I bought my 50ES back in April. I have had no problems with it and the sound is excellent. I have the 'old' remote, but amazingly, I have not had to replace the batteries, and the backlighting is just fine. Sounds hard to believe with all of the problems everyone else has been stating.

lots of power, lots of configurable DSP modes, straightforward surround setup

only 1 coax digital input, remote isn't a learning model

I got this receiver back in early January. It wasn't until September that I actually hooked it up for 5.1 surround. I've been pleased with the sound and power; I've never run out of power or gotten any distortion from my Polk RT800's, CS400, or Bose AM-5 speakers. I got this receiver for $650 from www.OadeBrothers.com. Great people, great deals.

The 29 DSP settings are overkill, in my opinion. Most of them are for movies and the choices are a bit overwhelming. My favorite musical DSP modes are Large and Small Hall. These are perfect for classical music like Titanic or Jurassic Park.

One feature I've come to appreciate lately is the preouts. I originally had my sub hooked up to the sub preout. After reading a tip on a web site, I hooked my sub up to the L/R preouts and the receiver I didn't have a subwoofer, thus sending all the LFE bass to the L/R channels. Now my main speakers are putting out the additional bass of the LFE channel and the subwoofer is putting out the additional bass from the L and R channels. This also lets me have full control over the crossover point instead of letting the receiver do the bass management.

About the remote. Most people hate the thing. I think it's a cool toy, but not as practical or user friendly as Yamaha's learning remotes. However, this remote does excel at configuring speaker settings and especially the DSP modes. This is very helpful when playing with the equalizer settings. The graphical representation of each DSP setting is very nice, too. I don't use my remote a ton, but I've never had to replace the batteries in the 11 months that I've had this product. Overall the remote isn't bad, but I'd prefer the Yamaha remote.

My other complaint is regarding the one coax digital input. There are tons of optical ones, though, but I'd prefer coax. I was amazed when I hooked my DVD player up. WOW! I only have Pro Logic to compare it to, but it's amazing. You'll never think about going back, visually or sonically.

Overall, this is a great receiver. You can't beat it for the money. With the exception of the remote and the one coax digital input, I'm very satisfied and would recommend this receiver to anyone.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V2092

Overall, the Sony 50ES is a good receiver, although the remote is not very good. I would highly recommend people try the reciever before buying any other receiver in the $500-$2500 price range!!
Here is my recent story with the 50ES:
I ordered a sony 50es receiver from Soundcity on January 26, 1998. At the time of my order, the receiver was not in stock and I was told it was on back order.

Over the next couple of months, I called every week or so to determine the status, each time I called I spoke with different people. Stories I received were that they had them in stock (not true) and they were expecting them in anytime. At one point, they did get some in, but I was not one of the customers to receive one because there were over 50 people on back order and they only received 40.

I was told by SoundCity that one of the reasons for the delay was that Sony had recalled the receivers to fix the remote and I was assured by my salesman (I am withholding his name until I can talk to him this morning) that my receiver would come with the new remote.

Finally, on April 1, (this is not an April fools joke, although it feels like it to me), I finally got my Sony 50ES receiver.

I open the box, and to my surprise, it does not appear that the receiver has been shipped with the new and "improved" remote. I immediately called Sony and was told that to determine if the remote is the improved remote, the model number on the front of the remote, white letters/numbers would read RM-TP501E, however, mine just had the RM-TP501 (no E). I was also told several weeks ago that the new receivers would have stickers on the outer box and the remote that would say "new and improved remote". Of course, my receiver/remote did not have the stickers.

I waited for more than 2 months for the receiver and then I receive the old remote.

According to Sony, I can mail the remote for a replacement.

I just do not understand what happened here.

I have had a 50ES for about a month and I am very pleased with it.Lots of inputs (incl s-video on all video inputs & 6 channel inputs, unlike some 50ES models)
A great sounding amp (for the price) with a true 5 x 100W and very little hiss - only hearable at extreame vol settings when nothing is playing.
An earlier post mentioned losing DTS sound when playing the Eagles Hell Freezes over - I have exactly the same problem when playing the DTS laser disc - 3 or 4 secs of silence at random points. Same with a Tina Turner DTS laserdisc.
But the DTS laserdisc of Con Air plays perfect ???
AND the DTS CD audio discs play without a problem.......
(no probs with DD sound.....)
Apart from the crummy remote that eats batteries and insists in turning on my Sony TV every time I change inputs (even audio only inputs like tape to CD)
I would say this reciever is great value for money.....
GB

is the sony e9000 better than the denon 5700?

Well it appears I am having the same problem with the 50es remote that I read all over the internet.
1) I have had my receiver 2 weeks. I have used it maybe 5 times and my batteries are alraedy dead.

2) In the direct light it is impossible to see the screen on the remote.

other then the remote the best receiver on the market by far for the money. why pay 2grand plus for a denon when you can get this for under 700.

To the poster recommending HIFIDIRECT.COM: All that site seems to sell is a catalog of a dealers contacts for $25.00. One does not buy anything else from these folks.. Sounds like a scam to me. The follolwing is a quote from a review of mail-order houses...
"I dont know how this person ordered from this company. Because they do not sell any product other than a catalogue for 24.95 with a bunch of discount people in the catalogue. They post prices which are good and next to it they put a sign how to order and you go put in your order and lo and behold you found out you ordered only a catalogue. Deceptive at best and they take no returns. So take it from a customer who got the business - buyer beware realize you are buying only a catalogue. I give this company a big zero. (0)"

4 stars on the 50ES. 0 on hifidirect

For all you 50ES owners with that remote that tends to annoy because of the lack of brightness and so forth it seems help may be here. i just got a call from sony telling me to bring the remote in to get it replaced. They took it in and now im waiting. Should be about a week. Ill post again when it gets in and review the fix. Hope they do fix the problems.. If they do fix it i give the whole system a 5 star review-Joe-

the best and most reliable mail order place i have found is Jand R music world. get your best price somewhere else and call them. Sony es is available mail order and is fully authorized by Sony. However only the knock-off yamahas are authorized to be mail ordered like the 905 and 1105. the 795, 995 , 2095 are not. Look in the back of stereo review and you will see all the mail order adds. i would avoid uncles stereo. they are not authorized. for service you have to send it away to them and who wants to have joe idot servicing your es receiver.

i own the 50es and it is by far the best value out there. considering it can be mail ordered for 650-700 why bother with anything else. i guess everyone else thinks so to cause it is hard to get. and sony service is second to none. they have service centers everywhere or can drop things off at any sony store for service. it blows away everything for double and triple the price. only the yamahas come close. so why waste your money on b and k or denon. if you read reviews on the b and k they will still tell you that hooking up an external 5 channel amp to its outputs makes it sound better so if your going to spend that much get seperates. so bottom line in my opinion is all higher end receivers are pretty good and if you want more get seperates.

I too received the 'old' remote with my 50ES. After a couple calls to Sony, they did tell me that they are accepting the old remotes for a fix at my nearest Sony Service Center.
I FedEx'ed mine last week to the center in Niles, IL --- I'll see what happens next. I was told the turn around time was about five days.

Also, I was told by Sony that the new remotes will be packaged with green stickers outside of the receiver's box with something like..."New, improved remote enclosed".

Other than the remote problems I've had the unit is great, esp. for the price. Can't give it 5 stars because of the remote.