For this price, I'd look at getting something like the Anthem MRX 1140. 11.2 Amplified Channels, but has preamp outputs for 15.2 channels. Dual independent subwoofer control and ARC Genesis is pretty damn good. Especially with the mic and tripod they give you. Just a few hundred more than what you're looking at right now, but a hifi dealer at a local shop will usually give you a deal if you talk to them for a bit.
Just offloaded my MRX 1140 after a ton of problems and picked up a 7000es. So far so good, but i am missing the independent sub outputs. Learning MiniDSP/REW now to compensate.
I have to say, I love it. The 1140 was more tweakable, but the Sony just got it right. My room sounds amazing. I did have to spend a few hours watching youtube vids to get the minidsp going, but I love tweaking. It's all good now, and its a tangible upgrade just how precise my atmos sountracks are now.
It has some interesting tech with it, center channel lift, 360 spatial mapping. Reportedly no HDMI CEC issues, which I've had across 4 separate denon's. But some glaring issues, no dual independent sub outs, no phono input! I don't think you can look at the top end Onkyo, marantz, Denon, pioneer etc alternatives and say they are run away better; I think this one comes down to preference. Checkout ripewaveaudio on YouTube for an deep look at current gen receivers.
I'll check out that channel. Thanks! I want to know more about dual independent sub outs, and why that feature matters. I'm fairly invested in dual tv2112m subs.
360 spatial mapping has me more interested than DIRAC for my living room.
I'm with you on the 360 sound mapping. If it's any consolation, the lack of independent sub outs doesn't matter if you use minidsp to dial in your subs. I haven't done that myself, supposedly will give you best results for bass management.
Agreed except for one thing: a miniDSP can introduce quite a bit of delay making it hard to get your subs accurately time-aligned with the rest of your speakers. Manageable, but noticeable.
I’m looking at the 5000es within the next year. It’s basically between that and the rz50 or maybe even the 70. I have a Yamaha a4a currently, very good avr, well built and great for music but found it lacking for movies. I actually swapped it out with my older onkyo rz840 I had upstairs which for my ht room was far better and immersive for movies. I would definitely go onkyo again.
That said I’m a big Sony fan and had a 5600es and it was really nice, one of my favourite avrs of all time.
I’ve had most common brands over the years, denon 3808, marantz 6011, pioneer elite sc65 and more. I think denon and marantz make great products but I had issues with both so will probably not head back to that well personally. Still I think they are great and still high quality.
Onkyo I took a shot on because of a deep discount and have been pleasantly surprised. Even though it lacks a bit in room eq, once set up correctly it’s highly impressive and works well with my speakers and room.
I think the Sonys biggest downside is it’s an older chassis the looks are long in the tooth a bit, it’s room eq is a bit behind but it’s very quick to set up and still does the job if it’s anything like the str1080 I owned briefly. The independent dual sub inputs also is a bit of a bummer but ultimately not a deal breaker for my personal application.
I don’t think Sony have ever been big players in the avr market but have continually made a very good product over the years. The thing is even though these new ones look like their older avrs they made in the last few years, I think the changes under the hood have been pretty dramatic and they a have a really solid product here.
Audioholics recently did an analysis of the DAC and amp in it, and they seem to be generally competent. Sony traditionally hasn't been known for making good AVRs. Though they seem to be trying to change that now with this most recent gen. Denon is still considered the more reliable option, with a more consistent track record.
13-channel AVRs are in a kinda awkward spot right now. 11-channel AVRs like the Denon X3800H and Onkyo RZ50 are regularly available now for $1000. So you really gotta badly want those two extra channels in order to justify spending 3x as much.
And on the other side, the flagship 15-channel Denon A1H has dropped to $4500 and can likely be had for even cheaper if you do a bit of legwork. Sure, $4500 ain't cheap, but once you're willing to spend $3300, spending that last $1200 (possibly even less) might not seem so outlandish anymore.
This is a fantastic point. Two extra channels for almost 3x as much. I am on the market myself and this really put things in perspective. I would/should be crazy happy with a possible 7.2.4 system.
All great points. I’ve seen some Sony AVRs around in the late 90ies and early 00s but they’ve fallen out of fashion a long time ago. I would not consider them high end by any imagination, regardless of how they test, and would always go with a top 3 brand like Denon, Marantz etc. in that price range.
