Price, S-Video switching, DD 5.1 & DTS decoding, Digital audio inputs and output

Power isn't 100 watts per channel as it claims

Overall this is a fine A/V receiver for the price. You won't find anything else that has the quality or features you'll find on this model for it's approx. $350 price tag. My only complaint is that the power isn't up to it's spec of 100 watts per channel. It's truly more like about 70 or 80. Otherwise, it has been a fine performer in the year I've owned it, and I've never had a single problem out of it. You can definitely do far worse than this receiver, and if you're limited to $400 or less budget wise on a receiver, you can't really do any better than this one. It's truly the king of the "budget" home theater receivers.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Pioneer, Yamaha, Technics

Probably good for home theater.

Not a good receiver for music.

Setup: This receiver, two Energy e:XL 25 speakers and an Energy e:XL S10 powered subwoofer

I bought this product because I was on a budget, found it quite a bit below the (inflated) MSRP, and a friend recommended the series. I checked the ratings here and figured that the rave reviews for home theater usage would carry over to standard stereo listening. Stupid of me, wasn't it?
First off, I'd noticed for quite some time that the maximum power output wasn't that impressive. I wondered whether it was the amp or perhaps some of the settings, so I've spent quite some time tweaking it to no avail. Finally I ran across the ratings here which mentioned the inflated output power rating, and that would certainly explain a lot.
My main complaint, however, is in one aspect of the sound quality coming out of it. I bought a powered sub in order to get good acoustic bass and bass drum response, and the sub seems to work well. I should, then, be able to pull back on the bass of my floor speakers to improve the overall balance. Wrong again. The D608 has bass and treble balance controls, but they only work for normal stereo usage, not five-channel. Of course, if I set it to standard stereo, the sub output doesn't work. I could just use stereo mode and run the signal through the LPF of my sub, but this brings me to the only pet peeve of my subwoofer: it has a high-level input and an LPF setting, but no high-level output to go to my stereo speakers. Weird, huh? In any case, I see no reason why I should have to do this, as I can't understand why Pioneer would not allow bass/treble tweaking even in five-channel mode-- I mean, there woud be no extra electronics required! After some time, I found that if I set "Front Speakers" to "Small" in the Dolby settings, the receiver puts less bass into the high-level speakers. An improvement, but there's still no way to adjust the total bass level, so I think I'll have to resort to an equalizer. Sad, considering that all the required features are there to allow me to adjust the sound quality. The stupid receiver just won't let me use them in conjunction with my sub.
From what I've read here, I'll start looking around for another receiver. As I've had this one so long already, though, I'll be out a few hundred bucks if I just switch over. A shame. From the looks of all the settings, I'd be happy if I were using this receiver as a home theater component. I'd rate the overall quality of this receiver at 3 stars, but it gets 4 in the value area only because I found it on sale at half its MSRP and it seems to have a great set of features which I'll never use.

price,inputs,good value

for the money, none, except spring clips for the center channel

this review will probably sound like most of the others, but it appears that most people have the same opinion of this product. My first 5 channel reciever was the vsx458. I used it for three years without a problem. When it was time to upgrade to dolby digital, I just went out and bought the 608 and a pioneer dvd player. I compared the features to many other similar recievers, yamaha, denon ,hk. None had the features for the price. Yes I'm sure some sounded better.like the yamaha, but ig you run out of inputs, whats the point. I have a small room 12 by 15 by 8. I do not need a lot of power to attain armageddon levels of sound.
The pioneer has plenty, no its not a true 100 watts per channel but be realistic. A true 100 watt by five channel amp is the size of this whole reciever. For 350 bucks you get what you pay for. I use it mostly for movies and to drive some outdoor speakers. I wish it had 5 way binding posts for the center speaker as this is the most important speaker. I use an NHT center one, and will upgrade the mains to NHT super twos. I hope the amp can drive them as they are power hungry. As far as I am concerned I got what I payed for, I watch loud movies ie: armageddon, the matrix, saving private ryan, etc. The reciever has not let me down. If you are on a budget and want to upgrade to dolby digital, for 500 bucks you can get this and a dvd player and your all set.

Similar Products Used:

pioneer 458

Excellent functionallity, very expandable. Makes a great anchor for a home theater

confusing volume system, no ability to directly select a function from the remote

I bought this reciever after about 3 months of research. I have found no faults with the system aside from 2 things: the remote and interface can be annoying, and the way the volume works. The volume is fairly low even at 50%, however from there on the level seems to increase exponentially. At 75% it nearly makes me go deaf. The bass the reciever puts out is not very high if a sub is not hooked up, but with the Cerwin-Vega I've got the bass will rattle my medula-oblongata. I think this is an excellent reciever as long as it is with the right components. Wonderful buy.

better than 606.price,build,remote.

poor shielding.connot justify dolby digital signal well.poor distridution of sound to each channels. lack of finse!

