Im sory to hear about all kinds of problems that some individuals have with there Sony. I myself checked out all these issues on my unit and I couldnt find these flaws on my system. I would just return the darn unit and take a different one. Most stores out there have a 30 day money back garantee. I have the new remote and I cant find any problems with the unit. maybe the UPS guy droped the unit several times or maybe Sony released a couple of bad units. All I can say is that once the Unit is in proper working condition nothing else will stand in its path.
Aragon 8008BB
Acurus A250
Sony TAE-9000ES
Tannoy speakers
Sony XA7ES

I just got the 9000 about a month ago, I have listen , tested and tweaked the 9000 in every way. I have been a one of the lucky people that has got one of the better units ( no hiss, no bad delay ) The unit is great for the money ( 1139.00 ) at uncle stereo. When I say no hiss what I am trying to say is no out of control hiss that would bother someone when seeing a movie or music, but it does have a little hiss when you turn on the equalizer. I dont like the DSP modes that much but for DSS or Games like playstation it's ok. I love stereo equalizer but the 9000 does not have a tape monitor so you are stuck with its internal equalizer or do like me - from my DVD analog left & right output to the equalizer then to the 9000 for 2 channel music. It's dolby digital and it's dts is outstanding! On the remote it's not that bad as they say on the forum , there 3 things that are true , 1- eats batteries super fast! what you can do , buy rechargeable batteries 2- it is not a learning remote 3- it's LCD is not bright but you can live with it happy. My System Sony 9000 pre-amp Adcom 7500 THX amp 150x5 Sony DVD 7000 Pionner 605 laserdisk Paradigm LCR 350 speakers Bose 301 (rear) Velodyne FSR-12 subwoofer Sony 14 band stereo equalizer Tosiba M782 VCR Sony 32 KV15 TV Cables (XLO- Vampire - MIT - Straight Wire

Hello everyone.
Great news about the delay problem. I have the latest software update from Sony to fix the problem. And it works great!! No more delay!! Now when the remote upgrade is out in April everything will be complete. Email me if you want the upgrade files. MAKE SURE to read instuctions in the .doc file. It is quite easy I thought. This unit is truely 5 stars now!!!!!!!!!

I bought this unit about a month ago and I must say it really sounds incredible. The remote, terrible, but will call Sony for the free fix soon. I have noticed something with the digital inputs. When watching a DVD movie (Sony 500d), the voice seems to be lagging behind the video. Has anyone seem this before? LD RF AC3 doesn't do it. I compare the analog to the digital and it is a noticable difference. Thinking it might be the DVD, I plugged in my computer with Creative Labs 5X DVD drive, same thing, lags. I called Sony and they said I need to get it in for service. I am wondering if this might be a design overlook. Anyone seen the same thing? Otherwise the unit is excellent.

I just purchased this unit and my initial impression of it was not good particularly with the remote. I found all the negative comments about this unit was true (except the voice sync problem)until I made myself read the manual and properly configured this unit. It was then that I realized this is a stellar piece of equipment. It is imperative that one read the manual and properly set up this unit. When you have done so, you will experience an extremely clean and musical sound from music sources with movie sonics being second to none. This unit produces clean and detailed sound at all volume levels. I too experienced hissing sound when I turned the volume up without any input and I also heard that pumping sound. However, after reading the manual, I switched the output level of the unit to low and these problems evaporated. My other equipment include:
Krell KAV-500 5 channel amp
Sony DVP-S7000 DVD Player
Infinity Composition Preludes both fronts, centers and rears
Sony 80ES CD Player; Sony 60ES Dat
Sony 32XBR100 Trinitron

I own other gear, but mentioned the above to give you an idea on the associated equipment my evaluation of the 9000 was based upon. Again, I am impressed with this unit, and consider it a bargain even at $1,700.00 retail. I paid $1,320.00 shipped. You may have to pay in excess of $5,000.00 to get a clearly superior unit. Finally, I am not biased to Sony products because I have had their receivers and regular CD players and they stink. The 9000, however, is great and may be in a class by itself for the money.

