SonySTRDH590 5.2 Channel Surround Sound Home Theater Receiver: 4K HDR AV Receiver with Bluetooth,Black

UPDATE: I love this thing. Upgrade from four to five stars!Once you get used to the features, the remote is simplex - a definite improvement over the ancient device and remote it replaced.Updated review comments:- Basic remote use is a one-button press ON for FM, TV, or Bluetooth (which pairs easily).- Angle and range of the remote are awesome (for me at least).- Front panel display is very readable, and the light level is adjustable to several presets to OFF.- The manual onboard volume control is micro-adjustable; no "move it a tiny bit and too loud."- Easy access to digital process presets (Stadium, Concert, Jazz, etc.), and they are "just enough."- Sound quality is exactly what I hoped for. It perfectly drives my two (really old) KEF Carina 2 speakers and two (really old) satellite Radio Shack Optimus Pro X44AV.- A simple, old-school Pyle speaker selector switch (purchased via Amazon) easily accommodates front/satellite speaker switching/combining (as there is no second set of speaker OUTs on the Sony). Nonetheless, the Sony receiver drives them both pairs of speakers as hoped -- no worries.- I can accept that there is no AM on this thing. Truth be known, about the only time I've ever used AM has been in weather emergency situations, looking for someplace - any place - to get info. However, I now have a spiffy Midland battery/solar/hand-cranked AM/FM/NOAA Weather radio (via Amazon) for that. So, no AM on the Sony is not a deal breaker.INITIAL REVIEW:My 26-year-old Sony AV Receiver was intermittently shutting down and displaying "PROTECTION." I opened it up, blew out a ton of dust, examined and found no bulging capacitors, re-assembled - and it worked flawlessly - for about 6 months.Bought this low/mid-range one to replace the old one. It works, however there are things I like and dislike:PRO:• Despite the complex possibilities of set-up and calibration with the included microphone, it was truly just plug-and-play.• The Display is clear, sufficiently bright, and easily customizable.• The remote is much smaller, more intuitive, and less complex than the old one.• Printed user manual - cool.CON:• Sony's approach (still) is to handle a lot of (almost all?) the adjustments for you. For example, no simple tone controls. "Just leave the sausage making up to us, and we'll provide the only pre-sets you'll really need."• If you were to brave following all the set-up directions in the user manual, you should first get a degree in signal path, gain structure, and network configuration.• There is no AM tuner - just FM. I get it. Fancy-ish home AV systems rarely, or never dial-up AM stations.• No B channel speaker outputs! My old receiver accommodated two main sets of speakers: "A" speakers were 5.1 plus sub for the big room, and "B" speakers were a simple L/R for another set of speakers (ours are wired, in the kitchen). To solve this missing feature, I've ordered a simple manual Pyle A/B switch (actually A/B/C/D) to take the output of the receiver and have the option of playing just A, B, or both A and B (like the old unit had built-in).About that A, no B thing: None of the Sony AV Receivers I researched from base model to those costing thousands, have outputs for a B set of speakers. None. If I missed one, would love to know about it.Also, all my speakers are 8 Ω, so if this doubling-up on load via the Pyle switch yields impedance woes, I'll update this review.

I had unique needs and this unit met almost all of them and came in much lower than my max budget. Commentary below:Dimensions: needed to be as short as possible for future cabinet building/fitting. This is the shortest unit i could find that met my other criteria.Surround: needed at least 5.1 with MCACC. I built my system out of a variety of equipment at differing impedance levels and cone sizes per channel. The MCACC feature worked wonders and saved hours of fine tuning the sound field.Performance: needed to perform at a variety of impedance levels per channel and rather low impedance for home audio. I make my stuff out of car audio equipment which is usually lower than their listed 4ohm value. Home audio is usually listed at 8ohm. This units amp lists a range of 6-16 ohm per channel. It's driving 10 speakers (2/channel in series) each channel between 6.3 and 8ohms. I haven't measured it yet but the amp's subwoofer pre-out seems to be 1-2volts which is acceptable. With the preface that I know what I'm doing and 6.5in is my largest cone, this thing will hurt my ears before it clips. So, for me, wattage is a non-issue.Features: it has MCACC. Use it. Bluetooth it works great. Dimmer: I use this in a bedroom and sometimes for looping thunder sounds to sleep to. The dimmer will cut the display down to 50% or turn it off entirely. It also turns off the blue Bluetooth light. Incredibly thoughtful engineering for sleeping applications. Processing: sony's smart surround setting (HD somethingorother) will automatically pass through DTS and Dolby (and pressing display on the remote will tell you what its passing through so you don't have to guess) and more importantly it will automatically play stereo sources in multi channel stereo (aka extended stereo)Shortcomings (all easy to know from listing and photos):Surround wire terminals aren't banana plug compatible but the front channels are.There's no full range pre-out for another zone.Volume: level is displayed in a unit-less value, would prefer actual decibel valuesNetwork: ethernet port for basic smart home control functions would be nice.

Works great so far. Using it for 5.1 set-up. Great sound thru my Polk/Pioneer speakers. Like how it changes audio inputs automatically when I switch from TV streaming to cable viewing. Have a 30-year-old CD player hooked to it and it sounds great. Picks up radio stations great as well. Nice unit, not your high end unit but for my 70+ year old ears it's great. My first experience with Sony receivers, it replaced a malfunctioning Onkyo unit. Have preferred Pioneer receivers over the years but very happy with this Sony unit so far.

Could not be happier with purchase. Does an outstanding job and was easy to set up. Sound quality is great. Have a 5.1 set up. Definitely use an HDMI connection for sound vs. optical to get the most out of the system. And use a high quality cable like a 4k rated. Not all HDMI cables are the same. I originally bought a Pyle amp and returned it due to sound issues. Sound would just drop out at times.