Sony BDV E-3200 3D Blue Ray Home Theatre Review

Sony BDV E-3200 3D Blue Ray Home Theatre Review

This is a one in a box solution from Sony. The system consists of a 3D Blue Ray Player, 5.1 Channel Amplifier with FM Tuner and lots of coonectivity options. This particular purchase was made my dear friend at “Vijay Sales” in Kalyan. The package cost us Rs.23700/- after very hard bargaining. The MRP is Rs.25990/-

Specifications:-

Player :- The player almost plays most discs except SACD & DVD Audio.

Connectivity Options:- Bluetooth, NFC, USB, LAN & Wifi.

Power:- The manual says it produces 1000W of RMS Power.

Ports:- 1 HDMI ARC Out, 1 Line In, 1 Optical In, 1 USB, 1 Pig Tail FM Antenna.

Speakers:- 2 Two Way BR 3 Ohms Front Speakers, 2 One Way 3 Ohms BR Surround Speakers, 1 Two Way 6 Ohms Centre Speaker & 1 6 Ohms Front Firing Front Ported 6.5” Subwoofer.

Frequency Range:- Not specified.

Audio Formats:- Almost all 6.1 & 5.1 Formats. The 6.1 channels are played as core from 5.1 Channels.

I have given very basic specs. for full specifications web is the best way to find out.

Looks:-

The looks are elegant in black. The speakers enclosed in plastic cabinets. Buttons on the player and the remote are well placed. Setting is very easy. You just have plug the speaker connections and done.

Performance:-

The player takes time to recognise the discs but the UI is quite very friendly and you don’t have to dig deep in to the menu. The player responds immediately for a NFC and Blue Tooth connection. The FM reception is crappy. The supplied antenna is very short and is very difficult to get the clear reception even if you attach another wire. The reception improves slightly when mono mode is enabled. The system sound bears a sweet signature that is associated with Sony. I am quite satisfied with the quality from the player as if you keep the volume in check it doesn't sound bright. But don’t expect earth rattling sound from it. Since the Sub has got only one 6.5” Driver IMO it just goes down to 50 Hz and clearly need an improvement. That way it is a very basic HtiB System. The sound modes are also very few ie music, movie & auto with other preset equaliser modes. One doesn't have the liberty to equalise the sound as per our choice.

I searched for the power consumption label for the system but it took much effort to locate at the bottom side of the player. The label surprisingly says the power consumption is 95 Watts. Now think this way a system which has reference power of 1000 Watts RMS all channel driven & rated power of 75 + 75 Watts RMS (at 3 Ohms @1% THD). This clearly defies the laws of science. How can a system produce almost 10 times more power than it consumes?

So this is just a marketing gimmick. The player has got a cooling fan also. Further we assume that 20W is required to drive the Disc player section then only 75W is available for the amplifier section. Now go figure the remaining mathematics. This means that at the most 25W will be available for the sub when you will play any content on the disc. That answers my question of why the system makes loud sound when connected with a Bluetooth or USB. It is simply because the system doesn’t have to drive the player. The power gets diverted to the amp in that case.

The speaker connections are also of proprietary type so you cannot connect other speakers than the supplied 3 & 6 Ohm speakers. This is again a clever management on Sony’s part. As if you connect different speakers the power will not be the same.

However the picture quality is good with HDMI port. I did not get the chance to see a Blue Ray 3D disc. But the DVD & Plain Blue Rays look good.

Test Material:-

Blue Ray – “Rio”, DVD- “Interstellar”, "Hell Freezes Over" CD- Celline Dione Essential, FM- 92.7 Mhz, VCD- Michel Jackson, "History" , BT- Some Hindi & Marathi OST.

Conclusion:-

Unless you are on a shoe string budget don’t go for this HtiB. Rather spend some 5 grands more and and you will get a good Sony + Onkyo/Yamaha combination which will give you good results.