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

ban25

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As long as you're using wired speakers, there should be no audio delay issues on any receiver.
 

GXAlan

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As long as you're using wired speakers, there should be no audio delay issues on any receiver.

It’s how the room correction/calibration calculates delays based upon distance. Older Audyssey AVRs had a subtle error.
 
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Well Sony has Confirmed, they will not be fixing the Hum!

Email is below - what a swing and a miss by Sony!

"I got a response from engineering on the hiss noise. Japan says it is "within spec." I will still honor the buy back offer I made to you.

Chad
Install Support"
 

GXAlan

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Well Sony has Confirmed, they will not be fixing the Hum!

Email is below - what a swing and a miss by Sony!

"I got a response from engineering on the hiss noise. Japan says it is "within spec." I will still honor the buy back offer I made to you.

Chad
Install Support"

What a disappointment !

360 sound field mapping is great tech. But if the flagship has audible hiss, it isn’t going to sell very many, and then Sony won’t come out with a new version. Sony already pulled the ES receiver like in Europe and Japan 5 years ago. All they get is the budget line.

Maybe Sony just needs to commit to a processor. if MONOPRICE can sell one profitably, surely Sony can.
 

Turbo6

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I think the hiss is maybe a few units or some kind of sensitivity to the speaker some people are using.

I have the 5000es. I figured I'd test it since I wasn't so happy with sound of the Marantz Cinema 50. I love the 5000es. The sound is great, the features are great, the integration with my Sony OLED is great, and 360 is nice. I have Sonos amps powering my whole home audio and was never able to pair it before with my main room - now I have a port in place to use Sonos everywhere with this receiver. Love the sound and definitely sticking with Sony.
 
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What a disappointment !

360 sound field mapping is great tech. But if the flagship has audible hiss, it isn’t going to sell very many, and then Sony won’t come out with a new version. Sony already pulled the ES receiver like in Europe and Japan 5 years ago. All they get is the budget line.

Maybe Sony just needs to commit to a processor. if MONOPRICE can sell one profitably, surely Sony can.
I have the 7000 and didn't hear this hiss for several days until I tried a powered speaker at max gain, then I heard it but that speaker has a hiss for my pc ground loop I can't get rid of. I haven't heard it in 2 weeks with regular speakers. Of course I didn't think to get up and put my ear to it cause I never think to go check.

The 360 is nice but not worthy to me of the fawning Andrew did on his review. I do think the 3 center channel options are really nice though. I like the dual-center but that loses a set of heights. I also equally like the center-lift which does not lose a set. The 3rd option others said they like the but I don't have a sony tv to run the center to the speakers positioned within the center of the screen.

I do prefer the overall sound of the sony over the denon 3800 but that is not enough for me to warrant the doubling in price, there should be other options you're going for, in my opinion.
 

GXAlan

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The 360 is nice but not worthy to me of the fawning Andrew did on his review.

Yes, the 360 helps people with poor speaker localization whereas others with perfect speaker localization benefit less.

I personally use the Yamaha CX-A5100 which does some remapping with the DSP options.
 

The Guy who cares

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I went through the 100 hour break in period. The sound of the 7000 model hadn't changed at all after 48 hours. It sounds excellent no issues with hiss or humming. I still am only using Manual Room Correction. I love its sound, it sounds like a Sony and sounds identical to a HarmaKarden AV Receiver I had 23 years ago. So if one likes the Sony sound or the HarmaKarden sound one wouldn't be disappointed at all. I will try it's room correction this week. However I can't imagine it will sound any better, maybe different though. I did manual Room Correction which took me about half an hour.
 

