Price, THX certification, remote

Manufacturing defects, runs fairly hot

I've been extremely satisfied with my receiver except for two issues that required repair due to poor manufacturing: 1. The physical power button stopped working after about a year. The remote continued to work. I fixed this by removing the shell, front panel, and then re-soldering the jumpers from the small power switch board to the larger front panel board. 2. After four years my unit developed the infamous no sound problem. Generally the sound would start working after a 20 minute warm-up. Pioneer support was willing to sell me a new unit at a discounted price. The prices were slightly better than what could be found on the internet for new gear. Instead, I took the advice of another message on this board and called Sybesma's Electronics in Michigan (800)456-4265. I spoke to a technician who explained that Sybesma's has special re-manufacturing equipment that allows them to safely re-solder the tiny pins on IC9374 on the DSP board. I removed the DSP board from my receiver (it's the board inside the 'tin can' on the right side of the unit), mailed it in, and had it back within two weeks. After replacing the board my unit is working perfectly. Total cost was $50 + shipping. I'm extremely satisfied with this repair and recommend Sybesma's for fellow VSX26TX owners who have the no sound problem.

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Yamaha receiver

set-up, 2 channel stereo and movie watching.

Connections are to close together. When listening to music on direct mode the soundstage sounds somewhat a little laid back but nice and clean. On stereo it sounds a bit edgy but then again it's probably the cd player or my connections.

Yeah! Got the reciever Dec. 2001 and I was really gonna go for the Marantz AVR7000 or sometin'. I decided to stay with the Pioneer since I went through 3 Pioneer recievers anyway and all of them had been good to me. I gave them away to my relatives who do not have a system. They still work even the first one I bought w/ Dolby surround in 1989. The Elite replaced my old Pioneer 9 something (I forgot the model) but I know I got it for about 900.00 plus dollars and have the Dolby Pro-logic. Anyway, I hooked up the Elite to my old Infinity's 3 way bookshelf speakers w/ the Emit tweeters (ribbon) and noticed how much different it sounded. It's a lot cleaner than the pro-logic it replaced. The soundstage is somewhat layback on stereo mode but Ella Fitzgerald sounded real nice. Last I said goodbye to my 14 year old Infinity's which I gave to my Mom and bought the B&W DM602S3 for L&R, LCR600. After hookin up the new speakers and calibrating them (surrounds speakers are AR100m, no sub) I hooked up my old Carver cd player in the Elite and poped in Stan Getz cd (Girl from Ipanema)and Kabang! The sound was amazing, nice bass, high, and the voice oh so center and sweet. I have to double check the center channel to make sure it was not working because the wind instruments was coming right out of the center channel. I like it a lot! On movies, I was watching "We were Soldiers" and found my self docking everytime the Heli starts to unload the soldiers. The shootout sounded great and you can actually feel the velocity of the M-16's. The great soundfield is probably also due to the B&W's because these speakers are so detailed and a lot faster than the older versions. I like it a lot!

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pioneer vsx 9 somethin'

Good sound receiver comparing with Onkyo and others. THX cert. which only can find in high end price receiver.

Connections are too close with each other.

I have read the review before purchased this product. some of reviews were very depressing. I am glad that I purchased this receiver. I have owned this product since year 2000. I still haven't seem any problem with it. It sounds great & crispy. Although the setup is a little bit complicated, but I don't have any problem to deal with it.

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Kenwood, Onkyo, Sony

None, it's just an average receiver

Mentioned in other reviews. There's a basic design flaw in the unit that Pioneer refuses to address if the unit is out of warrenty. Ragardless of how much trouble one has had with the unit while in warrenty.

I wanted to write this review for three reasons. First, to voice my displeasure over my broken Pioneer (it exhibits the no volume for first 20 min. at startup and no volume after changing modes problem that others have mentioned). It's been in for warrenty repair twice and now it looks as though it will be in again for repair at my cost. Regardless of Pioneer's position (the unit is out of warrenty and is not our problem) I still feel like I got much less than my money's worth and will never buy the Pioneer brand again. My second reason is to give this unit the value rating I believe it deserves. Third reason, if anyone reading this knows a solution to the problem, please write to me and let me know. Thanks!

everthing except some

too complicated

I am having problem with this. WHat happens is when I am watching movie, and there is a loud sound all of sudden, the receiver shuts itself down. I dont know what the deal is...is it because the speakers are not powerful enough to handle the output sound? By the way, I am using techniqs speakers and JBL 250 12" Subwoofer

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vsx

- great sound, clean - good power - excellent multi-remote - 3 yr warranty

- product should not have died 2 in 3 years b/c of board problems. - problems outside of warranty - plastic faceplate

Clean sound, nice look. Generally I like my Pioneer but my Elite vsx-26tx died a couple of times in 3 years: 1) board failure - took 4 months to fix 2) my center speaker just died no sound) - in system setup, the receiver shuts down when switched to center speaker setup. First time on warranty but now it's 6 months past the 3 yrs.

