Price Paid:  $1900.00

Summary:
This is my second Pioneer AV receiver. The first was a VSX-35TX that lasted about 18 month. I turned it on one day and the speakers all went "zzzZZZ-POP"; and the receiver was dead. I took the unit to the service department where they feverishly tried to repair it. But no such luck. Apparently Pioneer used a "3-layer" circuit board design that could not be completely repaired (their words, not mine). So I had to replace the unit. But there was a problem. The 35's were now obsolete and unavailable, so I had to upgrade to the VSX-37TX.

I had the VSX-37TX receiver for about 3 years; and it performed well. Then last week Sunday, I turned the receiver on and I start hearing "crackling and popping" noises coming from all speakers. It didn't matter which source I chose (cable, DVD, CD); all the speakers were making the noises. So...in it goes to service where it now sits (it's only been about 3 days since I dropped it off).

Oh...as far as where the AV receiver resides, there's 9 inches of completely open space above the unit, and I raised the unit itself up about 1/2 inch more by placing the unit on rubber furniture carpet savers. I did this 'cause this sucker generates a God-awful amount of heat!!

If this one can't be fixed, I'm pretty much through with Pioneer products.

Strengths:
Awesome audio.

Weaknesses:
Reliability and Price.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer VSX-35TX AV receiver.

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Flanner's

Summary:
I'm mostly into 2 channel music, but wanted something that will also do home theater. The separate processors available (except Outlaw) are so expensive that I couldn't justify the cost for something that may well be obsolete within a couple years.

I agree with most of the other reviews below, so here's just a few points:

The clip dealies for the speaker wires are unimpressive to say the least, but realistically there's just to much I/O on the back panel to fit anything decent.

All the DSP modes are relatively worthless - if the source is 2 or 5.1 channel, it oughta go out the same. This applies to all such receivers, not just the Pioneer. Likewise, I could quibble with some of the ergonomics, but I couldn't find anything significantly better and some (Sony) seemed seriously strange. The little door hiding all the small pushbuttons looks cool, but my old eyes would have preferred big buttons with big labels.

The unit is surprisingly deep, and proved to be tougher to get into my cabinet than the matching CD changer due to the added room taken up by all the I/O.

The lack of a full 7 channels of amplification is not an issue for me, since this only seems usable in a very large, near-square room, in which case the 120 wpc of the Pioneer probably isn't enough anyhow. On the other hand, I coulda bi-amped the mains with those extra channels…

The unit vents considerable heat, enough that it toasted a digital cable box placed on top. Do NOT stack anything on top, and don't put it in an enclosed cabinet.

I use it for both home theater and for music. It works great for DVD movies, but...

I've got Celestion A-series speakers all around, with A-3s as the mains and no sub. The A-3s are 4 ohm, 5 driver speakers that are a moderately difficult load to drive. While 120x5 wpc in "5 channel stereo" mode is more than enough, the amplifier performance in "stereo direct" mode (only the front corners running) was a considerable disappointment. The Pioneer clearly runs out of current capabilities at about -10 db on the display. At this point the dynamics compress, fading back into the mix and the highs get steely, to the extent that casual listeners comment on it. While this occurs at a reasonably high volume, it's nowhere near what I expected from 120 wpc.

I've heard the same model speakers powered by a Bryston 3B, which is also rated at 120 wpc. At really high volumes the Bryston was tighter, cleaner, more dynamic, and had a far more powerful bottom end even though it was in a much larger room. So much for "jap watts". On the other hand, the Pioneer's sound quality at moderate volumes is clean, sweet, and adequately dynamic, coming close to matching 2 channel separates (Adcom, others) that cost more than the whole receiver. It doesn't have the obvious treble "grain" that my early '90s Fischer did.

Before getting the Celestions, the Pioneer was used with NHT, Advent Heritage, and modified JBL L-100 speakers, all nominally 8 ohms. The receiver didn't exhibit compression problems with these, so the issue seems related to the Celestion's 4 ohm impedance. Capacitance issues may also have a lot to do with it, but I have no idea how the above speakers compare.

If you're into severely high volume in traditional 2 channel stereo and have low impedance speakers, you're gonna have to spend more money than this.... If you have easy to drive 8 ohm speakers and/or a powered sub this probably won't be an issue.

Keep in mind that I'm running a total of $7500 worth of high end, tough to drive speakers with a $1700 receiver. Why am I doing that, you ask…
- Obsolescence concerns. Multi-channel stuff is changing rapidly enough that I was unwilling to dump thousands on a front end that will probably obsolete itself in a couple years.
- Esthetics. I'm into music, not paneling the rec room with components.
- Heat dissipation concerns.
- I ain't done upgrading yet.

The D/A conversion in the Pioneer seems excellent. I'm using a Monster TosLink digital interconnect from a Pioneer Elite PD-F27 300 disk CD changer. Using this changer strictly as a transport lowered the noise floor and increased transparency dramatically - if you have a digital output on your CD player by all means give it a try.

I'm happy with the Pioneer - within rational limits it's a fine dual purpose receiver.

Did I mention $7500 worth of speakers? Rationality has nothing to do with this, so I'm in the market for a larger amp for the front channels…

Strengths:
High quality DACs.
Extensive I/O capabilities.
Smooth, sweet sound in 5 channel modes and in "stereo direct" at moderate volumes.

