"Official" Sony STR-DA3600, 4600, 5600ES Receiver thread

Just got my copy of Home Theater magazine over the weekend. It a special AV receiver issue that contains a AV receiver buyers guide. In that guide they show specs and prices for the three new Sony ES receivers plus a new model for their lower end models.

STR-DA5600ES - 130x7, HDMI - 2 Out and 6 In -1.4 spec, 5 optical inputs, HATS, RS232, Ethernet Switch, No USB, No S-Video, 17x7x17, 39 pounds (MSRP, $1999)

STR-DA4600ES - 120x7, HDMI - 2 Out and 4 In -1.4 spec, 3 optical inputs, RS232, Ethernet Switch, No USB, No S-Video, 17.7x6.25x15.38, 35 pounds (MSRP, $1499)

STR-DA3600ES - 105x7, HDMI - 1 Out and 4 In -1.4 spec, 3 optical inputs, RS232, Ethernet Switch, No USB, No S-Video, 17.7x6.25x15.38, 35 pounds (MSRP, $1099)

STR-DN2010 - 100x7, HDMI - 1 Out and 4 In -1.4 spec, 3 optical inputs, Ethernet Switch, No USB, No S-Video, 17.7x6.25x12.88, N/A pounds (MSRP, $799)

Though is nice to have a router built in the receiver as it makes it easy to connect your network gear, these receivers would not support 2K and 4K resolutions nor the HDMI network features of the new HDMI 1.4 standard. These features will be available on the 2011-2012 line up as the new blu ray players and TVs are introduced at CES featuring 2K and 4K 3D resoultions. I say hold off a year and wait for the full HDMI 1.4 package.

Sony will limit the distribution of its 2010 ES AVRs to custom installers and A/V specialty retailers (Magnolia stores within Best Buy's in the future???).

No telesales, sales over the Internet, or even through SonyStyle.com.

http://www.twice.com/article/454427-...n_Strategy.php

Most likely because they couldn't compete with the features/price ratio of Denon and Onkyo (this coming from a Sony fanboy). Anyone high-end shopping online without any "guidance" would go for something besides Sony.

So they probably aren't really losing out on many online sales, and look to be turning their ES line into a "niche" line.

I'm sure grey market products will still be available on ebay. You just won't get the warranty.

That's a bummer. One of the best things about Sony ES was buying online at substantial discounts and still getting the 5 year warranty.

I've just checked the manual and looks like you can't manually add internet radio urls, but only shoutcast and rhapsody

I got a 5600ES to review today... nothing too surprising so far - except the 4 Ethernet connections, no USB, and no S-Video (no loss as far as I'm concerned). I can easily live without USB if the server navigation function isn't bog slow like so many other AV products... especially for large libraries. I've got almost 1TB of music in FLAC format and every product that can access the library directly navigates so slowly it would take all day to get to an album in the middle of the library file structure.

There's an HDMI Direct option that bypasses video processing - which is a good thing if you don't need it. BUT, the manual doesn't mention that you lose the on-screen displays (volume, mute, etc.) when you select Direct mode.

There are 2 data discs in the box with the AVR... haven't looked into what they are for yet.

The Audio measurement microphone appears to have 2 microphones spaced 6" apart or so - they are mounted on a "bar" and a central base has a tripod mounting screw.

I was able to set different crossover frequencies for each pair of speakers plus the center channel - this ought to be MANDATORY in AVRs. Having 1 global crossover setting is a bad solution.

Construction seems to be pretty normal/average for AVRs. The heat sinks are thin serpentine metal as in many AVRs, rather than heavier aluminum finned extrusions in some higher-end AVRs.

any more info on the 5600es?

Like what?

There are some quirks, but mostly it's OK. Not much going on re. video processing as far as I can tell. If you send it 480i, you get 480i out, if you send 720p, you get 720p out. Haven't listened to the internal amps yet, but the front end sounds pretty good.

Hmm, like how does the zone 2 video ethernet out port work ?
How does that picture in picture function works, only on analog sources i guess ?
Is the receiver wireless ? And if so can that hub be used when the receiver is connected true wifi ?

