Sony STR-G3 AV-receiver

In the nearly two years since we first tested a component containing Sony's VisionTouch one-button remote-control system (the STR-G1ES A/V receiver), other companies have introduced A/V receivers with screen-based menu-driven control schemes, but every other attempt I've seen has fallen short of VisionTouch in both versatility and usability. And, given the enhanced control capabilities offered by the STR-G3 A/V receiver, Sony's substantial lead in this area appears to have widened.

How does VisionTouch work? The reason there are so few buttons on the STR-G3's front panel is that most of its many functions are controlled by a series of on-screen displays or menus. The receiver's remote control is used to move a small, on-screen, arrow-shaped cursor over the display to the desired function "button." The function is activated by pressing the single "real" button on the remote. Users of personal computers will feel right at home with this point-and-click control method, as it is similar to the one employed by both the Macintosh computer and Microsoft Windows. But instead of a wired mouse, Sony provides its unique egg-shaped, one-button remote control, a "wireless mouse" that operates at radio frequencies and is sensitive to the angle at which it is held. Changing that angle moves the on-screen cursor.

Menu-based operation greatly enhances the versatility of the STR-G3. For one thing, the receiver itself is capable of operating virtually any infrared-controlled device (the manual even mentions air conditioners!). Following a series of on-screen prompts, you can enter the brand of your external component and select the appropriate infrared-remote commands from a special menu. The bulge on the left side of the receiver's front panel is an infrared emitter that "sprays" the control commands into the room. In case the infrared signal doesn't reach the external component, Sony supplies a wired infrared-repeater module that plugs into the STR-G3's rear panel. You can place the adhesive-backed "emitter" end of the repeater's cable closer to the external component.

If the specific infrared commands for your component aren't already contained in the STR-G3's memory, you can "teach" them to the receiver: You aim the component's remote at the receiver's front-panel bulge and click your way through a sequence of IR Code Setting menus. You can even assign your own names to the memorized commands.

Once external-component commands are programmed into the STR-G3, various automatic functions become available. Auto Start turns on the selected source component and starts playing it whenever you turn on the receiver. Auto Play starts playback as soon as a source component is selected. You can even create two eight-command control sequences (Macro Play). As a matter of course, turning the receiver on or off will also automatically turn on or off any components that have been programmed into the system. Various specialized menus are available for operation with specific Sony products, including a CD changer, a DSS satellite receiver, and a StarSight-equipped VCR.

VisionTouch is also used to control the receiver's own audio features. Among these are five surround-sound modes (Dolby Pro Logic, Theater, Hall, Stadium, and Game) and a tone-control processing mode (Acoustic), all of which are implemented via digital signal processing (DSP). You are given controls to adjust the effect level, speaker balance, and tone-control settings for each of the surround modes, which come preset with various bizarre values. All the surround modes except Pro Logic create multiple artificial reflections (from either a channel-sum or channel-difference signal), which are fed through the front and surround speakers.

The thirty-preset tuner is also menu-driven, but, puzzlingly, the menus don't let you tune in a station directly by keying in its frequency. Instead, you have to move slowly up or down the radio band to find the station you want, and then memorize it as a preset.

The STR-G3 is rated to deliver 110 watts per channel into 8 ohms in stereo mode and 100 watts each to three front speakers and 50 watts each to two surround speakers in surround mode. Speaker connections are all multiway binding posts (which, by the way, are not spaced to accept dual banana plugs). Other rear-panel facilities include audio-only connections for a phono cartridge, a CD player, and two audio recorders, and A/V connections for a satellite decoder, a laserdisc player, and two VCR's. There's also an auxiliary A/V input on the front panel for temporary hookup of a camcorder or video-game console. All A/V connections include both S-video and composite-video jacks. On the rear panel are one S-video and two composite-video monitor outputs, jacks for the infrared repeater, the VisionTouch antenna, a special remote-control jack for a Sony CD changer, two AC convenience outlets, an F-connector FM antenna input, push connectors for the supplied AM loop antenna, and a simple mono subwoofer output labeled Mix Out.

In our lab tests, the STR-G3's basic amplifier and tuner performance was fine, though not exceptional, with only three significant performance anomalies. The first is that the STR-G3's frequency response through the left and right front speakers in all operating modes when the tone controls were set to "flat" was far from flat (see the red trace in the accompanying graph) - a phenomenon we have encountered to varying degrees with other A/V receivers. The deviation adds up to almost a 2-dB change across the audio range, which was audible primarily as a slight added warmth or heaviness, depending on the music. Fortunately, the receiver's response can be effectively flattened (to +0.11, -0 dB) merely by setting the treble control to +4 dB and the bass control to +0 for all DSP modes, including Acoustic, and by activating Acoustic even for plain stereo listening (see the green trace in the graph). We used these corrected settings for nearly all of our listening tests.

