I did plenty of research prior to my purchase, and I am still convinced that I made the correct decision. You can get this receiver for $360.00. For the price, the unit has DTS, S-Video support, 100 watts X 5. I have JBL ARC30 speakers for my right, left, and surround channels. I am using a JBL TLX speaker for the center channel, and a 150 watt JBL sub woofer. I am using a Proscan DVD to drive this receiver via a TOS Link connection. The sound this system produces is load and clear. I haven't noticed any signs of noise or distortion at higher listening levels. Buy it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Many features for the money.

Sound quality is a little harsh at high volume

For the money you will not find a machine with all the inputs/outputs and modes as this pioneer. I am very happy with it. I have had NO problems with it yet.There is no hiss or hum that I can tell in any mode.I have DVD, Satelite,SVCRs, and CDs hooked to it. Also a cd burner hooked optically. I found no prob with the sub output being too low. It has an independent control for loudness, my sub is 100watt power. In fact sometimes I have to lower it to keep things fromvibating off my shelves. Very adequate machine for the money, you would probably have to spend twice that amount or more to match it.

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several-onkyo,sony

clean decoding of DD,DTS & prologic
good stereo sound with "direct"
decent remote, lotsa inputs.

no phono input, no direct access on the remote for inputs

The vxs-d608 is a great product for the price. concerning the other reviews of the lesser output power I run Paradigm speakers and have had it running at -25 and it was running at 90dbs. THX Select requires only 75db for there home theatre. in DD the sound is great with all five channels good. The DTS version of Saving Private Ryan was incredible. The beach seen was like I was there. I've had no problams with the bass output, in fact I returned a Sony receiver because of the lack of bass. The vsx-d608 has plenty of bass. I have a 200w 12in sub and have had no problems with the LFE channel being being too quite, in fact I've set the SW volume at -1 with the rest set to 0.
If you want a great receiver for an excellent price the vsx-d608 is your ticket to home theatre greatness

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Sony, JVC

Hello.I bought the Pioneer VSX-608 for it's S-videos.
Don't ever buy stuff based on the features.
As for me Performance is mainly thing.
I must say Iam ver disapointed in this Pioneer .
When I saw it was rated @ 100x5 for the all the features,I thought to myself wow!
The DSP like Rafaiel said in his reviews is just useless when using a SUB
I have KEF Q 75 for Front, for my surrounds Iam using Q 65 ,and for my Center I have Q 95 C
Sub Velodyne ct 120.
I really don't know what I was thinking to get this receiver.
The sound is not clean,I hear clipping on this receiver when I pushed it to hard
I only had it for 2 months I sold it to my friend,I lost $70 on this receiver.
I sold it for $330 ,cuz I bought it from Best buy.
I saw a Denon AVR 5600 DTS at Ubid for $1100 I bought it about a month ago.
I love it,it is the most amazing receiver I ever hear.
It pushes my speakers just nice and clean,I can adjust my Sub up 80 hz.
I biwired all my speakers.
I think 6the 608 is for someone who would like to start a home theater
doesn't care about the sound.
Good luck guys.
Bye

Hello.Sorry guys to say but the Pioneer VSX-608 really sucks so bad.
I have AR 312 HO and AR 308 ,for my Surrounds, Center CS 25 ,BU 120 for the SUB.
This receiver it is not 100x 5.It is under rated that's for certain.
The DSP Mode is just useless the Sub some times won't work.
I was very excited when I read all the features that 608 has for the price.
Guess what ,I sold it 3 months later,I had also KenwoodVR 209 didn't like it
Has only 1 Optical 1 Coax,No DSP,SOLD it again.
Now I got this Baby DENON AVR 3300,what a difference!
It's like switching from ESCORT TO BMW.
The price for the 608 don't give me wrong is great
I paid $299 from Smile sold it on EBAY for $365.
2 ** for lack of Power ,features 3 *** ,performance 2**
since it can't handle my Speakers 1 *.
Good luck guys with your Receivers.

Build and component quality, Features, Looks, Performance.

Remote control, No on screen display, Messy setup.

Having trouble buying a receiver that does the job of 3 receivers? Do you need Dolby Pro-Logic, Dolby AC-3 and DTS 5.1 channel sound for under $400? Sound impossible? Well stop hittin' yourself in the noggin and check this one out!

I have been shopping around for a while for a dependable receiver for under $500 and came to the decision to try my luck and go for the Pioneer VSX-D608. I just got it in the other day for $340 shipped and boy do I have a story to tell....read on..!

Getting Started:

The setup was very familiar to me as I once was a proud owner of a late Pioneer VSX-512S Pro-Logic receiver (1993 model). Unfortunately the power transistors overheated when my sister fried two of my Advent 8" Prodigy Tower speakers. Anyone who has owned a Dolby Pro-Logic receiver will find this one very setup friendly.....on to the operations of the remote and receiver itself...

Setting up the unit:

This is where things can get complicated. Although I am pretty good at figuring out setting up receivers actually trying to dealv into the minds of technical engineers is not my specialty. The programming of the unit is quite dry, tedious and requires that you READ THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL AT LEAST TWICE before getting things up and running. Things are only complicated more from a lack of an on-screen menu and a jumbled and cramped remote control. This said, I think you will understand what they mean when they say digitally inclined. This is not a negative remark however, just a painful check in reality that only needs to be done maybe once.

