HT, build quality

not great for music

This sony is great for home theater. It has a clean focussed sound. It looks good and is built well.

However I am disapointed in the sound.My cheap denon had more musicality. I only have version 1.10a -maybe the upgrade will help.

The biggest problem with the remote is lack of programmability. You have to get a pronto remote to replace it.

Similar Products Used:

denon avr2700

Sound

Support

Basically here is my problem, I really like the E9000ES but am growing increasingly concerned. As good as the unit is I don't expect Sony to continue (?) supporting it or offer any kind of upgrade path to a EX solution.
After e-mailing Sony for a second time ( their near-automated response the first time didn't even begin to answer my question. ).

I sent them the 3 bitmaps with the version number clearly stated as well as links to their own pages with quotes where relevant.

Today I got back the same message ( 4 days later ) with my original text etc. removed and only a statement that the upgrade was for users experiencing delayed DVD sound.

Has anyone got any suggestions or comments?

The E9000ES is a remarkable product, but without support to back it up I don't want it. For that 2nd e-mail I'm dropping 1 star from value and 2 from overall. If I get a response from Sony ( even if it's "1.18c is an internal build, we suck etc. etc. ) or the 1.18c upgrade I'll be a happy customer again. Otherwise I'm taking it back.

Jonathan

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha A2

Excellent Quality and Sound

Unknowledgable Tech Support; Poor Remote

I just downloaded the 1.18C upgrade, and indeed the sound in all fields is MUCH clearer and more of a "tube" sound. Congradulations to SONY for an unbelievable upgrade, making this one of the best preamps at ANY price. The sound is on a par with the BEST out there, at this point! Iy is a steal at the price, at this point with the new firmware. Hope SONY continues to keep improving the unit with their future upgrades as they have with this 1.18C version!

Similar Products Used:

TAE1000, TAE2000, SDPEP9ES

see below

see below

And the plot sickens...

I downloaded "1.18C" tonight - either I'm missing something or SONY's changed the download again, because I note the following:

1). The BIOS upgrade file "V110C.BIN" contains 729,518 bytes in both the current "1.18C" AND my orignal "1.10C".

2). I ran a DOS file compare and the "1.18C" and "1.10C" .BIN files are exactly the same - no differences encountered. Try it yourself, at a DOS prompt type FC . This is a binary compare. I also ran the DOS compare on the flasher and confirmed that it also is exactly the same as the 1.10C download.

3). The difference in the size of the downloaded files (1.18C - TAEFLSH.EXE - 438K and 1.10C - BIOS110C.EXE - 485K) from SONY are due to the much smaller doucmentation files in the new zip. 1.18C has INSTRUCT.DOC (66K) & 2WAY1WAY (remote function doc)(20K). My 1.10C had a 177K MANUAL.DOC, VER_UP.DOC (46K) and CUSTNOTE.DOC (30K). The only important files - the flasher (E9000ES.EXE - 336K) and the BIN (V110C.BIN - 713K) are exactly the same in my download.

SO - if anybody from the past two days has a different BIN file than the one I downloaded, please E-MAIL it to me! If that's the case, SONY has heard the outcry regarding this version... ...and responded by withdrawing it (?!?) although the version name on the d/l remains the same.

Never a dull moment with this piece.....

BUILD QUALITY, AND BAND FOR THE BUCK..

WE ALL KNOW THEM BY NOW

I HAVE BEEN USING THE PRE-AMP FOR A LITTLE OVER A YEAR, I HAVE DONE ALL THE FIRMWARE UPGRADES, EXCEPT FOR 1.18C, BUT PLAN TO SOON. IM HAPPY WITH THE UNIT AS A WHOLE, EXCEPT FOR A FEW MINOR THINGS..ANYWAY BUT FOR THE MONEY WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO..

ANY WAY THE REASON WHY I'M WRITING IN, IS ABOUT THE EX UPGADE THAT EVERYONE SEEMS TO TALK ABOUT FROM TIME TO TIME..I THINK THEIR IS A LITTLE MORE TO THAT THAN JUST A FIRMWARE UPDATE AND HERE IS WHY:

WHERE IS THE SIXTH PRE-OUT GOING TO BE???

PEOPLE SEEM TO THINK THAT IT WILL BE THE SPAIR CENTER PRE-OUT...AND THIS IS WHERE I SEE THE PROBLEM, THAT CENTER PRE-OUT IS NOT SEPERATE, THEIR IS A HARD WIRED CONNECTION BETWEEN THE BOTH OF THEM, KIND OF LIKE A POWER AMP CAN HAVE DUAL BINDING POSTS, IT'S THE SAME WAY...THEY BOTH OUTPUT THE SAME CENTER SIGNAL IT DOES NOT MATTER WHICH OUTPUT YOU USE..