Thanks for the feedback Doug.

I am mostly interested in the SIMULTANEOUS HDMI output (same input is duplicated on both HDMI outputs at the same time), as well as the IP remote control feature. Ideally I'd like to control the receiver with my iPhone... Do you have any feedback or have you tested those features?

Thanks!

Stefan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

Do the guts seem to differ significantly from the 5500ES? Is it worth my while to "trade up?"

Is this thing ever coming out!?

Not sure what the ship date is, but you can't buy ES at "regular" dealers any more. You have to find specialty A/V dealers or custom installers who are carrying the ES series. To do that, you can go to www.sonybuilt-in.com For the ES series, Sony is also prohibiting online and telephone sales to distant customers.

The "regular" Sony AVR line appears to stop at about $800. The MAP for the STR-DA5600ES is $2000.

I ordered a STR-DA5600ES receiver a couple of weeks ago and should receive it the last week of October (along with a SCD-XA5400ES SA-CD player and a BDP-S1700ES Blu-Ray player). I will write up some first impressions when I get it all set up.

Tried to look up a Sony ES Dealer on the their "New" website. I got two burglar alarm dealers. Sure they know a ton about AV. What a joke. Sony has made a huge mistake with their new policy.

My dealer ordered a 5600ES the day the Sony order system started taking orders, and it came in Friday.

Setup was easy as I was upgrading from a 5400ES (although the cabling still took a while). The auto-calibration mic made speaker setup simple. DTS-Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD both sound great in 7.1 (via Samsung BD6900), although I learned that if HDMI Audio Out is set to Amp + TV, it converts it to Linear PCM 2.0 for both (big drawback if you want TV sound only sometimes, but I never do).

3D passthrough looks great from both BD6900 and PS3. The GUI (vertical XMB) overlays fine over HDMI (the 5400ES had issues), although it does blank the input when viewing a 3D source.

The Ethernet switch works fine, although if you select Connect Automatically(DHCP) it gets a random IP address. I manually configured it with a static IP on my network so I can control the receiver from the iPhone app, which works great.

I've got 5 HDMI devices connected (HDMI4 and HDMI5 are "optimized for audio" and all can be relabeled), two component, one composite (no s-video inputs), one analog multi-in (SACD), one coax audio, one optical, analog tape, and phono, and still have room for more components.

One other issue was problems with the BD6900's AnyNet and Sony's external control function making switching inputs erratic. I turned off AnyNet, but without it every time I insert a 3D Blu-Ray I get a 3D confirmation dialog from the BD6900.

All in all, nice upgrade from the 5400ES. And my dealer gave me 10% off, so I was under MSRP with tax.

Sony 5600 ES is intriguing me.

For me, Sony 5600 ES looks like a real 3D SOUND receiver:

1) You can see at page 117 of the manual that DCAC EX relocates speakers according to the recommendation ITU-R for 5.1 and 7.1 channel speaker placement.
2) What is HD-DCS ? HD Digital Cinema Sound is Sony's new INNOVATIVE home theater technology using the latest acoustic and digital signal processing technologies. It is based on precise response measurement data of a mastering studio. With HD-DCS, you are able to enjoy blu-ray and dvd movies at home with not only the high quality of sound, but also the best sound ambience, just as the movie's sound engineer intended in the mastering process.
3) Sony HD-DCS was developed with SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT to recreate in your home the Cary Grant Theater used by Sony Picture for their productions and this is a link to the COMING SOON http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/
4) I like the USER REFERENCE option during auto calibration. In summary with set up application manager software you could adjust the frequency of the speaker calibration matching a curve of your choice.

More on Sony ES line here http://www.cinenow.co.uk/videos/2570...sound-ifa-2010

So all things considered this is a great receiver.

BUYSED55

I was hoping that the 4600ES/5600ES units would have switch HDMI outputs to enable Zone2 HDMI out as the press releases noted this past summer but on reading through the manual today it looks to have been left out with only component and cat5 for Zone2 video.

