Sony STR-DA5800ES 9.2 Channel 4K AV Receiver with Automation

Sorry this is so long. I have updated it several times as I figure out why it's not doing what I expect.Second unit just started making the noise with the fan. This model is not up to Sony's standard.Latest update: came home from work and the receiver video is out again tried rebooting it and resetting it still no video even in the main zone. This is not a very robust receiver. This is my second one the first had a bad fan. This one is 36 days old and now I have no video. I have had 2 other Sony ES Receivers in the last 10 years and I loved them both. Had no issues with either. Bug this last one. I think I'm done. Unfortunately amazons return policy is 30 days.Lots of features and sounds great, as long as you don't use Zone 2 Video.Only issue to note is that it is billed as a receiver that can run multiple zones for video and sound via HDMI. But when connected to a TV via HDMI the receiver does not output the full spectrum of sound only what is heard from the right and left speakers. Not sure why you would dumb down what is sent via the HDMI cable as it doesn't make sense to me. Or if it's smart enough to know there are only 2 speakers it should down mix to Stereo instead of just not sending the audio at all from the surround and center channels.After more testing it appears that this receiver isn't doing ANY audio down mixing. My current setup includes this receiver, a TV in my Family room, a TV in my kitchen, a PS4, an XBox One, and an Apple TV in my family room. The Kitchen TV Is set up as Zone 2. When I play the PS4, the PS4 downgrades the audio to stereo and it sounds ok in the kitchen. The receiver just passes along what it gets via HDMI from the playing device even when you change the sound field to stereo. The XBox One does not sound good unless you specifically tell it to send stereo. If you don't the kitchen TV only has the sound from what would be the right and left channels in the Family room all of the center and surround sound is totally missing. At the price this receiver is at I expect it to be able to handle the mixing, much better. Even send the stereo to one room while playing multi channel in the main room. There is mention of the Zone 2 signals causing the main room signals to be limited, but there is no explanation about the reason being because the playing device is doing the limiting. My PS3 also had the same issue as the XBox it wasn't smart enough to switch to stereo. I guess I would expect the receiver to do that since it should be able to accommodate many devices old and new. The bottom line is if you are planning to use this receiver with a second zone, expect frustration. I am not sure if this can be fixed via a firmware update, but I hope it can. It also doesn't switch back to full surround from stereo when the Zone 2 is turned off. Has to be rebooted a couple of times to get that working again probably because the PS4 isn't told to go back to full surround. Over all pretty disappointing especially since this is the flagship receiver.This might be standard, but I think it should at least be optional to force the receiver to output all channels via the HDMI cable. Similar to a DVD player or blu ray player does.Unit started making clicking noise and just turned itself off saying the fan stopped. Amazon is sending another one. I think this one must be a dud. Will see if the next one works as advertised.Amazon replaced the original unit and the new one seems to be working much better. Although it seems VERY temperamental. I lost video to my TV Sunday and could not get it back. The only thing I could get was the menu nothing from any of my devices. (XBox One, Apple TV, PS4) I did the factory reset several times. Monday morning I unplugged everything and did the factory reset again and it worked. But this is not something I expects from Sony. I have had 2 previous ES receivers and never had any issues.

I did a strait swap-out of my Onkyo TX-NR1009 last night (same wiring, same HDMI connections, speakers, etc) and I have to say that the difference couldn't be more profound. The audio quality for music and bluray playback is simply phenomenal. The sound is much cleaner with superb clarity in the midrange I couldn't get with the Onkyo. I have Polk Rti A7's (bi-amped), a CSI A4, DSWpro550, and A3's for front-high, and surround. I wouldn't have believed the overall improvement in quality was possible in the same room with the same speakers.Pro's:- Super fast speaker auto-calibration that works. Sony provides a binaural mic that is spaced-out horizontally to simulate your ears. The process takes all of two minutes unlike the Audyssey implementation Onkyo uses, which generally takes 30 minutes and is nowhere as effective.- Setup is fairly straight forward, use the easy setup wizard though and customize after- Enough connectivity options to handle about any need you have or may have in the future (haven't used the IR blasters yet)- The front panel display is easily readable from a distance and I actually like the chassis. Both are old-school, but I like the look- Menu system is mostly intuitive, I only hit the manual to determine what functions do, not how to find them- The sound fields are superb. The settings simply work like you would want them to. I've always considered these functions useless on other units, not so on the 5800- No thermal issues so far and I have it in a tight enclosure. There is an internal fan too- EASILY the best sounding receiver I've ever had.Con's: (Keep in mind that ES equipment is generally meant for use by pro installers)- Horrifically expensive, but in the range of other high-end units- Typical Sony remote. Functional, but not great.- Default HDMI settings can make devices freak out. I had to do some trial and error to get my uverse dvr to work properly. No problems with the PS3, Apple TV or Oppo 103- Not overly impressed with the UI look, online video services work well- Wireless connectivity would be a nice option, but the internal hub works fine- I'm not using the automation functions, at least not yet. It would be nice to be able to hide these optionsOverall, I'm happy with the purchase. The improvement in quality is almost worth the $2k