Video Asylum

Posted by Some Guy on January 06, 2004 at 09:36:24

In Reply to: Can't beat a Trinitron. posted by HiFiMaster on January 05, 2004 at 11:38:23:

I've been having problems with Sony for the past few years, so I've sworn of their gear until they get their quality control issues to the level of the performance quality.

I had a Sony VHS VTR that was a great piece of equipment... until the brakes got messed up and the rubber all started to deteriorate. Perhaps two years of work out of that piece. It cost as much to repair as to replace, so I chose the latter.

I had a Sony single CD player that was just sweet... until it started to screw up tracking on CDs and then just not read them after a few months. I got about 3 years out of that.

I had a Sony AV970 Pro-logic Receiver that sounded amazing... seriously, it had a perfect sound field for 2 channel listening. Clean, quiet, full of features, and beat most every single receiver they made for the next few years. That is until it started turning on in the middle of the night while on the lowest FM band... the one where absolutely NO ONE broadcasts so you get white noise. Yes, try waking up at 3am to that. Took it to a few places and they couldn't figure out the problem. Then it stopped turning on unless it was unplugged for a while. Then once it was on, it would lock up and not turn off unless it was unplugged. It is still one of my favorite amps ever, but I just can't leave it plugged in. I ended up replacing it with a Denon 6.1 receiver recently... it sounds almost as good, but has nowhere near the quality of features. Depressing. Still, I got about 4 years of life out of it before it started acting up.

It's not just me, either. A friend had a more recent Sony receiver that was even nicer than mine. But then the right channel died. A different friend had a Sony 5 disc changer... stopped reading CDs and rotating. The sob stories go on.

Personally I have never owned a Sony TV, nor do I want to. They do look good, but I have always felt them to be overpriced. Given my previous issues with Sony, I think I have reason to be skeptical of their durability as well.