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The Pioneer SC 99 Initial Impressions


derrickdj1

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Seems like they don't ever go on sale through Amazon...
Sure they do, but they don't wave a flag when it happens.

 

I bought the SC-87 for $1200, back when it was still fetching $2000. Amazon dropped the price for three days, no notice, and that was it.

 

$700 off, then prices bounced right back up to MSRP until just recently when subsequent models took over the market share.

 

Got to check in frequently, that's all. :emotion-22:

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Best Buy has the SC-95 for $1099 now - don't know if it's in store only. Monoprice may still have them discounted. That's where I got mine.

We just got a SC-95 for $899 :emotion-21: :emotion-21: On the 4th of July....

Me and the wife went to BB to get a new Blue Ray player.... While there the young fella helping us said " you guys need help with anything else". I said yea I would mind "looking" at some your HT receivers. We saw the SC-95 for $1099..... so after some :pwk_bs: ing around I said OK I'll take it..... The young guy was like great I'll go and get one for ya... A few minutes later he came back and said "I'm sorry but were out of stock it shows we have one but it's not there"..... I said "well that's a bummer"..... then the wife jumps in and says..... sell us the display model...... So the young guy goes and get the sales manager..... he comes in and a long story short my wife beats him up for awhile and we got the unit for $899... full warranty..... no box.... just the unit and mike....

I've never really been into HT.... We had a older Yamaha unit that we got used of CL a few years back.... just been running a 3.1 set-up. But this Pioneer is the chitt... I do like it.... I have been looking at getting a new HT receiver..... this just kinda fell into place...

Sorry derrick didn't mean to thread crapp.....

 

Stoney the cat likes it :emotion-21:  :emotion-21:

 

MKP :-)

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Edited by MORE KLIPSCH PLEASE
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Best Buy has the SC-95 for $1099 now - don't know if it's in store only. Monoprice may still have them discounted. That's where I got mine.

We just got a SC-95 for $899 :emotion-21: :emotion-21: On the 4th of July....

Me and the wife went to BB to get a new Blue Ray player.... While there the young fella helping us said " you guys need help with anything else". I said yea I would mind "looking" at some your HT receivers. We saw the SC-95 for $1099..... so after some :pwk_bs: ing around I said OK I'll take it..... The young guy was like great I'll go and get one for ya... A few minutes later he came back and said "I'm sorry but were out of stock it shows we have one but it's not there"..... I said "well that's a bummer"..... then the wife jumps in and says..... sell us the display model...... So the young guy goes and get the sales manager..... he comes in and a long story short my wife beats him up for awhile and we got the unit for $899... full warranty..... no box.... just the unit and mike....

I've never really been into HT.... We had a older Yamaha unit that we got used of CL a few years back.... just been running a 3.1 set-up. But this Pioneer is the chitt... I do like it.... I have been looking at getting a new HT receiver..... this just kinda fell into place...

Sorry derrick didn't mean to thread crapp.....

 

Stoney the cat likes it :emotion-21:  :emotion-21:

 

MKP :-)

 

 

That was a great deal you got from BB.  We only have one Magnolia store in the area with reasonalble high end stuff.  The rest of the area stores don't sell the Elite avr's.  No thread crapping here.  Anyone with a Pioneer feel free to talk about your purchase or experience!!!

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Congrats on the Pioneer. I consider the setup and menus kinda unintuitive, but there is no denying Pioneer makes a musical avr. They also seem to make good use of the their power. It also actually works pretty good, network etc.. I recently bought a used Elite in a deal with some other things and have been very satisfied with the way it sounds. It's the first one I've owned for over 10 years but I think it's a keeper.

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It turned out to make more work for me.  Installed SB and FH speakers.  Now waiting on the Atmos speakers next week. Burning money again. :(:P:wacko:

 

Sorry to say BUT, you're not done yet... : )  You need a matching 4K blu-ray player to get the most bandwidth out of the audio. I bit the bullet and got me a 4k blu-ray player and I will tell you, the difference is almost like night and day. I'm so excited to re-watch all my blu-ray movies again...and the video output is so much cleaner, crispier, and faster! 

