[10 of 12 customers found this review helpful]

Sony STR-DG820 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver Review

Sony STR-DG820...More Bang for your Buck

"I'm an avid home theater guru and I recently wanted to upgrade my home theater from the Sony STR-DG800 to the STR-DG820. I thought the only differences was that the 820 had 4 HDMI inputs instead of 2 and the 800 only aloud video to pass through the HDMI and not sound. And the 820 has HDMI 1.3 which dealt with the lip sync issues that the 800 had with video/audio timing. Well, the 820 has all these and a little more. It's also Blue-Ray ready for all the new 7.1 sound formats. Because this is the first Sony receiver (beside the expensive ES Models) to accept HDMI sound, I was ony able to play my rear 7.1 speakers as a matrix 6.1 because of fiber optic. HDMI is the way to go and this receiver does it well with no lip sync issues.



The biggest difference I notice was actually the sound! On the 800 I would normally listen to movies around volume 55. With the 820, the power is much more and cleaner I'm now listening to it at around 35!!! I have Klipch Reference Series 8 inch tower speakers so it takes a lot to move these suckers so the extra power meant better sound and less distortion. Of course I never really heard any distortion with the 800 anyhow but you get the drift.



At any rate, I've owned a Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo, and heard a Yamaha and for this price you are getting what a Denon or Yamaha would cost you about $1,500. Hands down best receiver you can get for your money. And it's Sony? Two year warranty and I've never had a receiver go bad in 15 years. Take it from me, get this bad boy and you won’t be disappointed. It has everything trust me."

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