[ken7258]

I've had this setup for 5-6 years. I'm buying my son and new Pan. XR55 for his birthday. He's going to use this with my old-old Bose 901's, some in wall surrounds and a Paradigm Servo 15 sub that I'm no longer using.


My question is, since I'm spending 240.00 on the XR55 which I've read many glowing reviews for this inexpensive receiver would the money be better spent upgrading my system and giving my son my 9000es and 1505. I haven't been in the receiver/separates loop lately. I have no idea if the new digital receivers have caught or surpassed my separates for a decent price. Would a 1,000.00 receiver be better then my current setup.


I'm still very happy with my current setup. 5.1 is fine, I could go 6.1. 7.1 would be a stretch with the layout and size of my 20x25 family room.


Thanks

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I had a TA-E9000ES for 4 years. I loved that friggin' thing. I say, that if you don't care about SACD, DVD-A, and DPL II(x), stick with the Sony. It has performance that's better than a lot of products costing 2x its original cost today.


One thing I did play around with before I let mine go. I used splitters on the surround channels to do a DIY version of 7.1. I was actually surprised by how well it worked.


That ATI amp is a fine amplifier. Personally, I am not a big fan of most new digital amplifiers. The old adage still applies: you get what you pay for. Analog *or* digital.

 

[lulimet]

keep your sony and ati amp. That shouldn't even be a question !

 

[AKA-Chuck G]

Ditto! Unless you are willing to spend 2k, you should keep your combo. I used the 9000es for close to 5 years. It took an Aragon Soundstage to get me to change preamps. Unless you are looking for a big 2 channel improvement, the 9000es will be hard to beat.

 

[ken7258]

Thanks for the replies. This is what I was hoping to hear.


Ken

 

[baller99]

I agree with everyone else. e9000es was and still is a great preamp.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

 I *still* wish they'd do a successor...

 

[F355]

what speakers do you have?

If they arent too difficult a load, this MIGHT be worth considering in the future.

http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CESpr...eceiverCES.php


just a suggestion


They're going for much less than MSRP at audio gon dot com

 

[kevinp8192]

I have a TA-E as well and was considering replacing it with a Pioneer 74txvi as a Pre-amp (I had already listed it for sale in some places). However, I've decided to stick it out until next year to see how the DD/DTS-HD thing looks to pan out, HDMI becomes a little more mainstream (to get all the switching problems smoothed out), automatic setup becomes a little more mature, and if i-link goes away.


My room is already wired for 7.1, and I've been using a Parasound CSE 6.1 Center Surround Expander (which is basically a DPL decoder pre-amp marketed for surrounds) with my TA-E. Still sounds very good and has a sub-out and separate crossover for a surround-dedicated sub (although admittedly I haven't used it), remote, and test tones for measuring/adjust output levels. Not a bad little unit as I picked it up a few years ago for less than $200.


Man what a great dad you are to even consider giving your son your TA-E and amp separates! My dad can hardly figure out how to turn the television on.

 

[Phil Rose]

I'm still using my TAE and 1505 for 5.1 but, have installed a separate 2-channel preamp with HT bypass and power amps. I haven't found anything that could come close to the performance of the TAE for what I paid for it. Also the 1505 is a very solid performer as well.


I don't believe that there's a receiver that can come close to this combo unless you're willing to drop well over $1500. The Sony has great processing modes in addition to the standard decoding and if you don't need 6.1 or 7.1 processing why change?

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Quote:

... and I've been using a Parasound CSE 6.1 Center Surround Expander ...

Bingo! For a while, I had a 6.1 setup with the Sony, and I used a Shure (believe ir or not) Dolby Pro Logic processor to extract the rear center channel out of the surrounds. That worked really well too.

 

[gbaby]

Hello everyone. This is my first post on this forum and it is a great relief after a disturbing experience at the Home Theater Spot. In any event, I own the TA-E9000ES and I just replaced it with an Arcam AVP 700. While the Arcam is probably better in 2 channel with music, the Sony is still great with 2 channel and may even have better dynamic range than the Arcam. I also have the TA-P9000 analoge pre-amp for SACD and it betters the Arcam significantly. Keep your Sony. Its still great as ES and EX is mostly hype. Now I understand why Sony did not make another pre/pro. Its that good.