DTS & Dolby Dig. Decoders, avvanced sounds modes, digital inputs, wattage, subwoofer preout, optical output is a dream come true, countless S video in's and remote.

THD, No remote selection for aux and front video, seems like rocket science the first time it is used, midnite mode is overrated.

I have been scouting receivers for months and this is by far the best value you will ever find, along with several other technics models. The features are very accurate as advertised. It's a pain in the butt not being able to switch to the aux and front video analog inputs with the remote. Also, do not be fooled by all the crazy video inputs. composite cannot convert into S video in this reciever, so don't plan on hooking you N64 or non-S video DVD player up to an S video jack through this reciever.
I cannot say enough good things about the remote on this thing. I actually replaced my $170 Sony RM-2000AV 12-function remote with this baby. And I control 1..2..3..4..5..6..7 devices in my home theatre! If you're deciding between this receiver and another just like it for the same price, get this one for the remote!!
As for the DSP's, they each have their own unique sound and i love them all equally. It is a quality-not-quantity kind of deal this with these DSPs. Some sony's have 26, but lets face it...when will you need any of those? Anyway, when you're listening to DTS, DSPs become a thing of the past :-)
In Short, if you're looking for something with DTS decoding, 100 watts per channel, a few digital inputs and an output with some s video splitting and a sub preout, then this is the best bang-for-the-buck receiver you will find on the market today. If you cannot find a good price in stores, i'd reccomend going to etronics.com. Their prices are phemomenal.
When setting up the surround sound on this receiver, you will notice there are a billion little picky details in the setup menu, but don't be detered...these will all help the receiever adjust to your particular speaker/room needs and eventually help it to sound great in the end. Customize every detail with accuracy. Be patient and you'll get some great sound out of this excellent receiver!!

Similar Products Used:

Onyko 400 watt ProLogic.

DD/DTS Decoding, Price, Great Sound

None so far

Heh...I just read the review below mine and I have the exact same story as him! My Technics SA-DX930 just died on me after 31 days! What a load of garbage that unit was!

I just picked up this great unit on sale at Best Buy. It looks like a real winner. THANK GOD there are no heat issues so far with this baby! My old Technics unit got so hot you could probabily fry an egg on it!

The sound is wonderfull and I really can't recomend this Pioneer enough! It's great!

Similar Products Used:

Technics

Easy to set-up, lots of feature for the the price

Havn't found any yet

Installed the receiver yesterday. Yeah i know, isung one day does not make me an authority on the subject, but .......I went from Pro-logic to DD to take advantage of all DVD capabilites. Running the signals into Sound Dynamic (SD) towers in the front, SD centre speaker and SD dipoles for surround. Almost forgot.....sub is an RCA 8 inch which i'll be upgrading to an SD 10 " (150 watts)in the near future. I threw in True Lies (which has a great track) into the DVD and was impressed immediately. Great all around sound.....even my wife was impressed (which says a lot because she was not very imopressed with my whole Home Theatre obsesssion in the first place. I'd recommend this receiver as an natural upgrade from Pro-logic, where you will get great sound for reasonable bucks.

Similar Products Used:

Pro-logic receivers

PRICE, FEATURES, EASE OF USE

REMOTE NEEDS BACKLIGHT

SOUNDS GREAT IN MY 14x18' HOME THEATER. EASY TO SET UP AND USE. BOUGHT MINE FROM NETMARKET FOR 320.00. WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY

Similar Products Used:

NONE

Price, Amazing Quality, S-Video, Dolby 5.1 + DTS

none

This is one amazing receiver. With 4 S-Video inputs, 4 a/v inputs, 2 optical digital inputs, 1 coax digital input, AND 1 optical digital output. Very easy to use, packed with features. Midnight mode, expanded virtual surround. 5.1 channel inputs for upgrading... but that'll be a while, it has Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS decoding. Bunch of DSP modes, along with movie specific sound modes (drama, action, ect.) Good power output.
Anyone having a problem with this unit should really read the manual. EASY setup, but so much more to configure. Set your crossover, which speakers you have, what size, how far away from each speaker for exact surround sound. Extra front video input (1svid, 1 rca vid, 2 rca audio) for video game system or camcorder. I can't say enough good things about this unit.
Price... try beating $260 for a 2000 model with Dolby Digital, DTS, and S-video switching. Got it from this great place online, located in New York called A-Plus Digital.

DTS/DD for good good value
Solid SQ with Digital Inputs
Excellent Remote
Overall Solid Performance for this price

Analog Input Sound quality is poor
No On Screen Display
Horrible Crossover settings for the subwoofer (100/150/200 Hz)

Overall, this is a great product for the money. Its pretty straight forward and has all the features a normal home theater setup needs. The sound quality on 2 channel stereo is solid with the digital input, however using the analog inputs definately degrades the clarity and accuracy.

This receiver has plenty of power for a regular home theater setup. I was quite surprised on how well it holds together at higher volumes.