Everything before it became out of date. Even then it still is an awesome receiver

It's out of date

This was really great, but now that the technology is advancing so fast it is not impressice as it used to be. It does great with all sound sources and puts out strong bass. It also has a plethora of inputs. As with all Pioneers you really want to use banana plugs as all other connections are difficult because of terminals are so close together. This receiver impressed me from the get go and has never disappointed. I have used it for over 2 years and it was a display model for 1 year and it worked and sounded great. Now it has started the no sound problem of 0 to 20 minutes and sometimes when I switch sources it will lose sound again for several minutes. This is the first pioneer that has ever failed in anyway for me. There are pioneers that are over 10 years old that I have given to friends that still work without a hitch. So Pioneer products are very reliable over all, it just seems this one has problems. If you can find this for under$200 it is worth it, otherwise I recommend the new vsx-47 or 49 or the new 811s(I did) which is only 300 and kicks the 26's butt in everything except connections(the 26 has more) I highly recommend Pioneer and this receiver for the right price. This should be considered the blacksheep in the Pioneer family yet it still performs really well. That's why all my components are Pioneer. My rating is based on its peak years and if you can get it for under $250

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Pioneer vsx-11, pioneer vsx-811s and a whole slew of pioneers I can't remember

Extremely powerful. Clean, crisp sound.

Possible overheating concerns

Before purchasing the 26TX I had gone to this site and checked out all the reviews. Overall it seemed most buyers loved their new toy, but a few unlucky buyers got a dud. I have had the receiver for about 3 months now and use it for everything. It's absolutely amazing! Crisp, clear sound for the audio buyer who doesn't want to spend more than 2 grand on a system. Some people have mentioned problems with the receiver heating up to much, so I just leave mine off when not in use. I still keep my fingers crossed that I didn't get a dud. Wish, I had bought the warranty. Overall, an excellent product and quite the steal!

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Other Pioneer, Denon, and Sharp receivers

great sound for price.very strong. pre amp outs to upgrade sound in the future. thx cert. hook ups are numerous.when set up right will make you fall in love.

very sensitive. and unforgiving. hook ups, and speaker sellection too critical. remote goes through batteries quick. set up with test your auiophile heart. pioneer must talk to the poeple putting their equipment together.

I need everyone to pay real close attention to this review. it will save you money. my amp, ''old hattie'' did not get the proper sodder for it''s contstruction at the factory.it is the focal point of the problems the 26tx is giving its customers. but being a problem solver here is my review... this amp runs hot. it will melt critical connections with extented use, a problem i hope pioneer knows by now. I had hattie on all the time, i had to, to demo for the best speaker system match.Then it cut out. i just took it to my man, and he and i saw the problem right off. he re-soddered the connections a first time, and it did it again. i took it back, and have not had a problem with it since. this amp is a brute for the price, but it acts like a high maintainance female. but it puts out so much if you show it you love it. remember only a few will have this problem.. o.k. back to review quidelines this amp must be put with the perfect set up. it is not very forgiving. ''remember, she a lady,dont forget that fellas, give her what she needs, she''ll thank you at night''. this amp needs a speaker system with flawless timbre maching. i went with the polk 800 rt, and book shelfs polks with the second best center chan. polk has to set it off. then a valodyne 12'' sub. sorry about spelling...in a hurry. anyway, the sub set up on the 26tx is crusial. it lets her consentrate on sound quality, and not muscle. remember..she''s a lady with pre-amp outs to add some muscle if need be, instead of giving more money to get a stronger reciever, i can hook up a amp later., so i could worry about the next thing that is crucial-- interconnects,wich were all transperent. speaker cable- all kimber cable, and sub--well no one knows low freq. like monster.that way the 26tx could give all she had. i believe the amp if fine, but the hands that put her, and from what it sounds like, many others together need to put more care into working on such a fine piece of equipment. it makes the amp look worse than it really is.

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yamaha and sony amps of the same price ranges...

Very powerful, top notch digital to analog conversion, substantial build, phono section, remote, flexibilty

no sleep timer, no digital coax output, physically very large(maybe a good thing) biased into high class AB so it runs rather hot

I love this receiver. The sound quality is far superior to my previous Yamaha DPL(same price). Positively beautiful phono section. The DAC''s in this thing are fantastic. I don''t even use the DAC''s in my HDCD DVD player or my Pioneer CD-R machines. I like the binding posts for ALL channels. I wish there was a 75 ohm digital out and a sleep timer, though. The products finish is very elegant. I do have a very slight transformer hum, although no on else seems to be able to hear it! Mine was the display unit, but it was in perfect condition. Overall, very impressive.

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