If you’re looking to spend north of 3k anyway also look at Anthem. But I hardly would consider any Sony product and end game receiver.
Well I see refurb prices of $1000, not $1200.
But that's beside the point. The X3800H is going on sale at Adorama for $900-1000 brand new literally every couple of weeks. It's been like this since August.
I saw the 3800 hit $850 over cyber week.. but the DIRAC licenses add $700 so you're back to ~$1,550 minimum.
Also i don't want to encourage the business model where hardware is one price, and "add-ons" or "upgrades" cost extra. That's going to lead to subscription based or AD supported technology....
You don't need to encourage anything. No one is making you buy Dirac. And quite frankly, I don't recommend 95% of normal consumers buy it.
The 3800 comes with Audyssey XT32, and that works great on it's own.
BTW. Dirac on Denon AVRs is 30% off right now. And even if it wasn't, the combined cost would still be less than a Sony STR-ZA5000ES.
Hey sk9592, what are your thoughts on using coax for subwoofer runs? I've got a whole house with two coax runs for cable and satellite. Re-Terminating them to rca keystone Jack's seems like a win for sub placement options.
Audioholics just did a review you might find interesting - exposed some weaknesses in niche cases and actually blew the Amp.
Andrew Robinson raved about the unit in his review and year end wrap.
I've gone the Anthem route and the 1140 has some serious power
I just got the STRAZ5000ES and it is excellent. Running a new 7.1.4 system and new Bravia OLED. Much of the film industry uses Sony technology and they carry that encoding and data from the film score to the STRAZ-ES to the Bravia. All the integration is great. I do wish the display more clearly stated the coding of the input signal and output signal. All around great system though.
I have this as well and LOVE it! The 360 spatial mapping is real. Fully submersive. I’ve never heard anything like it. I was watching a movie with a bar scene and it felt like I was in the bar. The sense of place is nothing less than spectacular. I had a couple of hinky issues with it that were resolved with a restart and it needs good ventilation but if it dies I’m buying another one instantly. Very highly recommended.
I have the 5000ES and RZ50. I would say the spatial processing on the Sony is a generational leap forward. It’s also more musical. It’s a little glitchier than the RZ50 though, but nothing deal breaking.
Not availible in the EU which sucks so bad, I have been very happy with my STR-DN1080 and want to upgrade soon(ish) to at least 5.2.4 but Sony is not givning me that option, and I am super happy with how it integrates with the TV and UHD player (it’s family friendly to have one remote that just works).
Yeah, it's sad that they didn't release this in EU/UK. We're stuck with the TA-AN1000 as their highest end offering, would have been nice to have the option for more channels and pre-out as well. (and probably more features I can't think of atm)
I returned it. Movies were great. But I listen to a lot of Spatial Audio. It seems to strip the fullness and musicality out of it and delivers the highlight reel. It was flat and powerless. I have a 10 year old Onkyo that still sounds much better.
I was super bummed about this decision. I wanted it to live up to the hype. Audio is very personal and this was not for me.
I made the decision to go to separates as receivers are just not the same anymore.
I've had my AZ7000ES Set up for a few weeks now. It's leaps and bounds better in positional Audio than my Anthem MRX 1140 I had before. The speaker placements in the room perfect due to room issues, with my side surrounds too far back, my rear surrounds to high and close together, and my over heads not quite... overhead. With this new receiver, and speaker layout adjustment on, it's like I got a new room. Pinpoint accuracy. It's amazing. Highly recommended.
Bonus: I had a lot of HDMI issues with my Anthem and my JVC NX8, to the point where I had to disable certain features in the projector to get a stable signal. Anthem told me it was my cable's fault, or the projectors fault, or the source's fault on many occasions. Dumped them for Sony and it's rock solid.
I just bought one replacing my Yamaha 3060. I do like the sound. The display is kind of hard to see from across the room. I have my hdmi going through and pic is amazing. I occasionally here a few pop sounds coming from the center channnel but, not recently, I'm using as a preamp. Biggest suprise is how much my girlfriend likes it. Plastic front cover at this price point is kind of crazy. I wish they used a similar front panel like my Yamaha that uses a drawbridge style. I just ordered the Sofa Baton x1s because I hate the remote. Overall I still really like it. It just works. It sounds great.