Well built but lack of finse > as what the HI FI editors review & they speak it well. But still best buy for the money I think. Got It for my brothers a week ago, but they are still does well with the Atlantic System 170 & Pioneer DVD player DV-525. Thanks to the speaker set up.They do there job so well"

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo/yamaha/outlaw.

sub pre-out, 3 optical inputs, DTS, s-video switching

remote control, no phono input

I think this is a good unit for the money.
The audiophile equipment I have used is better.
It also costs a great deal more money, which I was unwilling to shell out.
I have a 250w 12" sub, Advents all the way around with an HK center channel. It is fine for my size room.
I also have it connected to an RCA HDTV set-top box, DIRECTV
satellite box and a DVD player. I use it with the optical outputs of all these units and s-video outputs. It works fine, sound quality and power is commensurate with the price of the unit. S-video switching is fine, configuring the opticals was fairly straightforward. I was disappointed, however, that I could not do s-video and connect my composite VCR and get both to work. Could be a function of my television, haven't bothered with it. DTS, well, I wanted it, but it is not much different from DD. Just wanted to cover all the bases in case it became "a standard".
I had to buy a phono preamp to connect my Thorens turntable, I have an extensive album collection that I still listen to. I just couldn't find another receiver at this price point with 3 optical inputs. Not sure what I will do with the coaxial input, there's not a lot out there with coaxial outputs. The optical inputs also worked with my 80's Sony carousel optical output, which impressed me.
The remote, however, I take issue with. The function key is painful to use, if I want to use a different input it should switch when I press that control button. The shape is weird, one reason I did not go with the low-end Elite, it had the same remote. Also, it doesn't do much control of my HDTV box or RCA DVD player. Most of the buttons are too small and difficult to read at night. My RCA remote is laid out better, easier to use, controls all my equipment well, but doesn't control a receiver. :-(
The Pioneer remote does work with all my units, such as my Toshiba TV and Sony VCR, at least powering them on and off. Not much more, however.
For all the features, a good value at this price.
Just shoot the remote developers. O.K., just make them do a better job next time.

Similar Products Used:

HK, Sony, Kenwood, Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo

4 digital inputs,overall price, dimmer, listening modes

puts out less bass in my 3 way-4 driver yamaha front speakers than my old, cheap reciever

I dont think that this is the best reciever on the market today, nor do I think it is the worst. What made me pick this over the sony (which had more a better remote) or yamaha (which had a higher quality amplifier) was all the features it had. I like how it lets me hook up to four digital sources to it(T.V., CD, DVD, MD), and it has an optial output for my burner. I like the midnight listening mode it has, for it gives rich sound at low volumes. Also i use three different S-Video sources and I only have one input on my T.V. so the reciever saved my from buying an A.V. input selector. I also like how there is a dimming feature, so they display is not quite so bright while I try to sleep. All in all this had more inputs and outputs than any other reciever under $500, so I had to take advantage of it.
P.S. shop Best Buy

Similar Products Used:

yamaha, sony, technics, panasonic

Tons of A/V connections, DTS/DD, good workmanship, very nice.

Non learning remote, poor preprogrammed remote codes.

I purchased this receiver as an upgrade to DTS/DD5.1 and am extremely pleased with the unit. The improvement is like night and day. For $200 from ubid auction, I can praise this Pioneer unit more. There are tons of Optical connections, digital coax connection, etc... The unit does everything that I bought it for. My home theater is now complete. Everyone that said there wasn't enough power must be trying to let there neighbors 3 houses down to also hear there movies. This unit is plenty loud. I do have 2 powered subs with it though. You do have to get use to Pioneer's way of labelling there volume control. It starts out at a way -negative number of no sound and increase to zero for max sound. Adequate listening range is -30 to -20. The only downside to this unit is the remote. I was praying that the remote would solve my multiple remote delimma, but it didn't. I entered the RCA dss code into the TV/sat button and manage to turn on the RCA dss receiver. It doesn't control all the Sat receiver's primary functions. This is unacceptable. Alot of button won't work like 1,6,9 etc... I cannot channel up on the menu. Stuff like that. I now have to go buy a universal remote. Other, than that the receiver is GREAT...I highly encourage it for the price, considering MSRP was $550 and store retail was $350. Remember this is last years model. Still an excellent buy.

Similar Products Used:

other pioneer receivers.