Sony STRDA-1200ES or Onkyo TX-SR505E

[admin_exported]

I have recently had an accident with my Sony 1200ES (don't ask, but it involved some Ribena and a severely told off 2 year old) and have had to replace it. I originally bought it for £380 but is now readily available for £250 – into the territory of the Onkyo 505. I have had a fiddle around with the Onkyo at my local specialist but haven’t heard it. The Sony certainly appeared much more robust with better build quality, but the Onkyo is shorter and fits on my rack better! I had no probs with the Sony and found it a great piece of kit for the price. But, given the glowing accolades by What Hi-Fi, and similar specs between the two, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on which one to go for. I have Kef 3005 5.1 (not the SEs). Cheers

 

[Gerrardasnails]

It depends on the kit you have really. I have the 1200es and want to link it up with my pc but there the lack of conversion from component to hdmi stops me. The one up from the Onkyo you mention can be bought for £360 on line and that gives you the converting from svideo, component to hdmi and HD audio. If it didn't look such a beast! Pioneer have a nice receiver out in the £300 range. I would check out Denon AVR1508, Pioneer (VX17 or something) and the newer budget Sony, the STRD9810 or something similar. I think that these would all be better than the cheapest Onkyo. The 1200es would also be better.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice Gerrardasnails. I have Sky HD and a Denon DVD through HDMI and don't need the conversions, but was interseted in the Onkyo for the and also the Ipod dock - I have a Creative M:Vision MP3 player and was looking into compatibility. Anyway I also have an excellent stereo so another method of producing music might be overkill! I'm think I'm going to stick to what I know - the Sony which I found perfectly adequate for my small sitting room and you cant go wrong fro 250 knicker, although I suspect my KEFs might prefer more power to drive them. Cheers

 

[Gerrardasnails]

I think your Kefs would blow before your receiver does!! 100wpc is plenty and some surely? What is your sub like? Mine is 200w and the power the Sony gives it is immense. I know what you mean about sticking to what you know. Sony make things simple. My brother-in-law has an entry level Denon receiver and it was so much more difficult to set up (which I did for him). Saying that the prices of the Sonys that do HD audio and have more connections etc., (what I want to upgrade to eventually) just cannot compete with Pioneer, Onkyo and even Denon.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Gerrardasnails"]I think your Kefs would blow before your receiver does!! 100wpc is plenty and some surely? [/quote]

Thats what I thought but I normally had to have the Sony near enough 90% volume to get a decent sound but at the time I didn't need to plug in the subwoofer in (at 8Ohms) which is rated 250W. I just thought that the power rating was split per channel so the 100W 5 ways would end up being 20W . But now you mention the subwoofer, and the fact that Sony say its 100W per channel has me thinking... I'll plug the woofer in when the amp arrives...

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="simonkee"][Thats what I thought but I normally had to have the Sony near enough 90% volume to get a decent sound but at the time I didn't need to plug in the subwoofer in (at 8Ohms) which is rated 250W. I just thought that the power rating was split per channel so the 100W 5 ways would end up being 20W . But now you mention the subwoofer, and the fact that Sony say its 100W per channel has me thinking... I'll plug the woofer in when the amp arrives...[/quote]

I'm really terribly confused by this post.

The power rating of the receiver is 100W into each channel, but the subwoofer has its own power amp built-in, and connects by a line- (or more correctly preamp-) level cable. It has no effect on the power of the receiver.

But if you've been running the system without the subwoofer it must be sounding horrible - the 1005 satellite speakers produce no sound below 120Hz, so the system would have no bass whatsoever, and driving them at 90% of the amp's volume control range is likely to have been pushing some serious distortion into the speakers, which will have made them sound even more horrible.

I'm not known for listening at low volumes, but even in my wildest moments I never get much beyond halfway up the volume range.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry Andrew I probably didn't explain the set up I had properly now I read it back. I had the Sony powering Kef Q1s front, Kef Q6c and two rear Kef 2005.2. I didn't think it needed the extra bass with this set up although I also had the Kef PSW 2500 which I used to begin with, but the walls started shaking...which was not ideal to uphold neighbourly relations! (and not neighbours that are relations!). I have since bought Kef 3005 5.1 kit (not the SEs) and used these for about 30mins without the sub, watching the first episode of the latest Battlestar Galactica series before the "accident"...I've already ordered another Sony 1200ES. Just out of interest, which amp do you prefer now they're about the same price?

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="simonkee"]Just out of interest, which amp do you prefer now they're about the same price?[/quote]

The Sony, or save for a TX-SR605

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew, I read what you said about the Sony 1200 and the Onkyo 605. I was about to go buy the 1200 as the price is very reasonable now. Does the Onkyo performance warrant the extra £150 in your opinion as it certainly seems to be simpler connection wise. Thanks