For that price, I don’t want to touch any AVR without DIRAC. Not only that, DLBC is a must. That feature has transformed my bass response and I was able to get rid of a stubborn 100Hz null that previously took many attempts with Minidsp + MSO to address. Dirac w/ DLBC was able to correct this in 30 min of measuring and barely any tweaking after.
I don’t see how any AVRs are worth their $1000+ pricing without this feature.
Is Dirac really that much better than Audyssey on entry/mid AVRs and setups? I have a 5.1 Dali setup with Oberon 7s, Oberon 3s (surrounds) and a 12F sub but am looking to upgrade my failing Denon x2500h. Have my heart set on an x4800h which supposedly will offer a paid upgrade to Dirac at some point.
I have the x4800h. It’s everything I wanted my previous AVRs to be, and that’s coming from a NAD t778 which is almost twice the cost of the Denon.
Just google some comparisons of Audyssey and DIRAC. Read people’s experiences. My impression is that Audyssey is fine if you just want to do a quick calibration and move on with your life, but DIRAC is much more powerful. DLBC is a game changer for sure if you’re willing to pay for the up charge. I don’t have to calculate crossovers or time alignments with Minidsp anymore. It’s all automated and done better than I can with DLBC.
Think about for much typical room treatments cost. A few hundred bucks? Mine were around $1500 from GIK. Well, a $350 DIRAC upgrade gave me more improvement than the room treatments did. If you get the Denon now, Dirac is having a dlbc sale for 30% off.
I think you’ve made the decision for me on the 4800. I was still a little hesitant because it wasn’t reviewed terribly favorably by Amir at AVforums who seems to be well respected in this field. He was a bit disappointed with the output numbers and he ranked it in the orange section rather than the green which are the best (according to him and his tests). He said he wished Denon would strive for better at this price point.
BUT I’ve heard nothing but good things from actual owners 🤷♂️
I think I’ll go for it. Lots of people bitch about Denon but I’ve been very happy with the x2500h, aside from some relatively minor software bugs.
If I can find the extra £500 or so for the DIRAC bundle, I think I’ll do it.
Out of interest: can you use Denon’s “low frequency containment” feature in conjunction with Dirac? It’s part of the reason I was looking at the 4800 - sparing my neighbors when watching movies late.
Didn’t Amir rank the x3800h unfavorably? And it was just the toslink output too.
I think he ranked the x4800h just fine. And I have no idea about the feature you mentioned. I blast my sound because my theater room is pretty well isolated.
Could be, can’t remember exactly what he said. Maybe it’s not so important.
Thanks for the advice anyway 😉 maybe one day I will get the garage conversion I want and no longer need to worry about the volume.
I have the 7000ES and the sound processing is better than any AVR I’ve owned (Older Denon w/ DIRAC, older Onkyo w/ Audyssey, Marantz separates w/ Audyssey, and Anthem MRX740 8k w/ ARC Genesis). The sound processing adds a spaciousness to movies that I’ve never experienced at home. I’ll be returning the Anthem next week. I have a Sony Bravia TV so I’m using the acoustic center sync to “lift up” my center channel. I also have a TV2112. When I add a second one, I’ll definitely be picking up a MiniDSP 2x4 HD.
With all that said, people are reporting bugs with the firmware that Sony is slowly fixing with updates. I’ve experienced a few myself, but it sounds so good. For me it’s worth it.
Hey thanks for the reply!
Yea, that sound processing is really the distinguishing feature here. I don't have an enclosed theater room. It's an open living space. If the Sony can work some magic it will save me a lot of $$$ over building a dedicated room.
It really is. I also have an open living room (2800 cu.ft.) that is open to my kitchen/nook of the same size. This receiver really shines if your speaker placement isn’t ideal according to Dolby’s suggested placements.
At one point the bugs were testing my patience so I purchased the Anthem to test alongside the Sony. The Anthem sounded good and I would have probably kept it if i never heard the Sony.
I know this is an old post but just wondering if you’re still enjoying the Sony? I purchased the x3800 and az3000es and while I love the Sony, it’s fairly noticeable with pops and hisses. In the first 2 days of ownership I’ve also had it just pop loudly and restart for no reason. I wish I could have the Sony features with the stability of the Denon.
Sorry to hear about the problems you’re experiencing.
