Stunning craftmanship, more features than most will ever use.

Gets a little warm for my comfort. All good pieces of equipment will do this though.

This is one nice unit. I have tried and tried to get something for a reasonable price that I wont outgrow and I have finally found it. This unit has so many options that is will last me a couple of years. Try and keep up with technology nowdays. I would highly recommend this Pioneer as a keeper.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Sony,

Remote isn't that compatable. Even with the product codes, I can't, without teaching it, adjust the TV volume on the TV. Not a true 7:1, without help from amplifiers. This isn't a real problem right now because I don't have room for more speakers, but my next house, this will be an issue.

The real weakness, is the owner, who hasn't investigated all the options and modes this receiver has to offer.

This was a really big leap for me. I had an old Dolby surround receiver that was digital ready, so my DVD player did all the work. I knew I was limited in hearing all that the DVD format had to offer.

As soon as I hooked up the system, balanced the speakers, I stepped into another world. Every speaker jumped out and came to life surrounding me with the theater quality I've been craving for. Now, I'm looking through my DVD collection for DTS selections and when I look for new DVD's I want that extra 10% sound quality that DTS offers.

The sound!

What a revelation. This unit turned a sometimes painful music listening experience (with my Denon) to pure pleasure. I am driving an all Definitive Technology system (2 BP30's, 1 CLR 2000, 4 BP2's) and 2 Pinnacle Digital Sub 600's. There is no comparison between this unit and the Denon. The sound is full and rich, and the clarity is superb. Pioneer definitely got it right with this one. I no longer use my system for movies and background music alone, I have actually returned to enjoying listening to music for it's own sake. Loud, hard, rock or delicate classical phrases are both amazing. It has plenty of power too, enough to drive my BP30's loud enough to wake the dead without any deteriation in sound quality. Most outstanding feature... the direct mode... feeding the input signal directly from the D/A converter to the amp section without massaging by the processing section...just pure, clean, sound.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR3200

Easy Setup, Features Set, Good value,Remote is back lit. Learning remote as well as preprogramed. 1 button control of mulitple units is nice. Ex. turn everything on with one button.

Need extra amp for EX. No automatic setup for tuner channels. Very Lame. No biwire hookups for front speakers.

Im not an expert but I would like to share my opinon with you potential buyers. I just purchased a Pioneer Elite VSX-36TX at an exceptional price of $669 NEW not refurbished. So regarless of my review it was money well spent. I do think that in the $1200 level especially the $<700 level there is no better bang for the buck! THX, DTS, DD THX-EX come on this has everything you need for the next couple of years.

Does anybody know what DTS-ES Compatable means????? This has puzzled me. According to thier web site this units is DTS-ES compatable. Does this mean it will decode DTS-ES So if someone could answer me I would greatly appreciate it.

I would like to state that Rotel, NAD and Marantz offer much better quality products that sound considerably better in the sub $1000 catagory. BUT, U cant find these brands with THX-EX DD and DTS for under $2000 so that kind of rules them out. Unfortunately my budget dictates what I buy not my heart!

Ok now for my comparison of the Pioneer VSX36TX to the other products I auditioned.

I have been a long time admirer of Denon's. I originaly bought thier AVR3200 DD reciever when they first came out several years ago and was very pleased with the performance that it gave me. Then I uped the ante and purchased a AVR3300. It does sound a little better than the VSX36TX. But I had to return this unit because 10 minutes into a movie the fan kicks in and is extreemly loud. Loud enough to make you get up and search for an extra speaker.

The Yamaha sound nice too. Just as good as the pioneer and denon but they didnt offer enough sound formats for me. The Denon has DTS-ES and Pioneer has THX-EX and DTS-ES compatable. So I really wanted to cover all the bases along with a good quality sound.

