I use the TA-E9000ES for my Pioneer DVD 717 with a simple digital interconnect. The sound i have is certainly not bright. The argument from Dennis that the DAC in his dvd player is better than the one in the preamp is probably not correct i think. When you use the analogue inputs on the TA-E9000ES, the signal is converted with 24bit A/D convertors and then it goes through the same D/A convertors as the ones used for the digital inputs. So the D/A convertors in the TA-E9000ES are always used. If you use the analogue inputs for DVD then you have D/A conversion in the DVD player and A/D plus D/A conversion in the TA-E9000ES. With digital inputs you only have one D/A conversion which should be better.Probably the reason for the fact that the sound is not bright anymore is that the Sony DVD player has a softer signature.
I think the bright sound is coming from somewhere else in your system.

I received my TA-E9000ES and TA-N9000 about 6 weeks ago. The overall build quality and sound quality for this system is wonderful! Given the price range of this equipment, it's even better.
The pre-amp arrived with the original 1.0a software. After reading many of the reviews posted here, the first order of business was to get the software upgraded. Being nervous about the validity of the software available online and the concerns about my warranty, I took my pre-amp to my local Sony Service Center. At first this was a laugh since they did not work on this "type" of equipment (they wanted to send it out to another Sony Service Center), nor were they even remotely familiar with what I was talking about. After expressing my concern to the person at the counter about them having to send my 2 day old pre-amp out for an undetermined length of time, I was able to talk to one of the technicians. This technician truly took and interest in my problem. He said he would personally take care of it for me. The bottom line is that they upgraded the software that day. I only had to leave my pre-amp for a few hours. Great Job! The official software version from Sony is 1.10C, and does seem to correct many of the problems posted here.

However, as with others, I do have some questions and complaints.

Complaints - the remote is basically useless unless you use the built-in light. I called Sony about this and their answer was to take it to one the service centers to get it updated. Well, after several calls to Sony complaining about the useless remote and the fact that I had to get the software updated on this brand new unit, they offered to send me a new remote! At that time they said they were out of stock and that it would be 4-6 weeks before the "new" ones would come in. I received my "new" remote from Sony 7 days later! Let me make this clear - YOU DO NOT WANT THE NEW REMOTE! It is operationally worse than the original.

The new remote turns itself off completely after 10 seconds of non use. This is not adjustable, as with the original remote where you can adjust how long it stays on (the light will still go off after about 10 sec.). There is a minimal improvement in the overall brightness, but not enough to really make a difference. There are also some differences in the way it works as far as turning things on and off. These differences make the new remote use for me but this may be due to my components. For example - with the old remote, if I wanted to watch DSS, the remote would turn on all of the components necessary by pressing one button. The new remote would not turn on the TV (Sony). I would have to press the TV button on the remote, the switch the function to DSS to turn on every thing else. I do not like the remote (old) turning on the TV every time you want to listen to CD's. This make no since to me, there is not "On Screen Display", so why does it turn on the TV?

Question: All of the speaker crossover controls are "grayed" out on my remote. Does anyone have any idea as to why? It does not seem to matter what speaker size I have the system set to.

SPEAKER SET-UP: I tried several times, the small and large speaker settings for the TA-E9000ES.. I set the speakers to small, then large then a combination there of. The crossovers is down to 40Hz.

First, I changed the crossovers to as low as 40Hz and left all the speaker settings to small. The result, I find that there is not much spaciousness and the sound feels like is much closer to me. It felt as if the speakers are directly placed a couple of feet away from my ears specially the surround speakers. The front speakers sounded closer too just as the surrounds. I don't like this small setting configuration because it is not comfortable to my listening room. The bass was great but it was prevalent from the subwoofer only and I noticed it by turning the subwoofer on and off and listened to lower frequency sounds as close as I can. The subwoofer did the bass output for this setting.