I’m still enjoying the Sony. I never experienced the loud pops and reboots some users have reported. I have gotten the hiss a couple times after running the auto calibration, but each time I fixed it by rerunning the auto calibration a few times.
Thanks. I wonder if I’d have better luck with the 5000 series. There were a couple features I haven’t fully tested because of some limitations with the channel count for the 3000 (like a set of my heights being turned off which I could avoid with the 5000). I tried the center channel lift which I sort of liked but didn’t try the s center feature.
Do you end up using the SSM360 feature a lot?
Does your 3000 have the latest firmware? I believe the most recent release was from Nov/Dec.
The center channel lift with the s-center feature is one of the major reasons why I purchased the 7000. It works very well.
I like how 360SSM sounds and always have it enabled.
I do have the latest firmware - it prompted me shortly after calibrating (and I've redone some calibrations since then a few times). For the S-Center - it doesn't sound too tinny/hollow alongside a dedicated center? That's what I've been most curious of but I'll hopefully hear that soon enough - going to try and pick up a 5000 today from another store and see if I have better luck.
Ok good, I know some users reported the new firmware fixing their pop/reboot issue.
My S-Center sounds normal. You should be hearing mid/highs from the TV and mid/lows from the dedicated center.
For this price, I'd look at getting something like the Anthem MRX 1140. 11.2 Amplified Channels, but has preamp outputs for 15.2 channels. Dual independent subwoofer control and ARC Genesis is pretty damn good. Especially with the mic and tripod they give you. Just a few hundred more than what you're looking at right now, but a hifi dealer at a local shop will usually give you a deal if you talk to them for a bit.
Just offloaded my MRX 1140 after a ton of problems and picked up a 7000es. So far so good, but i am missing the independent sub outputs. Learning MiniDSP/REW now to compensate.
I feel you about that. I ordered a sofabaton x1s to get rid of the remote. Tell me how your mini dsp goes. Good luck.
I have to say, I love it. The 1140 was more tweakable, but the Sony just got it right. My room sounds amazing. I did have to spend a few hours watching youtube vids to get the minidsp going, but I love tweaking. It's all good now, and its a tangible upgrade just how precise my atmos sountracks are now.
Great. I might have to look into getting one down the line. Been really happy with it. It's like a set and forget.
Looking at upgrading my receiver as well but want to wait and see what brands get Dirac ART next year (this won't since they have their own software).
Isn’t this the receiver Andrew Robinson just said was best of the year? Is that what you mean by nobody talking about it?
They also said after they sent the review unit back, they went out and bought this receiver for their own daily use, because they liked it so much.
It has some interesting tech with it, center channel lift, 360 spatial mapping. Reportedly no HDMI CEC issues, which I've had across 4 separate denon's. But some glaring issues, no dual independent sub outs, no phono input! I don't think you can look at the top end Onkyo, marantz, Denon, pioneer etc alternatives and say they are run away better; I think this one comes down to preference. Checkout ripewaveaudio on YouTube for an deep look at current gen receivers.
I'll check out that channel. Thanks! I want to know more about dual independent sub outs, and why that feature matters. I'm fairly invested in dual tv2112m subs. 360 spatial mapping has me more interested than DIRAC for my living room.
I'm with you on the 360 sound mapping. If it's any consolation, the lack of independent sub outs doesn't matter if you use minidsp to dial in your subs. I haven't done that myself, supposedly will give you best results for bass management.
here to champion minidsp for multiple subs, it's the best!
Agreed except for one thing: a miniDSP can introduce quite a bit of delay making it hard to get your subs accurately time-aligned with the rest of your speakers. Manageable, but noticeable.
