Sony 9000es DVD/SACD (1 Viewer)

[David Norman]

Haven't seen this announcement anywhere, but certainly more evidence that there is a new ES player in the pipeline.

I went by Tweeter this afternoon just to get out of the car after driving 4 hours and it the 9000ES's are now $799. The salesman confrmed there was a replacement pending but knew nothing of what it contained or when it would be available. I almost choked because 10 days ago they wanted 1200+ and wouldn't budge at all.

Have other firms dropped the price likewise. I thought at first it was a demo price, but he said brand new units would be the same price.

 

[KeithH]

David, was $800 the price for a floor model or a new unit? I was in a Tweeter store in New Jersey today, and they had it new for $1200. In addition, Crutchfield still has it for $1200 on its web site. The retail price of the 'S9000ES dropped from $1500 to $1200 a few months ago, which made sense seeing as the 'S9000ES has been around awhile and does not play multi-channel SACDs. Like you, I have heard that a new ES DVD player is coming to replace it.

Discount mail-order dealers like OneCall, J&R Music World, and Oade Bros. sell the 'S9000ES for under $1000, but if Tweeter is selling new units for $800, that is a real deal. In that case, I could only imagine what the discount mail-order dealers would be charging.

 

[David Norman]

I specifically questioned the salesman whehter it was only for the floor/demo and he swore it was for all units though I have my doubts. I may yet go back and get one if it turns out it is for brand new units.

The guy was nice enough, but he gave me some other information that I thought was a bit off like the new 3K Denon DVD he said was model 3800 and the Pioneer Elite RPTV doing native 720p which I didn't think was correct.

 

[KeithH]

David, if the 'S9000ES is $800 at Tweeter, it's a steal. I have no idea what the forthcoming ES DVD player will retail for, nor do I have any idea if it will be built to the same standard as the 'S9000ES or better. Regardless, the 'S9000ES is a lot of player for $800. My brother bought one a few months ago, and it is a killer machine. I haven't heard it in my system, but it sounded great in his.

The salesman was definitely off regarding the Denon DVD-3800. It will retail for $1200 or so. The DVD-9000 will retail for $3000-3500. I doubt Tweeter will stock it. The early word was the '9000 would also do SACD, but seeing as it will not, I feel the price of admission is too high, regardless of the quality. Just my opinion.

 

[PaulKH]

This 9000ES doesn't play multi-channel SACDs?! Why the heck not?

 

[rodneyH]

Another wierd thing is that the NON-Es DVD/sacd player that retailed for $1000 is now $700-800, and it hasn't been out very long at all

 

[KeithH]

Paul asked:

This 9000ES doesn't play multi-channel SACDs?! Why the heck not?

The 'S9000ES was released in December 2000, before Sony had started marketing multi-channel SACD. Sony's first multi-channel SACD player was the SCD-C555ES, which was released in April 2001. While it might have been nice for the 'S9000ES to offer multi-channel SACD playback, it simply came out at a time when Sony was only pushing stereo SACD.

Rodney,

I always felt that $1000 was too much for the 'NS900V, seeing as it is not an ES product. Also, the Panasonic 'RP91, a very well-regarded progressive-scan DVD-Audio player, sells for $500 or less, which in my opinion, made the 'NS900V a tough sell at $1000. Perhaps Sony realized that the 'NS900V was not competitively priced. Also, maybe Sony dropped the price to make room for the forthcoming ES unit.

 

[Rachael B]

Over on AVS last week somebody posted a link to an Italian webpage that showed a new R2 Sony ES player that is the apparent succescor to the 9000ES. It featured PAL & NTSC progessive scanning, multi-channel SACD play, CD-R, MP-3. It's faceplate was gorgeous gold, it had a round knob on the face, it had more front panel buttons than the 9000ES. No model number was given. The print was Italian and I could only comprendo about half of it but it wasn't technical sounding stuff in the discription. It sounded more like superlatives like ultimate progressive scanning, ect. This must have been from an Italian A/V show...?

So, it was a prototype, I quess? We'll obviousy get something similar, but black and without PAL capability. I'd make a link over to it but I don't know how. Spizz posted it. A brand new thang is comin' to a town near you, but I certainly know when and I didn't see anything in the discription that seemed to indicate an exact time frame for the R2 machine.

 

[Mark Gurney]

It's probably a safe bet that Sony will not support MP3 on their new highest of high end players that you described Rachael. I could be wrong, but I don't think Sony supports MP3 on any of their equipment, which leads me to believe that the information you saw might be false.

Mark

 

[Sarah Lynn]

I was also in Tweeter this past Sat afternoon picking up some Monster cables for my KV-36XB450 and the sales guy was also telling me how the Sony 9000es was on sale for 799.00.

This is for a brand new unit.. not a floor model.

I didn't jump on this deal just yet.

 

[KeithH]

Sarah, thanks for the info. In that case, I really wonder what the discount mail-order dealers might be selling it for.

 

[KeithH]

Aw, heck. I decided to call OneCall and J&R for their prices on the 'S9000ES, and they quoted me $1000 and $900, respectively. J&R gave me the usual spiel that they might be able to "work something out" if I found a lower price at an authorized dealer. I would like a higher-end DVD player than my Sony DVP-C670D changer, but I'm not going to spend $800 on one right now.

It's amazing that Tweeter would have a lower price than J&R and OneCall. That's unusual.

Finally, OneCall told me that the 'S9000ES has been discontinued. I guess the new ES model will be coming out soon.

 

[Rachael B]

Mark, competition has a way of bringing out features from manufacturers. Now if the Sony had been said to suppourt DVD-A, that would be really fishy! Best wishes!

 

[KeithH]

Rachael, I agree with you. Sony has not yet marketed ATRAC compression for storage on CDs, so it would not be surprising for them to offer playback of MP3-encoded CDs. For hard disk recorders and portables, I see Sony continuing to push ATRAC, however.
I do agree with Mike in the sense that it would be odd for Sony to include MP3 CD compatibility on an ES DVD/SACD player when they don't offer it on budget models. Maybe forthcoming budget players will offer it too. Well, color me an audiophile, but MP3 compatibility just doesn't mesh with high-end components, especially SACD players.

 

[Rachael B]

Keith, I'll send you a link to the R2 player. I can't post it, you could. Best wishes!

 

[KeithH]

Rachael, I saw the link to the Italian web site when it was posted here last week, and I do recall the placard in the picture indicating MP3 CD playback. I just do find it odd that a manufacturer would include MP3 CD playback in a higher-end component (though it's been done before). In my opinion, Sony should leave MP3 CD playback to the forthcoming $300 'NS755V progressive-scan DVD/SACD player.
O.K., so when is Sony going to release an ES SACD player with a minidisc slot? That's what I want to see.

 

[Rachael B]

Try this to see Sony's prototype:

(Crappy link removed)

Keith, if this link won't work, will you back me up?

 

[KeithH]

Rachael, that link didn't work, but from my last post, you see that I will back you up on this one.

 

[KeithH]

Rachael, the debut of the new Sony ES DVD/SACD player at a show in Italy was discussed here:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=55279
The link to the Italian web page is as follows:
http://www.edisport.it/edisport/afdi...8?OpenDocument
I hope this works. It worked when I clicked on it in the above-referenced HTF thread.

 

[Rachael B]

! Thanks Keith! It almost looks worth moving to Italia for?