nice looking amp sound is very clean each speaker has its own led indicators

no sub out when playing music in stereo

i love this product! It has great sound nice design and is thx certified!the remote control is straight forward and easy to use.Also i really enjoy the fact that they have led indicators for speakerson the front display(especially the subwoofer). I feel this is a great feature because then you truly can tell when the reciever is getting a sub signal

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pioneer dvl 700 pioneer 10 band digital eq with remote control

Clean smooth sound, lots of power, built in AC-3 Decoder

Not enough digital inputs, tape loop switching, limited bass management capabilities

This is a nicely built receiver with a hefty copper shielded chassis, attractive rosewood side panels and the ever present Elite "Urushi" finish. All controls operate cleanly with a nice precise feel. All input connectors are gold plated. THX processing is an all or nothing proposition, you can't pick and choose which features you want to apply. The central display uses 8 segment LED's which provide a rather blocky, cheap look to it. By contrast the much less expensive Onkyo had a dot-matrix display which was quite customizable.

As far as the performance of the receiver goes, it has plenty of power for driving even inefficient speakers (initially I had DCM TF500's which are around 85 db/w/m). The amp sounds quite nice, open with quite good stereo imaging. DSP modes are limited and the parameters of those modes are not adjustable. Since I like subtle DSP processing on stereo music if I use it at all, I found the jazz setting to be nice. The others were too overbearing.

Overall, this unit exudes quality and performs admirably sonically. Ergonomically it is less successful, but still fairly easy to use. The unit does have the feel of a first generation product and clearly needs some refinement. These improvements seem to have been made in the second generation products...

The value rating is tough, because this is a top of the line unit. Overall is pretty easy, points off for poor ergonomics.

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Onkyo 878

It's just got THE sound.

No 5.1 inputs.
No LFE in stereo/large.

It's been over 3 years since I purchased the VSX-09tx. Wanting DTS and 5.1 inputs, I purchased a Denon 3802 last Summer. For music the Denon was subjectively inferior to my Pioneer. Base was mushy and distorted when pushed. Sound quality was "cold" compared with the Pioneer. These observations were by all who had listened to both receivers in my house. For movies the Denon had a slight edge, having more dynamic power--not enough to prevent me from returning the Denon.

I was demoing some Tannoy speakers at an english-is-the-best-equipment hi-fi shop. They happened to have a used VSX-09TX. I asked them to play the speakers with this receiver. Even these name-dropping snobs were impressed by the sound from this "Japanese Christmas Tree".

I was disappointed by bass management when I first purchased this receiver. Come to find out that most brands of receivers still don't allow LFE in stereo with large speakers selected. I got around this problem by purchasing Definitive Technology BP2002tl (and comparable center) speakers. These have 12" 150 watt powered subwoofers. Granted this was an expensive workaround, but it sounds wonderful. I'm going to keep the VSX-09TX for as long as I can, even though it doesn't have DTS or 5.1 inputs. If I do get another receiver, the first on my list will be Pioneer Elite.

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Denon

I heard mostly good things about this product. I stepped up from a VSX-04 and the sound quality improved noticably--better depth and smoother mid-trebble. The remote, similar to the VSX-04, is fabulous. The setup, though unattractive, works well and remote setup doesn't need the manual. And, it's the best looking receiver on the market (yeah, so what?), which may be important to some.
HOWEVER, SUBWOOFER LINE-OUT IS DEFEATED IN STEREO MODE!!!! What were they thinking?! (By the way, not one review I read mentioned this.) The workaround is to run speaker wire from B terminals to the subwoofer's speaker wire terminals. If you have speakers on B then you can run the subwoofer off of A, wired parallel with the main speakers. This shouldn't be a problem in surround modes since since main rolloff will be at least 80hz, depending upon your surround settings. But for god's sake, why couldn't they just enable the subwoofer line-out in stereo mode? This receiver sounds great for music, and why would any audiophile want to listen to CDs in that 5 channel DSP CRAP?!!!! I paid big money for that first octave and I don't understand why Pioneer decided I don't need it for music. Deduct two stars.

