STRDA 5200ES Initial Impressions - Xmas Come Early!!

dansteeles

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STRDA 5200ES Xmas come early ..... well at least the turkey has!!!!! can confirm that it is as reported on AV Science. Sounds great but at a huge cost to the picture quality ... with a pearl at any rate.
I dont know where to start other than saying that mine will be going back asap. I am so utterly disapointed i wont go into the finer points of how retchidly bad the scaler is till ive had a few beers & gone for a nice long walk to calm me down
 
well, it would certainly be useful if you could post objective criticisim at some point, we all have moments when something purchased winds us up, but the way this site works is without some kind of back up to the words, the post gets deleted to save us getting legal hassle..lol

anyhow, get back sometime in the next day and i can leave this going so other folks can form or add opinions :)

(and i feel for ya if you have bought something that didnt work out.....altho i have to ask, did you demo before you bought? if not then tbh it isnt just the companies fault....especially considering an amp is bought to power speakers, the video abilities should always be considered a secondary ability in an amp)
 
STRDA 5200ES Xmas come early ..... well at least the turkey has!!!!!:mad: :censored: . I can confirm that it is as reported on AV Science. Sounds great but at a huge cost to the picture quality ... with a pearl at any rate.
I dont know where to start other than saying that mine will be going back asap. I am so utterly disapointed i wont go into the finer points of how retchidly bad the scaler is till ive had a few beers & gone for a nice long walk to calm me down.:censored: :censored:

That is a real shame. I was convinced that i would be buying this after seeing it at the show last week. I was hoping that the scaling / conversion would be ok but it looks like i will be looking elsewhere....maybe the Pioneer VSX-AX4ASi-S Receiver
:thumbsup:
 
The only really good scaler I have seen is a big expensive seperate scaler box at 1k (and that was on sale at that price!). The very very expensive amps can do a similar job, but at £800, its just not possible to get the same results (check out the upscaling of SD material onn the SKY HD boxes for an example). If we wanted to, we could incorporate HDMI upscaling into anything we made, but unless it did a great job, what would be the point?
Its a fair point that the amp is purchased first and foremost to drive speakers, and that the video capabilities should be a secondary concern, but these things are starting to become more important to us. Its important to remember, that if you feed in a poor quality signal, there will be a limit to what the amp can do with it.
Sorry you didnt get on with the amp, but how did you find the sound quality/other features, as I am sure there will be a lot of people on these forums wanting to know that?
 
I have now spent a few days with the amp I have calmed down somewhat from the initial dissapointment, but not enough for me to want to keep it.
I have been able to sort out a number of initial problems but some irritating issues still remain, however I dont have to much time to post all my findings this morning - as her indoors is about to get up.

List of problems :

Cannot get DTS to work over HDMI

The entire lower end seems to be missing. Ive tried numerous ways to crank it up but cannot as yet even shake the walls and annoy the neighbours & I have to say that my Jamo DVR50 gave a better overall performance.

With sky fed into the box it produces some banding in the top left of the screen that flicks on an off (see attachment... its not the best photo but you can see 5 of these lines if you look carefully). I would have to say that I & the missus prefer the picture produced by a direct feed from sky in to the pearl. The colours seems to be somewhat saturated with the feed through the amp.

I will endervour to feed more back this evening or tomorrow, when ive torn some more hair out ... but hopefully got the lower end booming.
 

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What is DTS and is this problem with the banding with the scaler switched on or off? The problem with all amps in this price range is that the scaling is disappointing.

This amp is on my shortlist but so is the Pioneer VSX-AX4ASi-S. In the States this amp is called the VSX-84TXSi .There is a major thread running here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=696586 about this amp.
 
This is another example of the manufacturers these days screwing the customers on money by promising certain features that doesn't even work.

Same goes with the scalers/processors that is selling for $3000 on the market, there is no way and i have been in this biz to long to justify the costs for that product.

It's just a way to milk the customers on money as fast as you can and certain dealers hang on while they can.

