Sony DVD Dream DAV-FR1 review (home theater system - 5.1 channel)

Sony's Dream Systems have always been beauty-contest winners in HTIB-land, and this new generation's good genes were evident as soon as we opened the box: brushed aluminum and sexy curves were in abundance. Retailing for $500, the DAV-FR1 is the most affordable Dream system currently offered by Sony, although it still features a five-disc changer. The real bottom line with HTIBs, however, is performance. Like that of many of its Dreamy-looking predecessors, the FR1's musical prowess left something to be desired. In fairness, few mini-HTIBs do better. This relatively inexpensive system sounds its best playing DVDs.

Editor's note: We have changed the rating in this review to reflect recent changes in our rating scale. Click here to find out more.

The DAV-FR1's brushed-aluminum five-disc changer/receiver consumes 16 inches of shelf depth, while its slim 2.75-inch height should let it slide easily into most rack spaces. The style is coolly modern and the display fairly legible, although the Dolby and DTS indicators are far too small to be seen from across the room. Even cooler, the changer's slot-loading disc mechanism eliminates the loading tray; you simply feed each disc into the slot. After you've enjoyed the disc, press Eject, and the DVD or the CD gently swivels out. In the "uncool" column, however, is the slow disc-changing mechanism, which required 30 seconds to play sequential discs. Loading or ejecting multiple discs was a tediously sluggish procedure.

Sony's slim remote reserves only the most essential buttons for everyday use and hides everything else under a slip-down cover. The 8.6-inch-tall, gray-plastic satellites and the 14-inch-wide matching center speaker are equally slim--a mere 3 inches thick. Sony offers its WS-WV10D wall brackets for hanging the speakers and its WS-FV11D floor stands for more conventional placement. The subwoofer's silver finish and sculptured front panel visually complement the receiver/changer. The sub measures 7.9 inches wide, 14.5 inches high, and 17.6 inches deep and weighs 21 pounds.

The system delivers 110 watts per channel to each speaker and 100 watts to each of the subwoofer's two woofers. Surround processing runs the gamut from 5.1-channel Dolby Digital to Dolby Pro Logic II to DTS to Dolby EX and DTS ES 6.1-channel processing. We were surprised by the 6.1-decoding capabilities because the receiver has just five main amplifier channels. To take advantage of the 6.1 capabilities, you'll need to hook up a separate amplifier and speaker to the receiver/changer. Oh, and the changer plays Super Audio CDs (SACDs) as well as MP3 and JPEG CDs. Sadly, the receiver has neither bass and treble controls nor an on-the-fly subwoofer-level control.

Connectivity options aren't great: just the standard set of video outputs (including progressive-scan component), one optical digital audio input, and two stereo analog inputs. That minimal selection should be adequate for small home theaters, but people with lots of gear will be disappointed.

The satellites and the center speaker feature the same 2.75-inch woofer, but no tweeters. We were disappointed by the lack of tweeters--many HTIBs in this price range feature two-way woofer- and tweeter-equipped satellites. On the upside, the FR1's subwoofer, the same unit found in Sony's pricier Dream systems, has twin 6.3-inch woofers.

Sony's original Dream Systems were beautifully designed but didn't exactly push the HTIB performance envelope. The company has improved its home-theater proficiency with the DAV-FR1, so it's now fully competitive with other compact HTIBs.