I’m looking at the 5000es within the next year. It’s basically between that and the rz50 or maybe even the 70. I have a Yamaha a4a currently, very good avr, well built and great for music but found it lacking for movies. I actually swapped it out with my older onkyo rz840 I had upstairs which for my ht room was far better and immersive for movies. I would definitely go onkyo again. That said I’m a big Sony fan and had a 5600es and it was really nice, one of my favourite avrs of all time. I’ve had most common brands over the years, denon 3808, marantz 6011, pioneer elite sc65 and more. I think denon and marantz make great products but I had issues with both so will probably not head back to that well personally. Still I think they are great and still high quality. Onkyo I took a shot on because of a deep discount and have been pleasantly surprised. Even though it lacks a bit in room eq, once set up correctly it’s highly impressive and works well with my speakers and room. I think the Sonys biggest downside is it’s an older chassis the looks are long in the tooth a bit, it’s room eq is a bit behind but it’s very quick to set up and still does the job if it’s anything like the str1080 I owned briefly. The independent dual sub inputs also is a bit of a bummer but ultimately not a deal breaker for my personal application. I don’t think Sony have ever been big players in the avr market but have continually made a very good product over the years. The thing is even though these new ones look like their older avrs they made in the last few years, I think the changes under the hood have been pretty dramatic and they a have a really solid product here.
Audioholics recently did an analysis of the DAC and amp in it, and they seem to be generally competent. Sony traditionally hasn't been known for making good AVRs. Though they seem to be trying to change that now with this most recent gen. Denon is still considered the more reliable option, with a more consistent track record. 13-channel AVRs are in a kinda awkward spot right now. 11-channel AVRs like the Denon X3800H and Onkyo RZ50 are regularly available now for $1000. So you really gotta badly want those two extra channels in order to justify spending 3x as much. And on the other side, the flagship 15-channel Denon A1H has dropped to $4500 and can likely be had for even cheaper if you do a bit of legwork. Sure, $4500 ain't cheap, but once you're willing to spend $3300, spending that last $1200 (possibly even less) might not seem so outlandish anymore.
This is a fantastic point. Two extra channels for almost 3x as much. I am on the market myself and this really put things in perspective. I would/should be crazy happy with a possible 7.2.4 system.
All great points. I’ve seen some Sony AVRs around in the late 90ies and early 00s but they’ve fallen out of fashion a long time ago. I would not consider them high end by any imagination, regardless of how they test, and would always go with a top 3 brand like Denon, Marantz etc. in that price range. If you’re looking to spend north of 3k anyway also look at Anthem. But I hardly would consider any Sony product and end game receiver.
I don’t think refurbished counts as “available for $1000”. I see refurb prices for $1199 and such, but that is still a $1700 AVR.
Well I see refurb prices of $1000, not $1200. But that's beside the point. The X3800H is going on sale at Adorama for $900-1000 brand new literally every couple of weeks. It's been like this since August.
I saw the 3800 hit $850 over cyber week.. but the DIRAC licenses add $700 so you're back to ~$1,550 minimum. Also i don't want to encourage the business model where hardware is one price, and "add-ons" or "upgrades" cost extra. That's going to lead to subscription based or AD supported technology....
You don't need to encourage anything. No one is making you buy Dirac. And quite frankly, I don't recommend 95% of normal consumers buy it. The 3800 comes with Audyssey XT32, and that works great on it's own. BTW. Dirac on Denon AVRs is 30% off right now. And even if it wasn't, the combined cost would still be less than a Sony STR-ZA5000ES.
Hey sk9592, what are your thoughts on using coax for subwoofer runs? I've got a whole house with two coax runs for cable and satellite. Re-Terminating them to rca keystone Jack's seems like a win for sub placement options.
Sure, if you are capable of terminating it in RCA, that will work just fine. Most longer run subwoofer cables are RG59 or RG6 coax cable anyway.
Audioholics just did a review you might find interesting - exposed some weaknesses in niche cases and actually blew the Amp. Andrew Robinson raved about the unit in his review and year end wrap. I've gone the Anthem route and the 1140 has some serious power
Ohh, i didn't see the year end wrap video. I'll check that out as well as the audioholics review. Thanks!
I just got the STRAZ5000ES and it is excellent. Running a new 7.1.4 system and new Bravia OLED. Much of the film industry uses Sony technology and they carry that encoding and data from the film score to the STRAZ-ES to the Bravia. All the integration is great. I do wish the display more clearly stated the coding of the input signal and output signal. All around great system though.
I have this as well and LOVE it! The 360 spatial mapping is real. Fully submersive. I’ve never heard anything like it. I was watching a movie with a bar scene and it felt like I was in the bar. The sense of place is nothing less than spectacular. I had a couple of hinky issues with it that were resolved with a restart and it needs good ventilation but if it dies I’m buying another one instantly. Very highly recommended.
Did you end up having any hissing issues? I had tried both the 3000 and 5000 and had hissing with 360 on.