By the way, thank you for warning other buying this product, i was very near to buy it as i wanted a good integrated video processor and a new receiver replacing my 10 year old yamaha.

It's like saying to the car buyer when you pick up your car, it comes with tyres, but you can't have any air in them, sorry, but the feature is there.
 
Only good receiver with good video processing today is the Anthem D2 which got VXP chipset inside and is a dream but very pricey as always, $7,500
 
List of problems :

Cannot get DTS to work over HDMI

The entire lower end seems to be missing. Ive tried numerous ways to crank it up but cannot as yet even shake the walls and annoy the neighbours & I have to say that my Jamo DVR50 gave a better overall performance.

I have the strda3200es. I have the Denon 1930 connected to it by hdmi lead.
I have had no problems with the sound. Quite the opposite.....it is fantastic!
When the lightning comes down in War of the Worlds it sounded and felt like it was hitting my house.....even my wife was impressed!
 
This is another example of the manufacturers these days screwing the customers on money by promising certain features that doesn't even work.

Same goes with the scalers/processors that is selling for $3000 on the market, there is no way and i have been in this biz to long to justify the costs for that product.

It's just a way to milk the customers on money as fast as you can and certain dealers hang on while they can.

By the way, thank you for warning other buying this product, i was very near to buy it as i wanted a good integrated video processor and a new receiver replacing my 10 year old yamaha.

It's like saying to the car buyer when you pick up your car, it comes with tyres, but you can't have any air in them, sorry, but the feature is there.


so far only one person has listed on here about the product mentioned in the title and there is potential it is not working correctly......to say the manufacturer is 'screwing people over' is not correct. unless multiple people report the same exact problem then it could just one unit thats faulty! please dont make supposition based on no facts.

as for price/justification ratio, that is relative to the person buying...some people understand the principle of diminishing gain, which means that whilst a product of £600 might be twice as good as a product of £300, the product at £1,200 will probably only be 1.5 times as good as the £600 product.....then £2,000 product might be only twice as good as the £600 product.....its a simpl rule of business tho, recoup R&D by making a bigger profit on the higher end item which allows the lower end item to be sold cheaper or even possibly as a loss leader.

I would suggest first of all the OP makes sure he cannot get his unit to perform adequetly, then if not contact the dealer and ask them to check the unit out in their own setup, if still not working then get a replacement...if that suffers problems too then fair enough, its likely a recall or firmware upgrade might be instigated if enough units develop the problem....

as for the DTS side of things, if you are receiving a Dolby Digital bitstream then DTS shouldnt be a problem, make sure tho you've chosen the DTS track on the disc etc (i know it sounds a silly thing to comment on but its worth being double sure......done it myself..lol)

anyhow, it would be nice if we can receive comments from other people who have demoed or bought this product so we can find out if this is a generic problem or a one off, if only for the poor OP's sake...lol
 
I have the strda3200es. I have the Denon 1930 connected to it by hdmi lead.
I have had no problems with the sound. Quite the opposite.....it is fantastic!
When the lightning comes down in War of the Worlds it sounded and felt like it was hitting my house.....even my wife was impressed!

What speakers are you using with this set up?
 
so far only one person has listed on here about the product mentioned in the title and there is potential it is not working correctly......to say the manufacturer is 'screwing people over' is not correct. unless multiple people report the same exact problem then it could just one unit thats faulty! please dont make supposition based on no facts.

This amp was on my short list but I am having second thoughts after reading about this amp on the American forum http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=740306 as there seems to be issues with picture quality from several people on that thread.

