Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony STRDE197 Stereo Receiver

If you're looking for an economical FM/AM receiver, with plenty of power to rattle the windows and a straightforward operating approach, look no further. The Sony STRDE197 not only deleivers crisp, clean reception, ease of tuning and the ability to connect audio components such as a CD player and MD/tape deck, it does it with a minimum of fuss.

My 13 year old JVC receiver recently gave up the ghost, I didn't want to replace it with another receiver full of features that I seldom used and sometimes didn't fully understand. I already had a separate surround sound set-up and was looking for something that would allow me to listen to music via FM radio and CDs and with power enough to run two sets of speakers. I found that and more in this Sony product. Even the operating instructions are easy to follow. Imagine!

Gosh, I just don't even know what to say about some of the other reviews. (the negative ones) In short, they are wrong. If you have audiophile tastes, I'm sure this won't measure up. It seems like many people were expecting this to sound like an $1,000.00 amp. It may not sound like that, but it does, however, sound as good as amps 3 times it's price. I have owned many amps over the years, and this one works great in every way. For 95% of the consumers out there, this has plenty of power. If you have specific needs for more wattage, then buy an amp with more wattage for Pete's sake! If you have specific needs for audiophile quality output, then buy another amp for Pete's sake! This amp is made for the every day radio/music listener. it isn't made for people with specific audio needs. Don't listen to the bad reviews on this, seriously. They are written by people who should have known better than to buy this in the first place. They are written by BMW drivers who bought a Toyota and want to complain that it doesn't have BMW performance.

Some of the complaints concerning this item are valid, but it is clear to me that others did not do their research!

Check the resistance of your speakers. This amp is designed to operate at 8 ohms. 100 watts of power is only 100 watts of power with the right speaker set. and by the way... you must times the watts by ten to raise the volume 10 dBs, so the difference in volume from 35 watts to 100 watts is only a few dBs.

And don't run your speakers in parallel (through the same inputs), this will cause too much current to run through your speakers and overload the amp.

An overall excellent value for the price. Sony well styled and considering that most receivers are now multi-channel this is a straight forward two channel receiver best for those of us having one left and one right ear. Excellent choice for den or summer home -not intended for a multichannel, multi switching audio video receiver control center.

Sound is good, controls are good, easy to hook up. I have been an avid Pioneer Audio user, but I'm getting over it now, since Pioneer products seem to be getting more and more shabby. The only thing I would add to the Sony STRDE197 is the ability to scan stations with the remote control. You can't tune with the remote unless you have stations preset. Not a big deal, but it would be handy.