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I've notice a difference in movie sounds when using the function Legacy VS Object based presentation used for DA.  Even if the film is not in DA, the sound is definitely more immersive and closer to the listener.  The Legacy is standard things like DTS MA, DD 5.1, ect.  The object based setting try is utilize all the speakers.

Edited by derrickdj1
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I don't know if you're into Game of Thrones or not, but the last two seasons were done with Dolby Atmos. The regular DTS mix sounds great, so i'd imagine that the Atmos mix is even better.

 

Game of Thrones is very popular and I've managed to catch a few episode.  I will check it out using the atmos feature and see if I can tell a difference.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great to hear.  I am late in responding, but I have the SC-91 and love it to death.  Glad to hear your Pioneer experience is great as well.  Everything from my Elite is crisp and clear.  Makes my Reference Premiere system sound great!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thumbsup!

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  • 1 month later...


 


The easy way is just to set the sub level and run MCACC Pro.  This if there is anything additional need, use the I Nuke.  For most rooms this will not be needed.  The full band phase control along with the standing wave feature does those things missing with some avr's to get the bass really tuned.  Increased separation, clarity to make music and HT shine. 


 


The Pioneer sound may take some getting use to coming from other avr's.  Denon is a bit warmer but, the Pioneer is very neutral and ultra clean.  Even the DAC is great.  There are two of them for the R/L channel.  It also has an upsampling, 1X, 2X, and 4X.  The musicality of this will give many separate systems a run for the money.  I am biased and like Pioneer.




I have the SC-95 and love it. Great units!

Are you just running Full MCACC or what are you using? Anything else you tweak after that? Do you have tips or anything else on have you calibrate it?

Have you find other settings that makes the audio or video even better? Everything that I could try at my own I would be really happy to hear!

Thanks! [emoji4]
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I run Full MCACC, then set speakers to small and run Auto MCACC.  Auto MCACC will do Symmetry, All Channels Adjusted, and Front Align.  These will go in presets 1,2, and 3.  Then Manual MCACC- EQ Pro-Advanced EQ setup-then select time position 30-50 ms for most rooms and Stand.Wavee Multi-P (Yes).  This will give the wides sweetspot and do the best job with standing waves for a larger area.

 

The three position measurement can be 2-3 ft apart.  This is excellent for movies and music.  I have not had to make any video adjustments.  I have played with it on the SC 35 and 99.  The above tweak is based on having a subwoofer/s in the system.  Also make sure the full phase band is selected.

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I run Full MCACC, then set speakers to small and run Auto MCACC.  Auto MCACC will do Symmetry, All Channels Adjusted, and Front Align.  These will go in presets 1,2, and 3.  Then Manual MCACC- EQ Pro-Advanced EQ setup-then select time position 30-50 ms for most rooms and Stand.Wavee Multi-P (Yes).  This will give the wides sweetspot and do the best job with standing waves for a larger area.








 








The three position measurement can be 2-3 ft apart.  This is excellent for movies and music.  I have not had to make any video adjustments.  I have played with it on the SC 35 and 99.  The above tweak is based on having a subwoofer/s in the system.  Also make sure the full phase band is selected.





Thanks for replaying! I have also done like you except for the multi positions. It does much for every spot?

Which calibration do you think make the best sound? I guess it's much up to the speakers also.

Have you tried or change anything with DRC, PQLS, Dfilter, Upsampling, DNR, S. RTRV. (I havn't read so much in the manual yet ;-)).
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I like all, Symmetry, Front Align, and All ch. adj.  I leave DRC off.  PQLS only works if the BDP or TV is a Pioneer.  DNR and S. RT is also left off.  It is not needed to stream, vinyl or cd's.  Upsampling is set to auto.  If you are a music person, definitely do the Multi-P.  The calibration procedure should work with any speakers.  I've heard a couple of  other major brand flagship avr's recently and like the SC 99 sound the best.  I am biased toward the Pioneer Elite sound after using their avr's for the last 6 years, lol. 

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