I purchased the 9000ES about 2 weeks after it came out and had the lip-synchproblem in spades! In particular, when the DVD audio output was routed both to
the TV and the surround system you could clearly hear the delay in the
surround processor because the TV always was always early relative to the
9000ES. I applied the software upgrade successfully (with the correct cable etc.) but am finding that V1.04A has created a new problem : when I play back DVDs with AC3 3/1 encoding (that is 3 front and a single rear) the 9000 no longer will decode the rear properly and the rear speakers do not work!!! This occurs even though the processor correctly recognizes the bitstream as a 3/1 AC3 signal -- it just does not generate the rear signal. Interestingly, this problem did NOT occur with the old firmware. I am sure of this because I have been trying this exercise with a music DVD that I listen to a lot and after this upgrade the surround information just disappeared!

I can get rid of ths problem by setting the DVD to emit PCM output with a surround downmix and then just decoding this bitstream. However, whatever I do I cannot get the processor to the 3/1 AC3 output's rear! Interestingly, the problem does NOT occur with 3/2 AC3 bitstreams and everything works just fine.
Has anyone here who has installed the upgrade had any problems with 3/1 AC3 discs after the upgrade has been installed? If so, I'd love any feedback.

While on the subject of decoding, I must also add that I am a little disappointed with the 9000's music processing modes. I find it particularly annoying that there is no music mode that uses the center channel speaker and virtual processing of the surrounds i.e. a virtual theater equivalent for music. Music in the virtual theater modes as provided sounds weird because the sound collapses entirely into the center speaker : a "leaky" algorithm that focusses the soundstage while using the entire L/C/R array in front, AND adds the full virtual multi-rear processing could be terrific for some recordings.

All this being said, I still must confess that the 9000ES is one high-tech wonder. Any product this complex is going to have some problems, and responding quickly to these is where Sony could stumble. Were the company's customer service on par with its manufacturing prowess, I feel they have a real winner here -- a true 5 star product. But until I have a perfectly working unit, I'll stick to a 3 star rating which is my way of saying that I reserve judgement.

I think that I must be the first person to get a defective TA-E9000ES. I placed the unit as the center controller of my home-theater/audio system consisting of Infinity Kappa 9 Fronts and Infinity Kappa 8.1 rears with the fronts driven by 2 Adcom GFA-555's in bridge mode and the rear driven by a single Adcom GFA-555. First, I did notice a annoying hiss when not playing any selections even at low-volume levels.
Second, when playing from my Pioneer Elite PD-65 CD Player through the optical inputs the unit sounds okay, but when playing from an analog input such as from the VCR's or DBS the voices become distorted(not due to delay but actual distortion) in Normal Surround and 2-ch mode. At first, I thought maybe I was imagining it so I hooked up my old straight throu preamp and everything cleared up fine.
Third, I have noticed that the bass effects from my laserdisc's on my Pioneer DVL-919 have become less pronounced; in fact, pretty poor.
After waiting a week with no email response, I called Sony to complain and got very poor customer service. Response was to send unit to repair facility and wait several weeks for repair maybe.
Overall, I'll have to say that after placing this unit in my prized system that I was highly disappointed and from the customer service I don't think that I will ever by another Sony product as long as I live. Currently, I am going to replace the unit with a Denon AVR-5700 until I decide whether to fix the TA-E9000ES or use it as a bookstop.

