Pioneer Elite

[killerbee]

Whats the general feedback on this line. I'm shopping the usual suspects of Denon, Yam, but I found a nice price on

the Elite model VSX-90TXV.

One thing I don't see is the mp3 uncompression some other units have. Anyone know if this is a difference maker or marketing hype.

I listen to most of my music off my Zune.

[picky]

killerbee: To answer your first question about the Pioneer Elite line: We've enjoyed our VSX-49TXi Flagship receiver for the last 5 years and it has flawlessly driven our RF-7s and the rest of our 7.1 compliment of Klipsch reference speakers flawlessly. Sound quality has never been compromised, even at higher volumes.

I apologize that I am unable to answer the second part of your question regarding mp3s. Our receiver was released too early to include such features. I believe the VSX-90TXV unit you are researching was first introduced in 2006. Not to knock mp3s or the Zune, we listen only to known-quality sources on this particular system such as CDs, DVD-As, SACDs and vinyl. I use our PC and Klipsch 5.1 ProMedia Ultras to listen to mp3s and with stunning results. -Glenn

[fenderbender]

I have the 93TXV and it sounds great ....easy to set up...easy to understand....can't really say I spent to much time with the comparable Denon ,HK ,Yamaha....but at that level of "mass market" reciever ...they are all going to be with in a few % of each other in most area's

as far as MP3 upscaling....I'm not sure, but don't really see how upgrading info that is not there will help with sound quality anyway....I only deal in lossless formats for that reason.....I assume it would be the analogue of taking a graphic that has been compressed into a JPEG and then trying to get back all the info.......

I'd test drive one with the capability for the MP3's and see if you can tell a difference.....

[MrMcGoo]

The Pioneer Elites support WMA-9 Pro which includes a wide range of compressed CD formats including MP3. The VSX-90 is being replaced with a newer line of receivers, so the price is probably a clearance price.

Bill

[Cal Blacksmith]

I don't know anything about the Pioneer but I did buy a new HT receiver this
last weekend.

I added a Synergy 5.1 set of speakers to my TV room and the system came with
a very old Denon head unit. I was left with the dilemma of whether or not to
buy a new unit for our HT room or a lower priced unit for the TV room. After
doing LOTS of research, I settled on the Yamaha RX-V663 for the HT room and
passing the 3 year old Yamaha RX-V750 to the TV room, as the best bang for my
buck. I looked at the prices of all of the blow out units of all makers, then
the specs and it slowly dawned on me that all of the blow out units DO NOT have
the HD AUDIO codec’s and that if I was going to go with a Blue-ray player and wanted HD audio, I
would need to again buy another receiver! This counted out all the older units
for me and after looking around a lot, I decided on the Yamaha RX-V663 which is
the same as the HTR6160. Both units are the same differing only in power rating and silk screening, depending on what marketing
channels they were intended for. The MSRP on the unit is $549.99 and Best buy
had a shelf price of $524.99. I had another $50 knocked off the price just for
asking and I handed over my credit card. As I was on my motorcycle, I didn't
have a way to get it home so I left it there and went home to get my car. I
told my son about the "deal" and he told me that one of his friends
worked for BB and had offered to buy gear for his friends. We had him check the
employee price and it was $312!!! With tax and a $20 note for his trouble (my
idea not my sons friends) I was out the door for $360! NOT TOO BAD!

If you have anyone who can get the discount, search it out!

As to how I like the unit, I LOVE the unit. True, it is mid-fi and
does not upscale video to HD format but to get those features, you need to
double the money spent in the Yamaha line. Some other makers do have basic
video up scaling at the retail price of ~$600 but as most sources will do this
also, this is not a big deal to me. The new-improved auto setup feature YAPO
does a better job of setup than the old version as well as reading the voice of
each speaker and auto eq-ing them to match each other. This worked very well
for me as I am using a pair of Fort'e 1s as mains and have an Academy for a
center and the voice match was not quite perfect.... but that pretty much
changed with the auto eq and now the front is totally seamless.

Take stock of what you want a receiver to do for your and where you want to
go, you might find that the bargain price unit is not such a bargain after all

Take stock of what you want a receiver to do for your and where you want to go, you might find that the bargan price unit is not such a bargan after all[]

[Flew]

I took the Elite VSX-90TXV for a test drive.

After one week. I switched it for the Yama HTR-6190B.

I found it to be much more user friendly with a finer a/v outcome.

but that's just my eyes and ears.

Good Luck

[InnerTuber]

Broadly speaking MP3 files shrink by losing data via algorithms. Once that data is gone, you cannot really "restore" it. I don't think you can really uncompress once compressed. You can do things to further process the compressed file. I doubt you will miss that function one way or the other. Now, if you like the effect itself, then you may prefer a unit with that processing capability. But I don't think you can make lost data re-appear.

[dougdrake]

I looked at the prices of all of the blow out units of all makers, then the specs and it slowly dawned on me that all of the blow out units DO NOT have the HD AUDIO codec’s and that if I was going to go with a Blue-ray player and wanted HD audio, I would need to again buy another receiver!

Just wanted to clarify that if your BlueRay player has the HD codecs in it, you don't need them in your pre/pro or receiver - just as long as it can accept multi-channel PCM over HDMI, it will play the decoded audio passed to it by the BR player. I believe most receivers that support audio over HDMI will do that. To have the pre/pro or receiver decode them, your BR player must pass bitstream, and some do not (e.g. the Sony PS3).

[Cal Blacksmith]

I looked at the prices of all of the blow out units of all makers, then the specs and it slowly dawned on me that all of the blow out units DO NOT have the HD AUDIO codec’s and that if I was going to go with a Blue-ray player and wanted HD audio, I would need to again buy another receiver!

Just wanted to clarify that if your BlueRay player has the HD codecs in it, you don't need them in your pre/pro or receiver - just as long as it can accept multi-channel PCM over HDMI, it will play the decoded audio passed to it by the BR player. I believe most receivers that support audio over HDMI will do that. To have the pre/pro or receiver decode them, your BR player must pass bitstream, and some do not (e.g. the Sony PS3).

Yes you are right about the PCM and my old receiver did accept 8 ch inputs as well as the new one does, however I did not have any HDMI inputs in the old receiver either and if I was going to buy something else, I might as well get the latest codecs anyway as this opens up the most options for future expansion. I will however need to adapt from HDMI to DVI as that is what the projector accepts as well as component (which I am using) SVGA, and compostie. I need to buy a 30' DVI cable when I do eventually upgrade to blue ray as the Copy Protection will not allow downconverting to component. I am not sure if a player that outputs in HDMI and component will output true HD to the component due to the copy protection garbage. I held out going to a HD format for DVDs to wait and see which format would win, fool me once....... I do have HD content going to the PJ from the Dish network receiver though I had to convert the Optical HD signal to a Coax signal due to the distance that the Dish receiver is from the PJ and Yamaha receiver. I supply the HD content over component cables as HDMI would need a amplifier due to the distance (50' to the Yamaha then another 30' to the PJ) or so I understand.

[falcon20x]

Since I have a Pioneer VSX 90 I will give my 0.2 cents.

It is a great receiver, works well with Ipod. I don't agree with the statement made above regarding th set up, I found it quit easy to set up.

I have owned 5 receivers in the same price range over the last 3 years, I would put the Pioneer second after my HK 645 and before my Denon and Yamaha receivers.

However, there is one major draw Back as far as I'm concerned, it is only 1.2A HDMI certified. This means that the receiver will carry the sound through the HDMI cable to the TV speaker but if you want to redirect it to your HT speakers you will need to hook up an optical cable.