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I went through the 100 hour break in period. The sound of the 7000 model hadn't changed at all after 48 hours. It sounds excellent no issues with hiss or humming. I still am only using Manual Room Correction. I love its sound, it sounds like a Sony and sounds identical to a HarmaKarden AV Receiver I had 23 years ago. So if one likes the Sony sound or the HarmaKarden sound one wouldn't be disappointed at all. I will try it's room correction this week. However I can't imagine it will sound any better, maybe different though. I did manual Room Correction which took me about half an hour.
The hiss is mostly present after doing the automatic room correction, be sure to save your profile before you do it so you can load and revert.

What triggers it for me: Automatic Room correction (and setting a calibration level (such as front reference/engineer)) + 360SSM. The less the Sony has a chance to run its room software the less likely you are to hear the the hiss/humm
 

The Guy who cares

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Did not patch the hum (nor did it say it would), but I was hoping it might...
I am still only using Manaul Room Correction may never run Automatic Room Correction, I love the way it sounds as is. However the store where I bought it is setting up a 7000 model. So I'll call them and ask if there was any issues. I will be going back to the store in June so I can ask them to play me the Receiver with 360SSM on to see if there is any issues with his batch.
 

The Guy who cares

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I am 100% in support of Local Stores. For one I can get to see, touch and listen to the units there. Second is I can always get them to reduce the price. I save $500 on the Sony-az7000ES this way. Online you'll only pay full asking price. So go to a store.
 

RWetmore

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I think the hiss is maybe a few units or some kind of sensitivity to the speaker some people are using.

I have the 5000es. I figured I'd test it since I wasn't so happy with sound of the Marantz Cinema 50. I love the 5000es. The sound is great, the features are great, the integration with my Sony OLED is great, and 360 is nice. I have Sonos amps powering my whole home audio and was never able to pair it before with my main room - now I have a port in place to use Sonos everywhere with this receiver. Love the sound and definitely sticking with Sony.

It's strange, as many report no issues with hissing whereas some others do. Has anyone experiencing the hiss compared 24bit soundtracks vs. 16bit? The 360SSM is some kind of re-processing -- and presumably re-digitization -- of the soundtrack, so 24bit would have more 'headroom' before any audible noise is introduced.

I have the previous generation ZA1100ES and it's great and much better sounding than the Marantz SR6013 I had prior. I'm curious about these new models, but the reports of hissing with 360SSM have me thinking I should just stick with what I have. I would get the AZ3000ES if I were to buy, as I don't need the pre-outs or additional channels of amplification. The 360SSM is particularly appealing to me, because I'm limited to a 3.0 set-up.

I use the ZA1100ES in 'Pure Direct' mode for 2 channel music via the 2-channel analog inputs (it's a terrific sounding amp for music) and 'Direct' mode for movie soundtracks through the HDMI input. Non-direct mode -- i.e. with the Sony's processing -- isn't all that great, but neither was the Marantz's. I used the Marantz only in 'Pure Direct' mode too for this reason.
 

The Guy who cares

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I found out a cool thing about the Sony-az7000es. The Pure Direct works in Multichannel. I switched it and All of my speakers are producing Surround Sound including the Atmos Channels. The 7000es receiver displays goes black. However the Remote Diplay button shows the info on the tv screen. Sound Actually good in Pure Direct.
 

CyrusTheGreat_600BC

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No offense to any owner here, but if nobody cares—or is serious enough—to send one to Amir for testing, that receiver/brand is a no go for me. same goes to Integra/Onkyo/Pioneer regardless of their advertised specs.
 

The Guy who cares

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No offense to any owner here, but if nobody cares—or is serious enough—to send one to Amir for testing, that receiver/brand is a no go for me. same goes to Integra/Onkyo/Pioneer regardless of their advertised specs.
Amir probably could ask Sony to send him a unit for review. I can't see Sony refusing.
 

kalexan9

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No offense to any owner here, but if nobody cares—or is serious enough—to send one to Amir for testing, that receiver/brand is a no go for me. same goes to Integra/Onkyo/Pioneer regardless of their advertised specs.
I feel the same about Denon and Marantz receivers which are always great on features, but continue to fail in the sound quality department.
 
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