This from post 126. After some more tweaking/set up,I have noticed that my cable PQ(component in/HDMI out) does not look as good as when it is hooked up straight to my tv's component input.The receiver is introducing some artifacts,and overall the picture just looks off.There is also a strange shimmering effect going on.HDMI in/out(hd dvd/hd tivo) looks perfect.My cable box is outputting 1080i as is the receiver.I'll have to mess around with the settings some more,but for now it looks like I will just have to connect my cable straight to my tv for the best PQ....too bad.I do love this receiver overall though
 
Okay - after spending some quality time with the amp, I am now more than satisfied with the sound that it produces. In fact I am very happy, however my feelings towards the scaler have not changed. As the amp specs are the same as the 3200 & of course of all other component parts are the same then I would say go for this and you wont go wrong. While I am still unable to get a Dolby Digital DTS feed direct through the HDMI cable you are able to programme re-assign the connections through the on screen control panel - so I now have it running through an optical cable.
A problem with using the on screen interface and HDMI means that when you leave the menu's the screen goes green & sometimes means you have to reset the component part ie. dvd player to rectify the situation.

In short great amp - very poor scaler (I feel) Dont bother with the 5200 .... but try the 3200!!
 
Okay - after spending some quality time with the amp, I am now more than satisfied with the sound that it produces. In fact I am very happy, however my feelings towards the scaler have not changed. As the amp specs are the same as the 3200 & of course of all other component parts are the same then I would say go for this and you wont go wrong. While I am still unable to get a Dolby Digital DTS feed direct through the HDMI cable you are able to programme re-assign the connections through the on screen control panel - so I now have it running through an optical cable.
A problem with using the on screen interface and HDMI means that when you leave the menu's the screen goes green & sometimes means you have to reset the component part ie. dvd player to rectify the situation.

In short great amp - very poor scaler (I feel) Dont bother with the 5200 .... but try the 3200!!

I have just purchased the 3200 over the 5200 mainly due to the avsforums thread putting me off, and it sounds like its not just an isolated problem with the scaler. Early days yet with the 3200 but so far I have to say I am damn happy. From what I have read so far I havent yet found a bad comment about it, so its seeming like the pick of the bunch. Sorry you are not getting the extra bang for the bucks with it as I really wanted to be proved wrong because it seems like a lot of amp for the money.
 
so it seems there could be a more generic problem with the video scaler, thats a shame, wonder if sony have any way of sorting this, perhaps they can issue a dealer firmware upgrade for owners....be interesting to see how they handle it......
 
What speakers are you using with this set up?

Got it hooked up to Monitor Audio R90's (F L/R & R L/R), MA R225 centre and the MA RSW-12 Sub.

Like Redbond says above after a lot of research and reading various threads I decided the 3200es was the one to go for. Very pleased with my choice.

Any questions PM me...
 
After hours of reading countless threads in the hope of finally getting the (future proof) home cinema components I'm looking for - Looks like the 3200ES is it????:rolleyes:

I was originally going to go for the Pioneer 1016 with 'Mordaunt-Short Avant Premiere Plus' speakers, but then I saw the Sony 1200ES, and now the 3200ES from Sony which seems to tick a lot of boxes for me as opposed to the Pioneer or 1200ES.

I understand that the 3200ES passes sound through the HDMI inputs (unlike the 1200ES), but is it possible to turn off any video scalling through the HDMI in/out and just use it for switching?

The reason I ask is that at a later date I will be going to Sky HD & the Sony DVP-NS76 DVD player which all have HDMI outputs, and both outputting 1080i (correct me if I'm wrong).:confused:

I've read that Pioneer & MS don't go well together as a setup, but how do Sony & MS pair up. I have a budget of around £1,000 which should be enough for the 3200ES & MS Avant's.

Any comments please...?:D
 
After hours of reading countless threads in the hope of finally getting the (future proof) home cinema components I'm looking for - Looks like the 3200ES is it????:rolleyes:

I was originally going to go for the Pioneer 1016 with 'Mordaunt-Short Avant Premiere Plus' speakers, but then I saw the Sony 1200ES, and now the 3200ES from Sony which seems to tick a lot of boxes for me as opposed to the Pioneer or 1200ES.

I understand that the 3200ES passes sound through the HDMI inputs (unlike the 1200ES), but is it possible to turn off any video scalling through the HDMI in/out and just use it for switching?

