frankly, I'm not interested in hiring a contractor to do that any time soon. The audio to my headsets is quite quality. I played Destiny last night and the sound was far superior to the sound from the Sony Gold headset that you can connect directly to the PS4, but without the surround sound location the Gold provides. The sound richness was just astounding, though, with clarity of voice and music that would be hard to beat. (My headset is pretty good, but it needs a good signal to work well.) I tested Netflix and iTunes video, and both were great. Setup-------------- Setup was a breeze compared to what I've done in the past, and with the bare minimum of wires. I have finally gotten down to a single HDMI cable from each component. This makes the setup much simpler than my old system and provides more space to move cables around. You will need access space for installation behind the device, or the ability to move the device in and out of your cabinet/shelves to get to the back, so you'll need longer cables than you think if you need to do that (I have to, because I use an enclosed cabinet). The cable connectors for the speaker cables allow for both free-wire connection and for banana plug connection. You don't HAVE to buy banana plugs, but I would recommend it. They're simpler to use. I wish I could find mine... Controls and ease of use-------------- The STR-DH740 provides onscreen feedback via the HDMI when you turn the sound volume or use the menus, which was something my wife complained about on the old system: my old one did not have video feedback capability. The design is ugly, but quite useful, so I don't mind the ugly. One drawback to the system is the IR remote control. With the PS4 going to Bluetooth for the remote, it would be nice for their other devices to also do this. I wonder why they haven't implemented it? Also, the naming of the different input buttons on the remote control is frustrating. I have to press the cable TV button to make AppleTV work and BlueRay to make the Xbox work. Silly, you know? They could just call them input A, input B, input C, or just assign colors (and stickers). The names make everything quite confusing to explain to my family. Summary------- Overall, this was a great purchase and I'm quite happy with it so far. I'm looking forward to hooking up those big speakers and blowing out my windows next week.

Great price for 7.2 sound. 145w per ch. This amp sounds pretty good and has more than enough power. I have the Sony SS-B3000 Bookshelf Speakers as my fronts, the Sony SS-B1000 5-1/4-Inch Bookshelf Speakers as my side fills, the Sony SS-CR3000 as my center and rear fill speakers and 4) Sony SA-W3000/Z active 12" subs for some ultra lows and I recently added 2 Sony SA-W2500 10" powered subs for better low mids... that makes it a 7.6 actually! The sound is incredibly clean with plenty of juice. I will typically run the system volume around 24 with the subs setting approx. 40%. In reality, that is far too loud to listen to for any extended time. The OSD (on screen display) is a cool feature. Once your TV is connected to the amp, use the included remote and access the TV display to setup your system. Works flawlessly and is very simple to understand. The one issue that puzzled me for a couple days was the speaker setup selection. The options are 3/4.2, 3/4, 5/2.2, 5/2, etc. Nowhere was 7.2 listed. Nowhere in the manual is this even dealt with. All of the sudden late one evening listening to Morphine it hit me. VOILA... 3/4.2 was 7.2... 3 fronts: l/c/r, 4 rears: ls, lr, rr, rs and, of course, the subs. After that obstacle was overcome all else was a breeze. I used the calibration mic and auto tuned the speakers. Cool Feature. The software figures out speaker distance from the mic down to the inch! Nice to know. Now I can set my speaker distance up super accurately! Next I use the remote/OSD to manually adjust volume levels, treble and bass and crossover points. Love It! All in all, it took me a few days of listening and playing around with it to really decide how I wanted to tweak the whole system. Amazing. Manually setting it all up took it to a whole nother level. The last step I took was adding Vibra-pods and Isolation bumpers to all the speakers that sit on the floor. Another level of awesome attained! TV-movie listening with the 4 large subs in opposing corners of the room, individual levels set at around 40% and amp turned up to between 30 and 40%, sitting on the couch feels like an earthquake when the LFE are used during broadcast. The 20Hz of the subs is more felt than heard and wow, it's almost scary! My room is 20' x 24' with a 13' vaulted ceiling. Not a small room. Seriously, this amp is a killer and the total system is so BA I can't accurately describe how happy I am with it. You'll be happy to!

*Edit, it's only been days but I've already noticed that this receiver is losing video signal again. I suppose it was too good to be true, cheap 4k pass thru. I guess I'll return it and wait for the new Pioneers with real hdmi 2.0 ports like the VSX-45. What a waste of time! I needed a receiver with 4K pass thru for my gpu and a Vizio Pseries 4K 70" tv. I tried an Onkyo TX NR636 before this receiver. The Onkyo failed horribly, it's hdmi 2.0 ports were terribly unreliable. I returned it and went back to my old TX SR705 but no 4K was killing me. Saw this Sony for real cheap got it. It works so far pretty good for a super cheap unit with 4K pass thru, a helluvalot better than the Onkyo. The Onkyo's hdmi 2.0 port had problems with handshake, it didn't work most of the time. Then the screen would go black intermittently, obviously this would not do in the middle of a game. It would also cause lag whilst gaming. This Sony at half the cost did not have any of those problems, amazingly! It however had one flaw, it would refresh the desktop randomly every 20/30 minutes. This sometimes caused media center tv to crash and in the least cause my windows to rearrange which actually really annoyed me. I sent for a replacement and so far as I type this the replacement has not displayed the intermittent refresh/blackscreen issue. It's an impressive receiver for the relative pocket change that you could have spent for a 4K pass thru unit that actually passes 4K.

