What's the current Sony receiver of choice? (1 Viewer)

[Marty Christion]

I've been out of the loop for a while, and I need an additional receiver to my DA4ES.

Of the currently available Sony's (or easily available used), which is the receiver of choice; something comparable or better than the DA4ES, costing less than $1K if possible.

I also prefer black, if possible.

 

[FeisalK]

I think they're all - bar the DB1070 - silver or champagne gold (look in Oade Bros) this year



Sony's also announced a DA7000ES amp

 

[Travis]

I'm just curious if there is a reason you are dead set on Sony. There are a slew of other receivers out there (in black) that will easily compete with or best the Sony in terms of features and quality. HK, Denon, and Yamaha all have feature loaded receivers out there in the sub 1k price range. I used to be a die hard Sony fan, until I picked up the Denon 3805. Sony has some great products, particularly their line of high end ES CD players and SACD players. I just feel they could do better in the receiver area. Obviously this is just my opinion but I think you would be pleasantly surprised with some of the other receivers on the market today.

 

[Marty Christion]

Well Travis, since you asked, I'm using the receiver in an application where I need to see the exact sound format of the DVD. Meaning, the display on the receiver has to tell me whether it's Dolby Digital 1.0, 2.0 stereo, 2.0 surround, 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 5.1 ex, DTS 5.1, or DTS 6.1.

I've looked at Denon, Outlaw, Onkyo, Harman Kardon, and Pioneer, and none of them show the detail I need. The difference between 2.0 stereo and 2.0 surround seems to be especially tricky.

Sony distinguishes between all of them.

 

[John Garcia]

I guess I'd need more detail than that, because seeing what format is being received vs getting the best sound for the money leaves no question in my mind which is more important. It seems like such a small factor in the book of reasons to buy a receiver, IMO, but do you have a more specific reason?

Most of these receivers do know what they are receiving, they just select what is programmed as the default processing for what signal is detected.

On my receiver if I see "Dolby" and two speakers on the display, I know it is Dolby Stereo. If it goes in to PLII, I know it is either plain stereo or Dolby Surround.

 

[Robert Cowan]

the denons and yamahas shows how many speakers are playing (little icons on the screen), AND, what format, dolby, stereo, etc...



seems like a strange application to need this information above sound quality.

 

[Rob.melone]

Seems to me that Marty has his priorities and requirements, (decent sound, even if not the best and displayed sw decoding) pretty well defined; whether we think it's logical or not. Can we help him guys?

 

[Chris Brock]

I know that my yamaha HTR5760 shows the format, DTS, DD EX...... and it also has a diagram of what channels it is recieving. So if you are sending it a DD 2.0 signal then the DD sign will light up as well as the FL and FR speakers. if you have a DTS ES signal the DTS ES sign will light as well as the FL, C, FR, SL, SR, SB and LFE lights. So you can always tell waht format is being sent and the number of channels. I believe the HTR5790 and the RXV1400 and RXV2400 have simular displays also. Hope this helps.

 

[John Garcia]

If it is Sony info you are looking for I'd suggest: www.agoraquest.com

 

[Robert Cowan]

quote:Seems to me that Marty has his priorities and requirements, (decent sound, even if not the best and displayed sw decoding) pretty well defined; whether we think it's logical or not. Can we help him guys?

i look at it like this... had he said "which bose system is for me?", he would get a 3-page thread dissuading him. and rightfully so, bose might not be best for him and his purposes. so, how is this different? we are just trying to tell him that there ARE other brands that offer the features he wants, AND, at bettery sound quality. just substitute "bose" for "sony" and you may see this thread in a different light.

 

[David Judah]

The Sony ES receivers with the digital amps sounded very good to me when I was checking them out. I actually preferred them to the other major Japanese receiver brands(including Yamaha, Pioneer, and Denon).



You might check out the 2000 or 3000ES, Marty. I think they only come in silver though.



DJ

 

[PeterK]

I am curious. I have just about the crappiest sony reciever there is, i think it's the de597. it has a selector menu for what speaker arangement you are using from 2.0 to 6.1 do most other recievers from denon yamaha HK etc. have this feature on them. When i was setting up my system at first I hadn't hooked up my surrounds yet. when I set it to 5 or 6.1 it only sent to the LCR channels what was supposed to go there so I missed out on crucial sounds from the surrounds. when I put the reciever into the 3.1 pattern it then redirected the surround sounds to the necessary speakers. do most reciever have this preset speaker arangement selector, or some sort of auto detection system on them?

 

[Marty Christion]

Thanks for the input guys. I ended up getting a good deal on a DB-series Sony (which I hear is pretty close to the ES). And it was available in black.

 

[John Garcia]

On nearly all receivers in the last few years, you can turn off the speakers you don't physically have in the setup menu, and sound will be redirected. There are no receivers that will auto detect what speakers are connected, AFAIK.

That brings up another question though, what does a system with auto-EQ do when a particular speaker is not present?

 

[John Morton]

I still LOVE my DB930 Marty!!

 

[Greg Bright]

quote:I still LOVE my DB930 Marty!!

As I love mine. I didn't realize the DB series was still around. Several of my friends also have 930s or 940s. Best value I ever found in a receiver.

 

[FeisalK]

apparently Sony is still releasing the DB series in Europe - there's good reviews of the new DB795 (7.1, PLIIx)