New Sony ES 8K AV Receiver Line STR-AZ7000ES STR-AZ5000ES STR-AZ3000ES STR-AZ1000ES

[techsamurai]

I think the 7000 will last longer because it's Sony's Premium Flag Ship Model. Why not pay the extra for something that may last a lifetime.

It's 60% more expensive and powerwise they are probably identical. You can add a fan thereby tripling the heatsink making the AZ5000ES into an AZ9000ES

And that opens up the option to use an external amp for the LCR - 50% of the people can't hear a difference when they do that and 50% do hear a difference so hopefully you'll be in the latter group. If not, push someone from the 2nd group into the 1st group and steal their spot

 

[CyrusTheGreat_600BC]

View attachment 271749I recond Rotels RB-1582MKII for the Main channels. I actually have 3 of these. Excellent Amplifier. The sound from these 2 channel power amplifiers is excellent. Plus at 40Ibs each...

I’ve Rotel too, but mine has digital amps. My power/electricity bill went down significantly after switching from an ATI power amp.

 

[dlaloum]

The other difference from the 7000 vs the 5000 is the weight, the 7000 is 48Ibs, almost 10 Ibs more than the 5000

Most of that is probably the transformer.

 

[CyrusTheGreat_600BC]

View attachment 271761Well my Cat caught another mouse and gave it to me unharmed as a gift. I took the little furry thing and let it go outside. My Cat was passed off about that but I live Animals. If you're going to grab a mouse grab it from its "Tale'

You mean return the Sony receiver unopened (unharmed)?

 

[ban25]

View attachment 271749I recond Rotels RB-1582MKII for the Main channels. I actually have 3 of these. Excellent Amplifier. The sound from these 2 channel power amplifiers is excellent. Plus at 40Ibs each, power consumption is 650 Watts at full volume.

Yep, absolutely adore my 1592MKII and my A14MKII...

 

[kalexan9]

Well according to Sony I have a defective 7000ES. It doesn't recognize that auto calibration has been completed my 9 floor speaker have a very audible buzz with nothing playing. Hanging on to it until another gets in stock.

 

[RWetmore]

Well so far this hasn't exactly been a smooth launch by Sony here with these new ES receivers. Maybe they jumped the gun and didn't have the software fine-tuned enough or haven't gotten the production QC at the level it needs to be.

 

[4MusicFirst]

Well so far this hasn't exactly been a smooth launch by Sony here with these new ES receivers. Maybe they jumped the gun and didn't have the software fine-tuned enough or haven't gotten the production QC at the level it needs to be.

Glad our new house in Nevada has been delayed, not going to move until May, and will not buy a new avr until then. But if I had to buy right now, based on these first few reviews, I’d buy the Denon 4800. Hopefully Sony gets their “shit” together, I’d like to try the new 5000..

 

[The Guy who cares]

Well according to Sony I have a defective 7000ES. It doesn't recognize that auto calibration has been completed my 9 floor speaker have a very audible buzz with nothing playing. Hanging on to it until another gets in stock.

Seems to me it's an issue with the Room Correction Chip, probably the output volume of the chip being to high. No one seems to have a problem until they run room correction. So my guess if one manually did the settings (Distancing, Levels, Crossover, Bass Management, Bass and Treble) themselves all should be fine. Then I guess wait until Sony comes up with a Firmware Upgrade to fix the Room Correction Problem.
With my old Yamaha Aventage Receiver I have turned off its room correction (Through as Yamaha calls it). I then manually adjusted all the settings and tride listening to it this way. I actually like it better, it sounds more Anolog, male voices are fuller sounding, music too sounds better. So avoiding using room correction may actually be a good thing. I did my manual adjustments by Ear, No fancy meters used.

 

[kalexan9]

Gonna try another factory reset. I'll keep everyone updated. Just got back from Syracuse New York Thursday and didn't really get a chance to re-examine everything until yesterday, including a call to Sony support.

 

[STR-AZ7000ES User]

Got a new STR-AZ7000ES today, everything setup perfect and quick. Integrated into existing Crestron system

But there is an issue, there is an audible hum/modulated noise when 360SSM is enabled. Playing with multiple settings it was confirmed that simply disabling 360SSM gets rid of the noise. The noise is not as present during playback but it is quite present with no audio.

It appears to go away if the audio is off when enabling, but as soon as audio starts and stops it presents itself, so scrolling through a menu on an AppleTV can get quite annoying.

Anyone else seeing this.

 

[ban25]

Got a new STR-AZ7000ES today, everything setup perfect and quick. Integrated into existing Crestron system

But there is an issue, there is an audible hum/modulated noise when 360SSM is enabled. Playing with multiple settings it was confirmed that simply disabling 360SSM gets rid of the noise. The noise is not as present during playback but it is quite present with no audio.

It appears to go away if the audio is off when enabling, but as soon as audio starts and stops it presents itself, so scrolling through a menu on an AppleTV can get quite annoying.

