Great Brand, Bad Concept
Written: May 04 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy To Use, All-In-One System, Internal DTS
Cons: Weak Bass, Poorer Quality Speakers, Cooling Flaws
The Bottom Line: Read my 'Verdict'
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| soupcraze's Full Review: Sony DAV-S300 |
The Sony DAV-S300 is an all-in-one system from Sony. The Sony DAV-S300 includes a DVD/CD player, with a reciever/amplifier. This isn't like other home theater systems. Most home theater systems use recievers that don't have built in DVD or CD players, they instead run on seperate components. The Sony DAV-S300 isn't like that. It's for those people who want an easy to hook up system, and that they have everything they need right there. I'm guessing if a great brand like Marantz or Denon came out with something like this, it would be decent, but the Sony DAV-S300 completely falls short of audiophile quality. After checking this system out, here's what I have found:
Price:
The Sony DAV-S300 is seen in most stores for $600. I haven't seen it for any less at this time. There are lots of 'home theater in a box' systems that cost the same price, or somewhat more expensive. I don't prefer 'home theater in a box' systems. I have a strange dillema with book shelf speakers (I ONLY use towers in the front), and I also like to mix and match components. For instance, a brand can make good speakers, but terrible recievers, or vice versa. This Sony is no exception. It truly doesn't give that punch that some people may be looking for. All of its speakers have 2.75" drivers, and the subwoofer is also very small. The sound quality isn't worth the $600 at all. Try something else. The Sony DAV-S300 would make a fine computer speaker system, but home theater it is not. My suggestion to all of you who want a home theater in general, make a custom system. You can great Yamaha recievers very cheap, and you can also find a Onkyo DX-C380 CD player for $169... And so forth. You'll get better sound quality by far by making your own system, but pay somewhat more. Why pay $600 for trash though when you can pay let's say $720 for a custom system that you know you'll love. Now for all of you who want a 'home theater in a box' without all of those hassles of buying seperate components, I suggest you try the Yamaha YHT-17 system or any other, Yamaha makes very good ones. You can also pick up a Sony DVP-S360 cheap for $150 if you really need a DVD player. For everything that you get with the Sony DAV-S300, it's just not worth it. If you're very desperate though for getting an easy to use system with everything already in there, then buy this, Sony DAV-S300. From my reasons, you'll be able to see that this may not be the best choice.
Looks and Styling:
The Sony DAV-S300 looks decent. The 'deck' looks like an expensive DVD player, but that's pretty much it. The speakers speak for themselves. They do look pretty cheap, I've seen much better Yamaha speakers that come with the Yamaha YHT-## systems. The Sony DAV-S300 will look decent in a room, but the Yamaha systems will look much better.
Durability:
I don't really know how long the Sony DAV-S300 can last. It is flawed all together. I'll make a seperate section for that called the 'flaws' section. Anyway, the feel of the Sony DAV-S300 control deck isn't nearly as solid or as high quality as the Yamaha recievers. The Sony DAV-S300 may get beat up, so take good care of this one. If you want something that will truly last, you'll want a Yamaha YHT-## system.
Installation:
One good thing about the Sony DAV-S300 is that it's very easy to install. That is the reason why many people buy it. It can take half an hour for an average person to install speakers into a 'normal' custom home theater system. The Sony DAV-S300 is however much easier to use. It also already has a built in DVD and CD player. If you truly need a home theater package that is incredibly easy to hook up, then why not buy the Sony DAV-S300.
Sound:
The Sony DAV-S300 has flat sound, or shall I say that the sound quality on the Sony DAV-S300 is quite poor. The five speakers are capable of driving about 30Watts a piece. That is not enough power for most people. The weakest recievers that I have seen these days were 50Watts per channel, the Sony DAV-S300 is 20Watts short of that. Each 2.75" is capable of driving relatively tinny sound. This thing simply won't exceed your expectations. If you have a small room, this may provide ample power, but nothing like some cheaper custom home theater systems that I have seen. I have heard some satellite systems or computer speaker systems such as the Boston Acoustics MediaTheater, and they had superior performace compared to the Sony DAV-S300.
