Sony DAV-D150

Author's product rating:   

Sound Level	Excellent
Instructions	Helpful / Easy to Follow
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great sound and replaces so much in the home audio visual world
Disadvantages:	lack of inputs and speaker cable length .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

While my opinions are few and far between, I feel it is unfair that I do not share with you my gems when I find them.
One of these Gems was my Home Cinema Stereo system that I bought a few months ago.

Until then, I had found it hard to believe that the "surround" experience really added too much to my viewing pleasure. I already had the TV pumping out the sound via my existing Sony Stereo stack. This was in traditional Stereo with no separate Bass.

I then visited a friend of mine who had a Sony Surround Sound System and instantly noticed the difference. Sitting in the armchairs, i was noticing sounds I had never heard in movies before. Action was going on all around my head rather than in front only.

This was the convincing I needed for buying a surround sound system. Your audio clarity and overall viewing experience is boosted 100 fold!

My house is like the Sony Shop. Sony Widescreen, Sony Stacking Stereo with CD, Dual Tape and Audio/Video Control Center Amp with a built in Tuner. Add to this the Playstation 2 and Sony Video and you have the complete set!
However, you will notice, one household item missing.....NO DVD!

Enter the Sony DAV-100. This is one clever device. Not only is is a Surround Sound audio system, it is also a DVD/CD player. Thanks to the built in DVD drive, you can sit back, hook up your TV and watch your favourite movies with things going all around you in finest 5:1 surround sound.

Hang on Andy, explain what you mean by 5:1 surround sound?
Well, basically, you get 6 separate speakers with this device. Each one is labelled for a different place in the room so you can split the sound out correctly. There are 5 "location" speakers and 1 Sub Wooker that delivers the BASS!
Imagine you are sitting in the middle of the room. There is one speaker each for both the Rear Left and Right. There is a Front left and right speaker and a center speaker. These 5 deliver the sound into the right zones.
The other speaker, like i said, delivers all of the bass and can go anywhere. Hence the 5 and the 1 Surround sound!

How does it look?
Well its finished (as most devices now are) in Silver. The Speakers are also Silver. It lookked out of place with our Stak Stereo even though it is less that 4 years old as it is Blak. However, this device replaces all that the stack does (apart from the tapes!)

So you said it can play DVDs, What else does it do?
Built into this clever device is a Radio Tuner. So you can listen to your favourite radio programmes with either the included Internal Aerial or with an external Aerial you can plug in via the RF connection.
Add to this, you can play your favourite CDs in the DVD Drive. As this has a powerful 200 Watt Amp, it delivers loud and clear sound to the listener and the locatin of the speakers means you get a nice balanced and even sound. The CD player is also intelligent enough to play CDRs and CDRWs as well as MP3 Cds. So you can get up to 200 MP3s on a CD and play them on this device.

Inputs on the rear are a bit of a let down. There is no Digital Input on the rear so you have to connect the TV via the 1 (yes ONE!) scart socket. This poses a few problems if you have a few devices to connect like Videos,Sky,TV etc. The only solution to this was to buy an intelligent scart splitter from Comet for £30 so I could add my video and PS2 to the mix. There is also a pair of Phono sockets so you can add your Video Camera (which is also Sony!) directly to the surround sound! On the front,there is a Phones socket but why you would use this if you have surround sound is beyond me!

The included Remote has lots of functions and is very easy to use and master. This allows you to set the way you want the sound delivered, change the mode (DVD/TV/CD/RADIO) and also control the DVD and CDs when you are litening/Watching.

Sound modes are worth talking about. It can deliver the sound when watching. You can select the sound to come in normal Stereo, Dolby Digital (great for movies and DVDs) Dolby Surround, and even Pro Logic (the old 2:1 sound system)!
With CDs you can set up the style of music which adjusts the Treble and Bass accordingly. These are settings such as Rock, Funk,Classic,etc.

Set up was relatively straight forward. However, if you have a big room, the included Speaker Cables are not really long enough for the rear speakers. The connections are all colour coded so you dont connect the wrong speaker locations to the wrong connections.

Overall Performance? Crystal Clear! Its a great sound for what I call a budget sound system.
Ultimate test for the sound in Movie mode is to put on SWORDFISH starring John Travolta. Watch the first 5 minutes is all you need to be sold on it.
As the proximity bomb goes off (you know the bit i mean!), ball bearings fluy all around the screen. You end up ducking as ball bearings are whizzing past your ears! Fantastic effects with the audio!
It does so much for its money, its hard to believe the deal I got! £220 for this system. It is Sony build quality so I have had no, and expect no problems.
Well reccomend this as an upgrade for people looking for a Surround sound system that dont want to buy either a separate Stereo or DVD player. A great device!