Anyone else seeing this.

Many people reporting that same issue on AVSForums.

 

[RWetmore]

Got a new STR-AZ7000ES today, everything setup perfect and quick. Integrated into existing Crestron system

But there is an issue, there is an audible hum/modulated noise when 360SSM is enabled. Playing with multiple settings it was confirmed that simply disabling 360SSM gets rid of the noise. The noise is not as present during playback but it is quite present with no audio.

It appears to go away if the audio is off when enabling, but as soon as audio starts and stops it presents itself, so scrolling through a menu on an AppleTV can get quite annoying.

Anyone else seeing this.

Did you update the firmware?

 

[STR-AZ7000ES User]

Did you update the firmware?

Yes, first thing.

Found a second bug that won’t affect most, but if you use a Crestron Home system with the Sony control drivers, it crashes the system if you use the multi zone output control (HDMI 2 output to synced displays across house - allowing you to display any content on the AVR synced to all TVs across the house). by crashing system it: causes unnecessary reboots of Crestron processor, causes video/audio issues in rooms that use whole home speakers, etc - pretty major bug (only an issue if you use video output and secondary zone control across a Crestron system)

For now just going to use a generic AV output and figure out ways to control and change Inputs is the only workaround for the second zone

Without any phone App control like the Denon and others, it does make multi-zone output a nuisance until they patch their Crestron driver

 

[mattsrs]

Yes, first thing.

Found a second bug that won’t affect most, but if you use a Crestron Home system with the Sony control drivers, it crashes the system if you use the multi zone output control (HDMI 2 output to synced displays across house - allowing you to display any content on the AVR synced to all TVs across the house). by crashing system it: causes unnecessary reboots of Crestron processor, causes video/audio issues in rooms that use whole home speakers, etc - pretty major bug (only an issue if you use video output and secondary zone control across a Crestron system)

For now just going to use a generic AV output and figure out ways to control and change Inputs is the only workaround for the second zone

Without any phone App control like the Denon and others, it does make multi-zone output a nuisance until they patch their Crestron driver

You can use Sony’s Music Center app as remote control

 

[STR-AZ7000ES User]

You can use Sony’s Music Center app as remote control

No effective way to control Zone 2 AV, you can on direct IP control - but again the remote Sony provides is pretty half-built; buts it’s the closest way to control now until they fix their buggy crestron driver

 

[Quasey1]

Well.... my thanks to Gene and the team on their Sony ES live podcast. I've been holding off, deciding between the X4800H and AZ5000ES. I'm certain the Sony is a fine, high quality, well executed piece of hardware (as was my now failing DA5ES), but Sony falls wide of my target. IF it indicated the applied room correction and gave some measure of parametric control (maybe like a DBX Driverack), I'd be all over it. My only other disappointment is wireless connection ONLY to Sony speakers. I see both as consistent with Sony's proclivity for control (eg Betamax), which is both a weakness and strength (think Apple Inc). I still find myself reluctant to exclude this choice, but am loathe to accept the loss of processing transparency and control. If only there were a decent pre/pro I could afford. I understand the argument against such a product, but still believe they'd end up selling more equipment in the long run... oh well. Thanks for reading my rant. Have a Great Day!!!

 

[kalexan9]

Well.... my thanks to Gene and the team on their Sony ES live podcast. I've been holding off, deciding between the X4800H and AZ5000ES. I'm certain the Sony is a fine, high quality, well executed piece of hardware (as was my now failing DA5ES), but Sony falls wide of my target. IF it indicated the applied room correction and gave some measure of parametric control (maybe like a DBX Driverack), I'd be all over it. My only other disappointment is wireless connection ONLY to Sony speakers. I see both as consistent with Sony's proclivity for control (eg Betamax), which is both a weakness and strength (think Apple Inc). I still find myself reluctant to exclude this choice, but am loathe to accept the loss of processing transparency and control. If only there were a decent pre/pro I could afford. I understand the argument against such a product, but still believe they'd end up selling more equipment in the long run... oh well. Thanks for reading my rant. Have a Great Day!!!

As a Sony 7000ES owner, I understand. There are definitly omissions: bass mgmt, useless remote (they would have to improve it just to make it basic), and Auro3D upmixing. However since it all boils down to sound quality to me, I can't unhear what I am hearing from this unit. It's a keeper to me.

 

[GXAlan]

However since it all boils down to sound quality to me, I can't unhear what I am hearing from this unit. It's a keeper to me.

Did you get a replacement unit or did the software reset fix your issues? Do you get the noise when 360 audio is enabled?

 

[kalexan9]

Did you get a replacement unit or did the software reset fix your issues? Do you get the noise when 360 audio is enabled?

I got a replacement from Crutchfield and had the same issue until I re-ran setup after the update. Only then did 360SSM enable for me. As for hissing noise when 360SSM is enabled, I get NONE whatsoever.