I've had Sony receivers for a while (about 30 years), and this is my most recent purchase. I decided I really wanted to take advantage of the HDMI cables I had for audio as well as video. Previously, I had all my components hooked up to my TV, which was of a newer vintage than my remote, and used an optical audio cable from the TV to my receiver for sound. This worked fine, but the writing was on the wall. Let me first say what I /didn't/ feel that I needed. Some receivers above this have internet capability, Airplay, etc. The premiums I see charged for those features on the receivers, I couldn't justify when an Apple TV or Roku player would replace almost all of the functions at, usually, 1/2 the added cost. What I did want was some future proofing- the ability to pass 4K and 3D video, for example. This receiver has a surround sound decoder, 4 input HDMI ports, 1 output HDMI port (for your TV, with Audio return channel), 2 optical in and one spdif in connection, and a variety of legacy RCA stereo and composite video connections. The HDMI, as mentioned, will pass 4K and 3D video (though I have no components that will handle that output right now, so I can't review it), they support CEC instructions (make sure that's set ON in the receiver menu, or it won't work) and ARC for your TV (and you can assign an optical in port for this function, if like me your TV doesn't support it). While the lack of a component video connection may upset some, and I note it here, I didn't see it as a huge loss. The menu system works through the TV, though there is a setting to use the front LED panel if you don't have it hooked up to a TV. It is relatively self explanatory. The "easy setup" for the speakers, with an included mic, worked pretty well (I did some minor tweaks, but nothing too serious). This is a 7.2 channel system, meaning Front, Center, Surround and discrete output for a subwoofer (normal 5.1) as well as a second output for a subwooder (the ".2") and a channel that is assignable to a second room, front high, rear surround, or to hook into bi-amp speakers. The output is 100watts* per channel (*or so- I've seen several different specs, from 90 to 145 watts, from different sites. The manual states 145 watts at 6 ohm impedance, but I'm using 8 ohm impedance speakers and I bet most people reading this are, too. Regardless, it's got plenty of power and we don't want to get into theoretical discussions of speakers). Sound quality is fantastic, and the speakers I was using before (on an STR DE635) sound better on this than they did. Video quality is excellent- the pass through on standby works as expected (make sure it's on and you have the sound set for the AMP ONLY to make best use of standby pass through). Video source switching works well, as does the "Direct" setting to play music/soundtracks as recorded. Sound field switching works well, particularly for listening to music from stereo sources. The USB port on the front works well with my iPod classic, and is a nice feature. Overall, this has been an excellent purchase. While the manual requires some effort in places to understand, I found the menus to be relatively easy to understand. If you have an issue, I'd come /here/ to Amazon, first and read the comments as they are pretty helpful. One "gotcha" is if you leave "TV+AMP" as the sound setting on the HDMI set-up, you WILL NOT be able to hear DTS or other effects unless your TV is also capable of this- I'd turn it to AMP and leave it that way, and set A.F.D. auto to get your sources noted appropriately. I've used this with a Wii U, PS4, and Tivo- no issues. I've streamed Netflix and used Pandora from the Tivo, as well as used the digital TV tuner- all good. The receiver works as expected, and I have it hooked to a decent antenna to pull in crystal clear radio. One note- no RDS on this tuner, and it's not an HD tuner. Get on the stick, Sony. Also, don't lose the AM loop antenna (included) as it has a proprietary connection (apparently) and without the antenna, there is pretty much no AM reception at all. If you even care about AM. In short, I'd buy this again.

This is my third Sony receiver and while there are some quirks, I am overall very pleased. Sound quality is excellent once you read the manual. I use connected banana clips for all my speakers, and it seems that Sony spaced out the distance from the red to the black a little more than what is standard. The banana clips do connect, but the connections on the receiver do bend in slightly to make it work. I did use the microphone to do an initial setup but then needed to go into the menus and tweak some things. First of all it set my speakers to Large. I have a 7.2 DefTech Mythos setup with 2x 8" Subwoofers, so I had to go into the config and change my speakers to Small. It also set the +db ratings for my rear and side surrounds way too high, so I needed to move those down, and move my center channel up. But a lot of that is personal preference. Also, even though I am running 2x subs and they are slightly different (both in distance away from the listener and power rating and construction) there seems to just be a master subwoofer setting, so plan on tweaking your subs individually to make the most of your setup. Another quirk is that the receiver will kind of detect what AV source is active and set it to that, so there were times I would be in the process of turning on the TV, Blu Ray and receiver and it would flip off the AV source I actually wanted because it detected something else. Which means I had to hit the Blu Ray button on the remote, not the end of the world. It did take me an evening of reading the manual to figure out some of the sound fields. By default mine started in 2ch, and it took me a while to figure out what the differences were and what I wanted, but once I did the sound field was outstanding. The DH740 is quite a bit more powerful than my older Sony STR DG 820. Since I no longer had a requirement for so many stereo, composite and component inputs, it made the back of the receiver nice and clean. 3D pass through works as I would have anticipated, I did test some 3D movies just to verify, but overall I am not a big fan of 3D, that was more of a checkbox thing. I do not have a 4K TV, so that will have to remain untested. I will say the change from 1x 8" sub to having 2x 8" subs was amazing. I always felt that my low frequencies seemed to be coming from a direction, specifically the subwoofer that was to the right front of my media stand. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't full. Adding the second sub to the back left of the room now fills my room with that low frequency, and gives it a more "all around" feeling, instead of a "shooting out from the front of the room" feeling. My DefTech Mythos speakers do seem to sound a bit better, I think they benefited from the increased power. It took me a little while to decipher what the manual was trying to tell me, how to work my way through the menu system, and how to get the blasted EZ Setup to work right. But it was worth it. Especially at this price point, I am very pleased, despite the few quirks.

Just having TV, Bluray, cd player and even cassette player all Sony and of course the cable box it works perfectly concentrating my entertainment center with a single remote control and with fidelity and audio options that delight the listening

My samsung just busted and I was so satisfied of the replacement. The Sony is much more friendly user and easy set up. A1