BEST SOUND VS PRICE , great combination with klipsch reference.The receiver sound is excellent,powerfull,and high definition.

I was lucky to run into this unit on craiglist, I was looking for Harmon Kardon stereo receiver, but was lucky when my wife suggested we look into home theater unit.

The receiver sound is terrific, I was into HK warm sound, this is best stereo fidelity I have heard thru my customized speaker. Warm but with quick attack when called for tight bass, just amazing. I am sensitive to minimal hiss on most units when no music is playing this unit is dead quiet. I am still exploring all the possible theater oriented features, I am more than satisfied with its sound, am sure we will enjoy it with DVD waching, it has THX but not sure what that is yet...

it is huge and heavy, this is my weakness, likely reflects receiver's quality.

amazing for the price

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon, Carver, Adcom

Features. Price. Sound quality. Front inputs. Nice looking.

Basic remote. Set up.

I originally bought a lower Pioneer Elite model (the VSX-25 I think), however the main controller baord blew up within 6mths. Pioneer were good about it - as it was an Elite product they wanted to replce the entire unit and not just the part. Although I had to ship it back to Hawaii and wait several months, I got this as a replacement. This amp really is value for money. I would have to pay approx. US$1500 for an equivalent amp here in New Zealand. Nice sound. Heaps of features. Sub-Woofer set up is limiting. Remote pretty basic. This amp is huge. I had to buy a new cabinet! Nice looking though! This is may 2nd home theatre amp (first one was the Dolby Pro Logic VSX-d503s) and the 2nd from Pioneer. I'll be going back.

Awesome sound, well built, THX, Great black polished look, Direct current MOSFET AMP, Remote, Setup, and Power.

None at this price.

I purchased the VSX 33TX to replace my aging Pioneer VSX 557. I had been checking out the new receivers on Dealtime and noticed this pioneer elite unit offered THX post processing(THX Select) for under $500 and was immediately interest. In addition, I wanted to get DTS sound as well. So after reviewing the prices online I called Magnolia Hifi and they had a couple units in stock. In their sound room of course they had all the high Denon's, Yamaha's, and Pioneer Elites. I figured I needed a couple of DVD's to take with me to measure the sound on this unit. I took two THX certified movies with Zorro, and the phantom Menace(Star War). I played some of favorite scenes on the VSX 33TX, and then on a Yamaha(they don't offer THX),and Denon offering THX select at quite a higher price. Amazingly enough this unit sounded considerly better than both the units and is better built. The polished black finish on this unit gives it much more appeal. I have been using it everyday for the last 6 months and love it. I can't imagine any other unit out there by any manufacturer that can touch this unit at it's price. It sounds awesome hooked into my energy Encore Sats and Sub. I wondered what the top of the line VSX 49 sounds like? Kudo's to Pioneer for their Elite line of Recievers. In my book their the best by far.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VSX 557, Sony, Dennon, Yamaha,

THX Surround Sound Dolby Digital, receiver's appearence

non-ex

I bought the 33tx after they told me that they discontinued the 35tx. well i bought this receiver. when i opened the box this receiver is huge, and nice looks like if it's really polished. the front panel looks really nice and much better not like the old ones. I was going to buy an onkyo but after i hear this Pioneer Elite i made up my decision it would be 33tx. I like this receiver because it's spooks up the neighbors and on especially with the THX surround sound. i heard the horror story and i almost didn't buy it but i bought it and it had the sticker that meant it was fixed all ready so i wouldn't worry anymore. movies like u-571 kick but on this reciever especially on DTS. on Dolby Digital with the THX see a movie called Megiddo: The omega code 2 or 3 disk OMEGA CODE COLLECTION. there's alot of dramatic scenes expecially when end time sequences begin whoa! this receiver might be on the low side but with the THX it enhances everything! so go and buy the 33tx.

Similar Products Used:

aiwa xv220

Nice looking unit, controls were easy to use, Seemed to be a robust unit.

Pioneer Customer Support, unit was defective.