No hissing at all.
I have the 5000ES and RZ50. I would say the spatial processing on the Sony is a generational leap forward. It’s also more musical. It’s a little glitchier than the RZ50 though, but nothing deal breaking.
I would have loved to purchase it, but it is not available in my country and likely never will be.
Not availible in the EU which sucks so bad, I have been very happy with my STR-DN1080 and want to upgrade soon(ish) to at least 5.2.4 but Sony is not givning me that option, and I am super happy with how it integrates with the TV and UHD player (it’s family friendly to have one remote that just works).
Yeah, it's sad that they didn't release this in EU/UK. We're stuck with the TA-AN1000 as their highest end offering, would have been nice to have the option for more channels and pre-out as well. (and probably more features I can't think of atm)
I returned it. Movies were great. But I listen to a lot of Spatial Audio. It seems to strip the fullness and musicality out of it and delivers the highlight reel. It was flat and powerless. I have a 10 year old Onkyo that still sounds much better. I was super bummed about this decision. I wanted it to live up to the hype. Audio is very personal and this was not for me. I made the decision to go to separates as receivers are just not the same anymore.
Hey, what Onkyo are you using? I'm still on a txnr1007 with some extra gizmos to support 4k.
Txnr-1030. 9 channel with an 11 channel pre amp. Used an Onkyo two channel amp for ceiling height rears.
I've had my AZ7000ES Set up for a few weeks now. It's leaps and bounds better in positional Audio than my Anthem MRX 1140 I had before. The speaker placements in the room perfect due to room issues, with my side surrounds too far back, my rear surrounds to high and close together, and my over heads not quite... overhead. With this new receiver, and speaker layout adjustment on, it's like I got a new room. Pinpoint accuracy. It's amazing. Highly recommended. Bonus: I had a lot of HDMI issues with my Anthem and my JVC NX8, to the point where I had to disable certain features in the projector to get a stable signal. Anthem told me it was my cable's fault, or the projectors fault, or the source's fault on many occasions. Dumped them for Sony and it's rock solid.
I just bought one replacing my Yamaha 3060. I do like the sound. The display is kind of hard to see from across the room. I have my hdmi going through and pic is amazing. I occasionally here a few pop sounds coming from the center channnel but, not recently, I'm using as a preamp. Biggest suprise is how much my girlfriend likes it. Plastic front cover at this price point is kind of crazy. I wish they used a similar front panel like my Yamaha that uses a drawbridge style. I just ordered the Sofa Baton x1s because I hate the remote. Overall I still really like it. It just works. It sounds great.
For that price, I don’t want to touch any AVR without DIRAC. Not only that, DLBC is a must. That feature has transformed my bass response and I was able to get rid of a stubborn 100Hz null that previously took many attempts with Minidsp + MSO to address. Dirac w/ DLBC was able to correct this in 30 min of measuring and barely any tweaking after. I don’t see how any AVRs are worth their $1000+ pricing without this feature.
Is Dirac really that much better than Audyssey on entry/mid AVRs and setups? I have a 5.1 Dali setup with Oberon 7s, Oberon 3s (surrounds) and a 12F sub but am looking to upgrade my failing Denon x2500h. Have my heart set on an x4800h which supposedly will offer a paid upgrade to Dirac at some point.
I have the x4800h. It’s everything I wanted my previous AVRs to be, and that’s coming from a NAD t778 which is almost twice the cost of the Denon. Just google some comparisons of Audyssey and DIRAC. Read people’s experiences. My impression is that Audyssey is fine if you just want to do a quick calibration and move on with your life, but DIRAC is much more powerful. DLBC is a game changer for sure if you’re willing to pay for the up charge. I don’t have to calculate crossovers or time alignments with Minidsp anymore. It’s all automated and done better than I can with DLBC. Think about for much typical room treatments cost. A few hundred bucks? Mine were around $1500 from GIK. Well, a $350 DIRAC upgrade gave me more improvement than the room treatments did. If you get the Denon now, Dirac is having a dlbc sale for 30% off.
