Great sound, easy to setup and use.

Renaming inputs?

This a beautiful piece of equipment. I picked this over the Marantz for THX, RF demod, and looks! I don't like the look of the Marantz and neither did my wife :-) If I had listened to music more (at home) I may have gone with the Marantz (would have saved $100 and gotten a sweet remote...what was I thinking:-). Oh well, I plan to get a Pronto anyway!
First let me get a few things out of the way. This review is only of the HT aspects of the VSX-27TX as that's all I did this weekend was watch movies. Also, I have downgraded from an Acurus ACT3/Carver 505 combo to this receiver.
Setup is easy, much easier that the ACT3 and that was not tough either. I watched a couple of moviews this weekend and some clips from others. Saving Private Ryan (dts) was one of the movies I watched...WOW! This movies sounded great! One thing I could not believe with this receiver is that dialog sounds more intelligible that with the ACT3. I used to have the center volume on my ACT3 pumped up a little higher than the mains. I do not seem to need it with the Pioneer. I also watched some of the action clips from The Matrix. Again, WOW! I don't think the overall sound was better that the ACT3/505 combo but the dialog was still better.
After I have lived with the receiver for a while longer I may update this review (though I don't think that will be necessary).
I do have one question for other VSX-27TX owners that may read this. Can you rename the inputs to display something else? I have an LD and DVD player (seperate pieces) and would like to have inputs named as such.
I received an excellent deal on this so value rating is definately a 5. I am also giving 5 overall as I so far I love this thing!
Buy it if it fits your budget and feature list!

System:
Pioneer VSX-27TX
Pioneer CLD-D704
Toshiba SD-2109
Definitve Technology:
BP10's
BP2X's
C1B
PF15
JVC HiFi VCR
JVC 31" TV

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VSX-D3S, also looked at Denon 3300 and Marantz SR8000.

THX, DTS, Features, oodles of inputs

None

I've been using my vsx27TX for 4 months now. I'm still in love with it. I originally purchased a Denon 3600DTS, and was happy with it, but it just lacked in so many areas. This unit is more to my liking. Plenty of power to drive my DEF Tech BP30s, CLR2000 and BPX rears. All of the digital inputs, you could ever want. This unit is just a great all around unit. Yah, I know I could get better with seperates, or spending an extra 1000 on a receiver, But hey, why... this has THX Ultra Certification, Lots of power (120 @ 6ohms... (Why is that?), and the best part is I picked it up from a Local AUTHORIZED dealer for 1349.00 With a 4 year warranty!

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR3600 DTS

Very clean, high power. Nice loooks, with alot of inputs

Takes time to learn, and setup the features. Biggest complaint is that composite sources don't output to S-video on the recievers outs.

First I purchased the reciever from http://www.unclestereo.com for $1000. When you compare the features and the performance of this reciever at this price it's unmatched.

With multiple Digital in's (coax, fiber) all can be re-assigned electronicaly. Large speaker posts, and a VERY clean front.

The onscreen menu is a really nice feature, makes it reall easy to setup the reciever.

Main Features:
DTS
DD
THX
TIME Correction (unequal speaker placement)
DB Correction (Unequal speaker sensitivity)
140x5@6ohms
Fiber and C0ax input (digital re-assign)


Setup:
Panasonic VCR (composite in to 27tx)
Pioneer PDF-1007 (Fiber to 27tx)
Pioneer DV-525 (Coax to 27 tx)
Klipsch Legend KLF-30 (Front LR)
Klipsch Legend C-7 (Center)
Klipsch Premier SP6-S6 (Surround LR)
Klipsch KSW-15 (SUB/LFE)
12 guague wire, Toslink, wireworld digital coax)
36" sony Wega (S-video in from reciever,and composit in from reciever (for VCR)


I love the system, it sounds awesome.


Brian

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer 608, Nakamichi, Denon, Marantz

THX Ultra, AC-3 RF Input for LD

Service issue (see below)

I got this receiver when it first came out in July of 1999 and just got it back from being repaired due to the sound cutting out (see prior reviews and reviews of the 24TX, 26TX, and 29TX). The repair was to resolder IC 9374, IC 9372, and IC 9371 on the DSP board. It has been always well vented. It just seems that a certain percentage of these receivers will fail no matter what. In fact, when I picked mine up from the small repair shop in my area, a 24-TX had just come in with the same problem. That being said, the fix for this problem isn't too difficult as no parts need to be replaced.