In evaluating surround-channel performance, we were surprised to find that background noise was audible from the surround speakers during surround-sound operation (that is, in all DSP modes except Acoustic), even with the volume control turned all the way down. This showed up in the second anomalous measurement, for Pro Logic surround-channel noise, which at -63.5 dB was some 5 to 6 dB poorer than we would have liked to see and about 10 dB worse than we found with the earlier STR-G1ES receiver. Since much of this noise apparently originates after the receiver's volume control, its audibility will vary depending on the sensitivity and placement of your surround speakers. With our side-placed, typical-sensitivity dipole surround speakers it was sometimes audible in Pro Logic mode with surround-encoded music CD's.

Another surround-channel anomaly surfaced when we fed one of our standard test signals into the STR-G3. The reference surround-channel level-calibration tone (the last track of Disc 2 in the Delos "Surround Spectacular" set, DE 3179) produced faint crackling sounds out of the surround speakers in all DSP modes except Acoustic, and from the front speakers as well in Game mode. The crackling seemed to occur whenever the program material contained sustained medium- or high-level out-of-phase signals. With typical program material, it was audible only occasionally.

The distortion and noise that appeared in the surround speakers probably account for the STR-G3's somewhat grungy sound quality in all surround modes. In Pro Logic operation its frontal imaging quality and motion tracking were fine, however.

Once we adjusted the non-Pro Logic DSP modes for best sound - which involved flattening the response using the tone controls as described above and turning the "effect" level for each mode down from the factory setting - we obtained a small but actually useful collection of ambience modes. As usual, they were most effective in adding a sense of space to acoustic music (classical, some jazz), less so with pop material. Although the Theater mode was moderately successful at enhancing the spaciousness of soundtrack material, I preferred plain Pro Logic. We're not sure what Sony had in mind with the Game mode, but to us it sounded gritty and distorted on music, even when its response was flattened and its effect level was turned all the way down. Maybe video-game sound quality will be more positively affected.

Although the operation of the Sur(round) Effect control provided for the Theater, Hall, and Game modes implies that it has six distinct settings, there are actually only four: full-off, two intermediate settings (each receiving two steps in the display), and full-on. In the Stadium mode, the Surround Effect control produced no changes whatsoever. For the modes in which the control is operational, it changes only the level of the added reflections that appear in the front speakers; it does nothing to the surround signal. This is actually good, since you can totally remove the added reflections (by turning Surround Effect all the way down) from the front speakers, where they usually color the sound and disturb the stereo image.

While the STR-G3's overall sonic performance was fine in stereo-only operation, we've heard cleaner Pro Logic decoding from less expensive A/V receivers utilizing analog Pro Logic processing.

On the other hand, the radio-frequency one-button remote is unique and, once you get a feel for it, easy and fun to use - it's all in the wrist! Sony has also improved the Vision-Touch system since we reviewed the STR-G1ES. There is now a volume control in the top-level menu as well as in several subsidiary menus. To change volume or activate speaker muting from a menu-off state now requires only two pushes of the remote's button. And, perhaps most important, you don't need a TV monitor to operate the receiver or the other components whose remote commands are programmed into it. A series of indicator lights in the front-panel display provides just enough visual feedback to allow basic external-component operation as well as control of the receiver's volume, muting, input selection, and system power. This feature cannot operate with A/V sources, just with audio inputs.

One of the claims to fame of the VisionTouch system is multicomponent operation with a single remote control. We had no difficulty getting the receiver to control a Pioneer laserdisc player whose control codes were stored in the STR-G3's memory. (Forward and reverse scan did not operate correctly, however.) We also used the rear-panel Ctrl-A jack to connect the STR-G3 to a Sony CDP-CX151 100-disc CD changer to test the more advanced multicomponent operations of the receiver, such as disc labeling, categorization, and cueing. This particular component combination is a winner, especially for those who are willing to enter disc titles into the receiver. Once that data is entered - a very simple but time-consuming and wrist-intensive process - cueing up discs by title is a snap.

The three advanced VisionTouch control functions (Auto Play, Auto Start, and Macro Play) did operate as described in the manual. It's hard to imagine, however, that anyone will have the patience for their setup procedures or will even need these capabilities. In particular, since there is no clock or timer in the receiver, you can't use the Macro Play feature to turn on, say, a tape deck at a specified time.

Convenience is the core of the STR-G3 and the raison d'etre of VisionTouch, its most important feature. The STR-G3 is probably the ultimate receiver for information-age couch potatoes. And if you can't figure out the computer-like ins and outs of VisionTouch, ask your kids for help.

Sony STR-G3 AV-receiver photo