Sony STR-DA4ES (1 Viewer)

[Greg Liverman]

Serge,

I think you are right - they are digital processing modes. I thought from reading the manual that they would take a 2 ch analog input and distribute them to the surround speakers, but I do not know the exact logic that is used - the manual does not say and I do not have a multi-speaker setup, yet.

Greg

 

[stas]

Greg, when I auditioned the 4ES, I did in fact use the analog direct mode.

 

[SvenS]

!

 

[AndyHangartner]

I have stayed out of the 'debates' for awhile because they tend to get ridiculous. I have read many comments on the power supply of the Sony by those that have never listened to one. Those that have been around for awhile know that I had a 4802 and thought it stunk. The sound appeared muffled, channel steering and dynamics was pathetic. This was evidenced on different brands of speakers using different amps.This is my opinion and was that of those that compared with me. I dumped that thing.For H/T the Sony is awesome! I am trying a Parasound amp right now for the heck of it but really see no need. In fact the Parasound has had issues with the capacitance of the speaker wires. It is soon to go.I believe that many of you are approaching two channel wrong though. Who cares which receiver sounds better in stereo. You should be using a preamp anyway, bypassing the receiver totally. Try a Bottlehead preamp for $149, the sound will blow you away. I have posted looking for a design to create an H/T bypass mode in the preamp, although you can select different inputs you have to adjust the volume levels. There is NO receiver that can equal this.
andy

 

[NickSP]

Who cares which receiver sounds better in stereo. You should be using a preamp anyway, bypassing the receiver totally

Disagree to a certain extent only because many of us may not have resources such as space and the extra money to add a preamp and an external amp for 2 channel performance. That may be the reason most out there try to balance HT and music in a receiver. I had a Proton prepro and it simply blew away a lot of more expensive stuff for music but I have spent a lot of time on the EQ settings on the 4ES and am very satisfied with the HT and music through my AMC amps.

 

[Chris*Liberti]

I finally received mine from Sammans and it is an awesome unit for the price. I haven't had a lot of time to set it up but so far it blows me away. Now I just need to borrow a mic from a friend so I can setup the EQ using some RTA software I downloaded.