B&K Ref 20 or Sony TA-E9000ES (1 Viewer)

[StephenRabinowitz]

For home theater I can get a good deal for either one as they are both discontinued. The Sony Also comes with the software upgrade & new remote. Which would be considered the better sounding & built unit. Which would you buy? Will be using with ATI 1505 amp & Klipsch speakers.

 

[RichardMA]

According to a recent article in "The Audio Critic"
equalization ability is critical to obtaining the best
sound given our varied and sometimes poor playing environments (our room) and speaker frequency response
linearity. I'd go for whichever offers the best in that category. Also, neither (I believe) of these products
offers 6.1 channel formats, unless an outboard processor
(Circle Surround, ADA, etc) is implemented.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Richard while thats mostly true regarding 6.1 the sony does have a pseudo 6.1 mode called matix that tries to simulate a 6th channel out of two...how well it works depends on the material you use and the position/type of rears you own. In my old system it was pretty effective and better then true 5.1 in most movies.

I've never had the chance to own/demo the ref 20 so I can't comment on that but I did enjoy owning the TAE9000ES. One thing to note with the Sony though is it doesn't offer any analog by pass modes so DVD-A and SACD are not available to you unless you add a passive pre amp like the TA-P9000ES unit or something similar.

 

[TomH]

What it the good deal closeout price?

Tom