Good power , ease of use , longevity its 20 years old now and still working like the day i bought it . Picked it up for $200 way way back in the day . I still use it in my room for movies & music off of a Fiio X1 with Polk Signature series bookshelf speakers & sounds fairly good . It has plenty of power to run any speakers ive used with it and ive hooked up alot of different brands with it I like the A/B feature . Its been around a long time & has done me very well . Nothing audiophile about It I have other stuff for that , but it does what its supposed to do & has been versatile & incredibly reliable . My favorite budget receiver ive owned by far .

Lost the remote but thats my fault , surround sound pre sets are weak .

value for money

remote control

the svx-d557 I found it to be easy to listen to,how ever I did not like the fact that I have to listen in pro-logic mode with the center channel off in order to use my sub-woofer when listing in stereo mode only. I wish it
had a few more dsp's and a better remote. Some movies which
I watched in pro-logic mode like independance day made my reciecer overload at certain action scenes,I dont know why.
I have recently added an EQ to enhance the sound when listening to music. It makes an incredible difference and I get deeper bass response from my main spkrs. I am still searching for the right dvd player for my reciever, can't figure out if a dts feature on a dvd player can work on my reciver which it self is missing this feature. The matrix was by far the best movie I've watched on my home theatre, with explosive sounds which the reciever managed to deliver!
I kind of rushed when i bought this and feel maybe I could
of bought something better for a few hundred bucks more
but overall i am satisfied with this product.

Value, Bass

Control nags, new remote

I bought this receiver when I decided I just had to have Dolby Digital for my home theater. I had previously been using a Denon AVR-375, which sounds a bit better even though it is less powerful.

Since getting the 557, I've upgraded my speakers to Klipsch RF-3's in front and two Polk RT15's as surrounds. No center channel yet, it seems that the 557 sends way too much sound to the center when Dolby Pro Logic is on, even though Center is set to small.

The 557 definitely has enough power for the RF-3's (rated at 225w cont.), and the highs & lows are both very clear (though this may be mostly because of the speakers).

My only gripes with this unit are mostly due to controls. The new remote is awful compared to the older one, and seems to be lacking some of the controls entirely. Also, as someone said above, there is no direct source select on the remote. And for the life of me, I can not make this thing output to both Channels A & B at the same time (when using a subwoofer's high level inputs on channel B). Even though Dolby & DSP are off, once I turn on channel B for the sub, it stops outputing to channel A entirely.

My last gripe is that 5-point speaker terminals would've been a vast improvement, I bi-wire my RF-3's and making the connections was a major pain.

All in all, it's a great sounding home theater reciever, especially for the price. I think it's being phased out, so if you don't need all the features that the newer models offer, and can get one on sale, go for it.

bass

remote

I had been using a pro-logic Kenwood 9020 for years. It was Kenwoods top AV receiver at the time I Purchased it. The Kenwood sold new for $750 in 1991 and was rated at 135 watts for the front and 20 for the rear. When the time came to upgrade to digital I went for the Pioneer. I just don't spend top dollar for equipment like I used to and was curious as to what kind of performance I could get on a budget. To my surprise the system delivered bass that I never heard before. It has turned out to be a great unit delivering a level of performance equal to units costing $200 more. Overall a lot of bang for the buck.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Yamaha

Good bass. Great value for the money.

Remote should be trashed.

Bought it refurbished for $200 off of ubid.com. Looked at Kenwood VR-309, but this was cheaper and DTS movies aren't that prevalent. Can't complain about anything about it, except the remote, but considering the price, I still came out on top. I would recommend to just about anyone.

Similar Products Used:

First receiver I've ever bought.

Awesome value. The bass is incredible. High power.

Remote, subwoofer out does not work in stereo mode, CD input no longer works

First of all, I must say I was lucky to find this receiver for only $180. I was shopping around for a solid receiver for my son's room, so I set a budget at $200. I went to Circuit City and found the 557 in an "open box" condition. At the time, I heard nothing about this particular unit and was acting solely upon my faith in the Pioneer name (I own some Elite equipment). The guys at CC misplaced the remote, so they ordered me another one. I didn't really care because I now use Pronto remotes to control everything in the house including my ceiling fan.

