Opinions please - Sony DAV-S800 (Justin and all)

[bossc@]

Hi

I've posted in a couple of threads re info on complete systems and was wondering if anyone had any experience of this system.

If Justins about - can you recommend a good mainstream manufacturers complete system. I'm tempted by the one above after reading bits abour it including Westys comments over at DVD Reviewer . But would like to know what you think and if you have any other recommendations in the £600 to £800 bracket.
Thanks

[Justin]

Originally posted by bossc@
Hi

I've posted in a couple of threads re info on complete systems and was wondering if anyone had any experience of this system.

If Justins about - can you recommend a good mainstream manufacturers complete system. I'm tempted by the one above after reading bits abour it including Westys comments over at DVD Reviewer . But would like to know what you think and if you have any other recommendations in the £600 to £800 bracket.
Thanks

Boss,

All depends on your budget, but they are usually in the following order:

Pioneer
Sony
panasonic

Pioneer invented the format, with the NSDV1 3 years back, Sony brought it to mass market with the DAVS300, panasonic brought out the most feature packed one. Although the Sony and Pana both got best buys (depending on the mag you read!), the Pioneer was the best system, for the money. The NSDV55 was the best buy and best all in one system for over a year (What hi-Fi, HCC, HE, etc), followed by the Sony DAVS300.

This year, the Sony DAVS500 got that review, but the only reason it won it is because Pioneer discontinued the NSDV55, and did not make available the NSDV77/88 for review, due to a production fault which set back its release by 2 months.

I would advise you get a demo of the DAVS800 against the NSDV77/88. The Sony is a vast improvement on the cheaper DAVS300 and 500s, but to be honest musically the Pioneer has the edge, plus for the price of the sony you can get the Pioneer with its matching minidisc deck (well about £50 more!).

Get a demo locally first though, and see which sounds best to your ears.

[bossc@]

Cheers Justin

Thanks for the advice:)