THX certified. 7.1 Support. Both DDEX and DTS 6.1 support, Air Studios Sound Tuning(for the automatic setup),Metal front panel and metal knobs, remote.

weight... its damn heavy

I decided it was time to update my old HT system. I was using the Kenwood 1080VR which served my needs then (cheapest DD5.1 AVR at the time) and wanted to get something that was good for music, had support for everything currently including THX, was a higher end model instead of the mass market crowd and didn't break the bank. Hard to find all that in one box for under $1000.00. I was going to initially purchase the NAD T762 on the advice of my friend, who is an audiophile, but the price of 1200.00 was a little steep for my budget. After all, I still had a new TV, new Sub, new Speakers to purchase. I was reading reviews here and decided to check out the Denon 3802, Some various Yamaha systems and the Pioneer Elite VSX-45TX. I went to Good Guys to listen to the yamahas and denons they had there. I was very impressed. Since Good Guys had the Klipsch Speakers I was planning on buying, it was a good place to go so I can hear the receiver with the actual speakers I was going to use. I was in luck as they had the Denon 3802 on one set and in another room, they had a Yamaha AVR (Can't remember the model). I was ready to get the DENON 3802, but I really wanted a AVR that also was THX certified. Denon's THX certified AVR was the 4802R and it was 2K, way over budget. I knew the VSX-45TX was THX certified, but I really couldn't find someplace that had it in stock, set up and ready to check out. I found hometheaterphiles.com and saw their price was 689.99. Some other places like Crazyeddies.com was close. I decided to take a chance. It was everything I wanted, the reviews were good and I purchsed the VXS-45TX unheard. It came in a week later, 1 day earlier then FEDEX promised. Over a weekend, my friend helped me wire everything and setup the new system. We got the Klipsch RF-15 line for the speakers (RF15 ,RC25, RS25, RW10). I have to say the performance is superb. I cannot hear any distortion. I love the Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration. It is superb. I can't figure out all those settings and tweaks so I am glad it did it for me. I enjoy watching movies in THX mode. It seems to add a little more soundspace to the Dolby Digital. DD sounds like a small room, but in THX mode, it sounds like its a cinema. 2.1 channel music was a little funky because I had to go back to the speaker setup and change the fronts from the large as discovered by the reciever to small so the bass would go to the LFE pass to the sub. After that small tweak, the music is alive and the bass is coming from the correct source (sub, not the mains) and I am very happy. I learned alot by going through this process. The fact that I have 7.1 channel support is going to be great for THX DVDs (like atack of the clones) since its optimized for 7.1.) I will purchase the last two surround speakers soon to complete the system. Just a awesome system with no weaknesses.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood 1080VR, Denon 3802.

This will be my final post on this forum. In the past I have found a lot of useful information. However, it has lately reduced itself due to the lack of serious devotion in user sincerity. I have had this unit for almost a year, and I am extremely satisfied with it. I took the time to bring four (4) receivers into my house and compare them equally for thirty (30) days. The units I auditioned were as follows: Denon 3802, Elite 45tx, HK 525, Yamaha 2300. All of the tested units were within a similar price range. My conclusions are as follows: In theater mode (DD or DTS) there was not a huge difference between units. I was a little upset at the Denon 3802 for blowing my center channel (I found another user who had the same problem). Overall, I would say the Elite and HK seemed to have the most punch in the mid-bass and the most refined sound. The Denon's remote was a complete nightmare, followed closely by the Yamaha's. HK and Elite were much more ergonomic and easier to program. The Yamaha was a very clean and easy to use unit, but it did not stand up to the sonic presence of the HK or Elite. The Denon is a nice unit, but my view was screwed after the blown center channel issue. If one only wants a unit for HT use, any of the above should fill the bill. I am a two (2) channel music fan; always have been, always will be. This is where the receivers started to differ.... I could go on about the reasons why I preferred certain units over others, but this forum is no longer worth my time. I will conclude by stating that anyone who is serious about owning this level of product should evaluate the units for themselves. Most products within a given price point will perform similarly. There is a difference in output quality from one product to the next, but not everyone will notice it. Perhaps the strongest reason to chose one product over the other for readers of this forum will depend on features/options. In this regard, to each his own. Find the product that best suits your needs and don't look back. In general, I am very impressed with the Elite vsx-45tx. It handles all of my needs and impresses those who visit. I could rant on about the accolades of this receiver, but better advice is issued elsewhere. For those of you readers who post five (5) star ratings for products you haven't received yet, for those of you readers who post one (1) star ratings for products you've never auditioned; I leave this forum to you.

