Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Ultimate electronics

Summary:
Excellent power and tonal delivery. Purchased from Ultimate 3 yrs ago and still works perfectly dispite i've moved 4 times with it (not to smart i know), microphone and mcacc setup works excellent. Running a monster 2250 amp on the front channels (CSW T300's) and the 54tx runs the other 5 CSW speakers in 7.1. Sounds great. I love that i can tune everything if i want or let the reciever do it all. Sings beautifully!

Slight backround noise at extremely low volume is the only downfall that i've got. I can't get rid of it. I'm using the monster 3600 power center and all Z series monster and i still have the slight hiss. It's enough to drive you crazy especially when you spend $400 on interconnects, $500 on the power center, $200 on the speaker cables and i still get it. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Strengths:
Power, looks, connections, mcacc setup, great remote, 7.1, sounds great with any speaker

Weaknesses:
Head noise! Slight hiss makes it sound like i'm at a live concert with 100 of Jimmy Hendrix's amps humming while i'm trying to pay attention to Kill Bill 2's monologues

Similar Products Used:
Denons full line, kenwoods soveriegn, onkyo

Price Paid:  $499.00 from Magnolia HiFi

Summary:
I picked up the 52TX as a replacement for my old Sony 333ES. I wasn't actually expecting to hear much of a difference running the 52TX over my M&K speaker system. Boy was I wrong! The 52TX has quite a bit of audible headroom and the MCACC automatic tuning function works great (much to my surprise)! I think the auto tuning actually works better than dialing in the speaker distance & SPL manually. Especially with the speaker distance, it seems to take into account the accoustics of the room rather than just the measured distances.

Pearl Harbor and Star Wars EP 3 sound fantastic with the THX mode on. The Dolby ProLogic IIx and DTS Neo6 was a nice upgrade from my old Sony.

Also, the video upconversion feature works like a champ. I have my Tivo deck running in via S-Video, my VCR via Composite and DVD via Component.

Strengths:
MCACC Automatic Tuning
Good amount of power
Video Up-Conversion to Component Video
Easy to use on-screen menu setup menu system

Weaknesses:
THD not as impressive as others in class .09% (my old Sony was .06%)
Video Up-Conversion Bandwidth only 40Mhz (not sure if this will be a problem with HD broadcasts or not).

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood Sovereign, Sony ES, Denon

Price Paid:  $760.00 from 6th Avenue Electroni

Summary:
Do not buy this receiver. It has a problem recording video (and yes, I am certain that I hooked up the receiver properly). I read the online knowledge base, and it doesn't address the problem. I sent 5 e-mails to customer support, and they only asked me questions about my setup. They never made a single suggestion. I called the customer support phone line, and after putting me on hold for an extended period of time, the representative was only able to read me the manual. Yes - the same manual I used in setting up the receiver. I then called the corporate office, and have received no response despite leaving multiple messages.


The fact is that every product has its glitches and quirks, and that nothing is ever perfect. However; there is no excuse for not supporting their product. This is supposed to be Pioneer's Elite product. They should have someone who can answer a basic question about it.

Strengths:
Nice sound.

Weaknesses:
Doesn't record video properly. The lack of customer support alone makes my decision to never buy another Pioneer product again.

Similar Products Used:
Sony STR-915 (Old, but it worked).