Been using this equipment for about a month now and loving every minute of it. I can't believe how well this receiver performs for how little I paid for it, $750! From the moment I listened to my favorite Bela Fleck CD I new I had made an excellent purchase! The power jump from my old receiver(100 WT per chnl, yeah right!) was astonishing to say the least, I can actually feel bass from my surrounds finally! Setting up via the onscreen interface was a joy and very easy to do. The S2 S-Video switching is very good as well, I can't notice a difference between going directly to the TV or thru the receiver. I'm very impressed with all the features and flexibility this unit brings to my home theater and will be very happy for years to come!

I use Klipsch
KLF-20 - fronts
KLF-C7 - center
KSP-S6 - surrounds
Mirage PS-12 x2(front&rear)subs
Pioneer ElitE DV-05
Sony KV35V68 - Television

I Seriously considered buying unit after comparing specs with Yamaha RXV-995. They both have similair specs, but the Pioneer Elite was about $125 less than the Yamaha. When I went to try it out the system looked and felt so cheap that just turned me off. The front panel is made out of a cheapest plastic known to man. It made this otherwise great reciever, look like a toy. For $750-900, I don't want something to look so cheap, no matter how it sounded. Go with the Yamaha and don't let your friends laugh at you for paying good money for cheap looking Receiver. Elite series my a**.

To Payne and B Stern,
Your review has nothing to do with sound quality or such. BTW, the correct spelling is SLEAZY and NOT SLEEZY. If you guys don't like Pioneer product, that's fine, however, it's best to do so AFTER you guys actually use the product for at least a week.

Well, I'm a studio owner, musician, teacher, and producer who is currently working in three different countries. I know what sounds accurate (maybe not necessarily great for the both of you), and Pioneer Elite series from 24TX and above is as accurate as you can get for the price you pay.

Bought the Pioneer after looking at the Onkyo 575, Denon 3300, and Yamaha 795a and 995. The THX Ultra certification was a deciding factor. Also, I was very impressed with the build quality of the unit and the fact that it is one of the few receivers at the price that's Made in Japan. Music sounds wonderful and movies doubly wonderful. There is a direct input that bypasses tone controls etc, that renders music with superb clarity and purity. Surround effects are captured with impressive realism and the unit is absolutely quiet. No noise, hiss etc emanating from the speakers, and the unit itself is mechanically very quiet (no wayward transformer noise).
Setup is very easy (nice on screen menus), the remote has built in codes and is learning, and the dsp modes are quite useable out of the box and adjustable if you feel they overdo it.

The unit will remember the dsp mode selected for each of the inputs. The only thing lacking is component video switching. Since my TV has two component video inputs, this is not a problem for me.

Anyone who is in the market for a receiver in this price range should take a serious look at this unit. Anyone who is reading these posts looking for opinions, should take into account whether someone has actually heard and played with a piece before lending any credance whatsover to the poster's opinion. I voted with my pocket and love this unit.

I just bought IMAX:SuperSpeedway, and i was totally blown away by the sonic performance of my VSX-26! This DVD is hands down the BEST source of DolbyDigitalsound I have ever heard. I had the volume set at -20db through the whole movie!!
(thats prettyloud for my system) and man was I shell shocked! Trust me: ALL OWNERS OF THE VSX-26 GO GET THIS DVD RIGHT NOW. It's also THX Certified Sound&Picture?? If that even means anything. All I'm saying is that this receiver KICKS ASS and this disc really shows off it's ability!

Features, price, performance, looks, build quality.

None found yet...

This receiver is a great performer at a fantastic price. I paid less than $700 retail for this unit and am continually amazed. Several people below talk about volume settings. I normally watch TV set at -25dB to -30dB depending upon ambient sound levels and what I'm watching. I watch movies at between -20dB and -10dB, louder for a real thrill with some dynamite action movies like The Matrix. What amazes me is that THX reference level is 0dB! Try it - it'll literally blow you away. In my small room it is almost unbearable - I can't wait to move into my new home and setup a new Atlantic Technology THX speaker system and crank it up to reference level on some of my THX Laserdiscs or DVDs. The receiver is extremely versatile and sounds as good or better than the VSX-09TX it replaces. I've auditioned speakers using receivers and separates at twice the price and I've never heard anything better.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite VSX-09TX

The Sound Qaulity is superb and the controls easy the manage. I love the fact that this reciever is THX Ultra certified with DTS and Dolby Digital all for the same price as most other companies are putting out Dolby Digital only recievers.