My 3600ES will be here Tuesday. I've always had Onkyo receivers (using a 706 now) so I hope I made the right decision. I was going to go with a refurbished Onkyo 808 for $650 but my Paradigm dealer said he could get me a new 3600 for the same price and spec wise they look very similar.

What do you guys think?

After you've got it set up, please post your impressions.

I'm debating to buy my first receiver as the sony 5600es or the Onkyo NR5008. I have read there are issues with the onkyo as of right now so leaning more towards the sony. I went to my local Best Buy but they only have the 4600es. Any ideas where you can buy this darn thing ? I guess Best Buy only carries certain models. All the places listed on Sony site are locate in ghetto like areas in bay area. I would wanna buy a receiver from there.

There are plenty of problems with the 5600es. I've never found an AVR that doesn't have problems. They ALL have issues and/or limitations.

Best Buy isn't supposed to have ANY ES models. ES products are now supposed to be sold only by system integrators. Last time I looked, Santa Clara, Dublin, most of Haywood, and Fremont weren't exactly ghettos (where the Bay Area ES dealers are located). Perhaps you are confusing businesses located in industrial parks with being in a bad neighborhood... which is not necessarily true. You won't find Sony ES products in retail stores or online any more. You will HAVE to purchase a unit through a system integrator. The list is here

www/sony.com/es

Find the Locate an Integrator link, then enter your zip code. The oddest thing I noticed was that there were NO dealers listed who were located between Santa Clara and Petaluma. It's like they blacked-out San Francisco and the entire peninsula. System integrators may or may not have a showroom - and if they do have a showroom, it will be nothing like Best Buy... at all.

Netjumper, I can probably help you out. We're in San Ramon and our number is (888) 360-AVID (2843).

-Micah
Avid Home Theater

Well after 3 months of fighting with Sony I finally got my 4300es exchanged for the 5600es!! So for initial impressions are good! The iPhone app is pretty sweet, sound quality is better and tonight I will try out the video quality! Hopefully I will not have the same HDMI handshake issues with this one!

I got a 5600 through the Sony Store in Heathrow T5 in the UK.
Ive had it a couple of weeks, but had to travel so I've not had too much time to set it up and test.
I have not been able to find the Apple control App on the UK Apple Store, and would like to know if anyone in the UK has been able to get this app yet.
I understand its readily available on the US store and is called AV Receiver Remote. There are is a BD Remote and just last week, an app called Network Audio Remote appeared - but neither of these are able to control the 5600.

Just for information - the firmware installed on my unit is 1.021 which it reports is the latest available via the internet.

My initial impressions of its DNLA support is disappointing.
I am able to access JPG's from a server, however MP3 playback from Twonkey fails, although works in TVirsity, but I have yet to find any video which plays back from either Twonkey or TVirsity. The spec's of playback in the manual specify an MPEG-2 container with 720 max resolution & ~10Mbps (or WMV with max bitrate of 2Mbps).
Things are a little different however if you use Window Media player for your DNLA library - 'Play To' works for avi/mp3/jpg files as well as browsing the library from the DNLA client on the receiver. Although the receiver does play what is sent to it via Play To - the resolution appears to be partially downconverted to 320 - its certainly very blocky.
The problems with Twonky/Tversity could be down to the profiles which they use when they recognise the device.
I am surprised Sony didnt include a renderer capable of full 1080 MPEG-2 decoding though for the price.
If Boxee Box can put a full 1080p capable renderer togeather for £200, then why can't Sony include this capability.

most reviews show the 5600ES less problematic than the SC-37 pioneer so I am looking for one. IThe unit shows on sonystyle.ca but on sonystyle.com it shows no longer available. Is this unit really out and available? Pretty tough when you want a company's product and they make it very hard to get. Should I go back to the Pioneer SC-37 choice? I called the sony store and the nice fellow there has promised to see if they can be had. Also $200 cheaper in list price in the U.S. That is a 10% price jump which is not nice.
One other minor thing- will I have any problems with my Samsung 7000 3D connected to the 5600ES?
My first post so appreciate your patience and answers.