You want clean sound? Well, the Sony DAV-S300 may not deliver it... The THD level in the Sony DAV-S300 is a whooping 10%! Now for those of you who don't know what THD is, it's the amount of distortion that is created. Now, let's see how much distortion a Yamaha HTR-5230 which costs $250 creates... 0.7%! The Yamaha systems will deliver quite powerful and incredibly clean sound. The Sony DAV-S300 will simply not give you that.
In my flagship home theater system, I get the greatest effects from DTS, my favorite type of decoding. The Sony DAV-S300 will give you decent sound, but not really the kind that you will expect. Overall, the Sony DAV-S300 delivers quite weak and not too clean sound. It will deliver what some average user in a small room would need, but not powerful sound that an audiophile or at least an above average user would want. If you can afford maybe $200 more, then you should buy a better Yamaha YHT-## 'home theater in a box' system. Believe me, they are well worth it.
Even with DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1, this wasn't capable of delivering that 'kind' of sound. I wasn't impressed at all. I don't think many people will be. I have heard some cheap systems which are 'home theater in a box' systems, and they gave out much more powerful and cleaner sound. The sound on the Sony was again, weak, distorted, and all else.
Bass:
The bass on the subwoofer is quite weak. It is a passive sub, which means that all power is driven from the reciever, the subwoofer doesn't have its own amplifier. This makes the reciever much hotter. The bass may be too small for many users. It never gave me that punch that I was looking for. It simply takes the magic out of some movies. The bass is just way too weak.
Ease of Use:
The Sony DAV-S300 is an easy to use system. That's why many people buy it. There shouldn't be any problems at all with using this system. It's very intuitive, just about anyone can use it. This may be a good system for beginners, but then again, should you just buy a Yamaha 'home theater in a box' system?
FLAWS:
The Sony DAV-S300 has flaws in it. This nails the Sony DAV-S300 to being only an average system, and not a good system. One major flaw is the cooling mechanism on the Sony DAV-S300. Well, I asked the salesperson how many fans it had, and he said there were none. He also said that this didn't aquire a lot of heat. Buy do they lie sometimes.
Haven't we learned our lesson from the GoVideo DV-S3000? An all in one system with a DVD/CD, amplifier, and reciever all on the same deck is not always the best idea. Well, what makes it worse is that the Sony DAV-S300 has absolutely no cooling fans! After about half and hour of relatively loud music and bass at the max, the Sony DAV-S300 was very hot. When these things get really hot, DVDs start skipping, and it all becomes a nightmare. What was Sony thinking?!
Another flaw in the Sony DAV-S300 is that there are minial inputs and outputs. This can greatly limit further expansion to this system. This just seems to limit virtually everything. This can also limit the kinds of speakers that you can buy. For now, I can guess that you're stuck.
The Verdict:
The Sony DAV-S300 is overall an OK system. If you have a small room and don't need anything way too great, then the Sony DAV-S300 will be an ample system for you. If you want to see the reality of home theater, then you should try a somewhat more expensive 'home theater in a box' system. The Sony DAV-S300 will simply not deliever the kind of sound that you may be looking for. 30Watts x 5 is quite weak, and the subwoofer is weak too. Another problem with the Sony DAV-S300 is that there are no cooling fans, and almost no room for expansion. If you have money, please spend it elsewhere.
If you're in desperate need of a system that will give you just about everything and don't care for quality or massive power, then the Sony DAV-S300 wouldn't be a bad idea. But, even in this case, $600 isn't chump change. You should consider adding on a little more to it to get much better sound.
Recommended:
No
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soupcraze
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Member: Soup Enthusiast
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Reviews written: 488
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I enjoy many of life's passions... Music, medicine, people, and life itself.
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