Easy to setup and use.

Hard to read display.

I'm having an issue with my recent SC-25 purchase. Twice now the unit has gone into a state of unresponsiveness. The power on button is lit and the LCD states POWER ON but the unit is unresponsive to any remote or front panel buttons. The first time, I figured a hard power cycle would fix it by removing the power plug and then after a minute plugging back in - but that didn't seem to help, it stayed in the same state. I messed with the power plug a bit more and it seemed to come out of that mode and it was fine for about 5-6 days. Now today, my daughter acidently turned the unit off and then back on and it's in that same mode "POWER ON" and unresponsive.

Any ideas?

Finally bought a new Pioneer Elite receiver to replace my 8-year old version. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I started watching TV and Movies, I could hear the improved sound processing, and noticed better distribution between all channels. Sound quality is just awesome. The auto-calibration set-up was very easy. HDMI upswitching is key althoug I rarely watch any content any more that is not HD. I bought the reciever for audio and video quality and solid build.

The unit is not without it's minor quirks:
- Setup. It always seems like it's 50/50 that I can get the set-up guide to come on the TV. Never know if it's gonna work over HDMI. I couldn't get it to work for a long time before realizing that if Zone 2 were turned on, it wouldn't show on the TV? I could never figure that one out.
- Zone 2. The Zone 2 only supports analog audio. Disappointing as I wish it would support Digital.
- Zone 2 Speakers. I had to use two of the allotments for 7.1 channels for Zone 2 speakers. Seems like it should support 7.1, PLUS have two allotments for Zone 2 speakers. That being said - I still love the Zone 2.
- Home Media Guide. Makes it look like a 1980s Radio Shack TRS-80. I mean come-on. For the price equal to a top PC, the home media guide interface could be a lot better.
- Remote. The remote for my 8 year old VSX-35TX was better. Again, for $1000, this is pretty weak remote.
- HDMI switching - all the HDMI switches are off one-button on the remote- you have to hit HDMI 1, HDMI 2, HDMI 3 - if you are switching 3 HDMI inputs. I'd prefer one-button touch on the remote. Maybe I can re-assign them, but it's not intuitive.

2 months so far - so very good! I have a set of magnepan .6 QR and the ICE POWER IS AMAZING... for solid state- stable power to dive maggies is a very nice that I didnt have to buy a specific 4 ohm avr or amp. At half the cost compared to other high end audiophile products is well very pleasing to your ears and our wallets. The other features seem to work very well- more bells and whisltes that I wont ever use and with 145 watts per channel and at 7.1 ss it sounds great, 4 hdmi, speaker calibration tool is nice as well.... best ban for your buck in avr ...5 stars buy buy buy. I got mine for 975 bucks retail 1800.....