Very well built and designed for simplicity. Very attractive looking without all kinds of crazy lights and displays on the front panel. Powerfull and clean sounding Versatile (can connect to a PC) Great remote and manual

Its heavy weight may limit where most people can place this machine

After reading so many good reviews on this product, and having great success with pioneer products for many years I decided to purchase the VSX-45tx. I comapared this product against the Denon avr-3803 and the sony str-da4es. even though the Denon and Sony had more features the Pioneer featured the auto-macc acoustic calibration system which is awesome. I had this receiver set up and sounding great in 30- minutes (including all the wiring). Within 2-weeks I made all the fine adjustments necessary to maximize the sound and I am very happy with this product. Not to mention that the sound fields are totally customizable and this receiver memorizes 2- separate custom settings as well as the Macc setting. The remote is great and controls everything in my theatre room perfectly. The hi-bit sampling feature gives most audio sources a degree of clarity that I never heard in most of my music. As far as the video section goes I have not experienced any noticable signal loss even though all my video sources are switched through the receiver. Having the receiver handle all the switching gives you the ultimate in control and ease of operation.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer vsx-411 Sony Str-da4es Pioneer 811 a multitude of aold Sony avr's

wow! cant wait to hook up this up been shopping around for this model for a long time had to drive 60 miles around trip to buy it Brand new less than $850

I have been using the VSX D2011 (Elite 45TX) for two months. I haven’t used any Pioneer home audio product before. Aside its incredibly clean sound, I find its “automatic multi channel acoustic calibration EQ system” highly successful. With the aid of the supplied microphone, not only does it do automatic channel level and delay adjustments but also timbre matching of each speaker thanks to its internal equaliser, all in less than 10 minutes. It’s like, not only buying the product itself, but also taking a whole crew of technicians from Pioneer and Air Studios to home to do the extensive calibration job. Its bass management circuitry allows selection of 50 Hz. as subwoofer crossover frequency. I find this very convenient for owners of large speakers with flat response down to 40 Hz. Crossing the sub at this low frequency allows the sub to be at its best at the lowest octave. Unfortunately Yamaha receivers for example, have a fixed crossover frequency at 90 Hz. allowing no selections, even for their flagship models. Its sound is transparent and airy. Distortion does not rise gradually as the volume goes up. The sound is always clean. I haven’t yet met its clipping point. Its built quality is exemplary. I like the fact that its front panel doesn’t have any mechanical potentiometers (volume, tone or balance controls) or switches to get oxidised and turn into noise makers in a couple of years. I had used my previous 2 channel integrated amplifier for nearly 20 years. I hope to enjoy this product just as long. I didn’t experience any heat problem. I didn’t ever hear the back fan kick in. Sometime after the switch on, the receiver stabilises at a lukewarm temperature, typical class AB amplifier behavior. I didn’t ever witness any rise in this temperature and the fan switching on even at continuous high volumes. On the downside: (1) I could do tape monitoring while recording onto my 3-head cassette deck with my old integrated. It’s not possible with this, or any other AV receiver. (2) Its phono input (mm) has an undefeatable rumble filter that shaves some of the deepest bass. On the bright side I don’t use the cassette deck or the turntable much anymore. And yes, the learning remote control is totally satisfactory. It now controls everything in the living room including the air conditioner.

Looks as good as it sounds

The weight?

This is a review for the Pioneer 2011, which is called TX 45 in the USA. I must say I'm pretty impressed with this amplifier. It really rocks like it should do. Please try out the 5 channel stereo, pretty nice or what?.

extended high and excellent mid.