Second, I set the front speakers to large and set the center and surrounds to small. With the crossovers still on 40 Hz. Again I noticed that the center and the surrounds are much closer to me and do not present spaciousness, they sound so close, its not good for my ears! The front speakers however are the opposite. The front presented a relaxing wider sound stage, the bass is fuller and more active. The bass outputs from the subwoofer and the large speakers.

Third, All the speakers were set to large and the crossovers remains at 40 Hz. I find that this setting is for me. The performance is much better. You can tell the spaciousness and fuller bass from all the speakers and subwoofer. I do not find that the sound is closing in to me. The sound is comfortable even at high volumes. I prefer this setting from any other. I find this setting great for 2 channel (2CH) stereo and so is 2.1 stereo. In Dolby Digital mode, I find it outstanding.

CONFIGURATION:
In having this review, the Equalizer on the TA-E9000ES is always "OFF" The crossovers were set to 40Hz. The front speakers are 10 feet apart from each other and the center speaker in between and it's approximately 4 feet away from the fronts. The surrounds are placed 15 feet away from the fronts and 10 feet away from each other while the subwoofer is placed in the right side of the room 4 feet away from the right speaker.


2 CHANNEL STEREO:
Friends, there is a purpose why a "2CH" button on your TA-E9000ES is present . It is for us who loves the sound of classic stereo (digital or analog). In order to realize the benefit of this function from the TA-E9000ES you must have to set your speakers to large so that only the front channels will output sound and yes that includes bass! Setting your speakers to small not only defeats the purpose of the "2CH" function but it also redirects and output lower frequency sounds "only" to the subwoofer. If you want two point one (2.1) stereo, use the "Auto Format" function, do not use the "2CH" function for it. To "NOT" cut lower frequency output when listening to two (2) channel stereo with the "2CH" function on the pre-amp from your front speakers, you must leave the speaker setting to large. :-)

This product is really good. Top class sound & function.About crossover : I agree with JEDER. When you set speaker to large, your subwoofer still release bass(depend on sub crossover). I have test every way to compare and use computer to measure fequencies response of speaker, I found with set speaker to large, all fequencies is send to speaker, but when you set to small bass was cut from speaker to subwoofer. Sound with large setting seem to be airy & detail than small setting. My firmware version is the same with everyone (1.10c) but my first firmware is 1.04a with anti lipsync.

I just recieved this unit a little over a week ago. After being a previous owner of a Sony TA-E2000ESD which had so many problems this unit was sent to me from Sony as a warranty replacment. I was originally going to purchace a Sherwood AVP 9080P I am very pleased with the performance of this unit I think that this unit will dominate the home theater market with it's Solid contruction, extreme flexibility, great sonics and soundfield modes, number of inputs, ease of setup, and the ability to be upgraded in the future. I also like the fact that I can use my old Sony TA-E2000ESD remote with this unit to control volume, mute, and some other functions. I don't know of any other unit near this price range that has the capability that this unit has to offer. The only thing that I don't like regarding this unit is the fact that all analog signals are coverted to digital unlike the unit that it replaced. You loose a little of the analog warmth that is apparent when listening to and old LP or 8-track however this unit will be primarily used for home theater so that is not a big deal. The remote is great it has all of my other manufacturers infared codes stored in memory so programing the remote was very simple and straightforeward. I have no problems with the remote as of yet and I am assuming that I have one of the newer upgraded remotes that does'nt go through batteries as quickly as the old one. I am saying this because the remotes power has lasted more than a week on the batteries that were included with the unit. According to the past reviews I have read on this site batteries used with the old remote would only last a week. Does anyone know how I can tell what revision of software that this unit has? Overall this unit is very solid and deserves a six speaker rating but I am limited to a maximum of five.

