Build quality, surround modes, sound and good value.

Remote

Had this unit 1 1/2 years. Very happy with this purchase. Listened with older Energy speakers and now with Mirage OM-8, C2 and CR2's. All sound great. Fortunatly the Noise issue has not been a problem at all. I do have this unit set with the Low Level output. I think many who have complained of noise are really hearing this units ability to resolve low level detail. When you don't hear this noise are you really hearing all the sound and is your system emitting this sound due to other problems. For the $1150.00 dollar investment his unit is a must have. Don't be swayed into the $3000.00 "EX" units, wait until hte neaxt Sony type pre-amp is available for about the same money.

Similar Products Used:

Fosgate, Sony, Harmon Kardon, Technics

Sony vs. Sunfire: My wife and I spent an entire afternoon/evening last night doing an A/B test between the Sony TA-E9000&TA-N9000 and the Sunfire Theater Grand Processor with the Cinema Grand amp. After listening to both DVD and CD sources, the Sony setup won. Both units were tested with no EQ or enhancements. I am of the opinion that if you need alot of filters to make the music sound good, then the unit is not doing a good job. In addition, adding LC filters to the music also adds distortion. The Sony exhibited clean clear powerful detail, excellent midrange, and a very rich blended music. The Sunfire was equally clean and clear, but very restrained in the midrange and not as musical. The only way I can explain it is many music passages from the Sony were simply beautiful whereas the Sunfire just left the same passage undramatic. In addition, the only tone controls on the Sunfire are a simple Bass and Treble, so there was no way to enhance the midrange that I could think of. Of course, any audio opinion is just that, an opinion. The final listener must choose the equipment that suites his/her taste. Money was not a factor in our decision, and on a listening test alone, we plan to keep the Sony setup. However, it is less expensive. Someday I plan to do a similar test with Krell (significant price difference). If anyone has already done it, please email me.
The cons of the Sony are well documented here and true. If you think you might hate the remote, dont worry, you will. The Sony also has more hiss at high volumes that the Sunfire. This was unaudible when playing DVD but could be slightly heard when playing instrumental CD's at loud volumes. We dont usually play music that loud anyway, so I can overlook that. As for the remote, just buy the Philips Pronto. I have successfully taught the Pronto any of the TA-E9000 commands I wanted. Some people claim that they were unable to get some of the level controls to program but it can be done. If you would like my Pronto configuration file, send me an email.

Speakers: Martin Logan SL3's, Cinema, Aerious-i
DVD/CD: Sony DVP-S7700
Monster Z-series Wire/Interconnects and Power Conditioning

I purchased a 9000ES 9/3/99 from Creative Stereo In Santa Barbara, Ca. They told me that they didn't have the remote but would send it to me within 5 days. It is now the 28th of Sept and I still have not recieved the remote. So those of you with poor backlighting could have it much worse. You could have no remote at all!!!!If they remote doesn't arrive today I plan on returning the 9000ES on my next day off. I do love the unit. It's replacing a 2000ESD (thank goodness I didn't sell it) and a Millenium 2.4.6. I guess I'll have to go back to that old combo until I can find a Parasound or some other unit. I think Sony's customer service is a total joke. I have several other ES series components, XBR TV's, Computer monitors, and laser disc players from Sony so they obviously have no regard for loyal repeat customers and I will never make the mistake of buying another Sony product!!!The preamp gets a 5 for performance, I can't rate the remote since I never got one & Sony's customer gets a ZERO!!!

Could someone e-mail me about version 1.10c.And please tell me how i can tell what kind of version i have.Thank you and would really appreciate it. Otherwise, this is a great pre-amp..very clean and great features.

Great Unit. I had one problem, programming my Cable box to the remote. This unit does not recogonise General Instruments CFT 2000 cable boxes. Other than that this unit is great. I also purchased the TA-N9000ES, and the Pioneer Elite DV-09 DVD player. This is turly a great match. Picture & sound quality are great.

I am sorry for being redundant everyone but since I am getting a lot of emails, It is necessary for me to re-post this once again for the benefit of all the end users of this great pre-amp who need it. I hope this helps anyone seeking help and information.
FIRMWARE VERSION 1.10A AND 1.10C
The latest "confirmed" upgrade for the TA-E9000ES is version 1.10C, I have heard of higher other versions but I can not confirm of their existence at this time.

Version 1.10C or any upgrade is a "ZIPPED" executable file that contains all the necessary manual and instructions on how to install it. Run 110c.exe and it will unzip or extract itself into five files:

1.) E9000ES.EXE (this is the flash executable file to reprogram the TA-E9000ES BIOS)
2.) V110C.BIN (this is the actual file to be installed and used by the flash executable file)
3.) MANUAL (contains the instructions needed to install the V110C.BIN file)
4.) VER_UP (contains notes stating the modification made since version 1.01A)
5.) CUSNOTE (contains instructions and notations regarding remote capability)

REMOTE UNIT:
The main problems on the remote would only be the fact that it consumes power more than anything else and the fact that it is too hard to read the information from it. Other than that the remote works fine.

Whenever the batteries of the remote is changed, It is recommended to SETUP and REPROGRAM it to work with the TA-9000ES. If it just came from the service center, it should also be SETUP and REPROGRAMMED properly to work with the main unit as the memory maybe changed or erased.