Unit operation:

This unit is quite able to perform most tasks well. I can't complain about anything considering the pricetag on this item. To put it simply this unit does what it says and then some. I was shocked to find all of the featues I didn't expect such as Pro-Logic and direct mode. Due to the introduction of Dolby AC-3 Surround some features are not available such as having your subwoofer and front speakers set to large at the same time. You can't use bass and treble while in any Dolby mode also. Most people would call this a bummer but if you think about it the specs for all of the Dolby modes recommend that bass and treble be OFF when listening to a Dolby encoded soundtrack to ensure the best possible and accurate sound reproduction. The decoding of pro-logic and digital soundtracks are all done on one integrated cicuit now and most funtions are seemlessly blind to the user. Aside from the lights on the display telling you that your in Pro-Logic mode it is hard to tell much else. The tuner AM/FM dials in pretty slow also, plus there is no scan function...bummer But all is still well!

Price and Build quality:

Pioneer did a deceint job with this receiver considering the pricetag. You really can't find anything out there with the same features for the same price. The components inside are made from receint technologically miniaturized electronics and connections that should hold up for years down the road. You just can't beat it! My suggestion would be to buy this one (if you need an everyday receiver) rather than look towards the higher priced models.

Conclusion:

Being a previous Pioneer user who can compare my older model to this one I give this Pioneer VSX-D608 5 stars for features, performance, price and quality. Most noteably price.

For the price it's a damn good receiver. Consider this a big plus in my book...5 Stars!!!

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Any products with same features which are usually higher priced such as some of the Sony or Denon models.

Most features for the money. PERIOD.
Stylish.

The remote could be better (a little).

I wanted to buy a Dolby digital/dts receiver mainly because I always had the Dolby Digital ability in my PC Dvd setup but never took advantage of it.
Well... I did a little homework and found that even though I could eventually aford a receiver w/Dolby and dts from the "big boys", (Denon, Yamaha, H/k etc.) it would probably be overkill considering I use headphones (Sennheiser) to listen to my Dvd's (and music).

So, I went back and forth from C/City and The good guys looking around .. Then it hit me...
I saw the Pionner A/v receiver siting there just asking to be taken home.
The total price I ended up paying including warranty was just a little over $300.
So is the receiver ALL THAT?
Well even tough the remote leaves a lot to be desired, the receiver did not dissapoint.
Sure there are better a/v receivers about $200 higher but it suits my private listening needs perfecly.
Should YOU buy this receiver?
Well it very much depends in your budget constraints.
So plz dont try comparing this receiver w/other recivers outside the price of this bargain.

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Technics Stereo receiver.

Number of A/V connections, price, front A/V, S-vid, DD, DTS, midnight mode

Power not quite 100W/ch.

I picked this up as an open-box at Best Buy for $325. I do not think you could pay less and get the same quality and functionality. I have had an easy time getting this up and running in all modes. The 100W/ch rating is a stretch but it is plenty loud for my needs and it is extremely clear at higher volumes.

I found the remote easy to use after a little fumbling. I don't know what people expect in a remote that is supposed to be hand-held and perform a thousand functions. I don't like how you have to step through the A/V functions but I do like that you can use the numeric keypad to select the preset radio stations.

I really don't uset he DSP modes so I do not know how to rate them. There are only 6 of them and I don't know if there would be any benefit to having more. The DD modes work well for different movies. Midnight mode is a big help because I do not have a sub yet.

It runs very cool in an enclosed cabinet.

There are many better receivers out there but I think you need to consider what your personal needs are. For the money, the quality and versatility of this receiver cannot be beat.

Affordable, DD, DTS, Mucho Inputs

Not quite rated power, not enough fine control

This is a VERY good receiver for the money. It has almost every feature built in that the elite models do. It performs very well in surround mode with small speakers set up for home theater sound.

Unfortunately that is where the likeness with elite stops. I am positive that this receiver does not put out 100 watts. There is also problems with the subwoofer control, basically if you don't have all speaker set to small the sub gets no signal. Another annoying thig is that the bass / treble controls don't work in surround mode.

But, like I said it IS a good receiver for the money. You would have to spend $100-$200 more for a better model that fixes these small problems and it is just not worth it. I would give this product 5 stars if it weren't for its problems.

Descent price, nice remote for the price and that's IT!

Power, no preamps, high THD...

Of this unit doesn't compare to the professional equipment I've used. However, I got rid of this thing within about 2 months. Thank the lord they took it back, becuase I did some real research and invested in a yamaha. The yamaha sounds AWESOME. The power is clean and readily available. I have a feeling that Pioneer (like they do with car stereo's and other companies do with many stereo products) rated their amplifier by its PEAK output performance. Most people are aware of this "Crap-factor" when looking for an amp, yet some may be fooled. I beleiev the RMS on the PIONEER is probably closer to 40-50 watts if that. Not to mention, the THD is so freak'n high, that wattage sux anyways. At first I thought it was my speakers, but then I Realized after my professional experience what a difference an AMP will make. The speakers do make quite a difference (of course) in the overall sound quality. Yet, take for example a set of polk speakers I listened to at circuit city. The fellow showed me the things on a THX HK am @ 100 RMS (Clean power). Then I heard them on a Pioneer Reciever rated @ 100 X 5 and the bass was practically gone. Then I heard them on a HK Reciever @ 60 X 5 RMS and the sound was a TAD better than the pioneer but no where near as good as the HK AMP. In all... Go HIGH END if you want to CRANK and get clean sound. Perhaps my Yamaha investment wasn't the BEST inverstment ever, but it was very ecnonomical and now I have TRUE POWER (85 X 5 RMS) to drive my power hungry JBL HLS's. It's nice that this unit has Decoding cababilities and all, but it also lacks an ON SCREEN SETUP (which the yamaha and others do have). It may seem like a great value but... watch yourself when investing in this THING, I WAS NOT impressed.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT SOUND, DON'T HESITATE TO EMAIL ME!

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Yamaha 795a, Harmon Kardon, Pioneer Stereo Amplifier, Kenwood Stereo Receiver, QSC, Crown and EV professional Amplifiers.