I recently purchased this pre/pro along with a Rotel RB-985MkII power amp to replace a Denon AVR-2600 receiver. I upgraded since the Denon didn't have onboard DD and DTS decoders built in. I also felt the upper midrange was harsh on the Denon when playing two channel stereo through Def-Tech BP-10's. The balance of my speaker system consists of a Def-Tech C-1 center speaker and a pair of Mirage OM-R2 surround speakers. Other equipment I own includes a new Toshiba SD-3109 DVD player, a Denon DCD-910 CD player, a JVC Super VHS Hi-FiVCR, a 35 inch Toshiba flat screen TV, a Rotel Tuner and a Rotel Line Conditioner (to power up the entire system from the Sony's remote).
In the short time I've lived with this Sony, here are my observations:
Superb build quality with a great feel to the unit.
Smooth non-fatiguing sound in all modes.
The equalizer works very well and it's nice having presets for it.
Very dynamic sound for movie playback, the surround decoding is phenomenol.
Dialogue is very clear and natural sounding.
Absolutely no degradation of the video signal when passed through the pre-amp.
The DSP modes for movies leave the center channel untouched and are therefore well worthwhile. The virtual speaker modes allow for smoother front to back panning of sound effects and seem to work best on action pictures.
Most of the music surround modes are enjoyable to listen to without making the music sound like it is coming from a cave. DSP processing is quite subtle.
My unit came with the improved remote control with an "E" on the end of the remote's model number. I actually find the remote very easy to use and understand. It is hard to read without turning on the backlighting, which subsequently can be blamed for seriously shortening the life of the batteries. The batteries are low after only two weeks of moderate use (the manual states that they should last for 3 months). The other thing I noticed was that when selecting a surround mode, you sometimes have to touch the mode several times until a check mark appears next to it before you can adjust the surround parameters within the chosen mode. I also wish the remote was a learning type. Despite some of the problems I mentioned, I do enjoy operating the unit with the remote and find that it makes more sense then some remotes with buttons that have double duty for different pieces of equipment. I also like not having to adjust things through the use of an on-screen display. Who wants to turn on the TV just to listen to a CD?
The only negatives I found with the pre-amp itself are: 1 - that it doesn't remember which surround mode was last used with a given input so you must select the sound mode when switching between inputs that utilize different settings (i.e. two channel stereo for CD versus Dolby Pro-Logic for TV). 2 - the unit seems to run pretty hot even though it is fairly well ventilated with 2 inches of clearance all around. 3 - no LED on the volume control itself.
I also want to point out that the salesman I dealt with sat in on meetings with the Sony rep and told me that through software upgrades, any inputs can be reassigned to accept a 5.1 channel input from an outboard decoder. He seemed quite sure about this but it remains to be seen. Please don't take my word for it as I am skeptical myself.
All in all for the money I paid (substantially less than retail), the features and quality of this unit couldn't have been had for at least twice the price. I give the unit itself 5 stars and the remote 4 stars.

This post is to clear up all confusiion regarding speaker large, small setting for TA-E9000ES irregardless of software version.First, when you select large front, no bass from front will ever go to sub irregardless of previous front crossover setting, this is final and no argument.
Next, if you select small front, bass will be output to sub depending on crossver selected at front. But if your rear has been set to large some bass will also be sent to rear and sub, this is a requirement by Dolby Labs.
If you select center large, bass information from center will receive full range signal, no bass channelling will be directed to sub or whatsoever.
But if you select center small, bass from center will crossover only to front and not to sub if front has been selected large, but if front has been selected small, then bass from center will be redirected to sub along with bass from front.
If you select rear large, bass information from rear will be full range.
If you select rear small, bass will be redirected to sub if sub is set to yes. But bass from rear will be redirected to front if no sub is selected.
If a source has only 5.0 no LFE present, bass management is a bit different, for those interested you can email me for info. (eg, waterworld, ace ventura 2)
If a source has 5.1 with LFE indicator but actually no LFE being recorded, situation is as above which I've described in detail (movies like, Truth or consequence and speed etc etc )
Lastly, if you select Subwoofer Phase, normal or reverse, it will not only affect subwoofer phase but oddly, it affects phase setting for center and front too. So, careful audition and listening has to be done to select the best set-up option.
You can confirm the above details with a test disc like Dolby Labs, DVD Spectacular which provides individual full range test tone, bass signal and verifying it for yourself. The information provided is true to its design as much critical listening, evaluation and experimentation has been done by myself.
Hope this provides useful information to all TA-E9000ES users.
If you would like to know more about TA-E9000ES, I would be most pleased to assist you. Thank you for choosing Sony as your reference decoder.