1.) SETUP/TOUCH PANEL then ADJUST
2.) SETUP/AUTO POWER/OFF
3.) SETUP/SYSTEM STANDBY/ON*OFF
4.) SETUP/FUNCTION & USER IR to configure the components that are connected and to configure USER PROFILES if you want to control equipments independently without changing FUNCTIONS that are currently being used with the main unit. This is useful, for example when you want to control a DVD player while watching a DSS or CABLE input. You continue watching DSS/Cable while controlling your DVD player.
5.) SETUP/FUNCTION HOOK UP to tell the TA-E9000ES and the remote what components are connected.
6.) SETUP/DOWNLOAD to download information from the main unit.

PEACE TO ALL! :-)

Overall quality and sound

@$%$@#$ Remote; No monitor outputs to drive speakers in a second room.

Can't really add anything to what has already been said here. This has been a big step up from anything I have previously owned so it sounds great to me, but I don't feel qualified to compare to comprably priced units from other manufacturers.

I have seen the discussion about the new firmware. After going to the sony site, I have noted that the latest available version there is 1.18C. What gives? Is the 2.01 only available as a paid upgrade. I am currently running 1.10A and don't have any complaints. Can anyone comment on the differences between 1.10A and 1.18C and 2.01 versions? I would appreciate it.

Also is anyone out there using this unit to drive a second amp for another room? If so, how are you set up?

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None

32bit x 3 24bit/96khz 232port

no hardware or software that support the upgrade to 6.1/7.1 multichannel surround no 5.1 input

there is a solution that you can upgrade to 6.1/7.1 multichannel surround systam.by using a sdp-ep9es processor.
the sdp-ep9es will act as a surround decorder for the surround back channel.and the tae9000es will still be the 5.1 channel av processor. just plug the rear out channel of the sdp-ep9es to the power-amplifier but you need to mono the rear cable by using a 2in1 cable only than you can get the dolby digital surround ex system.but you need to have 2 set of tan9000es power-amplifier to run the show .trust my
method it will work because this is what i use in my home theater system.

tae9000es
sdp-ep9es
tan9000es x 2
dvp-s7700
dvl-909
cdp-cx450
mds-jb930
dep3000k slv-777nc tx-492
mission 775
jamo centre 200 tannoy m-1 x 2 pair
klipsch ksw-300
monster cable
kp-48mn2 projection tv

Similar Products Used:

str-da50es tae2000esd

Nice home theater sound, feature-rich, lots of inputs, nice user interface.

Waaay to much digital noise for my taste.

Bought this with the power amp that is supposed to go with it, TA-N9000ES. I have to say that I like the pre-amp and power-amp OK, it beats the integrated Sony STR-DE935 or STR-DE635 that I used to use, in my opinion.

It mates well with the power amp brother TA-N9000ES. The power amp and pre amp will turn on queued by the remote or other equipment over A1 connection, nice feature. Operation is straight forward, and sound is very clean and crisp. I like the Sony sound, with maybe a bit heavy bass and a somewhat bright high-end, this amp combination has plenty of that. Obviously, it is also still very much burning in.

In my room, I typically have the volume between -55 and -30dB, and the amp plays nicely in that power range. There seems to be very little distortion, sound is fairly clean and open. DTS, AC-3 et all work fine, although the noise sometimes shows through. I am driving this amp with the Sony 200 disc DVD changer for home theater, so that may be adding to some of the very soft hiss I am hearing while playing program material. I do however suspect that the DA converter in the amp may be partially at fault.

The noise floor of this amp is pretty high; at -20dB I can clearly hear his and digital noises sitting in my seat. Anytime the thing is on I can hear that at the speakers. For an amp this price, I think it should be quiet, especially the digital noise should not be there. (I tried the software upgrades to 1.18C, that did not help). I hate noise, and this is the main gripe I have about this amp.

Whenever used in AFD, there seems to be no way to get the unit to not cross over the main speakers in to the sub woofer while playing a 2-channel source. My mains have built-in passive subs, and the other sub being driven is just too much. I wish there was a way to turn this off, but all Sony amps seem to suffer from that. Hope that this is a feature that could be fixed in a software upgrade?

The display dimmer has no off setting. Why not?? The STR-DE635 I used ot have had this, it is nicer that way for home theater use.

The EQ and Sound Processing settings cannot be linked to the input source. Again, the 935 and 635 can do this, it makes life easier. (Switch to DVD, go to AFD. Switch to D, go to 2 channel, switch to TV, go to Dolby Surround, etc). Again, a software upgrade should be able to fix that.

I do not like the remote; it is too picky in where it is pointed and the feedback and UI are just not that great. End up not using it except to setup the Amp. Display is hard to read as well.

For some reason this Amp has two line outputs for the center channel and Sub, but not for any of the other channels. It bugs me! WHY two center channel outs??

All in all, it is a nice setup, works well, and I am fairly happy with it. For the money, I would have expected less noise.

Other relevant parts of the system: AudioQuest interconnects, Monster speaker cable, NHT 2.9 in front and rear and AC2 in center, Velodyne FSR-12 sub. Sony 200 disc DVD chnager.

Niels.

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Various intergrated amps from Sony, Yamaha

everything

weird noise at -5.0 DB

Someone said that they improved 'noise floor' issues with a PS300. Some form of noise supression?

I just added a Monster Cable HTS3500 with only TA-E9000ES. I turned on preamp turned the volume dial up, nothing no noise pure silence.

Then I realized the Sony remains silent when you first put it on. Only when you send a signal like test tones do the DAC's waik up and the noise starts?

So in effect the Monster Cable power conditioner didn't improve noise floor. What can we do?

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Lexicon MC-1