Need to replace a Sony

[UBF]

So like a lot of folk out there i suspect i have a Sony Reciever (actually got two - an STR DH520 and an STR-DN860). The former is my amp for my home office and the latter is what I use for the lounge. No issue with either of them in terms of sound quality and when i replace the DN860 it will come into the office and i'll move the 520 on - no issues with that.

However the DN860 has an issue that i never want to see again and is the reason i will not buy another Sony Reciever. Sonys awful homepage menu. If you have ARC/HDMI control on, 10 seconds after you switch it all on the Sony insists on displaying an on screen 'home' menu that does not go away until you manually intervene. It annoys me and drives my wife mental - it's such a shame as it ruins what for me is a perfectly acceptable receiver. It doesn't bother me in the office as i don't use the receiver with HDMI, only a TOSlink cable from the PC.

I'm not after 50 billion recommendations nor is it a 'what should i buy' question - quite happy to do my own digging there - it was more a question of what manufacturers are out there who don't run intrusive menu systems when you use HDMI control to power off / on all your devices when one device is turned off / on.

So ... any suggestions either to look at or to avoid at all costs.

Cheers,

Patrick

 

[Deleted member 39241]

I have never experienced this in any of my AVR's and I had a Sony 3500ES.

I have also had / have a Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, Arcam, Cambridge Audio.

 

[UBF]

It's a thoroughly annoying issue and by the looks of google searching it persists in the later DN models too. Whether that's because of the TV / Skybox - i don't know.

I could probably get around it by faffing around with optical cables - but i shouldn't need to muck around to that degree.

See thread below for example of issue

https://us.community.sony.com/s/question/0D50B00004IL1YdSAL/dn850-can-you-stop-the-home-menu-from-automatically-displaying-every-time-you-change-activity-or-start-the-receiver?language=en_US

There are many more threads on Sony forums all with the same end result - the fix was to get rid of it and buy something else.

I'm off to talk to dealer about a Denon AVR-X1600H this morning - i think the time has come to stop buying 2nd hand.

Actually screw that - the X2600H is far more capable and not that far out of my budget.

 

[Deleted member 39241]

I don't disbelieve you!

I just wanted to reassure you that you shouldn't get that issue in a replacement AVR.

The AVRX2600 is a great choice, although the 3600 is considerably better.

 

[UBF]

It's also a considerable amount more than what i just paid for the 2600. I think the 2600 will be excellent for what i use it for ( and probably a lot of stuff i don't) and the DN860 will be great in my office. I actually have better speakers (Dali Zensor2/Spektor1/Ikon centre) in here than the lounge which runs on old Eltax stuff but then i listen to more music in here whereas the lounge is more TV / movies than music. Wharfedale diamond 10 sub in both places. Maybe once i recover from buying a new thing i'll treat the lounge to some better speakers.

Thanks for humouring!