Other than the sound issue, the performance of the receiver has been great. It is a good value for the features it has, considering you can find it for less than $1000 now.

Great sound, DTS 5.1 and THX Ultra, Lots of Power, Easy to use, Nice remote, the wife likes it!

no component video switching

Great AV Receiver! Has all the goodies you need! Dobly Digital 5.1, DTS, THX Ultra, and best of all it is easy to use! I had an older model Denon (1989 Model AVR 810) that I just loved but I felt the need for an upgrade to digital. Sound is incredible with my old Boston Acoustics speakers.

I auditioned the VSX-27 against the Yamaha 995. With Paradigm speakers (everything for the mini monitors through the Reference 60's)The pioneer outshined the yamaha musically, But when it came to DVD (ac-3) (The Matrix), the was not comparison, the Yamaha, was stunning. I heard things that the pioneer never picked up. The sound stage with the Yamaha was vast where as the pioneer seemed narrow.


Overall I think the Yamaha was a bit bright, but the neutral sounding Paradigms helped bring them down a bit, the Pioneer was sonically superior, but for Home theater I was very disappointed.


I really wanted to like the pioneer. Any idea while the pioneer faired so poorly in my audition?

Thanks for any help.

Clarity, Smoothness, Features, ETC>>ETC

Remote light turns off too quick

This receiver has made all of my listening experiences better. The saying "you get what you pay for" definitely stands true in this case. The sound quality is amazing and the dolby digital processing is incredible. Don't expect ear bleeding level of sound like other receivers, but it will shake your room though! It makes watching movies an enjoyable experience and you find yourself listening more to the sound than watching the movie---that is pretty much its weakness---but not a bad one!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 795

Clarity, details, sound, sound...perfect (almost) sound

Light delay on the remote

This receiver is a lot more affordable than the other one specified in the similar products box and I have to say I don't know why. It may have less power tahn these two, but the sound is much better in music (IMHO) thant these other product, the remote is so much better than the DENON one that I don't even have to talk about it. This H/T receivers is hard to beat, even without $$$ comparaison. The only way to get a better (perceptible) result is with separate component. The music is simply perfect and the movies are realistic (may get a bette result with top YAM... line for more $$ but you'll have to sacrifice music as with the DENON).


Don't hesitate. Do your own sound test and you see...hear the differences.


Bonne journée a tous

Josiane

Similar Products Used:

Denon 5700, Marantz SR-18

great looking, many features

crosstalk between devices

After reading many reviews I decided to get this receiver and I returned it two days later. The unit has a serious crosstalak problem. I was plaing a CD and I selected the MD device(or any other that is not being used) and when you turn up the volume to 1/3 to 1/2 you will hear the CD bleeding through. I had both the VCR playing and the CD and I could hear both of these bleding through to the MD channel. I went to a local store and did the same test with the same results. I tried the same test on a Pioneer Elite VSX-29tx and it had the same problem but you had to turn it up to 80% of full volume to hear the crosstalk. I bought this receiver from sounddistributors.com and they were very helpful and took the Pioneer back and I bought a Denon 5700 and it works fantastic.

I bought the vsx-27tx ten days ago and I'm still discovering great things about this fantastic receiver. My system consists of all Pioneer equipment, 505 dvd player, pd-m730 20 bit cd changer, ld player. I had my cd changer connected to the optical digital in on the receiver. I got very good sound but my local audio dealer told me to try using the analog input instead because of the receivers fine 24 bit a/d converters. I gave it a try and the difference in the sound simply blew me away. I'm using Klipsch KG 5.5's in the front and I neve thought they could sound this great. The sound from this receiver is full, rich, detailed, lush, and smooth. I feel like I have a audiophile system now, thanks to this receiver. If you're looking for a great dolby digital receiver with all the whistles and bells, and at a good price, look no further. This is the one!