Price Paid:  $200.00 from Frys

Summary:
The receiver has plenty of beef being 100watts per channel.For being entry level i think it has clean sound especially with dts 5.1.

Strengths:
Remote, sound

Weaknesses:
No prologic II, of course the receiver is 2000 model before pl II

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This receiver is a piece of junk really. I will not even buy this thing for a 100 bucks in the yard sale. Fit for teenagers below 18 years of age or novices who like to fiddle around with a low-end piece of equipment and not concentrate on sound quality.

Try a Denon instead.

Strengths:
Putting some sound out from your speakers that's about it.

Weaknesses:
Putting some sound out from your speakers that's about it.

Similar Products Used:
Denon AVR-3801,3802, AVC-A1SE

Price Paid:  $87.00 from e-bay

Summary:
This unit is everything that I expected in a medium price receiver. The manual and the remote is very critical to the operation of this receiver. I downloaded the 60 page manual from the Pioneer site.

My first 5.1 system, I have a set of epi speakers that fill the room with great surround sound. During movies, the clear sound effects from the rear speakers will startle my wife. Digital cable from the DVD and optical from the CD make for very clear sound.

I have no idea how old the unit was when I bought it, but has worked very reliably.

Strengths:
The remote is very versatile, operates all other electronics in the room. Good clean sound from the system.

Weaknesses:
The Dolby and synthesized 5 channel settings degrade the sound. I leave it on stereo for FM, TV and VCR. No input for my great 70’s phonograph. The back panel is not intuitive for wiring, several speakers having different kinds of connections, circuitous outlines to indicate inputs and outputs. The manual is essential.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This receiver is crap. It only came with a one-year warranty, and right after my warranty expired (it was manufactured in August of 2001, it's now December of 2002), my front left channel just died. Not like fuzzy sound or anything, it is completely dead. I've sound checked everything, Pioneer doesn't know what's wrong. Pioneer has gone downhill - this is my second Pioneer component that has died in the last 2 months (the last was a progressive scan DVD player). I'm never buying from them again.

Price Paid:  $329.00 from random online store

Summary:
I have been happy with this unit for more than a year, using it primarily for home theater/DVDs. The remote is nice enough that I was able to put away 5 others. BUT, two things: I upgraded my front speakers to an $800 pair of Klipsch RF-3II floor speakers and my receiver's warranty expired last month. This combination, of course, caused my receiver to fail critically. (note: I was pulling my new speakers out of their boxes when the receiver died! I hadn't even touched it yet)
As mentioned in several other reviews here, the receiver now displays an OVERLOAD message about 20 secs to 2 mins into using it and then it powers itself off. It does this every time. I hadn't changed any configuration. I am using digital input, not analog, as the manual mentions a strong analog signal can cause this.
So, I was happy, but now it's a paper weight.

Strengths:
Sounds great.
Nice remote (I'll be keeping it.)

Weaknesses:
Died after 15 months.
Fragile.
Not truely powerful when it did work.