Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Picked up the Pioneer Elite VSX-49TX for only $475.00 on Craigs List! I new that I had made a good deal but until I got it home and spent about 8 hrs listening and tweeking did I realize just how good this reciever is. One of the reasons it was sold is because it has no HDMI support. Who cares!! You can't even come close to this kind of sound for less than 2 or 3 thousand bucks! I had to add more support to my wall unit because of the 67lbs. I am running my Pioneer Blu-Ray players analog outs to the 7.1 input's for DTS HD and Dolby HD. Also running in 5.1 and bi amp the front speaders with the extra amp. The DA convert is fantastic for DVD
and I am back to just listening to STEREO again. If you can find one buy it It will last a lifetime! Built in Japan

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
The unit will clip at 4ohm load or less, true........if you fail to read the manual and set the speaker option to "large". The 49tx has a default set to small intially..lol.

With that said...this receiver is the shizzle!!!! I heard wood sticks before drum impacts and could tell distance and space changes. Is it a krell...heck no!! But at 500 bucks....you get 4000 buck sound. What gets me is the smooth natral tones..no bass or treble...just music and actual sounds of the objects recorded.

Class D amp power rocks....if you have never heard tube like buttery, natural, scary referance A/B MOSFET juice. The caps inside my recever are bigger than a can of V8 juice and the transformer feel like its stuck in the powerfull gravitational pull of a black hole when I attemp to pick up my unit. lol People think I'm a mad man because they hear breaking glass and sounds of crashing items that must be real! It aint baby....its the pioneer dear...fear the neer!!!!

Your wife will drop dishes and pets will stay out of the room. People will knock on your door asking it your ok.

Price Paid:  $4000.00 from Aurora video audeo B

Summary:
This is the best av receiver that I could find .
This receiver blew away all the Denon,sony,yamaha,harmon kardon receivers that I could find in their top models. To compare I used lord of the rings 1 and Dare devil for movies and bass mekanic audeo demo disks with my klipsch RF-7 fronts RC-7 center and two pair of RF-5 forsurrounds. I never hert any of the receivers but after an hour at about 95% volume they all had isues except the 49 txi the only one that would keep up at all for claritey was the Harmon Kardon 7300. It only held clean up to about 75% of the volume. The TXI 49 was clean up to plus 2 on the volume from minus 80 and it actuley ran cooler at higher volumes then at lower the compotition all ran way hoter then I was comfertabol with. I realy enjoy the way this receiver up converts all of the video to component. So you do not have to fidle with each home theater piece.
The front panel diming option is nice as well. there are plenty of hook up options for many home theater components.
The remote is completely un mached by any of the compotition you can create your own butons and label them. This unit also gets realy good radio reception. For more info go to ultimate av for a profesinal review.

Strengths:
Un mached power and clairitey.
Beautiful piece of equipment.
Easy to use for those technologicley impaired people.
Best construction of a receiver.
Still Black.

Weaknesses:
Heavy

Similar Products Used:
Technics 910 Yamaha rx-v750,Sony str-da-9000,denonavr-5800 and harmon kardon 7300

Price Paid:  $2600.00 from Sound Advice

Summary:
THE BEST!!!! If you want the best, stop your search now.

Strengths:
Sound quality, build quality, ease of use, beautiful design & finish, great remote, made in Japan, copper plated chassis, great D/A converters & amps, MCACC setup, excellent manual, built like a brick you know what, great value at $2600.

Weaknesses:
When unit is turned off, red standby LED is too bright at night. That's the ONLY weakness this unit has!

Similar Products Used:
Nothing else comes close to this Pioneer.

Price Paid:  $2600.00 from www.acousticsounddes

Summary:
This is Pioneer's top of the line receiver. This has been a big stepup from my previous Sony receiver. Sound is just awesome for both HT and music, very natural indeed. And the MCACC feature definitely makes a difference in sound. Turning this feature on make the speakers blend very nicely (I'm temporarily using JBL surrounds with Klipsch Reference mains/center). The video up-conversion is very practical, as only 1 connection is needed between the receiver and TV. The control is also pretty good, it can pretty much control all your HT gear.

Pioneer VSX-49TX
Klipsch RF-5s
Klipsch RC-7
JBL surrounds (upgrading soon)
SVS 20-39 PC+

Strengths:
Build quality, remote, MCACC, video upconversion

Weaknesses:
none