Several have informed me that subwoofer output is not defeated using "small" speaker setup. Ok, that's correct (and thanks for the input), but I want to augment my full range speakers with only the lowest bass, 20-40hz. Using "small" cuts off mains at about 80hz, and "large" sounds better on music. Yes, I understand that some audiophiles may want to play large speakers without the subwoofer. I'm just disappointed Pioneer didn't make an option for using the subwoofer with "large" in stereo mode.
Well, maybe it's not a three. It sounds wonderful and does that HT thang well, but setup limitation with the subwoofer and a fairly mediocre tuner certainly keep it from getting a five. I'll give it five here to average my reviews out to four.

I bought the VSX-09TX 2 weeks ago, and I'm very happy with it. To give another solution to the subwoofer with large speakers in stereo mode discussion, set the receiver for "large" speakers, and hook up your sub to the "B" speaker outputs. Then, select both the "A" and "B" speaker outputs in stereo mode. You can adjust the crossover on the sub to augment just the lowest frequencies.
The receiver is of excellent build quality, and looks great too! The first time someone sees it, the first reaction is, "Wow." I've heard reviewers talk about the receiver being "transparent," and they're right. There is not any "coloration" of the sound; it sounds like the actors and musicians are directly in front of you. I would disagree with anyone who says that the receiver is difficult to set up; I found it rather easy and straight-forward.

After some serious searching on the net and phone calls, I was able to get the receiver for $1,180. An awesome price for a THX-certified receiver that stacks up to almost every feature and spec of receivers costing 2 and 3 times the price! I would not hesitate to recommend this receiver to every home theater owener.

BTW, spend the extra bucks for the '09TX (instead of the '07TX). For most people this is a long-term investment, and you'll love the real wood side panels and copper shielding.

I am pleased with this receiver in my current home theater system. However, I am very disapointed in the quality of the product. I recently removed the side panels off of the 09tx and found that they were actually made of particle board.
I also discovered that the bannnana plug terminals are made of tin, they are not even gold plated. The 09tx is Pioneer's flag ship model, they could have had gold plated bannana terminals. THX processing is a complete waste of money; How can a equalizer timbre match your rear speakers?. The sound is fairly good and the hall dsp mode is a blast. I have to give the receiver a 4 for sound and a 1 for build quality. Every $1500 receiver should be gold all round.

I was recently comparing my new cd player run through the preamp section of the Pioneer VSX 09tx vs run straight out on the variable output of the DAC (an Audio Alchemy DDE 3.0). I was shocked at what I heard. Run straight out of the DAC, the sound was open full and dynamic with nicely extended bass. When I switched to the Pioneer (via an A/B switch so that the comparison was immediate) the sound was sucked out and the low end all but disappeared. It sounded as if the speakers were out of phase so I tried it after reversing polarity, which only made it worse. I have a 5000.00 Accuphase CD player and a pair of 5000.00 Apogee speakers and wanted a versatile control unit of high quality. That is what I thought the Elite series was all about. All being, I'm selling the receiver and will never buy another Pioneer product.

I recently blew the power supply on my Pioneer VSX-D1S (one of the early home theater receivers--1992). I have been unable to obtain repairs, so in the mean time,I am replacing that unit. First, I tried the VSX-14. The sound quality was good--not incredible--but the adjustment potential, sound fields, etc. were limited compared to the 10 year old, $775 D1S, which had adjustments for bass, treb, mids with a easy to read receiver face bar graph, and 6 totally adjustable preference modes. The VSX-09 has the same limitations, extremely difficult multi room settings--I have MR-100 signal controls that are not working--and only slight improvements in sound quality. Is this progress at $1097? Unless I can de-bug, this ones going back to the dealer.

Clean Video switching,input overload indicator,cooling fan,and IT LOOKS DAMN GOOD

No sub out in STEREO mode, can only use MULIT ROOM feature with the MR-100

I have owned pioneer receivers for a long time now and I have to say the vsx-09tx is the best one I have herd in a long time! Mainly use it for Surround Sound mode but use it for stereo every now and then. This is my first THX receiver so I dont really have any comparison to set it next to. And since it was a gift I didnt compare in the store. But movies sound very real and sound is blended from speaker to speaker very well. My HK (avr 40) was weak in the surround mode. But I still use it to drive other speakers in the house from the MULTI ROOM out. I would highly recomend this product to anyone or any other elite pioneer produts.

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This is my 5th Pioneer Receiver...have one dating back the the 70's...still cranks today! also own two harman kardons..AVR10 and AVR40