For me it came down to the Denon 3801 and the Pioneer VSX36TX:

Next I auditioned the 3801 this sounded very nice at the HiFi buy store where I auditioned it. It sounded almost identical to the VSX36TX but was a little cleaner had a bit more distinct imaging as well. But all and all they sounded just about the same. I would also say the Denon looks a little more elegant and has a better finish to it.

I've got this cool DVD that came with my toshiba DVD player and it allows you to test DD and DTS. Having heard first hand Denon 3300 and 3801 compaired to the VSX36TX I would have to give the edge to Denon. It terms of DD and DTS reproduction.

List of My pro's and con's 3801 vs 36TX
Movie Reproduction: edge goes to denon (Better crispness, imaging, dialoge)Pioneer has better bass tones and controls.
Features: Pioneer
Price: Pioneer
Easy of Use: Pioneer
Manual: Pioneer (there's no sence haveing cool features if you cant figure out how to use them because the manual is written so badly)
Expandabilty: Pioneer
Bass Responsiveness: Pioneer

One last note: I saved close two $200 dollars by buying the Pioneer but I'm giving up the most important factor,"Sound Quality" If I had the option to buy the 3801 or the VSX36TX for the identical price I would have bought the 3801.

My SPEAKERS: If ur wondering.
PSB Stratus Silvers for Front
PSB Stratus C6 Center
PSB Stratus minis Rear
PSB Stratus Subsonic 3i SUb x2

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3200, 3300,3801, Pioneer VSX35TX, Yamaha RX-V800, RX-V1000

Many connections (ins -and- outs), nice sound, slick remote, good aesthetics, 7.1 support

As mentioned by others, it gets hot as hell, many of the connections are not gold-plated, feet are too fragile, crossover selection limited

Found a great deal on this barely-used 36TX from a guy on eBay -- $710 including S&H, and it's been running wonderfully. I bought it to replace my very aged Onkyo TX-V940. I've been 'third wheel' to a lot of home audio/theater research and demos, as my parents have a very nice setup, and for the money I have been very impressed with the Pioneer.

Other receivers are definitely better in certain ways than the 36TX -- in terms of sound quality (esp. with music), or features, or power rating, etc. But the Pioneer is the most balanced receiver in the price range that I've come across, and you're definitely not losing much in the sound quality department when you go with this thing. It's got a wonderful array of connections on the back, and a set of uber-convenient connections on the front (aesthetically hidden behind the front panel). I really dig the remote, as well, and had it successfully controlling all of my devices in mere minutes.

While it does require a separate amp for channels 6 & 7, it handles this pretty intelligently, and it was no problem using my older A/V amp in that capacity. The crossover selection seemed a tad limited, but as I'm between subwoofers at the moment, I couldn't much test the impact of this. Most of the connections are not gold-plated, although some of the 'high priority' ones are (e.g., DVD/LD). The manual says to give it an 8-inch clearance on top, and (as other reviewers have mentioned), they're not kidding; the top of the 36TX can get hotter than Alyssa Milano popping habanero peppers -- beware. Finally, the 'feet' that prop the unit up are too fragile compared to the rest of the unit (had one break off far too easily).

Mostly, the weaknesses are more gripes than faults, and greatly outweighed by the strengths of this solid overall performer. High marks to Pioneer Elite for blowing not only the regular Pioneer line out of the water, but giving plenty of other haughty names a run for their money.

THX Ultra, enough input/outputs.

Heat, need extra amplifier for the back channels

I was using a stereo B&K preamp&lifier before I switched to this. The sound quality is a bit less impressive but the THX Ultra can really distribute sounds to all channels seamlessly. Feel great about this! So it's better for home theater than just for music. But the price is low enough to beat other competitors with similar qualities but much higher prices. Absolutely an excellent choice for home theater.

Beware of the heat though. I had to put it on top of the rack, which is a bit wired, just for the heat. And if you want the back speaker 6 and 7 to function, you got to have another amplifier.