I brought the receiver home and immediately connected it to my son's TV and DVD player (Sony Wega 27" and Toshiba SD1600). I put my old Paradigms into my son's room and they are a perfect fit into the limited space. I was amazed at the sound quality. Even without a sub, the Paradigms produced bass that I never knew they had in them! I checked the x-over freqs and found the default setting for the front mains were set to "large." I tried both large and small settings, and although the speakers are small, the large setting seemed to drive them much nicer. I must say, even though the unit lacks S-video jacks and doesn't decode DTS, it fits my application just perfectly. I have the DVD's S-video going directly into the Wega so no problem there. Also, there aren't too many DVDs that have DTS (not yet at least).

For the time being, the 557 serves its purpose like a charm. The CD input in the back no longer works, but I'm not using that input anyways. Also, this unit has bass to spare...even without a sub, if you have decent speakers capable of decent low frequencies, you'll be fine.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DE605, Toshiba SD-6109C

ALL

Remote, could be better.

Gift of a Pioneer DVD 414,wanted to set a "Home Theater System" on a small buget that was just as good as a "High Priced system" Purched the VSX-D557 on an auction,for $245.00+shipping. The VSX-D557 is all I could ask for the price it is great.Hooked up cheap KLH 5 unit HTS speakers also on auction $87.00 an a Infinity BU-120 sub also on auction, $145.00 I heard the best, this unit is by far a winner. I have a great sounding (Home Theater System) for 1/3 the price. AAA+++ for Pioneer VSX-D557

Similar Products Used:

None

When it came time to upgrade my Home Theatre Experience, in preparation for DVD, I was looking for a solid Dolby Digital amplifier. It didn't need to have a lot of fancy features, but needed to sound good.
I tried several receivers before settling on the Pioneer. I tried the Kenwood 209. Sounded very clear, but no bass whatsoever. I live in an apartment, so I didn't need the hassle of a sub-woofer. I then tried the JVC-884, but found it to be noisy. (Yes, I did find the hiss problem)

The Pioneer was on sale at my local Future Shop. It was not much more than the Kenwood, but added the DSP features (not critical, but a nice-to-have). I was blown away by the bass response. The inclusion of old-fashioned bass and treble knobs allowed me to add a significant amount of low-end. I will not be needing a sub-woofer.

The other amps I tried seemed "weak." 100-watts a channel is apparently not equal between companies. The Pioneer seemed louder and the volume control seemed to be scaled better. (You had to get to 60 out of 90 on the JVC for normal listening, the Pioneer is at about 25%)

On the downside, the Pioneer does not function as an integrated control center as well as the JVC. The remote does not control my particular model of VCR. There is also no selecting of the source directly from the remote. You must cycle through the different inputs with a single button. Potentially a problem if you have loud sources between where you are and where you want to go. It also does not support input level attenuation.

Pro-Logic decoding seems to work well enough. I look forward to trying the Dolby Digital decoder. The DSP modes are a different story. Compared to the JVC's modes, which at some times were distracting, the Pioneer DSP modes don't seem to make much of a difference.

Pros
====
Clean Sound
Great Bass

Cons
====
Audio/video switching cumbersome from remote
DSP modes ineffective
Confusing Dolby/Surround set-up

Picked up the unit as an "open box" sale. Have had Pioneer equipment for years and this one doesn't disappoint. Lots of features, good price (even better if you can find it "open box"), beautiful sound. On top of that, my system came with an updated remote control. The instruction manual showed the old remote, so was practically worthless to me. One call to Pioneer and the updated manual is on the way. No charge! Thumbs up for customer service too!

I also picked up the 557 as an "open box buy" for a great price. I am nothing but impressed with this model. I debated on buying the 508 or 608, but after studying these models, I realized the extra features were nothing I needed for hundreds of dollars more. I also have a Pinoeer DVD player (Dv-414)and this combo is great.The only serious drawback is the remote. I have the updated model, but it is seriously lacking in function and, most importantly, the ease and "coolness" of it. But, for an open box buy, who cares.
I strongly recommend this receiver to any person looking for Digital, but not wanting to pay twice as much for features that will never be used.