Summary:
I had been using a pro-logic Kenwood 9020 for years. It was Kenwoods top AV receiver at the time I Purchased it. The Kenwood sold new for $750 in 1991 and was rated at 135 watts for the front and 20 for the rear. When the time came to upgrade to digital I went for the Pioneer. I just don't spend top dollar for equipment like I used to and was curious as to what kind of performance I could get on a budget. To my surprise the system delivered bass that I never heard before. It has turned out to be a great unit delivering a level of performance equal to units costing $200 more. Overall a lot of bang for the buck.

Strengths:
bass

Weaknesses:
remote

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood, Yamaha

Price Paid:  $180.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
First of all, I must say I was lucky to find this receiver for only $180. I was shopping around for a solid receiver for my son's room, so I set a budget at $200. I went to Circuit City and found the 557 in an "open box" condition. At the time, I heard nothing about this particular unit and was acting solely upon my faith in the Pioneer name (I own some Elite equipment). The guys at CC misplaced the remote, so they ordered me another one. I didn't really care because I now use Pronto remotes to control everything in the house including my ceiling fan.

I brought the receiver home and immediately connected it to my son's TV and DVD player (Sony Wega 27" and Toshiba SD1600). I put my old Paradigms into my son's room and they are a perfect fit into the limited space. I was amazed at the sound quality. Even without a sub, the Paradigms produced bass that I never knew they had in them! I checked the x-over freqs and found the default setting for the front mains were set to "large." I tried both large and small settings, and although the speakers are small, the large setting seemed to drive them much nicer. I must say, even though the unit lacks S-video jacks and doesn't decode DTS, it fits my application just perfectly. I have the DVD's S-video going directly into the Wega so no problem there. Also, there aren't too many DVDs that have DTS (not yet at least).

For the time being, the 557 serves its purpose like a charm. The CD input in the back no longer works, but I'm not using that input anyways. Also, this unit has bass to spare...even without a sub, if you have decent speakers capable of decent low frequencies, you'll be fine.

Strengths:
Awesome value. The bass is incredible. High power.

Weaknesses:
Remote, subwoofer out does not work in stereo mode, CD input no longer works

Similar Products Used:
Sony STR-DE605, Toshiba SD-6109C

Summary:
Bought this gizmo primarily for playing music. However, I was glad I took the time to research inputs, DSPs, and all that good stuff. I'm officially out of inputs, which may be a minor failing of the amp. On the up side, I've yet to clip it out and the 5.1 works great. My one gripe, however, is that the subwoofer doesn't seem to work when the amp isn't in a DSP or Dolby mode. Odd stuff. No mention of it in the manual, and there is no assistance from Pioneer on the web.

Overall, I'm satisfied, and if it wasn't discontinued, I'd definitely tell the newbie to pick one up. It's made me appreciate the options that are available for A/V systems. It's actually made me kinda snooty... now I want a dirty-big Yamaha.

System:
Front spearkser: Bose 301 IV
center channel: Bose VCS-10
Subwoofer: JBL PSW-D112
Rear Surrounds: KEF bookshelves
CD: Nakamichi CDC 200
MD: Sony MDS-JE320
DVD: Sony (connected with the only available optical input)
TV: Zenith 30"

Strengths:
Ample power at a sensible price. Dolby decoder built in.

Weaknesses:
Remote. Manual is miserable, and it showed the wrong Remote. Can the subwoofer be run without a DSP or Dolby mode? Nobody seems to know!

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood, Sony

Summary:
Bought it refurbished for $200 off of ubid.com. Looked at Kenwood VR-309, but this was cheaper and DTS movies aren't that prevalent. Can't complain about anything about it, except the remote, but considering the price, I still came out on top. I would recommend to just about anyone.

Strengths:
Good bass. Great value for the money.

Weaknesses:
Remote should be trashed.

Similar Products Used:
First receiver I've ever bought.

Summary:
the svx-d557 I found it to be easy to listen to,how ever I did not like the fact that I have to listen in pro-logic mode with the center channel off in order to use my sub-woofer when listing in stereo mode only. I wish it
had a few more dsp's and a better remote. Some movies which
I watched in pro-logic mode like independance day made my reciecer overload at certain action scenes,I dont know why.
I have recently added an EQ to enhance the sound when listening to music. It makes an incredible difference and I get deeper bass response from my main spkrs. I am still searching for the right dvd player for my reciever, can't figure out if a dts feature on a dvd player can work on my reciver which it self is missing this feature. The matrix was by far the best movie I've watched on my home theatre, with explosive sounds which the reciever managed to deliver!
I kind of rushed when i bought this and feel maybe I could
of bought something better for a few hundred bucks more
but overall i am satisfied with this product.

Strengths:
value for money

Weaknesses:
remote control