SO IF THEIR IS AN EX UP-GRADE IT WILL HAVE TO BE SENT INTO THE SERVICE CENTER,FOR A PHYSICAL CHANGE NOT JUST A FIRMWARE UPDATE, AND I DONT THINK THAT SONY HAS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT OR THE FACILITIES TO DO SO..WE ALL HAVE DELT WITH SONY C.S., SOME HAVE HAD PROBLEMS, I PERSONALY HAVE NOT THEY WERE VERY GOOD..PLUS I GUESS THEY WOULD HAVE TO STAMP THE EX LOGO ON IT SOMEWHERE SO DOLBY WON'T GET TICKED OFF..THEIR IS PROBLEY A WHOLE MESS OF LICENCING AND LEGAL ISSUES BEHIND IT AS WELL..

WE ALL KNOW WHATS COMING SONY WILL PROBLEY COME OUT WITH A NEW PRE-AMP BY NEXT YEAR WITH ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES INCLUDING DOLBY EX. WHO KNOWS???

ANYWAY JUST E-MAIL THE HELL OUT OF THEM ON THAT V1.18C ISSUE

Sound quality, upgradablility, and value.

Remote, but goes into the nothing is perfect category.

Everyone, please read J.D. Elder's review. After listening again tonight, I agree with him wholeheartedly. The upgrade posted on Sony's site is, in fact, an upgrade that has been mislabled. The sound has changed in the bass response, and the mids and highs are more detailed and musical. This is a hell of a unit and I think it rivals the Parasound, B&K and all other processors under $6,000.00. Downgrade and load the software immediately and you'll hear it. E-mail me back with your results. The person who type the upgrade on the site simply forgot to change the numbers on the upgrade.

Similar Products Used:

Lexicon DC-2, Sony TA-E2000ESD

Great Performance relative to price
Number of inputs

Remote (but I still found it usable)

I cannot believe what I am reading here. People complaining that they cannot upgrade their E9000ES to Dolby EX. On a processor that most bought for under $1200. Hey guys, welcome to the digital future. Do you piss and moan when you cannot upgrade you DELL or COMPAQ to the latest model?? NO, you junk the old machine (which probably cost more than $1200) and buy a new one.

We should be thankful that Sony built in any sort of upgrade mechanism. Speak to somebody who paid $2400 for a Yamaha-ha-ha DSP-A1 or similar. No upgrade path there.

Also, for one what some of the 'high end' companies are charging for their upgrades to new formats you will probably be able to buy a complete new Sony and donate the E9000ES to your bedroom system(or kids).

If Sony came out and said that they would upgrade the E9000Es to Dolby EX for $500 , there would be another
outcry that they were 'ripping us off'.

When I bought this unit, I looked at what was available and what I wanted to pay. Sure the Parasound got great reviews, but when I looked at the cost vs the Sony, it couldn't compete.

Sony has produced a great unit FOR THE PRICE. (And we should compare STREET prices here, NOT LIST as you won't get the same discount on the Parasound as most of us got on the Sony)

So, I would recommend this unit to anybody, but budget extra remote (I bought a Phillips Pront) and you won't be disappointed.

Price, flexibilty, ease of use. Sounds pretty good too.

Remote, of course. and tech support

I have a love-hate relationship with this piece. Most of my annoyances with it are minor, and since i bought it used for $1000 i shouldn't complain. I wish the equalizer went down to 20hz. i can deal with bass frequencies by ear, but i can't equalize them with it. i'd give up 2/3 of the dsp modes to have that. plus my switched outlets don't work. My remote sucks down batteries and you can't see the face at all. On the plus side, it's soooo flexible. i can spend a lot of time playing around with the settings on it. It's built very well, but runs really hot. I love the fact that i can download updates for it, but would like to see some options for freeing up some processor space for other functions, (such as bass eq) By the way, if anyone can give me a technical explanation of how a software update can change the sound of my preamp, i'd love to hear it. (i'm curious as to how this works) i don't really care about the Dolby EX hype, my wife wouldn't let me put up more seakers, even if i had the room for it. heh, heh. All in all, a great piece for the $$$ if you don't mind a little hassle now and then.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz AV550

Quality of Construction; upgradability.

Obviously the remote; it is unusable. Also, tech support is SEVERELY lacking in adequate knowledge of the product.

I too have had serious problems with the remote; also, even with other remotes (which learned the original remote's codes), the 9000 failed to respond to many (not all) of the commands WHILE the A-1 S-Link cable was connected. Unplugging it solved the problem, but plugging it back in after using it without it, failed to restore operation with any remote control. Thus I have to leave the A-1 cable unplugged. Of course, Sony tech never heard of this, and offered no rational solution.

Anyone else have this problem with the S-Link feature killing the ir capacity of the 9000? Would appreciate anyone's feedback.

Similar Products Used:

TAE1000, TAE2000

Value for Money

I posted here many months ago with a complete review. Just want to add firmware 2.01 upgrade kit has one more time elevated the 9000ES one more notch. Two channel audio has taken new life....if now SONY will listen to me and provide HDCD decoding it would be great! The "sharc" chips in the 9000ES have enough processing power to handle this via software upgrade....also, provide a path from its analog inputs to the digital out...passing through their internal A/D converters....listen up SONY!!

I agree with the posting below. You can get the upgrade kit from various sources. I purchased mine from Planet Audio at 319-344-8833...as for Jose...great guy!