Weaknesses:
Disappointing ability to drive "tough load" speakers.
Doesn't seem to live up to it's power rating while playing 2 channel music.
Attachment devices for speaker cables.

Similar Products Used:
No other HT receivers.
Owned a wide variety of 2 channel "mid-fi" gear from Pioneer, Fischer, others.
Have borrowed or otherwise heard Bryston, Musical Fidelity, Adcom.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from pioneer

Summary:
Well I had so many problems with my EliteVsx27tx that Pioneer replaced that hunk of junk with this receiver. This has everything and more you can ask for. DTS THX AND EX-ES everything a growing boy needs. enought inputs and outputs than you'll ever use.

Strengths:
Power handling and appearance. also doesnt get as hot as my last unit did.
DTS ES DOLBY EX THX all the usual prefixes.

Weaknesses:
the strength is also its weakness. The pioneer website noted that this recevier will handle dobly digital surround EX and DTS ES . thats all find and dandy. what they fail to mention is that you will need to buy a seperate amp to power the surround back channels. No biggy now as i dont have the space or the speakers, but if i did i would be pissed

Similar Products Used:
Elite VXS27tx, another pioneer receiver and some other lame ones.

Price Paid:  $1100.00 from Local Store

Summary:
Good product. Except the fact that the documentation is in english only. I used them for less than one month, but the film Star Wars was incredible. The sound was very good and the usage of rear surround speaker was very audible. Not too much, not too less.
No compression in explosion or peak sound effect. For your information I used Klipsch reference series for all speaker, except for the sub-woofer that is a Paradigme.

Strengths:
Nice sound, expecially in THX with a THX DVD. Full of power without a lot of noise called "Hummm".

Weaknesses:
Adjusting de sound level of a specific component (ex. Sub woofer). You must go every time in set-up screen using the remote controle. Increasing or decreasing sound volume using remote control. We must be confomfortable with the BAss peak concept to adjust that.

Similar Products Used:
JVC RX888vbk

Price Paid:  $785.00 from Online

Summary:
Brings movies to life, the Dolby Digital sound is great. I'm not sold on the THX and I've rented several THX encoded DVD's to test it out...I can't detect the extra speakers (for which you need to buy an additional amp) having a different audio signal. Maybe THX will get better and I'll be ready.

You can't beat the flexible and sheer number of hookup options. I have all of the below hooked up (in the most optimal fashion) with ALOT of hookups to spare...it's scary just to look at, I'm not looking forward to ever moving it.

Hooked to this receiver:
The Pioneer Elite M-10X THX Amplifier
RePlay TV Digital Video Recorder
Microsoft XBOX gaming system/DVD Player
Toshiba DVD Player
Sony MD Player
Sony double cassette player
Kenwood 200 disc CD player
Digital cable box
Dahlquist 500W Powered Sub
Klipsch Center Channel
DB Dynamics Ellipse series - front L/R
Wharfdale Sapphire 83 - rear L/R
Klipsch Quintet - rear L/R THX

I gave an overall rating of 4 because this receiver is awesome but at the price we all paid [especially everyone else ;) ] you'd expect it to be awesome...if I hadn't needed to purchase the extra amp I would have given it 5 stars.

Strengths:
I love the flexible hookups in back. It can be a bit confusing but you're able to assign the optic audio inputs (several) to the video source...rather than having this pre-assigned for you. I have a ton of audio/video equipment and was never able to hook it all up before the way I wanted. For example, I now have my new XBOX hooked up to this using one of many available fiber optic audio inputs and using one of the 2 available Component Video inputs...ging me the best audio and video possible for games and DVD's! I also have my regular DVD player hooked up to the other component video input and the coax digital audio input...again giving me the best possible audio and video for DVD's and music. The Component Video inputs were a big feature for me - it's nice to run multiple component video sources into the receiver and only run a single out to your video source. Most receivers, until you get in the $1000-2000+ range, don't even have component video (better than s-video) inputs/outputs. I find the sound quality and power to be excellent...it makes me want to sue Kenwood for passing by old receiver off as "high-end". The Subwoofer power/signal is excellent, which is probably expected but I've had problems with other receivers in the past with the subwoofer function. The remote is pretty good and I like the fact that it's backlit - it's a bit busy and I doubt I'll take the time to program all my other stuff into it so I'm nore sure how hard that is or how well it works. But if everything else is an indication it will work great.

Weaknesses:
Although I got this for a steal...brand new for under $800 with the S/H, I was a little disappointed to learn that I needed to spend another $400-500 for an external amp to drive the second set of rear surround speakers (look on eBay, I got it brand new for $315 from soundpros.com). This is the only way to take advantage of the THX function. I'm not sure it was worth it but I went ahead and got it...just to be on the safe side.

Similar Products Used:
This is the first really high-end receiver I've ever owned so I'm not sure "similar" is the right word, but prior to this I owned a Kenwood VR-3080. This Pioneer blows it out of the water and the Kenwood had an MSRP of around $1300 (it did have a cool LCD remote). If you can find this for under $1000 you should buy the truckload and sell all but one on eBay...if you have to pay over $1000 you're still getting the best receiver I listened to...period, at any price range.