Hi everyone,
Several of you have helped me quite a bit lately in my research to replace my thought to be crippled Sony STR-DE545. In fact, I ordered and received the Yamaha RX-V659, but have not hooked it up because in all of my research, I found and fixed what I thought was a unfixable problem with my sony. So, after having owned this Sony receiver for nearly 6 years, I finally actually have good sound coming from it and am reasonably happy with it.
Here's the rub - all my research has made me more aware of the finer details in my system. So, even though I've discovered new sound (it turns out I wasn't ever actually getting 5.1 out of my 5.1 receiver because I had the output from my DVD downconverting from Dolby Digital to PCM) I'm now more aware of what could be the shortcomings of my current system.
One thing I readily notice now is the significant speaker hiss coming from the Sony. It's not adjustable with volume increase/decrease and it occurs regardless of what's connected and is noticeable from 10 ft away. Also - it appears in all of the appropriate speakers depending on the sound mode chosen by the AFD setting on my Sony. So, in two channel mode I get it from the fronts. In 5.1, I hear it in all of the speakers. So, long story short - is it likely that replacing the Sony with the Yamaha (that is just sitting, waiting to be opened) will make a noticeable difference?
For reference, the rest of my setup is the Pioneer DV333, Polk PSW250, Polk R15 Surrounds, Polk R40 Fronts and Polk CS245i center.
Thanks for all the help!
Ben