The reason I ask is that at a later date I will be going to Sky HD & the Sony DVP-NS76 DVD player which all have HDMI outputs, and both outputting 1080i (correct me if I'm wrong).:confused:

I've read that Pioneer & MS don't go well together as a setup, but how do Sony & MS pair up. I have a budget of around £1,000 which should be enough for the 3200ES & MS Avant's.

Any comments please...?:D

Hi

The 3200 does not do any scaling. That feature is only included on the 5200 (although from this thread it seems it doesnt do a very good job!). The 3200 will only upconvert to HDMI - ie if you pass an analogue signal in you can upconvert everything to HDMI, which allows you to just have a single cable to the TV. I believe this can be switched off if you wanted to, but it doesnt add or take anything away from the input so I dont think you would need to.
So, to cut a long story short as this amp can pass up to 1080p thru HDMI, whatever signal you put in via HDMI will be what comes out HDMI.
Jobs a good'un :clap:
 
Thanks redbondc !!! Seems the 3200ES is the one for me afterall :thumbsup:

Still not sure about the 'MS Avant Premiere Plus' speakers, but for what I've read their excellent for the money - Think I'll just go for it....

Not too many suppliers offering the 3200ES at present, cheapest I've found is www.stoneaudio.co.uk @ £499.95 - Anybody found it any cheaper

Hopefully www.richersounds.com will stock it soon:D
 
Thanks redbondc !!! Seems the 3200ES is the one for me afterall :thumbsup:

Still not sure about the 'MS Avant Premiere Plus' speakers, but for what I've read their excellent for the money - Think I'll just go for it....

Not too many suppliers offering the 3200ES at present, cheapest I've found is www.stoneaudio.co.uk @ £499.95 - Anybody found it any cheaper

Hopefully www.richersounds.com will stock it soon:D

That is the cheapest at the mo. I ended up paying more from Krish because I wanted the silver and they did me a good deal on the TV. Their service is excellent as well.
Have you thought about the Monitor Audio Radius? They turn up on ebay quite a lot and are fantastic speakers. I managed to get 2 R90s, 2 R225s and an R250 for 550 all in by getting some of ebay and some off Peter tyson. Tysons have a voucher deal on them which makes them cheaper than anywhere else.
All I need now is a decent sub :thumbsup:
 
Thanks redbondc !!! Seems the 3200ES is the one for me afterall :thumbsup:

Still not sure about the 'MS Avant Premiere Plus' speakers, but for what I've read their excellent for the money - Think I'll just go for it....

Not too many suppliers offering the 3200ES at present, cheapest I've found is www.stoneaudio.co.uk @ £499.95 - Anybody found it any cheaper

Hopefully www.richersounds.com will stock it soon:D

I had the 5200ES on order with Stone Audio have now changed it to the 3200ES earliest delivery is 18th Dec :eek:
 
That is the cheapest at the mo. I ended up paying more from Krish because I wanted the silver and they did me a good deal on the TV. Their service is excellent as well.
Have you thought about the Monitor Audio Radius? They turn up on ebay quite a lot and are fantastic speakers. I managed to get 2 R90s, 2 R225s and an R250 for 550 all in by getting some of ebay and some off Peter tyson. Tysons have a voucher deal on them which makes them cheaper than anywhere else.
All I need now is a decent sub :thumbsup:

Yes, I've seen the deals with www.petertyson.co.uk as you get a £100 off voucher if you buy the 'Mordaunt-Short Avant Remiere Plus' AV package and you also get 40 meters of QED Micro speaker wire and an IXOS sub interconnect.

Looked also @ the MA Radius, and these look pretty neat, but I think the total cost of all MA kit could be a too much to own up to the missus about :mad: - especially the sub...

It's a pity petertyson don't sell Sony products, as I could use the £100 voucher against a 3200ES. Instead, might have to buy somthing for around £100 and sell it on eBay - Probably the Monitor Audio i-Dect, anyone want one :hiya:
 

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