Similar Products Used:

B&K

Looks, inputs/outputs, remote, ease of use

Sound *and that's all that matters*

I was extremely disappointed by this receiver. I decided to upgrade from my Denon 1601, which crapped out on me after a month (NEVER buy refurbished from uBid!). So I got this one, expecting much more. What I got was a bigger receiver that sure looked nicer, but sounded no better. NO BETTER?!? Whereas the Denon cost $200, refurbished, this unit cost almost four times that new. Granted, it had a couple of handy features that the 1601 lacked (preamp outs, more digital connections, a better remote) but the difference in price certainly was not warranted.

After returning this unit, I bought the Outlaw 1050 and I couldn’t be happier. I highly recommend this unit to anybody considering buying an Elite. For $555, shipped at www.outlawaudio.com, it presents the best bang for the buck in the business. Do not believe power ratings; they are worthless.

All in all Elite products are vastly overpriced for their performance.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 1601/1801, Outlaw 1050, old Sony Pro Logic

sound, many connections, ease of use, Component Switching

I went from separate (Haflers) stereo components to owning a Denon Prologic Receiver. I was extremely disappointed with the results. Not to say that the VSX-36TX can compare to separates, but it is far superior to what I had owned for years.

It is a fine receiver that has exhibited no ill manners. It is extremely versatile and the price ain’t bad either. I am very happy with this purchase.

Similar Products Used:

Denon

Incredible price. Ability to adjust almost anything. THX-Ultra certification. Nice, non-distracting appearance. Performs extremely well with different source material (e.g. DD, DTS, Pro-logic, etc.). Incredible amount of connection options.

Although it lacks direct connections for your EX speakers, the United Audio store I purchased the unit from was bundling a free Pioneer M10-X power amp.

I needed to replace my VSX-D1S since it died on me. I've been doing research into Pioneer's Elite receivers for at least a year now, so I was comfortable in making a quick purchase. The VSX-37TX has some nice extras over the 36TX, but I really couldn't see paying the $400 difference. I'm looking forward to hooking up the M10-X power amp and the extra speakers. For now, I've got pretty much a standard setup. I use Bose 601s for L&R main and Bose 301s for L&R surround. I take the Center pre-amp output and connect it into my Pioneer Pro-510HD RP monitor. The subwoofer out goes to a Pioneer SW-1000 (powered subwoofer). Over time, I'll be moving to newer speakers, but I am hearing a very noticeable difference between the new DD/DTS setup as compared to my Pro-logic setup. Sound is very clear and the surround effects are awesome now that my surround channels are truly independent. There are many connection options I probably will never use. My Pioneer LD/DVD combo player has it's video (component) connected directly to the Pro-510HD, same for the S-Video for laserdisc material. The VSX-37TX does include an AC-3 RF input that I could have taken advantage of. However, I only have a handful of laserdiscs with DD encoding and I really don't care if I listen to those titles in Pro-logic. All the titles I really care about, I've replaced with DVDs. Laserdisc audio thus gets transferred via L&R audio. When playing DVD DD/DTS material, audio goes out an optical cable.

Similar Products Used:

none. My prior receiver was a VSX-D1S

Drives speakers great, great features, can use remote to control everything, easy to set up, thx surround ex, dd 5.1, dts es

none so far

Well i have to say for me this is an unbelievable step up. My old receiver can't even hold a candle next to this one, obviously. I'm only 17 so after doing all the research and learning all the technical tidbits (which made setting things up and understanding things no problem) i was finally able to convince my dad that if i got this it would be well worth it. He has never heard DD5.1 in his life and both of us love it. Never knew sound could be so good in the home. We're also upgrading the speakers one section at a time. We picked up some knew fronts which really work nicely. But even before we picked them up, the receiver made such an incredible difference with the old 60 watt speakers. It just goes to show how critical the receiver is. Well all i can say is I love it. I've heard other home theater systems with huge, monstrous speakers, but with a marginal receiver and it just doesnt sound the same.

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Not really similar, 4 year old sony pro logic 300 watt receiver