Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DAV-FC7 Dream Home Theater System with 5-Disc DVD Player

My wife and I picked this one out after looking and listening to a lot of comparables. The sound has a fullness and depth that I just didn't hear in any other compact home theater system under $500. Hookup took less time than I expected; however, you will need to purchase additional speaker wire... the supplied wires are just too short. (you do NOT necessarily need to buy Monster cable) The plus side of the sound quality outweighs the negative of a rather slow disc changer/reader. And watching a DVD in Dolby ProLogicII is an excellent experience. The SACD format is also fantastic whether you're listening to Dark Side of the Moon (an absolute must with SACD) or the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra (try Mahler's Resurrection Symphony). Again, it's a perfect home theater system for the price.

In nov 2003 i bought this so called wet dream machine to replace my 10 year old great system. I have had nothing but trouble with this cool looking junk. It wouldnt shut off it wouldnt have the ready sign come on to put c.d or d.v.d. in it.I would always have to shut it off and put it back on. I called sony numerous times and to no avail,they new it was a manufacturers defect, and covered it up. I returned it to circuit city and before they took it, i hope everybody out there does the same as we did. Have them check the defect reports on there computer and find out its been a yugo for so sony that from nov 2003 to now there lemons the store manager told us. If you have to buy anything from circuit city please do it they were great. lets get together and take this crap off the market now.

I bought this system for it's size and it's all-in-one nature. It fits in nicely in my living room and is small enough to fit on my tv stand. The set up was easy except for the rear speaker wire not being long enough. Everything works the way it should right out of the box. CD Sound quality is nice and loud and the DVD looks and sounds great. The good qualities end there. Let's start with the slot loading changer. It takes about 45 to change a cd or dvd, which is ridiculous in my opinion. If you are watching your cable or satellite through the system and you want to put in a dvd or cd to listen to, it changes the function to the dvd player! That wouldn't be so bad if you planned on watching the dvd right then but when you want to load 5 cd's to listen to it is horrible. Even worse is that when you push eject to get out your rented dvd to take back to the store, it changes the function then too! Changing between cd's in shuffle mode atkes about 30 seconds between each song. You cannot split the audio and video so don't expect to play video games and listen to cd's or watch tv with the radio on. The diplay on this unit is so small that you can hardly read it from 5 feet away. Also, I had a cheap dvd player and even it showed the movie title on the display. This player gives you no information about any of the discs inside. So even finding out what discs are in the machine takes another 5 to 6 minutes.
This would be a good single disc system, but as a changer, it sucks. I'm returning it to get a tray style system.

I just bought this system after two years of major searching. Unfortunately, I should have waited another two years.

PROS

Can play almost any type of audio/video disk
Easy setup
The main player looks impressive

CONS

Cannot perform the most basic operations of my older, lesser Sony model; including: can't change one disk while playing another, and NO shuffle mode! (note to self...never throw a party)

The sound is shallow, tinny, and weak. The listener is reminded of an alarm clock radio. When in "surround sound mode" the listener is reminded of several alarm clock radios.

The speakers are, in my opinion, very outlandish looking. You'll have difficulty incorporating them into any decor; unless of course you live in a laboratory or industrial facility.

BOTTOM-LINE

I would hold out on home theater for now. Wait another two years for the high-end ($600-$1000) models to come down in price. Also, powered satellite speakers will be available within two years for a good price. That means no more wires in your living room, so even the most unnatractive speakers can stay relatively hidden.

I am giving up on this system.
The CD changer takes too long to change discs, and the system crashed in one unit in 4 weeks- I exchanged it and it broke again after 2 weeks.
Luckily I paid for an extended warranty that allows immediate exchange as well as replacement for dissatisfaction (Local retailer).