I am looking to finally, after 8 years, upgrade my Yamaha RX-V1070. My Yam has been great, but I have thought about trying Sony, but I've noticed that most of the conversations here hardly ever, if at all, talk about Sony receivers...Why???
Currently I have NHT's VT-1's, superZeroes, and a NHT powered sub.
Johnny
Posted on
omegagen,
I am surprised no one has picked up on this yet, but I will try to give you my opinion as to why Sony is not talked about favorably here. Simply put, Sony receivers just do not sound nearly as good as most of the others out there. With so many other products on the market (i.e. TV's, satellite dishes, video game systems, portable cd players, alarm clocks, etc, etc, etc), they simply cannot put enough resources into producing high quality sound from their receivers. They cannot compete with those manufacturers who devote all of their resources to making high quality audio equipment. When you see a Sony receiver at Best Buy or Circuit City (or Target, or Wal-Mart), it may look like a great deal. Lots of fun (and useless) features, and nice power. However, you must be aware that Sony is known for using highly inflated power ratings. They typically only rate their receivers with one channel driven and only at one sound level (1 khz) while more conservative makers such as NAD and HK rate theirs with all channels driven and over the entire audible frequency spectrum. What this means is that Sony receivers, while they may preach lots of power, in reality are very underpowered. In fact, one Sony receiver that was rated at 100w x 6 only could muster 31 watts when measured with all channels driven (thanks for the spec sheet Hawk). This is a drop of 70%!
So, to make an extrememly long story short, Sony has spread itself too thin. They try to make too many products and thus the quality suffers. To make up for this, they use inflated power specs. You can get a much better sounding receiver for the same price as you would get a Sony for. What is your budget? We would need to know this in order to make a recommendation to go with your speakers.
Rapier
Posted on
"Sony" and "Sony ES" are not the same and should not be interchanged when discussing receivers, or any other piece of equipment. It simply isn't fair. The design, build, and quality of the ES line are generally superior to standard Sony equipment and are intended to compete with higher-end equipment. Frequently Sony ES pieces are used as benchmarks to which other equipment is compared. The Sony STR-DA3000ES is a new design that features a digital amp. A design that has had some good reviews when used in other ES pieces. Unfortunately, I found the 3000ES receiver to have an unacceptable level of background noise during my own auditions. I was told by a local ES dealer that there has since been a recall to address this, however I cannot recommend it at this time without listening to the 'fix'.
omegagen
Posted on
Thanks for your input guys! I was wondering whether or not my topic would go into oblivion.
As for price range I'm going to TRY and stay between $700-$1000. I say, "TRY", because I've been reading-up on the Yamaha RX-Z1 and I think I may "bite the bullet", but it's a large bullet! Any thoughts on the Z-1 monster?
I'll admit I am partial to Yamaha since I've had my RX-V1070 since '95. It has impressed a many family and friends. But, I'll consider any other receiver if it seems to excite the masses.
I had a Yamaha receiver since 1978, and just parted with it and bought a Yamaha RX-V3300 receiver. So far I love it. I don't know if they still have it but I got it at 6ave.com on clearance for $699.00. The RX-Z1 is a very nice receiver, but $2799 is not cheap! If you're going to buy it from a brick and mortar store see if they'll let you bring in your speakers and listen. Make sure you hear a big difference before spending that kind of dough. Also, most stores will let you purchase the 3300 and bring it back to upgrade to the Z1.