Reviewed by The SoHo Shop (www.thesohoshop.com)

Sony 5600ES Receiver

The 5600ES has excellent audio, flawless 3D pass-through, useful 4-port Ethernet switch, and more.

Overall Rating: 9.7 out of 10

Entertainment Product Features

Sony manages to bring plenty of innovation to the new 7.1 STR-DA5600ES (Elevated Standard) Receiver, as it sounds amazing. The audio performance of the receiver is rivaled only by the video, with Faroudja processing so good that it made our old VHS movies look respectable. With the unit’s nearly flawless 3D pass-through, even the purists may never know that a receiver sits between the source and a display

This new product retails for $1,999 and includes the following features :
• 130 watts of power to seven channels.
• Discrete audio selection.
• Configure zones 2 and 3 for CONTROL, ZONE, or MAIN, and choose whether zone 2 is variable volume.
• Set a preset volume for the main zone and zone 2.
• Set up to 30 presets each for FM, AM and Sirius radio.
• Quick Click turns your receiver into a universal remote, allowing you to operate connected components via the receiver’s two IR outputs.
• Provides key codes for a large number of device types and manufacturers, including Lutron Grafik Eye and X10 which enables lighting controls.
• Set up to 30 presets each for FM, AM and Sirius radio.
• Networks beautifully via an on-board four-port Ethernet switch
• Free Apple app for controlling the 5600ES is one of the best control apps we’ve ever used.
• Offers the best Control4 integration we’ve ever experienced with a third-party A/V component.

With the exceptional zone 2 performance, built-in LAN ports, iPhone/iPad app and Quick Click IR control function, this receiver can be the hub of a whole-house A/V and lighting-control system … as well as a great surround system. Great for those who want to start small, then tack on a third-party controller and other subsystems when they’re ready to grow. At this price point, this will be the first receiver we recommend. It makes installation, setup, programming, and use as easy as it could get.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Ease of Installation

Set-up is a snap with the included disc, with one major caveat: You better have Windows 7 because this disc (and even the online version) won’t fly with XP.

The set-up manager provides several useful tools including:
• Setup speakers for three ideal sound environments for three different seating positions.
• Surround setup alllows gain height adjustment and HD-D.C.S effect for three choices (DYNAMIC, THEATER, and STUDIO).
• EQ setup lets you adjust the bass and treble for front, back, center, and front high channels.
• Audio calibration includes 31 sliders between the frequencies of 20 Hz and 20 kHz.
• When setting up the network, if you are going to control this receiver over IP you must turn EXTERNAL CONTROL to ON. Also you need to turn NETWORK STANDBY to ON so that the network card does not turn off when the receiver is in STANDBY mode.
• System setup includes the ability to turn RS-232 control on or off. You can also set STANDBY to AUTO or MANUAL.
• Setup SOFTWARE UPDATE to download future enhancements.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Entertainment Product Reliability

We have customers with 10+ year old Sony receivers still humming away. No reason to expect any less from this product.

Rating: 10.0 out of 10

The above is a condensed version of an article published in CEPro