★★★★★ 5
Best value/sound Sony Atmos Receiver especially w/2 Sony SW3 subs!!
Upgrading from 5.1 speakers on CNET's top AV 2014 receiver, the Sony STR-DN840, I was curious to see how far home theater sound had improved since buying my Sony receiver and Energy 5.1 speaker set up back in 2015. I first upgraded by adding 2 more speakers, the ELAC B6.2 Debut speakers as my front main speakers and moved my Energy speakers into a 7.1 height speaker configuration. This improved the sound, but only minimally. This is when I ordered this bad boy AN1000 as I also wanted to take advantage of Sony's S-Center Acoustic Speaker connection with my 77" Sony A80J OLED TV.
The sound was marketedly better - so much so that my usually nonchalant wife noticed the trickles of streams and birds watching an old anime movie, Ponyo, and was impressed! Basically, the upgraded Sony STR-AN1000 coupled with two additional quality speakers enabled a 7.1 systems that leveraged DTS:X Virtual surround sound as well as A.F.D. Movie mode that comes as close to Dolby Atmos without placing speakers in the ceiling directly above your primary seating position. Watch the first battle/landing boat scene in "Saving Private Ryan", and prepare to be immersed with bullets whizzing all around you!
Ignore sound bars and upfiring Atmos speakers that bounce off the ceiling as a quick online search will pull up numerous articles that state 1) Soundbars are inferior to AV systems (I can verify as I demoed a top of line Sony HT-A7000 at home) 2) upfiring Atmos speakers are hit or miss at best 3) Dolby's DTS:X combined with Sony's processor gives you the most immersive sound possible without installing downward firing ceiling Atmos speakers in a 5.1.2 Atmost configuration.
Having my Sony Bravia A80J S-Center synch along with my center speaker made understanding dialogue much more clear, and also enabled me not to have to crank up the overall volume as the STR-AN1000 makes adjusting each individual speaker volume as well as sound profile (equalizer) super easy.
I would also be remiss in not calling out the ability to either auto calibrate using the included microphone or manually calibrate as both are extremely easy to perform. I opted to do the manual calibration using a tape measure for greater precision, but the auto calibrate was quite good.
Get this STR-AN1000 especially when on sale or open box, and not only will you be rewarded - even your wife will comment on how much immersive sound improvement there is on even non Dolby Atmos movies!!
UPDATE: Purchased two Sony SW3 subs, here's an addenddum.
Head to head, the Sony SW5 is superior to the SW3 thanks to the SW5's both active and passive subs which are also larger than the SW3. HOWEVER, especially when purchasing open box, I was able to purchase TWO SW3's for less than either stand alone SW5 or on sale single SW3, and 2 subs definitely not only smooth out the bass, but makes your home stereo/cinema sound omni directional so there's no dead spots. My Sony STR-AN1000 easily synced with both SW3 subs (note - you cannot mix two different subs on the AN1000), and now my bass is smooth/even throughout my living room as I watch Dolby Atmos movies or listen to my favorite music genre on my PS5 Playstation CDs, Pandora, and Sirius XM.
Thus, if you only want one sub and best quality, go for the SW5 or a more reasonably priced wired sub. However, if you can get two subs, two SW3 are a no brainer especially when buying two heavily discounted open box speakers that can be readily tucked away.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2024