Sony got cocky and fell asleep and rested on it past laurels only to wake up and find that everyone blew past them. They pulled out all the stops and produced this magnificent preamp. High tech is in evidence all over including critical areas copper shielded, copper screws,no metal to metal contacts w/o isolation strips, audiophile grade power cord complete with RF chokes, backbone chassis, heavy front panels to absorb vibration, audiophile feet, new tech volume control, 3-32 bit processor, 8meg flash memory, 24 bit 96khz DAC at all inputs (downconverted to 48khz except for the CD loop which remains at 96khz), every conceivable in-outs except component video, upgradable software pc port, video processor loop, mic in, a huge power supply-capacitor-transistors that put many power amps to shame...a 30 lb preamp. It has DD,DTS,MPEG2, and Prologic. It also has digital special effects that comes to a very close second place to Yamaha's top rated DSP A1. I echo March 99 Audio conclusion that this pre/processor is in a class by itself because of its flexibility, adjustability, and outstanding surround performance...ranking it above all other processors, regardless of costs. Stereo Review also seconds this notion.
I also wanted a dual role preamp. Can this Sony double as a stereo standalone preamp. Most processors I have listened to changes the sonic quality in critical 2 channel mode; usually degrading the details, dynamics, transparency of the sound (I feel that if the pre/processor can pass through a neutral sound, then in digital mode the sound would also be clearer and more detailed, other pre/processor make my system sound like mid-fi which is fine for most home theatre installation where your area is under 2500 cubic feet and you listen primarily to video). This preamp is completely neutral. I did an extensive A/B with my reference Classe preamp, Adcoms top rated GFP 750 (Stereophile 3/99), and a Mark Levinson 38. I and my associates (to whom I borrowed the other preamps from) detected no perceptable change in sound...the McIntosh MC300 driven Martin Logan ReQuest exhibited the same transparency,detail,dynamics with the Sony as with the other high-end preamp. Forget about the $1300 street price, the software upgradable port, the high tech touch screen remote or the 5 year warranty...5 stars do not even begin to do justice. Anyone that gives it lower than 5 stars has problems with their components down stream(speakers, amps, cabling) not with the Sony TAE9000ES. In all of my reviews (www.geocities.com/Eureka/Park/3419), this product is the electronic bargain of the century. Just by word of mouth, while worthy competitor's inventory collect dust, Sony is hopelessly backordered. When word gets out, say bye to Acurus,Meridian,ADA,Chiro,Lexicon,Sunfire,Golden Theatre...the Sony provides more features with equivalent sound attributes for far less money...Sony woke up.

I just wonder what Sony is really up to. They already have influenced the recording, movie, cinema industry...now the home theatre. One can only imagine what they have in store for us when the second generation TAE9000ES is released.
Just one word of caution; when their SACD and DVD Audio comes out that requires DAC 24 bit 192khz coupled to HD DVD video, is their DAC hardware upgradable? Their less than knowlegable Customer Service people say Yes???

rossross makes a good deal of sense. The question remains for us...is how DVD-Audio hardware/software will be implemented. As MLP will become the compression format for Warner Bros. software, what tracks will it contain?? example:- 2 channel 24/192 LPCM [MLP? or uncompressed?]
- 5 channel 24/96 LPCM [encoded in MLP]
- 5 channel 5.1 Dolby Digital

Hardware; Perhaps, then the DVD transport system will have a MLP stream decompressor connected to 6 96/192 DACS.
The DSP will negotiate DD 5.1, unzipped MLP 6 channel LPCM, and straight LPCM.
The question is will they highjack the digital stream, once un-MLP'd staright to gold analog outputs, or will they remain commited to S/PDIF outputs that TA-E9000ES requires, in some fashion.
The Pioneer DV-414 remains among the oddest but best transport, due to the fact it can pass 96/24 LPCM direct to the Sony.
I am willing to go on record that until FireWire is established, there will be six analog outputs on these new DVD-Audio machines. Perhaps a S/PDIF output that is probably downconverted to 20 bit 48khz, which is unnacceptable.

To make a long story short the best we can hope for is straight feeds of 96/24 2 channel, without copy protection or downconversion bs.

Furthermore an idea for a new widget would be a FireWire box to S/PDIF! just an idea.

Also some record companies should insist on DTS as a alt backward compatible 5.1 track, as TA-E9000ES owners will atest the sound is phonemonal. If the albums are constructed for a 5.1 mix, and not remixed from analog masters, a MLP 96/24 5.1 track will not sound substatially different going into our preamp.

Remember any hardware not offering S/PDIF outputs is essentially useless to us, Analog inputs on the TA-E9000ES is sort of bogus, the sound goes througha 20/48 2 channel ADC, better off buying a Sony Super Bit Mapper - 1 from Oade Brothers for decent 2 channel analog input or some of the new MSB ADC stuff?

I just wanted to update my fellow TA-E9000ES owners on some upgrade news. Last week I finally received a return call from their main service number(1-800-222-7669). This is about 6-7 weeks after I first notified them about the remote problems. Anyway, they gave me the OK to send my remote and preamp to the Hollywood, FL service center for their respective upgrades. I am still totally stoked with the value and performance of this preamp. And, I feel that Sony is starting to make an effort to support the owners of their products. We'll see!!