It get unsually hot. I hate the fan; It get loud when watching movie at night (but THX certify AVR require a fan)

Great for the money so I dont want to say anything bad here. But I certainly wouldnt say that the vsx-45tx is better than the denon avr-3803. When watching "the Matrix" and "Dark City" the Denon sound fuller and richer in mid and lower band and warm. The pioneer sound a little thinner in the mid. I certainly like the extended high of the pioneer but it's a little dry. The dialog from the denon is more natural than the pioneer, but then the denon has the most natural dialog when compare to any other brands' receivers. When listening to "Redshoe diaries" sound track and the show on Showtime, and easy listening stuffs like Barbra Streisand, Bette Middle and Richie Lionel.., and SACD Carmina Burana, the denon sound much warmer than the pioneer. But because of the warm side, the denon seemed to loose some extreme high resolution. This is why I like the extended high of the pioneer. A note for the other viewer: When compare volume in numbers, remember that it's digital volume; therefore, the number mean nothing. But if you have to have to look at the numbers, the avr-3803 volume go down to 0 then up to +18, but the pioneer Vsx-45tx only go down to 0.

Similar Products Used:

I own -DV-47ai -3prs of mission 780se's(one of the best speakers out there.) i use one single for the center(lie horizontally,) one pair for the front, one pair for the surround and one single

Built quality, sound reproduction in 2ch stereo. just enough input someone would need, a USB input for my pc so I can play my mp3's

A better remote would have been nice and video conversion.

Never being a pioneer owner, I wanted to buy a decent receiver that would last me a couple years. The most important thing is that the audio reproduction quality had to be there since I'm more into music then video. I brought the Elite VSX-41 and returned it a week later not because it wasn't a nice unit but it sounded a little too bright. I then compare side by at a local dealer (6ave) the Denon 3803 and 4802 to Elite VSX-45tx and I was amaze at the differences between these units. both denon units had more inputs and watts/ch then the pioneer. Not that I'm nocking the denon's out but I gotta say, even though the denon are rated with more watts per ch, the eliete still kick butt. Listening to 3803 from the same source and speakers at the dealer, I was able to do a side-by-side comparison with the units including the higher level denon the 4802 and the pioneer was still a better piece. The salesman who was trying to sale me on the denon was supprise when switching back and for on the receivers the musical was playing. I had the denon 3803 and the elite on the same volume level as the denon in pure direct stereo mode on both units with no sub playing the police greatest hits. The elite volume level was on -30 and I had to bring the 3803 down to -19 to get the same sound level and quality. then I tried to 4802 against the elite still -30 and I had to bring the 4802 down -25 to get the same level and quality. The denon 3803 is rated at 110x7 The denon 4802 is rated at 125x7 The Elite VSX-45tx is rated at 100x7 go figure!!!! The 3803/4802 from denon are wonderful units but in the end I went with the elite samply because it sounded better. weigh a ton though

Similar Products Used:

Tested Denon avr-3803 and 4802, and Pioneer elite VSX-41

clean power, amazing decoding capabilities acoustic calibration,motorola dual dsp processors(48 bit both)built quality, looks, remote and.............

i dont think you can find any you gonna love that machine!!!

before i bought vsx 45tx i was at the cross roads vsx 45tx or avr 3803?? i must say both are great but my decision was based on auto calibration feature. that feature sets reciever to maximum quality.( my room is very difficult acousticly) sound of that machine is far better than any reciever i audition. pionner is not better than denon is just different. there is no question of sound quality of vsx 45tx it is a killer. the acoustic calibration is amazing feature and i dont know if anybody( with exeption than you are expert with great calibration equipment) could set and calibrate the system that good.if you are torn like i was let your ears be the judge it just like pioneer better it sounds very natural you dont even have to touch tone settings to get clean powerful sound. any way you go you got a winner but please see what vsx 45tx can do and believe me you gonna go home like me with pioneer. good hounting

Similar Products Used:

denon avr 3803, hk 525, vsx 43tx

MCACC Remote DSP Ease of use

at 48lbs it is a bit heavy

Bought VSX-45TX after trying Denon 3802, Marantz and Harmon Kardon. I have hooked it up with all Klipsch speakers, a pair of Sb2, an SC1, 2 pairs of SS1 and a KSW10 sub woofer. Selcted Klispch becoz of their high sensitivity and fidelity. DSP is great in this receiver and the depth and distinction for both DVds and music CDs is amazing. MCACC is a feather in its cap and sets itself completely within 15 mins. Will be trying the expert set up later. Watched Hell Freezes Over -Eagles with 5.1 DTS. Clarity was right to sounds of fingers squeaking on the guitar strings.Value for money for anybody looking for a middle ground between simplicity and performance