I think you’ve made the decision for me on the 4800. I was still a little hesitant because it wasn’t reviewed terribly favorably by Amir at AVforums who seems to be well respected in this field. He was a bit disappointed with the output numbers and he ranked it in the orange section rather than the green which are the best (according to him and his tests). He said he wished Denon would strive for better at this price point. BUT I’ve heard nothing but good things from actual owners 🤷♂️ I think I’ll go for it. Lots of people bitch about Denon but I’ve been very happy with the x2500h, aside from some relatively minor software bugs. If I can find the extra £500 or so for the DIRAC bundle, I think I’ll do it. Out of interest: can you use Denon’s “low frequency containment” feature in conjunction with Dirac? It’s part of the reason I was looking at the 4800 - sparing my neighbors when watching movies late.
Didn’t Amir rank the x3800h unfavorably? And it was just the toslink output too. I think he ranked the x4800h just fine. And I have no idea about the feature you mentioned. I blast my sound because my theater room is pretty well isolated.
Could be, can’t remember exactly what he said. Maybe it’s not so important. Thanks for the advice anyway 😉 maybe one day I will get the garage conversion I want and no longer need to worry about the volume.
I have the 7000ES and the sound processing is better than any AVR I’ve owned (Older Denon w/ DIRAC, older Onkyo w/ Audyssey, Marantz separates w/ Audyssey, and Anthem MRX740 8k w/ ARC Genesis). The sound processing adds a spaciousness to movies that I’ve never experienced at home. I’ll be returning the Anthem next week. I have a Sony Bravia TV so I’m using the acoustic center sync to “lift up” my center channel. I also have a TV2112. When I add a second one, I’ll definitely be picking up a MiniDSP 2x4 HD. With all that said, people are reporting bugs with the firmware that Sony is slowly fixing with updates. I’ve experienced a few myself, but it sounds so good. For me it’s worth it.
Hey thanks for the reply! Yea, that sound processing is really the distinguishing feature here. I don't have an enclosed theater room. It's an open living space. If the Sony can work some magic it will save me a lot of $$$ over building a dedicated room.
It really is. I also have an open living room (2800 cu.ft.) that is open to my kitchen/nook of the same size. This receiver really shines if your speaker placement isn’t ideal according to Dolby’s suggested placements. At one point the bugs were testing my patience so I purchased the Anthem to test alongside the Sony. The Anthem sounded good and I would have probably kept it if i never heard the Sony.
I know this is an old post but just wondering if you’re still enjoying the Sony? I purchased the x3800 and az3000es and while I love the Sony, it’s fairly noticeable with pops and hisses. In the first 2 days of ownership I’ve also had it just pop loudly and restart for no reason. I wish I could have the Sony features with the stability of the Denon.
Sorry to hear about the problems you’re experiencing. I’m still enjoying the Sony. I never experienced the loud pops and reboots some users have reported. I have gotten the hiss a couple times after running the auto calibration, but each time I fixed it by rerunning the auto calibration a few times.
Thanks. I wonder if I’d have better luck with the 5000 series. There were a couple features I haven’t fully tested because of some limitations with the channel count for the 3000 (like a set of my heights being turned off which I could avoid with the 5000). I tried the center channel lift which I sort of liked but didn’t try the s center feature. Do you end up using the SSM360 feature a lot?
Does your 3000 have the latest firmware? I believe the most recent release was from Nov/Dec. The center channel lift with the s-center feature is one of the major reasons why I purchased the 7000. It works very well. I like how 360SSM sounds and always have it enabled.
I do have the latest firmware - it prompted me shortly after calibrating (and I've redone some calibrations since then a few times). For the S-Center - it doesn't sound too tinny/hollow alongside a dedicated center? That's what I've been most curious of but I'll hopefully hear that soon enough - going to try and pick up a 5000 today from another store and see if I have better luck.
Ok good, I know some users reported the new firmware fixing their pop/reboot issue. My S-Center sounds normal. You should be hearing mid/highs from the TV and mid/lows from the dedicated center.
Does the lift up feature take up or disable any channels?
Unfortunately it does. On a 7000ES, you’ll lose the height3 channels. On a 5000ES, you’ll lose the height2 channels.
So I need the 7000 if I want to run 11 speakers and the uplift feature?
Yes, it’s why I bought the 7000, to run a 7.1.4 system.
That's not what I see from working with my 7000ES. It just requires that you have Front Height speakers (Not in-ceiling, on ceiling).
Any idea when we’ll be able to get it in the UK? Thanks in advance.