FM station tuning/display on new AV receivers

[AVupgrading]

I'm in the process of replacing an old receiver
I picked up a SONY STRDN1020, connected it, went thru all the settings
There doesn't seem to be ANY way to display the FM station you are listening to
Unless you connect a TV & have the display on the TV ???
Is this just some stupid Sony setting, or do all new AV receivers that are designed for a Home Theater have this "feature"
No way this will work for me
So before I return this....am I missing something ?
If I swap this for a Pioneer VSX-921-K am I going to find the same thing ?

Thanks
-Dave

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, Dave!

The Pioneer 921 will definitely show the frequency on the front panel. Both of my Pioneers do, and I verified it for the 921 by looking at the owners manual.

When you are listening to FM or tuning in a station, what is displayed on the Sony's front panel?

 

[AVupgrading]

Thanks !
Glad to find a forum for this stuff
The Sony simply displays "FM Tuner", very frustrating, unusable IMO
It doesn't even show you the stations as you search....
I've been looking at the Pioneer, was hoping that it would be different
We use the stereo a lot more as a stereo VS as a Home Theater setup

I'm off to the store to swap the stereo
Hopefully have it installed before the wife gets home

I'm just starting to upgrade my home theater setup(s)
My speakers will be next (I think), I have some Cambridge sound works speakers right now
My old receivers are Pioneer, I have a Sony out in the shed for the patio area

 

[AVupgrading]

Pioneer is installed, I can see the station !!
I can't believe Sony made such a blunder, might be why the entire line is on sale
I installed some banana plugs, still need to go thru the full setup
But its connected for now & working...as a stereo & a Home Theater setup
New speakers will be somewhere down the road
I want to set this up fully & test it out with the existing speakers 1st
Thanks again

 

[Adam]

Awesome - I'm glad that it worked out!

 

[mtrycrafts]

...
I can't believe Sony made such a blunder, might be why the entire line is on sale
...

Did you, by chance call Sony about this? Perhaps there is a setting that needs to be entered for the radio to display stations, or defective receiver. While it is after the fact, it would be good to know if Sony has an issue, or just a setup issue.

 

[markw]

I agree with Mtry. I can't believe that Sony, or anyone, would do such a stupid thing.

 

[Adam]

I agree that it's strange, but the manual made me think that it was not just a setting - it specifically stated that the radio frequency would be shown on the TV screen. I certainly could have missed something, though.

 

[M Code]

I'm in the process of replacing an old receiver
I picked up a SONY STRDN1020, connected it, went thru all the settings
There doesn't seem to be ANY way to display the FM station you are listening to
Unless you connect a TV & have the display on the TV ???
Is this just some stupid Sony setting, or do all new AV receivers that are designed for a Home Theater have this "feature"
No way this will work for me
So before I return this....am I missing something ?
If I swap this for a Pioneer VSX-921-K am I going to find the same thing ?

Thanks
-Dave

Before concluding an AVR doesn't do something...
Check the Operation Manual closely..
Check-out page 108 in the STRDN1020 Operation Manual, certain front panel (or remote) buttons need to be pressed and the front panel display will show frequency and preset #....

Just my $0.02...

 

[Adam]

Check-out page 108 in the STRDN1020 Operation Manual...

Thanks! That's what I missed.

 

[bikdav]

Thank You For Clearing This Matter Up.

Before concluding an AVR doesn't do something...
Check the Operation Manual closely..
Check-out page 108 in the STRDN1020 Operation Manual, certain front panel (or remote) buttons need to be pressed and the front panel display will show frequency and preset #....

Just my $0.02...

I figured that there was a method to the madness. If Sony only allowed the frequency display to shown on a TV screen, they would be out of the receiver business fast. Im not impressed with their new offerings.

 

[AVupgrading]

I missed that too...page 108 tho..??...
Quite frankly I'm not going to read thru 100+ pages of a manual to find out how to start using it
And it bothered me a little that the entire Sony line seemed to be marked way down
I did do a search both on the Sony site & the Net trying to find a solution
By default it should always display...I looked thru every setting I could find
And I read a few other reviews of people who had the same problem...so back it went
The Sony seemed like a nice receiver, had LAN capabilities which the Pioneer does not (less $$)

One of my other receivers is a Sony....maybe 10 years old, never a problem with it

 

[mtrycrafts]

I missed that too...page 108 tho..??...
Quite frankly I'm not going to read thru 100+ pages of a manual to find out how to start using it
....

Thanks! That's what I missed.

Yep, they certainly don't make it easy to find common answers to such an expected outcome, to show frequency and or channel info on the component display. I cannot believe that they think that if you only want the radio that your TV will also be on. I for one wouldn't have it on for sure. It should be the default to show it and then, if you want to opt out, then change the settings.

 

[M Code]

I missed that too...page 108 tho..??...
Quite frankly I'm not going to read thru 100+ pages of a manual to find out how to start using it
And it bothered me a little that the entire Sony line seemed to be marked way down
I did do a search both on the Sony site & the Net trying to find a solution
By default it should always display...I looked thru every setting I could find
And I read a few other reviews of people who had the same problem...so back it went
The Sony seemed like a nice receiver, had LAN capabilities which the Pioneer does not (less $$)

One of my other receivers is a Sony....maybe 10 years old, never a problem with it

In today's electronic technology gadget CE world, many, many features are buried down in the menu system, even the iPhone Operation Guide is 163 pages.
Perhaps a better Quick-Start guide can help this challenge for simplifying its operation out-of-box...

Just my $0.02...

 

[bikdav]

A lot of manuals are written in a weird way. I recently acquired a Yamaha HTR-5830 av receiver from craigslist and found how weirdly the manual was put together. That said, after carefully searching and reading, I found the manual to be quite thorough.