SONY DAV-FR8 DVD Dream(TM) Audio System

Rating:
Summary: Not Impressive
Review: I got this system thinking that the quality would be very good to excellent. I was extremely disappointed and returned the item to Amazon.com within a month of my purchase. The CD's/DVD's take forever for them to play and the machine doesn't indicate when you stick a disc in and when you wait. There is no carousel for the 5 discs so you have no idea which CD is in which slot at the time. The sound quality is only average. If you are an audiophile, you will be very disappointed. If you don't mind average sounding music but like staying on a budget, this might work for you. It looks nice though.

Rating:
Summary: Great Home Theather System
Review: I have this system for 5 months now and i am very happy with it. The audio and video quality it's great. A bit pricely but you get what you pay for.

Rating:
Summary: My review of the DAV-FR8
Review: Only seven out of the ten movies I have attempted to watch would play in the DAV-FR8 dream system. The three movies that would not play, however, do play in my $30 DVD player on my computer. The laser system in the DAV-FR8 seems to be finicky. This is a big problem if you rent movies. When renting movies for this system, make sure the DVDs look perfect before you leave the store.

Other drawbacks include:
1. Very thin speaker wire. I switched to thicker speaker wire, more power was delivered to the speakers(**). If you purchase this system, you might want to consider picking up the Monster Cable Front and Center Speaker cable set for Kenwood systems. The gold plated Kenwood connectors in the Monster kit also fit this Sony dream system.
2. The user interface is very poorly designed. For example, you cannot change some system settings while a DVD is playing. As another example, when you power up the system with a DVD, the system will prevent you from doing anything until it reads the DVD. Consequently, if you want to change a system setting (e.g., progressive scan), you must wait until the system starts playing the DVD first, and then you have to stop it to get to the menu that allows you to reconfigure the television type.
3. Other user interface complaints: You will need to have the user manual in hand while using the setup features, as the menu system is complex and non-intuitive.
4. Although this system can hold up to 5 DVDs, disc changes are very slow.
5. The remote is thin. This might be a plus, as it is sleek and elegant. However, I prefer the bulkier remote that came with my Sony television.

Pluses:
1. Although not specified in the advertisements or broachers I came across, the DAV-FR8 system plays VCDs and SVCDs, even ones recorded on my computer. This is only a plus if you watch VCDs and SVCDs, however.
2. At the time of this review, a $200 rebate is available if you buy this system and certain Sony televisions.
3. The system is aesthetically pleasing.
4. The sound is perfectly adequate.
5. The EZ room setup works well, once you find it in the poorly designed user interface.

(**) Thicker speaker wire is lower resistance, and allows more power to be delivered to the speaker. In a qualitative comparison I performed while installing thicker speaker wire, thicker speaker wire seemed to provide a 2-3 dB gain in volume.