Lots of boom, not a lot of buck!

Introduction

The home cinema receiver (or amplifier if you prefer).

The cornerstone of the home cinema set up. One of the things that helped to sell lots of DVDs was multi-channel surround sound. To experience that at its best, you need a receiver/amplifier such as this one.

I've had an earlier model (STR-DB930) for 9 years now, and it's been in use every day, amplifying normal TV sound as well as DVDs and CDs, and external sources like MP3 players. It's come to the end of its life, so the time had come for a replacement. After looking around at what's out there these days, I was quite happy to go with another Sony, having been very satisfied with the performance of the old unit.

The STR-DG820 has been around for quite a while now. Is it another good performer from Sony?

Set Up

There are two approaches to set up. If you are replacing an existing system, you've got to disconnect everything and label everything, tidy cables up a bit, get the old system out and then put the new one in. That took me at least an hour!

Once you've done that, or if you are setting one up for the first time, you need to start connecting up your speakers and the things that you're going to attach to it.

Let's deal with what you can attach to it first.

There's one coaxial digital input (e.g. for a DVD player).
There are three optical digital inputs.
There are four HDMI inputs (for Blu-ray, Sky+ etc.)
There are five 2 channel inputs for CD players etc.
There's a built-in FM/AM tuner (why no DAB in this day and age?)

The one thing there isn't (and this may still be significant to you) is a separate 5.1 channel input.

Now let's move on to what comes out of it.

This is a 7.1 channel receiver (110W RMS per channel), so there are speaker outputs for each of those channels. The binding posts are good quality, or you can use banana plugs. As with many other Sony systems, it also features a separate B channel, so that you can have an additional set of front speakers attached. In my case these are in a a separate room - very handy for listening in the kitchen. However, the speakers for the B channel are only connected using spring clips (which is a bit annoying given that all of the other speakers have posts). And my 9 year old amp managed to have posts for the B speakers, so why did Sony go backwards?

Anyway, move past this minor niggle and everything should be ready to go. Now for the next part. Calibration.

If you've done this before, you know that you need to calibrate your system to get the best performance. This involves setting up the individual speakers, finding the distance that they are from your seating position, selecting their type and adjusting output levels accordingly.

Hah! Get back to the year 2000 with your clunky methods! Sony have implemented Digital Cinema Auto Calibration. Essentially, they supply you with a small microphone on a long lead. You place that microphone where you would normally sit, preferably around head height. You start the calibration process. The amp then sends a series of bleeps, bloops and other odd sounds to your speakers to work out where they all are in relation to the mic, and what type they are, and what level they should be set at.

And that's a brilliant feature. It came out with results pretty much the same as my old calibration data, so I'd say it was pretty accurate.

So now it's ready to go.

In Use

So you know what it's got, and what it can do. What does it sound like?

In a word, great. In two words, really great. In three words, really, really great.

Given the price that you can buy this for, the performance is very impressive. DVDs sound great. Blu-ray discs sound great. Music from CDs sounds great. Music from other sources sounds great. A few years ago, something would have had to give with a receiver/amp at this level, but whatever type of sound you throw at it, it throws it back at you with clarity and quality.

I could go on and on about trying it with this disc and that disc, but I'm not going to waste time with all that. I've pumped loads of stuff through it and my Mission speaker set up and haven't found anything that my ears didn't like.

Conclusion

If your equipment is getting old and you're looking for a bargain replacement, look no further! I've been indebted to my STR-DB930 for 9 years, but the STR-DG820 has helped me to not worry about mourning the passing of the old box. This one's even better, it can cope with the increased number of channels that we have nowadays, and you can pick it up very cheaply.

The sound quality is great for the price. I think it's great overall, but I'm sure purists and ultra-audiophiles will say that something costing lots more has the edge over this. And it probably does. But for the ordinary person who wants something like this for their lounge, you cannot go wrong with this machine.

There were originally problems with the HDMI connections and Sky+ HD boxes, but these have now been resolved, so there's no reason not to snap up this bargain while you still can. Let's just hope the model that replaces this can be as good!

And I just love the Digital Cinema Auto Calibration system - a great idea, simply executed, and again perfect for the "ordinary" person who might not want to muck about with tape measures and the like to get the best sound.

A great unit.