The only drawback to this reciever is that face seems to hold fingerprints like they're gold...otherwise flawless.

I would highly recommend this piece to anyone looking for outstanding quality sound without the outstanding price tag! I have been absolutely thrilled with this reciever's performance and ease of use. "Elite" says it all!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Onkyo, Sony Dolby Pro-Logic recievers. This is my first Digital receiever.

Great Remote, Lay out of settings is done very well.

Bass and Treble controls are only adjustable in Stereo Mode.

I have had the reciever for about one month now. I have to say that setup is very easy and the manuel is very well written. I am a casual listener so I settled for a Cabridge Soundworks Tower III speakers for my front and left. A powered 12 subwoofer. And there top of the line surround and center channel. I will upgrade these in a year or so, when I get have more money to get serious and all. I want to get some THX certified speakers to go with the THX reciever.
Over all I am very please with the way this revievers slams these speakers. Movies sound great and I do not here any hiss in the back of these speakers. Even when there is nothing playing and the volume is all the way up. I barely hear any thing. I find that all the listening modes are clean and everything seems to flow nicely. Everyday I find out more and more stuff on this thing, so I don't think I have done all the fine tunning but so far I think it all sounds great.
I would reccomend this to any one who is serious about good sound and wants a reciever who wants lots of possiblities.
Also when its loud there is no hint of distortion any where in the speakers.
I got the whole speaker packaage from Cambrige for around 1000 and the 26TX from Uncle Stereo for 695 shipped. Not a bad system for the price I paid. Now I just need a DVD and HDTV for the complete HT experience!!!!

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3300

THX Certification
Remote Ergonimics

Flat sound
No "recent" feature set

My job is mostly high end consulting and installing of Home Theaters in Northern California.

The recent crop of new av receivers has created some home work for me. Just recently I have done some in home testing/selling on the following receivers:

1. Denon 3300
2. Onkyo 777
3. HK AVR500
4. Pioneer 26TX

I used the following configuration: (a customers home which is an atypical situation due to the odd configuration of the room)

Room Size 11 x 18 (Difficult to control sound due to open on one side)
TV: Sony Wega 36"
Speakers:
Infinity RS5 Front (about 10 ft apart and 1 ft from back wall
Infinity CC3 Center (on top of tv)
Infinity QPS Surr (At the sides/rear about 2 ft back and side)
JBL 250 watt 10" sub

The reason for the specific speaker configuration was that these were already in place of the customer's residence..

Denon: Lively Rich Sound! Great Features such as 5 channel stereo, and Component Video Switching! As well as Multi-Surround A&B (I didn't get to use the multi-surround due to the lack of a 2nd set of surround speakers). Very nice features for this level of equipment. The thing I noticed most about the Denon was the purity of the sound. It had absolutely no background noise. I used the DTS most recent demo disk and the results were simply spectatular. Honestly I was very surprised to find the RS5 speakers to have such a dynamic sound. In the past I've only heard the RS5's on lower end equipment (Yam 795 and on a HK AVR45) The sound was much too bright with either of those. On the Denon the staging was incredible. I closed my eyes and could actually believe I was listening to a $2000/pr speaker (Yes! that clear and full). For 5 chan stereo, I'd personally put some RS5's or maybe RS3's for the rear to get a better match as the QPS did well for surround dispursion they would get lost on the one side of the room due to "no wall" The direct radiating RS5's or 3's would have made 5 chan stereo much better. In 5.1 DD for movies, I was very impressed too. The Denon was effortless in pushing even the most detailed sections of action, and I was never tempted to adjust the center channel due to inconsistencies in the vocal track. The thing most impressive was the lack of noise during silent sections. The Denon was absolutely quiet. Even the fan was impossible to hear. (Smart Fan!) Well talking about fans!... Denon, you've make a fan out of me!! Although he, my customer, could afford to buy a Denon 5700, I'm recommending the 3300 due to the incredible value and the fact that he doesn't really need much more power to push those Infinity RS speakers. I have to make a small sub note here, that the combination of the warmth and fullness of the Denon receiver, and the clarity and crispness of the Infinity RS5's, I've definately changed my opinion of the Infinity RS line! Again my hat's off to Denon for making a quality product that can span such a great gap between audiophile quality sound and mainstream componentry to make a near perfect HT Receiver.