The downside of this unit is that it lacks an onscreen display. Toggling modes on the little display is a bit annyoning. The other major problem is the crossover point for the subwoofer. Come on 100/150/200 HZ? What a waste, it should be more like 60/80/100 HZ. At 150 or 200 Hz localization is poor, as well as overall sound quality of the sub as the high frequncies begin to wreck havoc.

Besides that overall i was impressed. For $350 you can't go wrong.

Similar Products Used:

HK 300

Easy setup, great value- full feature set for the $$$, sounds great, DTS and Dolby Digital, and "Midnight" mode.

No phono input, a little complicated to figure out how to use. Display not great.

I bought this receiver after I got a DVD player and wanted to take advantage of the 5.1 channel capabilities of the DVD. It replaced a 10 year old Pioneer receiver with the original Dolby Surround (not Pro-Logic). I also replaced my rear speakers with a pair of JBL N-24 rear speakers and added a JBL center speaker. I've kept my original Cerwin Vega 10" floor standing speakers. I have no sub-woofer but with the big cerwin vegas and the reciever configured to send the low bass to the main speakers, I don't feel like I'm missing much. Listening to this system compared to my old is like night and day. Even on vhs video and music cd's everything sounds crisper and clearer. Channel separation is great. As others have said, the "midnight" mode is spectacular, although I don't hear much of a difference between this and the system w/ the "loudness" turned on (and with floor-shaking bass the receiver puts out in this mode, you aint gonna be listening to it at midnight anyway!). The DSP modes create nice 5 speaker effects from stereo sources. When shopping I compared this receiver to similarly priced models by Sony and Technics. The reviews on this site were not as favorable for the other two, and I've never been a big fan of Sony products anyway. Also, I wanted the "midnight" mode. My first Pioneer served well for 10 years, so I chose the 509S. I also picked this system over the similar Pioneer receiver that was priced @$25 less (the 409 I think) because of the superior remote...which is superb, although a little tricky to learn at first.
My only complaints are with the display and the limited range of adjustment of the channels. The display for pro-logic vs digital is hard to distinguish from across the room. Using a couple diffent colors would have solved this. Most of the display, though is excellent and easily seen from across a 15 foot room. Also, when adjusting volume from one channel, you only have a 10 db range. 20 or 30 db would have been more useful.
Overall, I am thrilled with this receiver and would buy it again. I paid $300 at Best Buy on sale (reg $329). It offers all the power, inputs, and outputs you need for a decent home theater with plenty of extra bells and whistles too. Most importantly, it sounds great.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Technics

nice remote, easy to follow manual, really clear sound, plus i really like the looks of it.

seems not as powerful as it should be in surround, allthough this may be a defect in mine-not sure.

i'd just like to start off with saying that i really like this receiver. it's my first hometheater reciever, but i have heard some others wich were also good. allthough i think that i made the right choice in purchasing this one. tons of inputs, gotta love that. plus the remote is nice because i can control the whole mess with just the one remote. darn nice sound wich is really clear. one thing that i've notice about mine is that it seems to get quieter in surround mode as opposed to stereo. i'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this or if it's just in mine but it's not a big deal, just kinda anoying. even though it gets a little quieter it's still clear. i'm going to have to dock a star for this one, but for the price that i paid for it i am really happy.

Similar Products Used:

kenwood, sears(POS)

PRICE-DTS, Dolby Digital, Coaxial/optical Digital IN, Optical Digital Out, runs cool at "strong volume"

NO Phono Input, Not Enough digital inputs, confusing manual

After some research on other DTS/DD receivers, I desided on the Pioneer VSX-D509S. For me the stand-out feature is the digital output. (NOTE: The Dig. out is only for a PCM digital source - no built in A/D converter for analog sources tape deck, tuner, VCR) This brings me to the drawback of not having enough digital inputs for the number of sources possible. My system includes Laser Disc, DVD, CDR and DAT as well as my computer all using digital I/O. This does not include future DSS and DV VCR. There are only 3 digital inputs on this unit. I am able to use RF switchers and Coax/opt. converters in order to get all of the items into the DTS/DD decoder sections. The lack of phono input says "This unit is for digital use" "The future"
BUT again there are ony 3 digital inputs-duh! I am still using my old JVC as a very large "pre-amp" for my turntable.
Overall the units workd great. The "features to price" ratio, I think is very high. That includes "Watts per dollar" It doesn't over heat running at "Strong Volume" I don't turn it up loud enough to rattle windows but JUST below that level

Many features, tons of inputs/outputs, including s-video and digital (w/digital out!)

VERY weak signal to subwoofer pre-out

Excellent product, many many features.

Runs pretty cool, excellent sound quality, many listening modes to choose from.

Optical output, great to hook up to a cd-burner.

Really great "learning" remote ( just aim both remotes at each other, that's it! )

Front RCA/s-video inputs for hooking up Playstation, video camera, . . .

The only complaint is the sub-level has to be set at +10db to get good bass out of it.

Used with :
Speakers - Energy Encore
DVD player - Pioneer DV-C302D
TV - RCA 32"
VCR - Sony 4-head hi-fi

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VSX-D409
Pioneer VSX-D608
Yamaha RX-V495
Kenwood VR-409