Bought the unit used it for 2 weeks and sent it back. I could not get the unit to produce the sound quality I was looking for, I really think I had a defective unit...The seller refunded my money without any problems. The sound was very thin, no warmth or deep sound that I have experienced with my older (1992) RCA $250 peice of junk special!! In fact I put this unit back to compare sounds and did not even bother hooking the Pioneer back up. I went through every possible setup configuration to no avail. I have the unit matched to Bose AM 10-II speakers with a Klipsch KSW-12 subwoofer, tried low freq rolloff at all settings (80,100, 120 Hz). I hear others rave about the Elite line from Pioneer and I wish I could have shared their great experiance but I could not. On another note, I called Pioneer to get some technical assistance with my sound problem and when they found out I purchased the unit through the Internet, they offered me no assistance. The Analogy here is that if you bought a vehicle second hand and had a problem would Lexus tell you "Too Bad?" I think not. I am now using a Denon AVR 2802 and am very pleased. I don''t want to scare folks away from the Pioneer unit but I did not have a good experience with mine.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 2802.

Well thought out design, remote, looks nice on the shelf. Sound, Assignable digital inputs.

Difficult to get everything set just right. Needs more EQ settings (mids please), EQ needs to be adjustable from the remote.

I bought a sony str-de875, and some Polk Audio speakers at circuit city as my first attempt at a home theater system. I took the first sony back because I wanted the learning remote that came with the 975, but the 975 popped in the subwoofer channel. After a 2nd 975 did the same thing, I said to hell with sony (even though virtually everything else in my living room is sony except the polk speakers), and bought this Pioneer from the local high end audio store. First, let me recommend that if you can afford anything they carry, buy from a smaller shop instead of the Best Buy/Circuit City type store. It was so nice to buy from a smaller dealer.

Anyway, I was initially impressed with the layout of this receiver. It really feels like they put some time into it's design. I like the assignable digital in's. The remote is very nice. I just wish they would label the loudness button "suck/don't suck" or something more obvious. I was so unhappy with the muddy sound of this thing until I found the loudness button. Now I am very happy. I think it sound's quite nice. I do wish there were more EQ settings (like mid in addition to treble and bass), and I wish the EQ was accessable from the remote. I also wish I had more granularity in the subwoofer cutoff frequency setting. This receiver only has 80, 100 and 150 Hz. The sonys are adjustable from 40-200Hz at 10Hz increments. Overall though, I'm very happy now with this receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DE875, STR-DE975

Great sound- THX post processing

RELIABILITY

Stay away- after less than a year of happy use, mine just blew up- amp is fried- house smells of smoke-

Sound quality is unsurpassed at this price point, Looks, THX processing, decent power

Remote is a let-down

This is a great receiver at a great price! I am very impressed with this unit. I have never been a big fan of Pioneer products. I was planning to upgrade my Onkyo TX-DS575 when lightening struck my house destroying the Onkyo. I needed a replacement for it ASAP. So I called my buddy at Tweeter and went to see what he had in the $500 price range. No other Units could come close in features to the Pioneer Elite VSX-33TX. I have been extremely happy with this receiver. It sounds much, much better than the Onkyo did. It sounds much fuller and has more resolution in the midrange. There was a recall on these units, however I believe that they are all taken care of at this stage in the game. I have had it now for 4 months of heavy use and no problems whatsoever. So if you are looking for a lot of performance at a low price....this is your receiver!!

My system consists of:
Pioneer Elite VSX-33TX receiver
Sony DVP-S7700 Reference DVD player
Mitsubishi WS 55807 widescreen HDTV
Harmon/Kardon FL 8380 CD changer
B&W ASW 1000 subwoofer
B&W DM602s2 Mains bi-wired with monster cable
B&W LCR6s2 Center bi wired with monster cable
Mirage OM-2R surrounds

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo TX-DS575

Sounds awesome. Great Remote. Features

None.

Awesome receiver. I used to have the top-of-the-line Harman/kardon receiver. This one is less powerful, but a lot better in every way. I like the sound quality, the features are much better, and the remote is excellant.

My setup:
Infinity RS-8 mains (Floor standing 3 way with 100 watt subs each).
Infinity CC-3 Center.
Infinity BU-1 sub.
Klipsh Quintet surrounds.

I bought this refurbished from ubid. No problems absolutely. As mentioned by other posters and on the pioneer site (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/Common/ArticleDetails/0,1484,1788,00.html), these units had a software (firmware) problem. Mine has been serviced to repair this.

Similar Products Used:

JVC 9000, HK AVR 7000, Pioneer 709, Aiwa 75.