Price Paid:  $280.00 from Ebay

Summary:
After reviewing this former flagship Pioneer Elite receiver Im came to the conclusion as my fellow posters,even though lacking in the DTS feature the overall presentation was extremely good by todays newer standards,reception was very strong and detailed(with antenna) and stations came in clear and fresh,amplification even though using 3 year old technology was very pleasing and corhesive,nice pace and over soundstaging was abit shallow but great spread and smoothness,not the best inner detailing but better then the Onkyos and Yamahas.Plenty of inputs and outputs to create a theatical movie setting,realisum of the different setting was very accurate and simple.Buttons lay out was excellent and the cluter aspect of other receivers were pleasantly not present.Again if this unit only had DTS I will rank this in the top three of all times of the best Elite receivers Pioneer ever made but if your on a budget and the DTS feature is not a great lost then by all means audition this wonderful unit.

Strengths:
Design,application,layout,quality of manufacturing,complete inventory of the most popular home theater option,quality connectors,better than average amplification.PRICE!!!!!

Weaknesses:
No DTS,cheap feeling controller,sometimes sensitive to grounding...

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo,Yamaha,Rotel,...

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Tecsat Indaiatuba

Summary:
I've been using this unit for almost 2 years and have no complaints about it, only praise. Basically I agree in every aspect with Art, but I also use it for music listening. It drives my B&W 602 very well and When the settings are in small for the speakers, the Sunfire MK2 sub works along for music too. The lack of DTS doesn't bothers me yet, sice very few DVD's uses it and me preferences are for those which has dolby digital sound and lots of extra features. I'm far from upgading it!

Strengths:
Very good sound quality for a receiver, good power, phono input, solid construction, beautifully finished.

Weaknesses:
It could have a few more digital inputs...

Similar Products Used:
I had a pro-logic Pioneer VSX-D902S.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from The Stereo Shop

Summary:
I have a separate Audio system so this review is only for Home Theatre only. I have had this unit for about 1 1/2 years and it is a very good sounding receiver.With the right speakers and Sub it's performance is very good. I have compared it to Denon, Sony and Rotel and although it is a few years older technology I can't see trading it in just to have a newer (but no better quality) receiver.The only minus is that it does not have DTS but for what I will lose as a trade in for an equivelent receiver it is not a worthwhile upgrade.

Weaknesses:
No DTS

Similar Products Used:
Denon,Sony,

Summary:
After many sleepless nights of contemplation I finally took action and pick up this reciever along with some other goodies at my local hi-fi shop. After wavering between a Sony 30ES and Yamaha 795 for months I stumbled on this beauty. The others, the Sony in particular, had a few more toys, but after striking a wicked deal on an Elite CD player and 2109 DVD there was no more price vs performance competition. Just for kicks I took home some NHT 1.2 towers with a sub amp. Big improvement over my old Energy's though they still kick but on most of the stuff out there. As said before there is little to find fault with on this reciever. Just clean fun all around. Now if I could only get my wife out of the apartment long enough to turn it up. The the HT thing is amazing as well. One final comment on the remote. At first it looked like it wouldn't be all that great to use, the Sony and Yamaaha seemed to be much more sofisticated. However, after using it for the last few weeks I've found it to have an easy to use, logical layout and have far more practical substance than the S' or Y'. It's nice not to have to look at the remote to have to do something like you would with the Sony LCD or have to use two hands to traverse 6 or 7 inches like on the Yamaha.

Summary:
I just picked up this receiver on sale. After surviving a 6 year old Onkyo Pro-Logic..which is still alive and well. The Pioneer and I did not get along at first. I fought the fact that it can set itself up with little help. Not much to tweak here. Thank goodness it has tone controls, which of course it locks out for any digital processing. I thought this receiver had an "attitude"...a rather arrogant one at that.But, damn it, it certainly knows what it's doing, except for how it screws up the bass on regular stereo, after you calibrate it for Dolby. But a couple of notches down on the bass when I listen to stereo took care of it. (I am not running a subwoofer, and my big mains pump out enough to alert my neighbor).
And speaking of bass, there's lots available! Very strong amps. I am a little risky running main speakers with 4 ohms, on a 6 ohm rated amp. But it is almost a perfect 4 ohms from 20 to 20Khz. The kind of load amps. like best, constant.
My Onkyo had the same 6 ohm rating system and didn't suffer at all.
But the sound on the Pioneer has much more punch, and a very smooth midrange. The highs are good, but not it's forte.
Well, we are getting accustomed to each other now. The Pioneer understands I need to fiddle with buttons now and then, and I understand it's not so necessary anymore.
Not quite in the audiophile class, but good enough to teach a layman what high fidelity really is all about, without taking out a second mortgage. Providing it's teamed with decent speakers.
The tuner is typical "receiver" quality. Sometimes I just wish they made the tuner an deletable option. My little Grundig Yachtboy 400 tunes circles around any receiver.
It's has all I want or need. It's a great receiver, but definitely over-priced at MSRP. Get it under a grand, or you are spending too much.