Onkyo 777:
Well all the above praise about the Denon may make one think that the Onkyo pale in comparison. I'd have to admit that I was impressed by the quality of the sound and the strength of the detail. I won't be long here due to the fact that there was a discouraging remark and that was a "deal breaker." The center channel had an odd noise that immediately turned my customer off on this unit. (I don't know if it was some interference or what, I didn't really get to tinker long with it since the customer was so negative about his immediate experience. We did however listen to the 5 channel stereo mix, and I was impressed as I was with the Denon. Although the fullness of the sound of the Denon was more complementary of the Infinity RS speakers.

Pioneer 26TX:
Nice unit, has ample power and drives the RS speakers well. The problem here was not anything specific, it just didn't sound very lively! I mean it seemed to have good volume and good bass, but it lacked definition. It was basically flat sounding. It really did nothing for the speakers. I let the customer make his own opinion and he noted the same. He said that it didn't seem to "jump out at you"

HK AVR500:
Wow, for such a very low price point, this unit rocks. I was impressed by the feature set and it did sound quite clear and detailed! The only drawback was the DSP assimilated 5 channel stereo was terrible. The clarity was completely lost, and the rear channels sounded processed. I hate processed music. Now that's my opinion, my customer on the other hand was very impressed with the sound. I actually had to ask him if he heard the reverberation of the rears, and he didn't really recognize it. He thought that was part of the sound of the disk, I then said listen for a few minutes, and then we'll put the Denon back on.
At that point he noticed exactly what I meant by the difference between the two. Overall a very good unit, but don't buy for the music, buy if you are a primarly HT listener.

Here are my results, and my recommendation to my customer.

Denon 3300:
Sound quality: 95 (Full Soundstage and unmatched clarity)
Stereo/Music: 99 (can it be done better at this price?)
Dolby 5.1: 94 (Lack of background noise was amazing)
Remote ergonimics: 89 (could have been much better)
Feature Set: 98 (Improve the remote and nothing touches it!)
Overall: 97

Onkyo 777
Sound quality: 90 (Good Soundstage but center noise)
Stereo/Music: 94 (very close to the Denon 5 chan stereo)
Dolby 5.1: 92 (Somewhat noisy yet detailed and powerful)
Remote ergonimics: 92 (Good remote)
Feature Set: 94 (Missing Component Video switching and multi surrround)
Overall: 92

Pioneer 27TX:
Sound quality: 89 (Ok Soundstage yet simple sounding)
Stereo/Music: 91 (can be done better at this price!)
Dolby 5.1: 94 (Nice 5.1 good mix good power)
Remote ergonimics: 93(Best remote of this group)
Feature Set: 90(Dated features, THX, but nothing else)
Overall: 92

HK AVR500:
Sound quality: 95 (Full Soundstage and great clarity)
Stereo/Music: 90 (Sad 5 chan DSP ok 2 chan)
Dolby 5.1: 94 (Good sound to all channels great detail)
Remote ergonimics: 91 (Nice but pretty generic)
Feature Set: 93 (Nice attempt to DSP the 5 chan, but otherwise good feature set)
Overall: 93

I wholeheartedly recommended the Denon to my customer, the acoustics of his room, plus the complementary sound with his speakers made this choice a "NO BRAINER!" He was very pleased with the decision and gladly paid the consulting fee.

Thank you for your time reading this and if you are in the market for a Home Theater or Audio system for your home, I'd be happy to work with you to make your shopping experience a pleasure, but even more so, your decision a successful one!

Mark

avmaster@consultant.com

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3300
HK AVR500
Onkyo 777

Very well featured THX, DD, DTS

Low level detail

I purchased this unit from Wholesale Connection for a very reasonable price. I received it in two days. I have no complaints and it sounds great with the addition of a sub. The sub will only work when the speakers are changed to the small mode, which limits bass response of the mains. My main concern for mail ordering Elite products is that the company cannot be authorized. I called Pioneer regarding this issue, and they stated if the unit would need repair, that there is a good chance I would have to pick up the tab. I would appreciate any input regarding this concern. Also my unit did not have a Pioneer seal, it was clear tape. I am curious if others were clear. Thanks.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 2095