Sony TA-AN1000 7.2-Channel 8K AV Amplifier

Verified purchase

“I replaced my Denon 3500 with this Sony and was immediately blown away by the clarity of the sound and the 360 Sound really works. I connected my high end turntable and phono stage to the amp and decided to give it a listen. The sound quality is on the same tier as my Audiolab9000. Ultimately the 9000 is slightly better. This makes the Sony stunning value for money and a good starter point if you want to add a turntable (you'll need a phono stage and Graham Slee are very good). The niggly bits are a short and very cheap power cable and the user interface takes a bit of thinking about. Set up requires measurement of the height of the room, distance to speakers and a few other things but its simply done with a tape measure. Put a set of basic speakers from Wharfdale/KEF/Bowers&Wilkins and you've got a great system. I am running in 5.0 and still get the 360 effect for movies”

Verified purchase

“After a shaky start involving a failing HDMI port, I'm reasonably happy with this unit. It boasts plenty of features and, to my ear, is tonally pleasing with it's delivery of both movies and music, and is a doddle to set up. If you like to fiddle a bit with base and treble (a poo poo for purists but not for me), that's easy too. I also find it's minimalist styling pleasing on the eye but, face it, most are these days for the simple reason lots of folks make purchases as much based on looks as performance. It's also reassuringly heavy. Not overly so but enough to make you think you've spent a reasonable amount of hard earned on it but nowhere near say the Pioneer SC LX range. I've seen criticism of the bluetooth streaming quality but, personally, I've found it perfectly acceptable once you get over the audio snobbery thing and, let's be honest, is anyone paying for Tidal and the lieke ever going to be happy with bluetooth? I think not.. Picture quality is good too, even with pass thru which can sometimes be a mute point with AV amps. I use an Amazon Echo cube for my viewing (although not for music) and find the results more than acceptable. A major selling point with this unit is you "gets a lot of bang for your buck" (or, in my case, pound). Especially now it's available for considerably less than 700 quid, this is a really good player. that punches above it's weight The What Hi Fi review is perhaps a bit too much of a sickly love affair and, remember reviews are as much subjective as they are objective, but I don't think for one moment this Sony will disappoint the average mid price buyer. You'd have to spend a lot more to get better elsewhere.”