I had this unit for over four months now and I can say is by far one of the better sounding dolby digital/dts procesors out there. I'm using this unit with a couple Belles 150-A amps, B&W 803, HTM, CDM1SE, and ACI Titan sub. I have not yet upgraded to 1.10C. The DVD player is the DVP-7700ES.
I will only touch on a couple points not yet mentioned here regarding the TA-E9000ES and my own personal experiences....

For those of you "analog" guys out there, the A/D section on the Sony is first rate! Inputing an FM signal and/or a phono signal (using an external phono preamp)resulted in a great sounding experience. More amazing was using the "virtual multi rear" surround setup. My complaint to Sony is that its MD/DAT output doesn't patch to the A/D section. No digital out from analog sources here! Also it would be nice to have a coaxial digital output even so is down converted. In either case the A/D section process the signal at 48KHz/20bits. You can see this by turning the "+/-" knob...it will show you at any source input the stream use, bitrate, frequency sampling, and category of the source..very nice info. The toslink output to my surprise is also very good. Using this toslink output and feeding a Meridian 518 processor and then changing the output to 24 bits (using Meridian own dither filtering) and feeding a MSB Link DAC resulted in another fine experience. The sound went up one more step, including a dts sourced signal!

Another request to Sony... the E9000ES internal 32bit DSP (Analog Devices "SHARC chip") is capable of decoding HDCD. It would be nice if they could work something out with Pacific Microsonics. It will only take a firmware update for HDCD processing!

After five weeks I finally received the upgraded remote control and still sucks!
How about getting some advise from your VAIO PC division and come out with a 16 bit color remote??

Overall, the E9000ES unit is a great digital preamp. Give it a few more upgrades and will excel....

Without restating anything already mentioned I will point out a few of my observations after a week.
I love this unit, great sound with 2 ch. as well as AC3. The remote works fine for me so far (newer model..) but doesn't control my Dish Network receiver...oh well!

One thing of note...the IR receiver and transmitter are on opposite sides of the unit...maybe that was an engineering requirement..IT SUCKS THO! I cannot use the remote with the door to my cabinet closed! I have a typical cabinet with glass doors, and can position the preamp with 1 of the IRs in view, but not both simultaneously! I bought an IR repeater and will try that when it comes in, but am surprised no one else has mentioned this.

Also, this puppy runs HOT HOT HOT!!! Why? It is a preamp for gods sake!

Also, the manual..it could be better..a LOT better! I wish I had definitive answers as to what my delay times are set to, how speaker size and crossover settings affect 2 channel stereo...

Questions:
Whne playing a CD, in 2 channel mode, do my "small" front speakers crossed over at 60 Hz still get crossed over? What is my subs crossover frequency...80?

Anyone know of a good way to actually utilize the EQ without breaking the bank on a spectrum analyzer??

Otherwise I am VERY happy...these are actually all nits when you realize what you can get for $1,100 bucks!

Chris

This is the one of the best preamp I have ever bought; I wish Sony customer service was more competent and release product that had been fully tested. All of my other electronics are Sony and I wished Sony would take better care of their repeat customers. My unit did not have the new software or the new remote control unit. It took over four weeks to get this to work unbelievable?? Sony technical center mentioned that they were not aware of the issues I was talking about so I had to bring them all the information. Also the manual doesn’t help at all to get the most out of this machine.
For those you audiophile could you please tell me how to get 5 channel Stereo on this thing. The Denon five channel stereo is awesome. I believe Sony could provide an upgrade with this sound field.

My rating is five stars for the preamp and 1 star for customer service